The acting administrator of Fema is leaving the agency, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday.
David Richardson resigned after only a brief stint leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency amid a furor over his responsiveness, especially during the catastrophic flooding in Texas during the summer that swept away a children’s camp and killed more than 130 people.
The Trump administration has been vocal about wanting to dismantle Fema and the Washington Post was first to report on Monday that Richardson had handed in his resignation after six months doing the job.
Richardson’s departure was confirmed by an unnamed official, according to Reuters, and is taking place while the Atlantic hurricane season is still under way.
He is a former US Marine Corps officer and becomes the second Fema head to leave or be fired since May. Richardson has been accused of keeping a low profile during the deadly Texas flash floods in July. He had already baffled staff in June when he said he was unaware the country had a hurricane season.
His staff later insisted that the comment had been meant as a joke, an explanation greeted with skepticism by former Fema personnel.
The Trump administration official familiar with Richardson’s departure gave no reasons for the Fema chief stepping down.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)– which has overall responsibility for Fema – said Richardson would be returning to “the private sector” and would be replaced by the agency’s chief of staff, Karen Evans, from the beginning of next month.
Evans would oversee a radical overhaul of Fema, as set out in a forthcoming report from a review council set up by the White House for that purpose, the statement said.
The spokesperson praised Richardson for “[leading] Fema through the 2025 hurricane season, delivering historic funding to North Carolina, Texas, Florida, New Mexico and Alaska, and overseeing a comprehensive review that identified and eliminated serious governmental waste and inefficiency, while refocusing the agency to deliver swift resources to Americans in crisis.
“We anticipate the forthcoming release of the Fema Review Council’s final report, which will inform this administration’s ongoing efforts to fundamentally restructure Fema, transforming it from its current form into a streamlined, mission-focused disaster-response force. Starting December 1, Fema Chief of Staff Karen Evans will step into this important role.”
Richardson’s predecessor was fired in May, after pushing back against Trump administration efforts to dismantle the agency.
Donald Trump has said he wants to greatly reduce the size of Fema, which is the agency currently responsible for preparing for and responding to natural disasters in the US, although the president has said state governments can handle many of the federal agency’s functions.
Richardson’s abrupt departure is an ignominious end for an official who told staff when he first arrived in May that he would “run right over” anyone who resists changes and that all decisions must go through him.
“I, and I alone in Fema, speak for Fema,” he said at the time. Fema has lost about 2,500 employees since January through buyouts, firings and other incentives for staff to quit, reducing its overall size to about 23,350, according to a September Government Accountability Office report.
The cuts are part of Trump’s broader push to cut the cost and size of the federal civilian workforce.
Reuters contributed reporting
