The Trump administration is shaking up the leadership at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a day after the acting administrator said he opposed abolishing the agency, which Trump has suggested.
Cameron Hamilton will no longer be acting FEMA administrator. David Richardson is taking over that job, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, who did not give a reason for the change.
Pressed during a May 7 House committee hearing about eliminating FEMA, Hamilton said he didn’t support it.
“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” said Hamilton, who was deployed four times overseas as a Navy SEAL before he worked for the State Department and Department of Homeland Security.
Hamilton’s comments were a notable break from the rhetoric of President Donald Trump and other administration officials, who during his second term have remained publicly supportive of his messaging.
“I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Trump said while touring flood damage in North Carolina in January, before continuing to Los Angeles, which was devastated by wildfires, where he said, “I say you don’t need FEMA, you need a good state government.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA, reiterated Trump’s position in a May 6 congressional hearing.
“He believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated,” Noem said
Hamilton, the FEMA administrator, noted that the agency’s future isn’t up to him. He said it’s a question for Trump and “this governing body” to decide “what is prudent for federal investment and what is not.”
The leadership change at FEMA comes shortly before the start of hurricane season, and as the Trump administration weighs the role the agency should play in disasters going forward.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, said in a statement after Hamilton was replaced that he was worried the Trump administration was inviting “chaos” and putting lives at risk if a disaster occurs.
“The position of FEMA administrator is a serious one – and months into his term, it’s well past time Trump put politics aside and nominate someone to the position with the proper experience and qualifications,” Thompson said in a statement.
Trump’s budget proposes a $644 million cut to FEMA. The president was sharply critical of the agency’s response to Hurricane Helene, a devastating storm that killed 250 people and inflicted $78.7 billion in damage from Florida to North Carolina.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 24 creating a review council to look at FEMA and suggest potential changes, including “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance” to states instead of directly controlling disaster relief.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FEMA administrator ousted a day after opposing Trump’s view of agency
