President Trump has nominated Cameron Hamilton to serve as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Hamilton, a former member of the Navy SEALs, briefly led the agency last year as acting administrator.

FEMA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since Trump took office.

“Cam Hamilton is a great pick by President Trump to be FEMA Director. I will move his nomination quickly through our committee,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) commented.

More from The New York Times:

ADVERTISEMENT

The nomination is the Trump administration’s latest step toward an overhaul of FEMA that could shift significant responsibility for disaster response back to state and local governments, though officials have backed away from eliminating the agency. A Trump-appointed FEMA task force released a set of proposals Thursday that laid out goals to limit federal disaster aid to “truly significant events” while speeding up the flow of that money to communities.

The choice is likely to face opposition from Democrats and critics of the administration’s approach to disaster response, who have cited a federal law passed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that requires the FEMA administrator to have experience leading disaster management.

Mr. Hamilton previously managed emergency medical technicians on the southern border as a division director in the Homeland Security Department, according to a biography posted by the Special Operations Association of America. He also worked as an emergency management specialist in the State Department “directly supporting crisis response teams and the Bureau of Counterterrorism,” according to the biography.

FEMA administrators typically have backgrounds leading emergency management agencies at the state or city level, or as regional administrators within FEMA.

Hamilton, who previously worked as the director of business strategy for a defense contractor and unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. House seat in Virginia, has been one of three temporary FEMA leaders since January 2025.

NBC News shared further:

FEMA’s workforce has been worn down by mass staff departures, policies that hamstrung operations and a 75-day-long DHS shutdown that ended April 30.

Hamilton will need to ensure the agency is prepared for summer disaster season, just weeks away, while answering to Trump, who is likely to expect major reforms after a council he appointed recommended sweeping changes last Friday.

“Now is the opportunity to stabilize FEMA,” said Michael Coen, the agency’s chief of staff in the Obama and Biden administrations.

Hamilton, who had never been a state or local emergency management director and who had publicly criticized FEMA in the past, was a controversial choice when Trump named him temporary leader in January 2025, just days before the president floated the idea of “getting rid” of FEMA.

ADVERTISEMENT

His rupture with DHS officials began as he defended a federal role in supporting disaster-impacted states, tribes and territories.

“Once the conversation shifted to, ‘Now we’re going to abolish,’ I immediately expressed concern,” he said last September on the “Disaster Tough” podcast with John Scardena, a former FEMA incident management team leader.

DHS officials even subjected him to a polygraph test, accusing him and other officials of leaking details of a private meeting. He passed but said he knew his dismissal was inevitable.

At a May 7 appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, asked Hamilton if he believed FEMA should be abolished.

“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he replied. The next day, he was fired.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.