❓WHAT HAPPENED: Two Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees were terminated following an internal investigation that revealed they engaged in explicit online conversations and accessed inappropriate material on government systems.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Two FEMA employees, including one from the IT Services Division and another from the Environmental Historic Preservation office in Alabama, and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Insider Threat Operations Center (ITOC).
📍WHEN & WHERE: The incidents occurred in August 2025, with investigations conducted at FEMA’s Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center near Bluemont, Virginia.
💬KEY QUOTE: “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.” — DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
🎯IMPACT: The investigation highlights significant security and ethical breaches within FEMA, an agency tasked with safeguarding national emergencies.
The Trump administration has fired two federal employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following an internal investigation that revealed they had engaged in sexually explicit online conversations and accessed inappropriate material while at work. The probe, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Insider Threat Operations Center (ITOC), uncovered significant misconduct involving both employees.
One employee, a member of FEMA’s IT Services Division with top-secret security clearance, was found using Facebook Messenger on the agency’s unclassified network to exchange explicit messages with a presumed foreign national in the Philippines. Investigators discovered these conversations spanned several days in August 2025 and included plans to visit the Philippines. Monitoring also revealed the employee accessed travel-related websites for locations in the Philippines.
In a separate case, an Environmental Protection Specialist was caught accessing pornography sites on FEMA’s unclassified network and engaging in explicit chats with multiple users. The employee also uploaded inappropriate images during these chats, further breaching workplace standards and security protocols. Both employees worked at FEMA’s Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia, a facility designed to protect the nation during emergencies, including terror attacks and nuclear threats.
“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,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. “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. For decades some of these bureaucrats engaged in every act imaginable instead of safeguarding the American people from natural disasters. That ends now.”
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