Cameron Hamilton, FEMA’s acting administrator, was summoned to Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, where he was terminated by Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Troy Edgar and Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the events.
Hamilton returned to FEMA headquarters a few miles away, collected his belongings and left. His biography was removed from FEMA’s website and his official X account was archived.
The firing occurred a day after Hamilton testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee, where he seemed to contradict recent comments made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about potentially eliminating FEMA.
“I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton said at the hearing on Wednesday.
In response to questions, FEMA’s press office confirmed that Hamilton had been fired.“Effective today, David Richardson is now serving as the Senior Official Performing the duties of the FEMA Administrator,” a spokesperson said in an email, referring to the assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. “Cameron Hamilton is no longer serving in this capacity.”Neither FEMA nor DHS, which oversees the agency, gave a reason for Hamilton being fired.
Former FEMA chief of staff Michael Coen said Hamilton’s firing “further erodes the confidence that state emergency managers and the American people are going to have in the nation’s emergency management.”
Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, considered resigning about two months ago, until FEMA staffers convinced him to stay, according to a person who was granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
In late March, Hamilton was given a lie-detector test by Homeland Security officials to determine if he leaked information about a private meeting he had with Noem and Lewandowski at DHS headquarters. The test cleared Hamilton.
More recently, Hamilton appeared to be growing into his job, speaking at conferences and building rapport with lawmakers. In public appearances, Hamilton could come across as friendly and occasionally funny.
In April, Hamilton sent the White House a six-page memo with options to reduce FEMA’s role in responding to natural disasters. Hamilton’s suggestion to sharply curtail the number of natural disasters that FEMA would provide help for has drawn widespread attention.
His firing comes at a tumultuous time as Trump looks to overhaul or potentially abolish the agency that gives states and individuals roughly $45 billion a year to help recover from natural disasters.
While Hamilton was being fired, Noem was fielding questions about FEMA’s future at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
“We have seen an upheaval at FEMA that is going to put lives in jeopardy,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, told Noem. “We are losing indispensable staff just weeks away from fire and hurricane season.”
After the hearing, Murray explained that she didn’t know about Hamilton’s firing and said, “I don’t like the appearance of it. But I don’t know if there’s more behind it.”
In a separate interview, Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat, said, “I worry very much about what happens when natural disasters hit.”
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican whose state was badly damaged during Hurricane Helene last year, said he was “disappointed” when told of Hamilton’s firing.
“I thought he was a good leader,” Tillis said.
