Cam Hamilton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, testifies to the sub-comity of credits in the Credit Chamber on the surveillance of internal security in the FEMA on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
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tilting legend
Jose Luis Magana / AP
Washington – The Federal Emergency Management Agency faced new upheavals on Thursday a few weeks before the start of the hurricanes season when the interim administrator was postponed and replaced by another head of the Ministry of Home Security.
The brutal change came the day after the day after Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy Seal who held the position in recent months, said on Capitol Hill that he did not agree with the proposals to dismantle an organization that helps plan natural disasters and distribute financial assistance.
“I do not think it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he said on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump suggested that individual states, not the federal government, should take the lead, tornadoes and other crises. He strongly criticized the performance of FEMA, especially in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
David Richardson, a former officer of the Marine Corps who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, will lead FEMA for the moment. He seems to have no experience in managing natural disasters. He is currently the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Internal Security for the fight against weapons of mass destruction.
FEMA staff were informed of the change of leadership by a brief email.
Last month, Trump, a Republican, created an examination council responsible for “reforming and rationalizing the emergency management system and response to the country’s disasters”, according to Homeland Security.
When Hamilton’s appearance in front of a household appliance subcommittee on Wednesday, he shared concerns about how FEMA assistance is administered. He also declared that the agency had “evolved into an overly extensive federal bureaucracy, trying to manage all types of emergency, whatever the minor”.
But when representative Rosa Delauro, a Connecticut Democrat, asked Hamilton what he thought of plans to eliminate FEMA, Hamilton said he did not think that the agency should be eliminated.
“That said,” continued Hamilton, “I am unable to make decisions and impact on the results on the question of whether a determination like this should be done.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Delauro expressed his support for Hamilton and accused Trump of having dismissed “anyone who is not blindly”.
“The Trump administration must explain why it was withdrawn from this position,” said Delauro. “Integrity and morality should not cost you your work.”
