acting fema administrator appointed

It is likely only the general emergency management community that is vitally interested in who the Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be. In the past they have tapped FEMA Region 9 to have a regional administrator move up and take the reigns in Washington, DC until a permanent administrator is appointed.  Surprise! That did not happen. I expect the administrator in FEMA Region 9 has their hands full with the Los Angeles firestorm response and recovery processes that have already started.

Instead the rumor is this from the NY Times, Former Navy SEAL Said to Be Interim Head of FEMA  The lead sentence in the article says, “Cameron Hamilton does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large-scale disasters, like the wildfires in California.”  The appointee in waiting was identified later in the same story, “The leading candidates for that position include Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.” Someone I predicted would be a natural choice for Administrator. From a red state and some hurricanes under his belt. Not to mention Florida, since many appointments are coming from that red state.

I would not just say that this is an automatic. If Pete Hegseth can be nominated to be Defense Secretary based on his little experience, why not Cameron Hamilton as the permanent replacement? No, he is not a billionaire nor a perennial FOX News guest, but he has had a portfolio in the past that focused on the Southern Border—which could be very appealing to “the powers that be.”

I still think FEMA, due to their ability to coordinate across federal agencies and deal with mass care and displaced persons, will get sucked into the deportation of illegal aliens. Let’s see what happens. Active-duty military personnel have already been given “warning orders” for deployment to the border. Up to 10,000 soldiers of all types.