‘We’ve been ghosted by FEMA’: Officials across country say they can’t get answers on critical funding

As hurricane season bears down, a new layer of uncertainty is spreading through the disaster response system: a wall of silence from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that’s leaving officials from across the country scrambling for answers.

As hurricane season bears down, a new layer of uncertainty is spreading through the disaster response system: a wall of silence from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that’s leaving officials from across the country scrambling for answers. “We’ve been ghosted by FEMA,” Robert Wike Graham, deputy director of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management, told CNN, describing repeated, unanswered requests for information on vital emergency preparedness funding for his North Carolina community. In Wyoming, where more than 90 percent of the state’s emergency management budget comes from the federal government, officials say their requests for clarity on emergency management funds also have gone unanswered. “It’s very frustrating not to have good, official information, with lots and lots of rumors flying around, which creates anxiety for folks,” said Wyoming’s Homeland Security Director Lynn Budd. “I believe the regional level (of FEMA) is doing their very best to support us, but they are also being asked not to share too much information with us. So, it’s very unfortunate.” From regional offices to the national headquarters, more than a half-dozen FEMA insiders as well as state and local emergency personnel who work with the federal agency told CNN they are frustrated by a clampdown on information sharing that they say will hamper disaster response. Internal memos seen by CNN show top FEMA officials have ordered disaster relief personnel to stop most communication with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and National Security Council as well as members of Congress — and direct those inquiries through FEMA’s acting administrator instead.