Twenty Federal Emergency Management Agency employees who signed an open letter to Congress criticizing the Trump administration's preparedness strategy were put on paid leave, according to the nonprofit behind the letter.

The employees are currently on leave with no timetable for return, Brian Lovett, a spokesperson for Stand Up for Science, which published the letter, told USA TODAY on Aug. 28. Originally, 36 names − 20 current and 16 former FEMA workers − signed the Aug. 25 letter, but one former FEMA employee asked to remove their name, Lovett said.

Lovett said two of the 20 FEMA employees put on leave were working on flood relief efforts in Kerr County, Texas. In an emailed statement to USA TODAY, Stand Up for Science said the workers' paid leave highlights the extent the Trump administration will go to "silence dissent and underscores the risk of politicizing vital institutions."

"Retaliation against public servants for whistleblowing is not just illegal − it's a betrayal of the most dedicated Americans who have dedicated their careers to serving our nation," the organization wrote.

The Washington Post first reported that employees involved in the letter had been placed on leave.

FEMA did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment about the employees' paid leave. But, Daniel Llargués, the acting FEMA press secretary, told The New York Times that "some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform," an apparent reference to the workers who signed the letter.

Workers' letter critical of the Trump administration's gutting of FEMA

Those 20 current FEMA employees who used their names in the letter to Congress received emails on Aug. 26 saying they had been placed on paid administrative leave "effective immediately, and continuing until further notice," said Lovett, the Stand Up for Science spokesperson.

The FEMA workers' letter to Congress admonished President Donald Trump’s plan to severely scale down FEMA and shift more responsibility and costs to states. The letter came four days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of most deadliest storms in U.S. history.

Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 1,300 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to New Orleans in August 2005. The disaster prompted Congress to pass the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 in an attempt to streamline emergency management at the federal level.

The FEMA employees' letter criticized the agency's current leaders, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting FEMA director David Richardson. The document said they lack the qualifications to manage natural disasters and are eroding the agency's ability to respond to hurricanes, floods and other emergencies.

"Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office and our mission of helping people before, during and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration," the FEMA employees wrote.

Additionally, the letter asked Congress to make FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency free from interference from DHS and to protect FEMA employees from politically-motivated firings "to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself."

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FEMA puts employees who signed critical letter on leave

Reporting by Terry Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect