President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Cameron Hamilton as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nearly a year later. he was removed as acting leader following testimony before Congress in which he defended the agency’s existence.
Hamilton traveled to the White House with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday for a meeting with Trump to discuss FEMA opportunities, according to an administration official. But the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News it had “no personal 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, was the top official serving as FEMA administrator during the first five months of Trump’s second term.
In May 2025, he testified before a House committee that he did not believe FEMA should be eliminated, contradicting previous statements by Trump who had made clear he wanted to dismantle the agency.
A day later he was deleted of work. 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 expel him. “This is a personnel matter as it relates to the Department of Homeland Security, but my understanding is that this individual said something that was contrary to what the president believes and to the goals of this administration as it relates to FEMA policy. And so, of course, we want to make sure that people, regardless of their position, are advancing the goals of the administration,” she told reporters at a press briefing.
Hamilton previously told NBC News that he was pushed out of the top spot at FEMA by Corey Lewandowski, a special government employee who served as a top adviser to then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hamilton would be the first full-time FEMA administrator for Trump’s second term. The agency has only been run by interim leaders for the past 15 months.
His appointment comes as DHS has remained closed since mid-February and just weeks after Mullin was sworn in as the new secretary of Homeland Security. Hamilton recently praised Mullin in a post on after the secretary visited North Carolina to discuss its recovery from Hurricane Helene in 2024. “This is leadership in action,” Hamilton wrote.
In another Message In early April, Hamilton thanked Trump for the previous opportunity to lead FEMA, saying he wished his “tenure was longer, because there is still a lot of work to do for reform.” He expressed confidence that under Mullin’s leadership, “good things will happen.”
Earlier this month, Mullin overturned a widely criticized rule implemented by Noem which required that any DHS expenditure over $100,000 be personally approved by the Secretary.
Hamilton completed four missions in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, then supported the State Department’s Crisis Response Teams and Office of Counterterrorism. Before leading FEMA in an acting capacity, he oversaw DHS’ division for emergency first responders.
While Hamilton defended FEMA’s goal in his 2025 testimony, he argued that it had “evolved into an overwhelmed federal bureaucracy attempting to handle all types of emergencies, no matter how minor.”
“Instead of being a last resort, FEMA is too often used by states and public officials as a financial safety net for common problems that, frankly, should be handled locally,” he told lawmakers. “This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependence, waste, and inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who actually need it.”
Trump had proposed several times early last year to end FEMA operations, saying that it would start to “gradually disappear” after hurricane season. However, over the summer, following catastrophic flooding in Texas, Noem said the president made it clear he no longer wanted to close the agency. She said Trump “wants it to be remade to be an agency that is fresh in the way it deploys and supports states.”
