Federal employees tasked with responding to natural disasters and providing assistance to Americans in dire straits haven’t all been using government resources as intended. As part of an investigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff have been found to be using government resources to engage in sexually explicit behavior.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators identified employees working at a FEMA command center who they say were sending sexually explicit images via text, or sexting, to foreign nationals and uploading the images using government devices.
Agents working in DHS’ Insider Threat Operations Center (ITOC) identified two FEMA employees who allegedly “used their official government equipment to send graphic messages, access adult websites, and in one case, upload an image of male genitalia to an online sex platform,” DHS said.
“This behavior and misuse of government resources is absolutely disgusting,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. Instead of working on behalf of the American people in taxpayer funded jobs with access to highly sensitive systems, the employees “spent their duty hours sexting strangers, including foreign nationals, on encrypted government devices. Such conduct is unacceptable, and these employees have been terminated,” Noem said.
On August 27, DHS ITOC agents discovered that one FEMA employee had accessed Facebook Messenger through the FEMA network to allegedly “engage in multiple sexually explicit conversations with an individual believed to reside in the Philippines.” ITOC agents reviewed messages including graphic sexual content, references to a Filipino dating group, and statements about the FEMA employee’s plan to visit the individual overseas, DHS said.
Between Aug. 30-31, another FEMA employee used his official government workstation to access an adult website to engage in multiple graphic conversations and upload an image of male genitalia to the platform, investigators said. The activity was observed to have occurred during work hours using a FEMA-assig ned device connected to an unclassified FEMA network.
The offenses occurred at FEMA’s Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center/High Point Special Facility located near Frogtown, Virginia, DHS said. The facility is used as a relocation site for senior civilian and military officials, houses FEMA’s National Emergency Coordinating Center, and provides communications to the White House Situation Room.
“The revolting actions of these employees, now the second group to be caught at FEMA engaged in such acts, represents a clear national security risk,” Noem said.
She’s referring to two other FEMA employees who worked at the operations center who were also fired. On July 12, ITOC agents identified a FEMA employee who “typed explicit and sexually charged phrases into a chatbot website” using government devices to have “comments read back to him in an accent,” DHS said.
On Aug. 1, ITOC agents identified a government-contracted employee “accessing Reddit.com 578 times over a 30-day period. It was revealed that he was engaged in extensive interactions with individuals online, viewing explicit sexual content while on his work devices.” He used his government computer several times to chat online with Reddit members presenting explicit content and accessed graphic photographs and videos, DHS said.
“These individuals had access to critical information and intelligence and were entrusted to safeguard Americans from emergencies – and instead they were consuming pornography. In at least one case the pornography consumed was racially charged and involved bestiality,” Noem said.
DHS says it is actively investigating alleged misuse of devices agency-wide to ensure employees aren’t abusing or misusing federal devices or sharing classified or sensitive information. This includes DHS prioritizing investigations into FEMA’s network activity and employee conduct, including actively reviewing internal policies, network monitoring protocols, and security clearances, it says.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are cleaning house at FEMA to make this dysfunctional agency work for the American people the way that it was intended,” Noem said. “For decades some of these bureaucrats engaged in every act imaginable instead of safeguarding the American people from natural disasters. That ends now.”
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.