The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has fired two employees after an internal investigation uncovered sexually explicit online communications with foreign nationals and inappropriate workplace conduct at a sensitive national security site.
The misconduct was flagged by FEMA’s Insider Threat Program, which conducts routine monitoring to safeguard critical government operations.
According to investigators, the violations occurred at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, a hardened facility tasked with safeguarding the nation during crises, including potential nuclear threats.
One of the terminated employees, a member of FEMA’s IT Services Division with top secret clearance, was found to have used Facebook Messenger on the agency’s unclassified network to engage in sexually explicit exchanges with an individual believed to be in the Philippines.
Records obtained by the Daily Caller indicate that the IT worker exchanged several messages with the foreign contact between August 19 and August 27. In one message, the employee wrote, “I saw your post on a Philippine dating group here, so I messaged you.”
The second employee, an Environmental Protection Specialist in FEMA’s Environmental Historic Preservation office in Alabama, was also terminated following the investigation.
Monitoring systems showed the individual repeatedly accessed pornographic websites through the agency’s unclassified network and engaged in explicit online conversations during work hours. Investigators found the employee made numerous sexual remarks and shared pornographic images in these exchanges.
According to The Daily Caller, on August 30 and 31 the employee uploaded a pornographic image from a computer file labeled “work memes” while communicating with a user identified as “tooMessyForMe.” The activity took place on government networks designated strictly for official use.
Both terminated employees were assigned to FEMA’s Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center near Bluemont, Virginia. The Department of Homeland Security’s Insider Threat Operations Center carried out the investigation that resulted in both terminations.
DHS officials overseeing FEMA confirmed that at least one of the employees had accessed what they described as “deviant pornography,” including bestiality.