Cameron Hamilton, above, has been nominated by President Trump to steer the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA). He beforehand led the company in an appearing capability, however was eliminated by the Trump administration a few yr in the past after telling Congress that didn’t assume the company needs to be eradicated.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
President Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton to steer the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA), roughly one yr after the administration eliminated Hamilton from the identical place.
FEMA has been with no Senate-confirmed chief since President Trump took workplace. Hamilton beforehand led the company in an appearing capability. If he’s confirmed by the Senate, he’ll re-take management of the company because it heads into the Atlantic hurricane season.
Final week, a Trump appointed council of catastrophe consultants advisable main adjustments to how FEMA operates.
Hamilton is a former Navy Seal who labored on emergency planning for terrorism occasions for the State Division and Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), in accordance with an official biographical abstract submitted to Congress when he appeared as a witness final yr.
Hamilton briefly led FEMA within the spring of 2025, however was eliminated by the Trump administration after a dramatic public disagreement with high administration officers about whether or not the company ought to live on.
“President Trump has been very clear because the starting that he believes that FEMA and its response in lots of, many circumstances has failed the American individuals, and that FEMA because it exists at this time needs to be eradicated,” former Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem informed reporters in Might 2025.
That very same week, Hamilton testified at a Congressional listening to and informed lawmakers, “I don’t imagine it’s in the perfect curiosity of the American individuals to get rid of the Federal Emergency Administration Company.”
The subsequent day, Hamilton was changed. He later described his relationship with DHS officers as “very hostile” on the podcast Catastrophe Robust.
Since then, Hamilton has spoken out in opposition to the Trump administration’s method to serving to survivors of disasters.
Beneath Hamilton’s successor, FEMA was sluggish to assist those that had survived hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and wildfires. Secretary Noem, who was fired from her place at DHS in March, required that she personally log off on all contracts over $100,000, making a bottleneck for the fast-moving catastrophe company. In a single case, after lethal floods hit central Texas final summer time, tens of hundreds of calls to FEMA from survivors went unanswered as a result of name middle contracts had been allowed to run out.
Noem repeatedly defended her choices, arguing that FEMA was operating effectively. However Hamilton raised the alarm about Noem’s insurance policies. They imposed “completely new types of forms now that’s lengthening wait instances for declare recipients, and delaying the deployment of time delicate assets,” Hamilton wrote on the networking web site LinkedIn.
In the identical publish, he stated claims that the administration’s insurance policies had been inflicting FEMA to run extra effectively might quantity to “mendacity.”
Hamilton now faces Senate affirmation hearings. Lawmakers from each events have expressed frustration with lengthy waits for catastrophe help and federal grant cash to guard individuals throughout the nation from floods, fires and storms.
