Climate Politics
Can Trump's New FEMA Pick Save the Beleaguered Disaster Agency?
Backers say Cameron Hamilton will bring direction to the agency, but critics question whether he has the experience for its top job.
Trump’s FEMA nominee Cameron Hamilton
Photographer: Pete Kiehart/BloombergPresident Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency wrote a memo last spring laying out how to kill the disaster agency.
At the time, Cameron Hamilton was FEMA’s interim chief — a role that didn't last long. When called before Congress, he endorsed keeping the agency, not ending it as outlined in his own memo, titled “Abolishing FEMA.” That publicly put him at odds with his two bosses, Trump and Kristi Noem, then Homeland Security secretary. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, was pushed out of the administration within a day.