WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s Homeland Security chief has replaced the acting administrator of the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency as its continuing existence remains up in the air, an agency spokesperson said Thursday.
Cameron Hamilton will be replaced by another acting administrator, David Richardson, the spokesperson said.
The news comes at a moment of uncertainty over FEMA’s future. President Donald Trump has floated “getting rid” of FEMA, an idea Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has echoed.
It’s unclear why Hamilton was replaced, but the move comes a day after he appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee and advocated for FEMA’s continuing existence.
“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton said Wednesday.
Last month, Trump, a Republican, created a review council tasked with “reforming and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system,” according to Homeland Security.
Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, was appointed in January as assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
FEMA staff were told Thursday afternoon about the change in a bare-bones email.
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