Acting FEMA director Cameron Hamilton, who was appointed by President Trump, has been removed from his position, according to a report in The New York Times. The move comes a day after Hamilton testified before House Appropriations Committee, telling lawmakers “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” a statement that contrasts with Trump’s dismissive stance towards FEMA, which falls under the control of the Kristi Noem-led Department of Homeland Security.
“It’s at the discretion of (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem) to have the personnel she prefers,” a DHS spokesperson told CNN, who also confirmed that DHS official David Richardson will be taking over Hamilton’s position. Richardson was previously the assistant secretary at DHS’s office for countering weapons of mass destruction.
When visiting parts of North Carolina that were ravaged by Hurricane Helene shortly after returning to office in January, President Trump said that he was planning an executive order that would “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of them.” Speaking to the House Appropriations Committee a day before Hamilton, Noem echoed the president’s sentiment on the agency: “President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that 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 in empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support.”
While authority ultimately lies with Congress to “get rid” of the agency entirely, the Trump administration has backed up the president’s rhetoric by limiting the agency’s capabilities and ability to take action. In February, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency issued a directive to the agency demanding that they compile a list of personnel for firing that includes “anyone who worked or works on climate, environmental justice, equity, DEIA.” At the time, a senior official at the agency told staff that the directive “will impact the majority of our staff.”
As far as actions on disaster relief, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote to the Trump administration requesting help after her state was among those ravaged by storms and tornadoes last month, causing extensive damage to property and infrastructure, and ultimately killing more than forty people in her state. After a number of such missives from Sanders, the Trump administration answered that it had “determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies.” The Biden administration offered support for Arkansas within two days of its request in 2023, when the state faced similar challenges.
Hamilton’s ouster comes despite his acknowledgement of issues with FEMA in his testimony with the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. “The Federal Emergency Management Agency FIMO was established to provide focused support in truly catastrophic disasters,” Cameron told the committee. “Yet at times we have strayed far from that core mission and evolved into an overextended federal bureaucracy attempting to manage every type of emergency no matter how minor.”
The Times reports that a number of the FEMA’s senior officials have also left or been fired in the face of the Trump administration’s overtly hostile stance towards the agency, and its overall staff has around half of what it was last year. Hurricane season in the Atlantic is set to begin in less than a month.
