President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA again—less than a year after he was unceremoniously fired from the disaster relief agency, according to Misryoum newsroom reporting from three people familiar with the decision.
Hamilton’s first shot at the job came at the start of Trump’s second term, when the administration was pushing hard to eliminate FEMA and shift disaster response responsibilities to the states.
From clash to possible comeback
At the time, Hamilton didn’t exactly glide through the role.
Misryoum newsroom reporting describes clashes with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, the longtime Trump ally helping her run the department that oversees FEMA.
Lewandowski, in particular, believed Hamilton wasn’t moving quickly or forcefully enough, Misryoum reporting indicates.
Hamilton, for his part, increasingly objected to plans to scrap FEMA.
He argued—again, per Misryoum newsroom reporting—that while FEMA needed major reforms, preserving the agency was ultimately in the public’s best interest.
That tension seems to have been the thread running through his short tenure.
When Hamilton’s job ended, it wasn’t quiet.
A former Navy SEAL who ran a failed bid for Congress in 2024, he had limited experience managing natural disasters before his first stint at FEMA last year.
Then, last May, he learned he might be fired just hours before he was scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill.
He testified anyway—and publicly broke with the administration’s stance on FEMA’s future.
His message to the committee was blunt: “As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management, and to the secretary of homeland security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
He also said, during that hearing, “I am not a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made.
That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.” After that, he was escorted out of FEMA headquarters the next day.
A shift in tone under new leadership
Misryoum newsroom reporting says Hamilton’s expected return points to a sharp change in the administration’s posture toward FEMA—especially under Noem’s successor, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Mullin’s team has begun rolling back several Noem-era policies and cuts, while taking a different tone—praising FEMA’s work even as it pushes to cut red tape and speed disaster aid to communities.
Of course, the contrast is striking when you look at where this all started.
Trump was the first to say FEMA should “go away,” floating the idea days into his presidency.
He later said the administration would phase out the agency after last year’s hurricane season.
But Noem’s aggressive overhaul reportedly hollowed out senior leadership, cut roughly 30% of the workforce, cratered morale, and helped create a multibillion-dollar backlog in disaster funding.
State and local officials nationwide pushed back—along with prominent Republican lawmakers.
Now, Misryoum editorial desk notes the administration appears to be backing off its most sweeping plans, even with FEMA still awaiting a final report from the FEMA Review Council, a task force Trump created early in his presidency to overhaul the agency.
Misryoum newsroom reported that Trump is yet to nominate a FEMA administrator during his second term.
Instead, DHS has cycled through three acting leaders over the past year, including Hamilton—so his reappearance wouldn’t be just a personnel story.
It would be part of an ongoing attempt to find an approach that can survive politics and, well, disasters.
There are also details from Hamilton’s first run that still feel vivid.
In the month before his firing, news leaked about a closed-door policy meeting that included Hamilton about FEMA’s future, including discussions of how the agency could be dismantled.
Then DHS leaders ordered him to take a lie detector test.
Misryoum newsroom reporting also says Hamilton was mistakenly tipped off to his impending termination—hours before he was to testify—after DHS notified FEMA security that his access would soon be shut off.
DHS later told FEMA leadership an error had been made.
A FEMA spokesperson told Misryoum newsroom there were “no personnel matters to announce at this time,” and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later blamed Hamilton’s testimony for his firing, saying, “This individual testified saying something that was contrary to what the president believes and the goals of this administration in regards to FEMA policy.”
The question now is whether the shift is real—or just a pause.
Misryoum newsroom reporting also says multiple sources indicated the decision to fire Hamilton was actually weeks in the making.
And honestly, standing in that gap between policy plans and disaster timelines… you can almost hear the quiet urgency in a room before a storm—someone flipping through paperwork, air conditioner humming, nobody sure which direction the agency is about to be pushed.
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