The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has placed new restrictions on the agency’s communications with news outlets after employees “disclosed nonpublic information,” according to an internal memo obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
The Feb. 16 all-staff memo from FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton announces “a change in FEMA’s media policy that now restricts employee engagement with the media without prior authorization.”
Before engaging with media, employees will need authorization from FEMA’s associate administrator for external affairs or their designees, which include external affairs directors in each of FEMA’s 10 regions.
The memo says, “It has been FEMA’s policy permit employees to engage with the media about ‘their role and their job’ as necessary to meet operational objectives.
