FEMA leadership under Trump

In late July 2026 the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced Cameron Hamilton’s nomination; on 7 August 2026 the full Senate confirmed him, making him the first permanent FEMA head of the second Trump term. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL who briefly led FEMA in early 2025 before being dismissed for opposing its elimination, pledged to keep the agency “objective, fair and reasonable,” to cut bureaucracy and pursue cost‑saving measures while maintaining consistent disaster‑claim handling.

His confirmation came as part of a slate of 74 Trump nominees, including David Cummins for the Transportation Security Administration and Daniel Perez as ambassador to Brazil. Hamilton inherits an agency of more than 20,000 employees that lost over 4,300 staff members in the 2025 budget year, a backlog of disaster aid, and a busy summer disaster season with wildfires, flooding and more than 1,000 open disaster declarations. Democrats have accused the administration of politicizing relief, citing an Associated Press analysis showing the president approved roughly 80 % of requests from Republican governors versus about 60 % from Democratic governors.