The U.S. government has fired some Federal Emergency Management Agency employees for watching pornography on office devices during work hours.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem announced the sacking of the employees who she described as “disgusting”.

“Today, I am announcing that multiple disgraced FEMA employees were fired for using their government devices to consume sexually explicit content while on the job,” Ms Noem said.

Ms Noem said the sacked FEMA employees “had access to critical information and intelligence and were entrusted to safeguard Americans from emergencies, and instead they were consuming pornography.”

Citing some cases, Ms Noem said, “In at least one case, the pornography consumed was racially charged and involved bestiality,” while another “employee typed explicit and sexually charged phrases into a chatbot website from his government devices for the purpose of having the comments read back to him in an accent.”

She disclosed that another employee “accessed content that included graphic photographs and videos”. 

“On several occasions, he used his government computer to chat online with members presenting explicit content,” said Ms Noem.

According to Ms Noem, during an investigation into the conduct of FEMA employees, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security discovered that almost half of FEMA’s employees regularly log into social media platforms while performing their taxpayer-funded duties.

Warning government workers against similar acts, Ms Noem said the DHS actively investigates the misuse of devices throughout the agency to ensure that employees are not abusing federal devices or sharing classified or sensitive information. 

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are cleaning house at FEMA to make this dysfunctional agency work for the American people the way that it was intended,” Ms Noem said.

She added, “For decades, some of these bureaucrats engaged in every act imaginable instead of safeguarding the American people from natural disasters. That ends now.”