Acting head of US disaster agency resigns after criticism over handling of Texas floods
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US Acting Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency David Richardson testifying at a hearing on improving disaster response, in Washington DC.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The Trump administration’s top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), David Richardson, resigned on Nov 17 after about six months on the job.
Mr Richardson had no emergency management experience when he took on the role. He came to Fema from the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, where he was an assistant secretary. Mr Richardson was publicly criticised for Fema’s handling of catastrophic July 4 floods
Fema Chief of Staff Karen Evans is set to take over from Mr Richardson on Dec 1, a Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed. Ms Evans was previously Homeland Security’s chief information officer during Mr Trump’s first term in office.
Mr Richardson’s resignation was first reported by the Washington Post. Mr Richardson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Richardson’s departure marks the second time in recent months that the administration has reset the agency’s leadership. Mr Richardson replaced former Navy Seal Cameron Hamilton
Mr Trump has repeatedly suggested that the agency should be eliminated. He launched an independent review council to weigh in on Fema’s fate by the year’s end.
In his first speech to staff at Fema, Mr Richardson said he would “run right over” anyone who tried to get in his way, according to a recording obtained by Bloomberg News. In a subsequent meeting in early June, Mr Richardson said he was not previously aware that the US had a hurricane season, according to a Reuters report. The White House claimed he’d been joking.
Hurricane season – which officially started on June 1 and runs through Nov 30 – is usually Fema’s busiest time of the year, but the US has not experienced a landfalling storm so far.
The largest Fema operation on Mr Richardson’s watch was the response to devastating floods in Texas Hill Country, which struck over July 4th weekend.
Mr Richardson waited more than a week before visiting the disaster zone to meet with survivors, triggering blowback from his staff and from former Fema officials who said Mr Richardson should have shown up sooner.
Frustrated with the Trump administration’s stance toward Fema – and Mr Richardson’s leadership in particular – nearly 200 current and former Fema staffers signed an open letter in late August criticising cuts to disaster-related funding, programming and staffing, saying such moves made the nation less prepared for catastrophes.
In response, Fema put the small number of employees who publicly signed the letter on administrative leave and launched an internal investigation. Some of the known participants were required to submit to questioning by Fema investigators without legal representation present or risk losing their jobs, as Bloomberg reported.
Most Fema workers were exempt from widespread furloughs amid the government shutdown, which ended Nov 12. Mr Trump has continued to approve funding for disaster response and recovery in recent weeks, signing off on requests for aid from governors of Alaska, Nebraska and North Dakota. BLOOMBERG
