The Trump-appointed acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired Thursday, a day after he told congressional lawmakers that the agency was vital and should not be dismantled.
“As the senior advisor to the President on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Cameron Hamilton, the acting FEMA head, testified at a House Appropriations hearing Wednesday. “Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.”
Hamilton also told lawmakers that, while FEMA workers are “tremendous and amazing,” the agency also has some antiquated systems and processes that must be improved.
But his support for keeping FEMA intact clashed with criticism of the agency by President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who have called for it to be eliminated. Trump has suggested that states should take primary responsibility for disaster response, and his administration is reportedly considering raising the threshold for federal disaster assistance.
“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,” Noem said at Wednesday’s hearing.
David Richardson, the assistant secretary at the Homeland Security office for countering weapons of mass destruction, is replacing Hamilton. “He does not appear to have any experience in managing natural disasters,” NPR notes.