President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Cameron Hamilton to serve as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nearly a year after he was removed as its acting head following testimony to Congress in which he defended the agency's existence.
Hamilton went to the White House on Wednesday with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for a meeting with Trump to discuss FEMA opportunities, according to an administration official. But, the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News it has "no personnel announcements to make at this time.”
The White House declined to comment and Hamilton did not respond to a request for comment.
Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and former combat medic, served as the senior official performing the duties of FEMA administrator during the first five months of Trump's second term.
In May 2025, he testified to a House committee that he didn't believe FEMA should be eliminated, contradicting previous statements by Trump who had made clear that he wanted to dismantle the agency.
A day later, he was removed from the job. Tricia McLaughlin, then a DHS spokesperson, told NBC News at the time that the move was not a response to his testimony.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, suggested that Hamilton's testimony factored into the decision to push him out. "This is a personnel matter in regards to the Department of Homeland Security, but my understanding is that this individual testified saying something that was contrary to what the president believes and the goals of this administration in regards to FEMA policy. And so, of course, we want to make sure that people in every position are advancing the administration’s goals," she told reporters at a press briefing.
Hamilton previously told NBC News he was pushed out of the top FEMA spot by Corey Lewandowski, a special government employee who served as a top adviser to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hamilton would be the first full-time FEMA administrator of Trump's second term. The agency has only been led by acting leaders over the last 15 months.
His nomination comes as DHS has remained shut down since mid-February and just a few weeks after Mullin was sworn in as the new homeland security secretary. Hamilton recently praised Mullin in a post on X after the secretary visited North Carolina to discuss its recovery from Hurricane Helene in 2024. "This is leadership in action," Hamilton wrote.
In another X post in early April, Hamilton thanked Trump for the previous opportunity to lead FEMA, saying he wished his "tenure had been longer, as there is still much more work to do for reform." He said he was confident that under Mullin's leadership, "good things will come."
Earlier this month, Mullin reversed a widely criticized rule implemented by Noem that required any DHS spending over $100,000 be personally approved by the secretary.
Hamilton served four tours in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL and then supported crisis response teams and the Bureau of Counterterrorism at the State Department. Before leading FEMA in an acting capacity, he oversaw DHS' division for emergency first responders.
While Hamilton defended FEMA's purpose in his 2025 testimony, he argued that it had "evolved into an overextended federal bureaucracy attempting to manage every type of emergency, no matter how minor."
"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," he told lawmakers. "This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependency, waste, inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who are in genuine need."
Trump had proposed several times early last year to wind down FEMA operations, saying that it would start "phasing out" after the hurricane season. During the summer, however, following catastrophic floods in Texas, Noem said that the president conveyed that he no longer wanted to close down the agency. She said Trump “wants it to be remade so that it’s an agency that is new in how it deploys and supports states.”
