As the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to the deadly flooding in Texas, one key resource is missing: the FEMA leader.
David Richardson, the agency’s acting administrator, has not been to the site of one of the nation’s deadliest floods in the U.S. in the past 25 years, upending a long practice of FEMA leaders making themselves visible after major disasters.
Public appearances by FEMA administrators, including meetings with governors and disaster survivors, have been a typical part of the nation’s disaster response, reassuring the public of federal support and showcasing political unity.
The Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s parent agency, did not respond directly to questions Wednesday from POLITICO’s E&E News about Richardson’s role in the government’s response to the disaster.
“DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” to the Texas flooding, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email, referring to help by the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection. “FEMA has deployed extensive staff to support Texas response and recovery operations based on staff skills and requirements.”
Still, former FEMA officials said Richardson’s absence — and his lack of public appearances, statements and social media postings — raise concerns that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is controlling FEMA’s response. Noem, who visited the flooded area of central Texas on Saturday, oversees 22 agencies, of which FEMA is just one.
“The secretary has a huge portfolio, and she will quickly get pulled in different directions to handle all of the things she needs to manage. You need the FEMA administrator, whose job is only to manage the disaster,” said Deanne Criswell, who ran FEMA during the Biden administration.
Since leaving Texas, Noem has held news conferences announcing DHS actions easing airport security and limiting foreign farmland purchases. She also met Wednesday in Washington with Qatar’s interior minister to discuss mutual cooperation ahead of the 2026 soccer World Cup in the United States.
“It shows governors and emergency managers around the country that when they have a need from the federal government, Richardson is probably not going to be their first call,” former FEMA chief of staff Michael Coen said of Noem’s lead role with the Texas flooding.
Richardson was in New Orleans on Wednesday as the death toll in Texas hit 120. He was attending a meeting of the panel President Donald Trump created to recommend major changes to FEMA. Richardson, who is not an official panel member, said nothing during the one-hour virtual meeting and was visible for only a few seconds at the end when he was introduced.
Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, said in an email that “President Trump, Secretary Noem, and FEMA have been exceptional partners throughout the flood response.”
The head of FEMA has a critical role in responding to disasters declared by a president. Federal law puts the administrator in charge of the nation’s efforts to “prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against the risk of natural disasters.”
The FEMA administrator oversees the agency’s disaster response, runs a national search-and-rescue system and directs other federal agencies to help by providing personnel, equipment and logistics.
A law enacted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 gave the agency administrator additional power and made the person “the principal advisor on emergency management.”
FEMA administrators, including Richardson’s immediate predecessor, Trump appointee Cameron Hamilton, routinely toured disaster sites to meet state and local officials and talk to survivors and emergency workers.
“When Hamilton was in the role, he was out there doing something to encourage us or announce something or do a photo op with survivors or regional [FEMA] leadership,” said a current FEMA employee who was granted anonymity to avoid retaliation. “I have no idea what’s going on with David Richardson’s absence.”
While praising Noem for visiting the heavily damaged area in Texas on Saturday, Criswell said it is more important for a FEMA administrator to be on-site because “they’re the ones that need to direct the appropriate resources.”
“The importance of me being on the ground was being able to talk to local officials, talk to the people that have been impacted, see firsthand what the damages are — and make sure FEMA was directing the appropriate resources as fast as possible into the appropriate area,” Criswell said.
‘We haven’t seen anything out of him’
Since his appointment by Trump on May 8, Richardson has shunned all publicity, making no public appearances or statements. He declined to set up an official account on X, which the four previous FEMA administrators have done, including three Trump appointees. His FEMA biography page has no photograph.
Richardson personally backed out of a telephone meeting he was scheduled to attend in late June with leaders of the nation’s major emergency management associations, one association leader told POLITICO’s E&E News on Wednesday.
“We were on the call and sat there. About 15 minutes after the call was supposed to start, they informed us that he had been called to the White House and he would not be joining us,” said the association leader, who was granted anonymity to discuss private events.
“We haven’t seen anything out of him,” the leader said of Richardson. “To be essentially the top emergency manager for the federal government and not be trying to develop relationships with state and local emergency managers and professional associations, it really is doing a disservice to the American people.”
Richardson’s absence — also noted by some other online news outlets — has gotten Congress’ attention. In a letter to the administration on Wednesday, four senior House Democrats noted that a FEMA administrator is “the federal lead after a disaster” and asked, “Is David Richardson currently fulfilling this statutory responsibility?”
Richardson is serving as acting administrator — a position that has no statutory job requirements and no Senate approval. A former Marine officer, Richardson had been assistant secretary for DHS’ Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office since the start of Trump’s second term and has worked in the private sector since leaving the Marine Corps in 2013 after 22 years of service.
Richardson has no emergency management experience, which is unusual for the head of FEMA. The federal law enacted after Hurricane Katrina requires Senate-approved FEMA administrators to have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management.”
Richardson sparked controversy on his second day on the job, telling FEMA employees in a virtual meeting, “Don’t get in my way,” according to a leaked recording of the conversation. “I will run right over you.”
Richardson replaced Hamilton, a Trump appointee who was fired after telling a congressional committee FEMA shouldn’t be eliminated, in an apparent contradiction of Trump’s repeated vows to abolish the agency.
Hamilton also had no emergency management experience.
DHS Secretary Noem was governor of South Dakota before taking her current position in January and previously was a member of the U.S. House and the South Dakota Legislature.
Noem takes lead
It’s unclear how Richardson’s absence from Texas has affected FEMA’s response, in part because Texas has one of the nation’s best state emergency management agencies and has taken a lead role that few other states could assume.
“Texas is unique in that they have lots of resources and assets and capacity,” said a former senior FEMA official who has contact with the agency. “I haven’t heard anybody complain about, we’re not getting this.”
But the former official said that Noem has imposed a new policy requiring her approval for any contract exceeding $100,000. The policy applies to routine FEMA actions during disasters such as hiring a logistics company to transport supplies to a disaster site.
“It’s hard to respond when the secretary has to approve anything over $100,000,” said the former official, who was granted anonymity to talk candidly about FEMA. “If you can’t spend $150,000 on a requirement and you have to wait for the secretary to approve that, maybe it’s too late.”
Since Trump approved a disaster declaration Sunday for the flooded Texas county, FEMA has been giving emergency aid to affected households to pay for temporary lodging, minor home repairs and other emergency expenses.
But only 11 households had been approved for aid as of Wednesday morning, FEMA’s website shows. Kerr County, Texas, where most flood deaths occurred, has about 26,000 households.
“That’s pretty low,” the former FEMA official said, noting that the agency recently stopped its long-standing practice of having disaster workers knock on doors in damaged areas to sign people up for FEMA aid. “I would be asking the regional [FEMA] administrator why that number is so low and what can we do to improve registrations.”
Texas is part of FEMA Region 6, which currently does not have an administrator.
Reporter Mike Lee contributed to this report.
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