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President Donald Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton Monday to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a notable comeback for the former Navy SEAL who was\u00a0fired from his role\u00a0as FEMA\u2019s temporary leader last year after he defended its existence.<\/p>\n
His nomination comes as the Trump administration has increasingly signaled it is backing away from\u00a0promises to dismantle FEMA, an agency that has faced withering criticism by the president. The nomination of Hamilton, who argued abolishing FEMA was not in the country\u2019s best interests, is the latest indication of that change.<\/p>\n
If confirmed, Hamilton would be the principal adviser to Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on emergency management and FEMA\u2019s first permanent administrator in Trump\u2019s second term. The agency has gone through\u00a0three temporary leaders, including Hamilton\u2019s brief tenure from January to May 2025.<\/p>\n
He would take over an embattled agency still reeling from\u00a0Kristi Noem\u2019s turbulent leadership\u00a0of the Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is part. FEMA\u2019s workforce has been worn down by mass staff departures,\u00a0policies that hamstrung\u00a0operations and a 75-day-long DHS shutdown that ended April 30.<\/p>\n
Hamilton will need to ensure the agency is prepared for summer disaster season, just weeks away, while answering to Trump, who is likely to expect major reforms after a council he appointed\u00a0recommended sweeping changes last Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow is the opportunity to stabilize FEMA,\u201d said Michael Coen, the agency\u2019s chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations.<\/p>\n
Fired after defending FEMA<\/p>\n
Hamilton, who had never been a state or local emergency management director and who had publicly criticized FEMA in the past, was a controversial choice when Trump named him temporary leader in January 2025, just days before the president floated\u00a0the idea of \u201cgetting rid\u201d of\u00a0FEMA.<\/p>\n
His rupture with DHS officials began as he defended a federal role in supporting disaster-impacted states, tribes and territories.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the conversation shifted to, \u2018Now we\u2019re going to abolish,\u2019 I immediately expressed concern,\u201d he said last September on the \u201cDisaster Tough\u201d podcast with John Scardena, a former FEMA incident management team leader.<\/p>\n
DHS officials even subjected him to a polygraph test, accusing him and other officials of leaking details of a private meeting. He passed, but said he knew his dismissal was inevitable.<\/p>\n
At a May 7 appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, asked Hamilton if he believed FEMA should be abolished.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,\u201d he replied. The next day, he was fired.<\/p>\n
Hamilton will have to rebuild trust<\/p>\n
Defending FEMA despite knowing it would likely cost him his job garnered respect and trust among people whose job it is to lead communities through crisis, said Scardena, now president of the consultancy Doberman Emergency Management Group, which trains emergency managers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe won myself over and I think a lot of people by what he did,\u201d Scardena said.<\/p>\n
But multiple current FEMA employees who requested anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking publicly told The Associated Press they had concerns over some of the actions taken under Hamilton.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Hamilton shared posts on X promoting misinformation about FEMA spending during Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n
During his temporary leadership, FEMA ceased door-to-door canvassing to reach survivors after disasters, and canceled\u00a0a multibillion-dollar resilience grant program, since\u00a0restored by a federal judge. The Department of Government Efficiency gained access to internal FEMA networks containing survivors\u2019 private information. FEMA staff were fired for\u00a0fulfilling a reimbursement payment to New York City\u00a0for housing undocumented immigrants as part of FEMA\u2019s Shelter and Services program.<\/p>\n
Hamilton has said he believes FEMA needs major reform. He has said that he wants FEMA to move faster, that the agency is saddled with responsibilities he sees as outside its remit, and that some states have become too dependent on the agency. A Trump-appointed council last week urged sweeping changes to FEMA, which would require congressional action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s going to need to rebuild trust across the agency,\u201d said Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator under former President Joe Biden, adding that she believes Hamilton cares about FEMA and she appreciated his outreach to emergency management directors and former officials during and after his tenure.<\/p>\n
Senate confirmation process could raise questions of experience<\/p>\n
Hamilton could face pushback in the Senate confirmation process over never having led an emergency management agency, a common stepping stone to becoming administrator of an agency with over 21,000 employees.<\/p>\n
Federal law requires the FEMA administrator to have \u201ca demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security\u201d and at least five years of \u201cexecutive leadership and management experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton trained as a Navy hospital corpsman before spending a decade as a Navy SEAL on SEAL Team Eight. He then became a U.S. State Department emergency management specialist handling overseas crisis response, then directed emergency medical services at DHS.<\/p>\n
#Cameron #Hamilton #fired #Trump #defending #FEMAs #exist #tapped #lead #FEMA #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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