FEMA Acting Chief David Richardson Resigns After Six Months on the Job

David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, resigned on Monday after about six months, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed, according to CBS News, NPR and NBC News.

FEMA’s chief of staff, Karen Evans, will become acting administrator on Dec. 1, a DHS spokesperson said, per CBS News and NBC News. Mr. Richardson took over in May, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem removed his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, according to CBS News and NPR. He had no prior emergency-management experience and had led a DHS office on countering weapons of mass destruction, NBC News and NPR reported.

His tenure drew criticism over the response to the catastrophic July floods in central Texas that killed more than 130 people, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic, according to CBS News and NBC News. NBC News reported that Mr. Richardson could not be reached for 24 hours after the floods began on July 4 and was later found to have been on vacation for the holiday weekend. CBS News reported that FEMA officials said the acting administrator was unreachable for hours, and NPR said he told a House committee in July he had been camping with his sons for the holiday weekend and helped manage the response from his truck. At a July congressional hearing he defended FEMA’s performance as a “model,” CBS News said.

In a statement, Mr. Richardson said, “I agreed to be the acting administrator through hurricane season when others wouldn’t. Hurricane season ends on 1 December. Since the danger has largely passed, I can now leave for other opportunities,” NBC News reported. DHS thanked him for his service and wished him continued success in the private sector, CBS News and NPR reported.

The departure is the latest turn at an agency in upheaval. NPR described a year of mass staff departures, program cuts and policy changes. NBC News reported that President Trump’s administration has proposed deep budget cuts and that Mr. Trump said in June that FEMA should be phased out after hurricane season. CBS News and NPR noted that Ms. Noem requires her personal approval for any agency expenditure above $100,000.

After replacing Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Richardson vowed to help fulfill Mr. Trump’s goal of pushing more disaster recovery responsibilities to the states and told FEMA employees he would “run right over” anyone who tried to obstruct that mission, according to CBS News and NPR.