Per a Week One executive order from President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and a special council have been conducting a complete assessment and individual reviews of all aspects of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

One such review uncovered serious cybersecurity protocol failures at FEMA, which prompted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to promptly fire two dozen members of the agency's Information Technology team, including two senior leaders, according to the Washington Examiner.

The firings come amid broader efforts launched by Noem, at the behest of Trump, to significantly downsize, reform, and refocus FEMA on its fundamental mission of providing federal support when necessary to states and communities facing emergencies.

Cybersecurity failures result in firings

A DHS press release on Friday announced that, following the discovery of "massive" cybersecurity failures at FEMA, Secretary Noem fired two dozen members of the agency's IT department for having "brazenly neglected basic security protocols."

It was noted that no U.S. citizens were "directly impacted" and no "sensitive data" was extracted because of the breach of security protocols and standards, but accountability was demanded nonetheless, including by the termination of the IT department's Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, along with 22 other members of the team.

"FEMA’s career IT leadership failed on every level. Their incompetence put the American people at risk," Noem said in a statement.

"When DHS stepped in to fix the problem, entrenched bureaucrats worked to prevent us from solving the problem and downplayed just how bad this breach was," she continued. "These deep-state individuals were more interested in covering up their failures than in protecting the Homeland and American citizens’ personal data, so I terminated them immediately."

"The American people deserve results from their government," the secretary added. "This unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated in the Trump administration."

FEMA is now faster and more efficient

Meanwhile, in a separate announcement on the same day, DHS provided an update on the FEMA reform efforts ordered by President Trump and Sec. Noem, with a particular focus on eliminating the agency's bureaucratic "red tape, inefficiency, and a one-size-fits-all approach," not to mention its politicization under the prior administration.

Because of those efforts, the release claimed, FEMA is now substantially faster and more efficient than before at responding to emergencies and providing critical disaster relief to states, communities, and individuals in need.

"FEMA reform is still active and ongoing," the update stated. "Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, the FEMA Review Council is hard at work to address more than 5 decades of FEMA’s failures and deliver results to the American people."

Debunking "false claims" about FEMA reform

Also on Friday, DHS issued a release to counter and debunk several "false claims" about the reform efforts leveled by anonymous FEMA workers, which have predictably been echoed and amplified by partisan activists and media organizations.

In a statement, Sec. Noem said, "I am not surprised that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform; including many who worked under the Biden Administration to turn FEMA into the bureaucratic nightmare it is today."

"Change is hard. It is especially hard for those invested in the status quo, who have forgotten that their duty is to the American people -- not entrenched bureaucracy," she continued. "I refuse to accept that FEMA red tape should stand between an American citizen suffering and the aid they desperately need."

"That’s why I am working so hard to eliminate FEMA as it exists today and streamline this bloated organization into a tool that actually benefits Americans in crisis," the secretary added.