The White House released a list of nominees on Monday for various positions across the federal government, including former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton to take over as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lead—a position he was fired from a year ago.
As temporary administrator for the disaster agency last year, he defended FEMA against President Donald Trump’s criticism of its existence and the administration’s preference to dismantle it, which Hamilton said was not in the country’s best interests.
Hamilton’s nomination could signal that Trump is thinking twice about breaking down FEMA.
If confirmed by the Senate, the former SEAL would become the agency’s first permanent administrator since Trump’s return to office.
There have been three temporary leaders of FEMA in the president’s second term, including Hamilton’s short term from January to May 2025.
Hamilton would take over the agency amid increased scrutiny of its parent department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), over its operations to enforce immigration law.
His nomination comes almost to the day since he was terminated and replaced on May 8, 2025. Hamilton’s removal came one day after he testified to a House Appropriations subcommittee and appeared to contradict Trump and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s desire to eliminate the agency.
While touring Hurricane Helene damage in January 2025, Trump said, “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away.”
Noem told Congress in a May 6 hearing that Trump believed the agency had failed in its mission to provide relief to states hit by natural disasters.
“He believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated,” Noem said.
Noem had also said in a cabinet meeting in March that the Trump administration planned to dismantle FEMA.
Hamilton testified to the House subcommittee in May, “I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”
However, he conceded that the agency could be reformed.
“FEMA was established to provide focused support in truly catastrophic disasters. Yet at times, we have strayed far from that core mission and evolved into an overextended federal bureaucracy attempting to manage every type of emergency, no matter how minor,” he said.
“Instead of being a last resort, FEMA is all too often used by states and public officials as a financial backstop for routine issues that frankly should be handled locally.”
The former Navy SEAL had said he would advocate for a return to federalism within FEMA’s authority to distribute disaster relief.