Trump Nominates Cameron Hamilton to Lead FEMA

President Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton to be administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on May 11, 2026. If confirmed by the Senate, Hamilton would serve as the first permanent administrator of FEMA in President Trump’s second term and principal adviser to the president and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on emergency management.

Hamilton previously served as acting administrator of FEMA from January to May 2025.

Hamilton was removed from the acting role the day after he testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee on May 7, 2025. According to the Washington Times, Hamilton was fired after defending FEMA. The agency has had three temporary leaders since the start of the administration.

Federal law enacted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 requires the FEMA administrator to have experience leading disaster management.

Hamilton’s background includes service as a Navy hospital corpsman and a decade as a Navy SEAL on SEAL Team Eight. He later worked as an emergency management specialist in the State Department directly supporting crisis response teams and the Bureau of Counterterrorism.

He also served as division director in the Homeland Security Department managing emergency medical technicians on the southern border. Hamilton has said he believes FEMA needs major reform and wants the agency to move faster.

A Trump-appointed FEMA task force released proposals on May 8, 2026 that aim to limit federal disaster aid to “truly significant events” while speeding up delivery of that money to communities. A Trump-appointed council issued recommendations for sweeping changes to FEMA on May 9, 2026.

The nomination follows the administration’s decision to back away from eliminating the agency and instead pursue an overhaul that would shift significant responsibility for disaster response back to state and local governments.

During his earlier tenure as acting administrator, Hamilton oversaw changes that included ending door-to-door canvassing to reach disaster survivors, canceling a multibillion-dollar resilience grant program that was later restored by a federal judge, and granting the Department of Government Efficiency access to internal FEMA networks that contained survivors’ private information.

FEMA staff were also fired for issuing a reimbursement payment to New York City for housing undocumented immigrants under the agency’s Shelter and Services program. Hamilton shared posts on X in 2024 that promoted claims about FEMA spending during Hurricane Helene.

The agency has experienced mass staff departures, operational policies that affected field work, and a 75-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown that ended April 30, 2026. Hamilton’s prior testimony before Congress addressed these and other agency matters before his removal.