Overview
- Hamilton’s nomination, sent to the Senate on Monday, would make him the first Senate‑confirmed FEMA chief of Trump’s second term if approved.
- The administration removed acting administrator Karen Evans the next day and installed veteran official Robert Fenton as interim leader while the nomination is pending.
- Senators are expected to probe whether Hamilton meets legal requirements for emergency‑management expertise after a brief, rocky acting tenure that featured a DHS polygraph and an attempted cancellation of a large resilience grant later restored by a judge.
- He would inherit an agency thinned by staff cuts and policy shifts, with a growing backlog of disaster requests and the summer hurricane and wildfire seasons close at hand.
- A White House review panel last week urged major changes to how FEMA approves and funds aid without eliminating the agency, pointing to a reset that shifts more responsibility and costs to states.