FEMA Shake-Up: Acting Chief Quits, Disagreement Over Reform as Agency Weighs Texas Move
More turmoil at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as the acting head leaves and there is disagreement over a coming report on how to reform the agency.
First, acting head David Richardson resigned after six months in charge. FEMA’s current chief of staff, Karen Evans, will “step into this important role” at the beginning of December.
According to the Washington Post, Richardson spent little time in operations meetings and was distant in the role. That includes being inaccessible during the early hours of the flooding disaster in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend.
Disagreement Over FEMA’s Future
The Washington Post also reports that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is at odds with a coming report from a panel studying FEMA’s future. The panel, which was commissioned by President Trump ten months ago, has been looking into ways to make the agency and disaster response overall more efficient.
In a draft report, the panel reportedly concluded that FEMA should be more powerful and more autonomous. However, Secretary Noem has a different view. The secretary, who is also panel co-chair and needs to sign off on the report before sending it to President Trump, wants to keep FEMA within the Department of Homeland Security and largely remove FEMA from its direct role in disaster relief, instead turning it into a grant-making operation. The secretary also prefers cutting the federal government’s share of disaster-related costs to 50 percent.
However, the Post stresses that negotiations are still in flux and that the final version of the report is still pending.
Texas Headquarters Move?
Another pending issue in the report is a possible FEMA headquarters move to Texas.
According to Politico, the panel is expected to recommend moving FEMA headquarters to Texas, a move which Secretary Noem supports.
One of the members on that panel, current Texas Division of Emergency Management chief Nim Kid, is said to be a top candidate for the FEMA job.
“The admin wanted him, but he refused to leave Texas,” one FEMA source said.
FEMA has not had a permanent director since President Trump began his second term. Before Richardson ran the agency, Cameron Hamilton was acting administrator until he was fired in May after publicly disagreeing with the administration about the importance of FEMA.