Trump Nominates Cameron Hamilton to Lead FEMA Again After Ousting Him Over Agency Debate
Why It Matters
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has operated without a Senate-confirmed director since President Trump took office in January 2025. The nomination of Cameron Hamilton comes as the Atlantic hurricane season approaches and as a presidentially appointed expert council has called for significant structural changes to the agency that serves as the nation’s primary disaster response arm.
What Happened
President Trump has nominated Hamilton to serve as FEMA’s permanent administrator, roughly a year after removing him from the same role he had held on an acting basis. Hamilton’s previous tenure ended abruptly in May 2025 after he testified before Congress that eliminating FEMA “is not in the best interest of the American people” — a position that put him in direct conflict with administration officials who had openly called for the agency’s dissolution.
The nomination is part of a broader leadership shake-up at the agency. On Tuesday, acting FEMA director Karen Evans was replaced by Robert Fenton, a 30-year FEMA veteran who served on a recently convened presidential council of disaster experts. Fenton will lead the agency on an interim basis while Hamilton undergoes Senate confirmation. FEMA did not address questions about why Evans was removed.
Background: Hamilton’s First Departure
Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL with a background in counterterrorism emergency planning at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, took the acting director role in early 2025. His removal came swiftly after his Congressional testimony contradicted the stated position of then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who told reporters that Trump believed the agency “as it exists today should be eliminated.”
Hamilton later characterized his working relationship with DHS leadership as “very hostile.” In subsequent public remarks, he criticized policy decisions that he said had slowed disaster response, including a requirement under Noem that she personally approve all contracts exceeding $100,000 — a policy he argued created bottlenecks and delayed deployment of time-sensitive resources.
One widely reported consequence of those policies: following deadly floods in central Texas last summer, tens of thousands of calls from disaster survivors went unanswered after call center contracts were allowed to lapse. Noem maintained throughout that the agency was functioning efficiently.
By the Numbers
- ~1 year elapsed between Hamilton’s removal and his nomination for the permanent director role
- 30 years of FEMA experience held by interim director Robert Fenton
- $100,000 — the contract threshold that required Noem’s personal sign-off, creating delays across agency operations
- 0 Senate-confirmed FEMA directors since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025
Zoom Out
FEMA has faced sustained scrutiny over its response to multiple major disasters in recent years, including hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding events that strained federal resources and drew criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The agency’s structural future has been a live debate within the administration, with some officials favoring devolution of disaster response authority to individual states.
The expert council convened by the administration last week recommended sweeping operational reforms, signaling that even if Hamilton is confirmed, the agency he leads could look substantially different from its current form. Bipartisan frustration in Congress over delayed disaster grants and prolonged assistance timelines is likely to shape his confirmation hearings.
The broader federal policy environment — including ongoing debates over government spending and agency consolidation — continues to create uncertainty around FEMA’s long-term role. For context on other shifts in federal policy priorities, see coverage of Justice Department immigration enforcement changes reshaping other federal agencies.
What’s Next
Hamilton must now go through the Senate confirmation process. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have signaled concern about FEMA’s recent performance, and his hearings are expected to revisit both the agency’s disaster response record and the internal disputes that led to his original removal. If confirmed, he would take over an agency entering the height of disaster season with unresolved questions about its organizational structure and mission.