Rescue workers responding to deadly tornados are without key tracking tool because of Kristi Noem’s policy: report

However, CNN reports that FEMA’s $200,000 contract with the company that provides the necessary data expired in February and that an application for its renewal has been held up in Noem’s elaborate spending-approval process.

“Rescuers were flying blind, having to drive around or use news reports to figure out where the impacts were,” a source told the network. “And when a tornado hits in the middle of the night, every moment counts.”

Eleven Americans were killed in the storms across the Midwest and Plains, leading rescue workers from several states to contact FEMA about their sudden inability to see the data they needed.

Karen Evans, the agency’s acting chief, came under pressure to push for the contract to be fast-tracked, although, according to CNN, it is just one of “thousands” of contracts left pending, worth billions of dollars.

The Independent has reached out to the DHS for comment.

“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,” another insider said.

With approval of the DHS’s budget held up by Congress amid political opposition to the deployment of federal immigration forces after the fatal shooting of two American citizens in Minnesota in January, the department has been forced into a partial shutdown.

Noem has responded by directing FEMA to scale back its work to “bare-minimum, life-saving operations only.”

As a result, one agency official told CNN, “People are being told not to even open their computers. It’s the most appalling experience of my professional life.”

Another official described people “sitting around with nothing to do,” playing video games or cards, watching TV, and even falling asleep at their desks.

“Next week we’re planning a cookout at the office,” they said, apparently not joking.

“It’s a huge waste of time and taxpayer money for no reason, just to make the impact of the shutdown more significant,” another person said.

Noem’s spending-approval practices – which include a stipulation that only she can sign off on any funding appeals of $100,000 or more – were part of the Trump administration’s initial effort to rein in supposedly wasteful government spending, but they also led to complications during last summer’s disastrous Texas floods.

The former South Dakota governor’s 13-month tenure at DHS is due to end at the close of March, with Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin nominated by President Donald Trump to replace her.

After causing uproar by describing Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti as “domestic terrorists” in defense of the agents who killed them, Noem was subsequently hit by accusations about the “chaotic” state of her department, her excessive media focus, and the alleged affair with adviser Corey Lewandowski, which both parties have vehemently denied.

She then suffered a nightmarish brace of appearances before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees this month, during which the president was reportedly “incensed” by her claim that he had known in advance about a costly advertising campaign in which she starred, and decided to cut his losses.