By Gabe Cohen
2小时前
发布于2026年3月13日，美国东部时间上午5:00
上周末，致命龙卷风席卷中西部和大平原地区时，州和地方搜救队迅速赶赴受灾区域寻找幸存者。直到队伍部署后，他们才意识到自己在没有FEMA（联邦应急管理局）通常提供的关键龙卷风追踪工具的情况下开展工作。
两名熟悉情况的消息人士告诉CNN，这使得救援人员对优先搜索区域的判断不够精确。
该测绘工具能在龙卷风着陆后几分钟内锁定其破坏路径，帮助救援人员尽快聚焦受灾最严重的社区。即使在FEMA本身不响应的风暴中，州和地方救援人员也依赖该测绘工具——该工具由FEMA提供给他们。
但这次该工具无法使用，因为FEMA与提供数据的公司签订的约20万美元合同已于2月到期，而该机构要求续签合同的请求仍在国土安全部部长Kristi Noem的严格支出审批流程中，据两名消息人士和CNN审查的内部文件显示。
“救援人员在‘盲目飞行’，不得不开车四处查看或依靠新闻报道判断影响区域，”其中一名消息人士告诉CNN，“尤其是在龙卷风在深夜袭击时，每一刻都至关重要。”
这一中断呼应了去年7月德克萨斯州致命洪灾期间FEMA面临的问题，当时Noem实施了同样的审批流程——包括所有超过10万美元的支出需经她个人签署——这减缓了该机构预先部署搜救队的能力，导致呼叫中心人员不足，并延误了与州合作伙伴的数据共享。
近几个月，数十亿美元的合同和拨款因等待Noem和监督FEMA的国土安全部审批而停滞，特朗普政府试图控制浪费性支出，并将更多救灾责任转移给各州。
国土安全部未回应置评请求。
FEMA内部人士一直警告称，Noem的政策正在阻碍救援行动和应对灾害的能力。
Noem计划在3月底卸任国土安全部部长职务。特朗普已选定俄克拉荷马州共和党参议员Markwayne Mullin接替她。目前，她的团队仍在监督FEMA的运作。
过去一周，从德克萨斯州到密歇根州报告了数十起龙卷风，部分严重风暴已造成至少11人死亡。
随着风暴蔓延，几个州的官员开始联系FEMA，询问为何无法获取龙卷风追踪数据。到本周初，他们已联系FEMA代理负责人Karen Evans（由Noem和特朗普政府任命），敦促她批准合同，尤其是在预报还有更多龙卷风的情况下。
在FEMA内部，领导人向Evans和国土安全部施压，要求恢复该测绘工具，因为全国的搜救队在最需要时都依赖它。
据两名知情消息人士透露，这并非他们首次提出请求。FEMA工作人员早在1月就致函国土安全部，要求官员续签合同，确保这项可能挽救生命的技术随时可用，尤其是在春季龙卷风高发期。
消息人士和文件显示，数千份FEMA支出请求已提交给Evans和Noem的办公桌。许多请求被削减；其他请求则搁置了数月。
两名消息人士表示，截至本周早些时候，龙卷风测绘合同仍未续签。
“有人告诉我们要‘让开并赋予各州权力’，但实际情况是连向州和地方合作伙伴提供这些基本支持技术都做不到，”其中一名消息人士说。
关闭：“无所事事地坐着”
上月国土安全部部分停摆时，Noem指示FEMA缩减至“仅维持最低限度的救生行动”。在发给该机构区域负责人的后续电子邮件中，Karen Evans写道：“FEMA的所有活动都必须停止。”
CNN获得的这封电子邮件列出了四项例外情况：与总统特朗普国情咨文相关的工作、对近期冬季风暴的紧急响应、与世界杯和奥运会相关的会议，以及“核活动”。
该机构内部官员表示，这些指示不同寻常，因为通常在政府停摆期间，FEMA的大部分工作会因通过国会为灾害和紧急情况提供的救灾基金（DRF）而继续进行，不会中断。
尽管如此，CNN采访的七名分布在全国各地的FEMA官员表示，部分工作人员立即停止了工作。
虽然一些团队和地区指示员工照常或接近正常运作，但另一些则要求员工暂停从帮助社区恢复过往灾害和为下一次灾害做准备的大量项目。
“有人告诉我们甚至不要打开电脑，”一名FEMA高级官员在其所在区域办公室表示，“这是我职业生涯中最令人震惊的经历。”
对于无事可做的人，一些人通过玩电子游戏或打牌打发时间；另一些人则在办公桌前看电视。一些员工被要求停止与州和地方合作伙伴沟通。
“我们无所事事地坐着，”另一个地区的FEMA高级官员表示，“前几天我旁边的人真的在办公桌上睡着了。下周我们计划在办公室举办烧烤会。”
另一名地区官员告诉CNN，其他人则“为员工编造工作”，比如案例研究、计划审查和库存盘点。
FEMA内部人士表示，每年这个时候，他们本应专注于为飓风季、春季龙卷风以及可能在未来几个月引发野火的严重干旱做准备。
“这是巨大的时间和纳税人资金浪费，毫无理由，只是为了让停摆的影响更严重，”另一名FEMA官员表示。
Noem和特朗普政府将国土安全部的预算僵局归咎于民主党，称这阻碍了救灾工作并延误了救援。民主党支持为包括FEMA在内的几个关键机构提供独立资金，但共和党反对这种零碎的做法。
Noem在过去一年中一直是FEMA最激烈的批评者之一，称其臃肿、党派化且低效，有时甚至呼吁彻底取消该机构。
这一切发生之际，特朗普总统组建的改革FEMA特别工作组将在未来几周内提交其最终建议清单。
CNN的Brandon Miller对此报道有贡献。
Rescuers respond to deadly tornadoes without tornado-tracking tool because Kristi Noem’s team hasn’t renewed the contract
By Gabe Cohen
2 hr ago
PUBLISHED Mar 13, 2026, 5:00 AM ET
As deadly tornadoes tore through the Midwest and Plains last weekend, state and local search-and-rescue crews rushed to the devastated areas to look for survivors. It wasn’t until the teams deployed that they realized they were operating without a critical tornado-tracking tool typically provided by FEMA.
That left responders with a less precise picture of where to search first, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN.
The mapping tool pinpoints a tornado’s path of destruction within minutes of touchdown, helping responders focus on the hardest-hit neighborhoods as quickly as possible. Even in storms where FEMA itself doesn’t respond, state and local rescuers rely on the mapping tool, which is provided to them through the agency.
But it wasn’t available this time, because FEMA’s roughly $200,000 contract with the company that provides the data expired in February, and the agency’s request to renew it is still moving through Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s strict spending-approval process, according to the two sources and internal documents reviewed by CNN.
“Rescuers were flying blind, having to drive around or use news reports to figure out where the impacts were,” one of the sources told CNN. “And when a tornado hits in the middle of the night, every moment counts.”
The disruption echoes problems FEMA faced during last July’s deadly floods in Texas, when the same approval processes implemented by Noem – including a rule that all spending over $100,000 receive her personal signoff – slowed the agency’s ability to pre-position search-and-rescue teams, left call centers understaffed and delayed the sharing of data with state partners.
Billions of dollars in contracts and grants have stalled at the agency in recent months pending approval by Noem and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, as the Trump administration seeks to rein in wasteful spending and shift more responsibility for disaster response to states.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Workers clear tree branches covering a fishing boat following storms and tornado warnings in Three Rivers, Michigan, on March 7, 2026.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
FEMA insiders have been warning that Noem’s policies are hampering operations and their ability to respond to disasters.
Noem is scheduled to leave her position atop DHS at the end of March. Trump has tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, to replace her. For now, her team continues to oversee FEMA’s operations.
Over the past week, dozens of tornadoes have been reported from Texas to Michigan, part of a wave of severe storms that have killed at least 11 people.
As the storms spread, officials from several states started contacting FEMA, asking why they couldn’t access the tornado tracking data. By early this week, they were reaching out to FEMA’s acting chief, Karen Evans – appointed by Noem and the Trump administration – urging her to get the contract approved, especially with more tornadoes in the forecast.
Inside FEMA, leaders pressed Evans and DHS to let them restore the mapping tool, which search-and-rescue teams across the country can access when they need it most.
This wasn’t the first time they had made the request. FEMA staff wrote to DHS back in January, asking officials to renew the contract and ensure the potentially life-saving technology would be readily available, especially heading into the spring, when tornadoes are most common, according to two sources with knowledge of the request.
Thousands of FEMA spending requests have made their way to the desks of Evans and Noem, sources and documents show. Many have been slashed; others have sat for months.
As of earlier this week, the tornado mapping contract still had not been renewed, the two sources said.
“We’ve been told to get out of the way and empower the states, but the reality of what that looks like is not even providing these basic enabling technologies to our state and local partners,” one of the sources said.
Shutdown: ‘Sitting around with nothing to do’
When DHS partially shut down last month, Noem directed FEMA to scale back to “bare-minimum, life-saving operations only.” In a follow-up email to the agency’s regional leaders, Karen Evans wrote that “all activities at FEMA need to cease.”
The email, which CNN obtained, carved out four exceptions: work tied to President Trump’s State of the Union address, immediate response to the recent winter storms, meetings connected to the World Cup and Olympics and “Nuclear activities.”
The directives were unusual, officials inside the agency said, as much of FEMA’s work typically continues uninterrupted during government shutdowns because it’s funded through the Disaster Relief Fund – a separate pot of money Congress provides for disasters and emergencies.
Nonetheless, work stopped immediately for some workers, seven FEMA officials in various parts of the country told CNN.
While some teams and regions directed workers to continue operating as usual, or close to it, others told staff to stand down from a wide range of projects that help communities recover from past disasters and prepare for the next.
“People are being told not to even open their computers,” a high-ranking FEMA official said about their regional office, one of several across the country. “It’s the most appalling experience of my professional life.”
For those left with little to do, some are playing video games or cards to pass the time; others are watching TV at their desk. Some staffers have been told to stop communicating with state and local partners.
“We’re sitting around with nothing to do,” a high-ranking FEMA official in a separate region said. “I literally had someone next to me fall asleep at his desk the other day. Next week we’re planning a cookout at the office.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Headquarters Building in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2026.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Others are “making up work” for staffers “like case studies, reviews of plans, and inventory,” another regional official told CNN.
FEMA insiders say, at this time of year, they should be focused on preparing for hurricane season, spring tornadoes and a severe drought that could fuel wildfires in the coming months.
“It’s a huge waste of time and taxpayer money for no reason, just to make the impact of the shutdown more significant,” another FEMA official said.
Noem and the Trump administration have blamed Democrats for the budgetary impasse at DHS, which they say is hampering disaster response work and holding up relief. Democrats support standalone funding for several key agencies, including FEMA, but Republicans have opposed such a piecemeal approach.
Noem has been one of FEMA’s fiercest critics over the past year, calling it bloated, partisan and ineffective, and at times calling for it to be eliminated altogether.
All this comes as a task force assembled by President Trump to help reform FEMA is set to present its final list of recommendations in the coming weeks.
CNN’s Brandon Miller contributed to this report.