FEMA workers have been left dumbfounded on Monday when company head David Richardson reportedly stated he didn’t know the U.S. has a hurricane season, in line with 4 insiders.
The remark got here only a day after the 2024 hurricane season formally kicked off. NOAA has forecast as much as ten hurricanes this yr. Richardson, who took over FEMA in early Could, made the comment throughout a each day workers briefing.
“It was not clear to workers whether or not he meant it actually, as a joke, or in another context,” a supply shared.
He additionally stated there could be no new catastrophe plan, regardless of telling workers in Could to anticipate one.
“I cannot be issuing a brand new catastrophe plan as a result of I don’t wish to make adjustments which may counter the FEMA Evaluate Council,” Richardson stated. The council, fashioned beneath Donald Trump, contains DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and a number of other governors.
Richardson’s lack of catastrophe expertise has been a sore level, particularly after FEMA’s important workers cuts and canceled coaching classes. Three sources stated his remark unfold shortly, fueling fears about his familiarity with FEMA operations.
He had beforehand stated a plan, together with workouts, could be prepared by Could twenty third. As a substitute, workers are actually grappling with combined messages and restricted steerage.
Richardson nonetheless leads DHS’s counter-WMD workplace and has leaned on his previous as a Marine artillery officer. He changed Cameron Hamilton, fired after clashing with Trump’s imaginative and prescient to downsize FEMA. Over 2,000 FEMA workers have exited since Trump took workplace, and hurricane prep efforts have been scaled again dramatically.
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