KB
‪@sorrykb.bsky.social‬

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There is no hell hot enough for this DHS spokesman.
“It is laughable that a career public employee, who claims to serve the American people, would choose to resign over our refusal to hastily approve a six-figure deployment contract without basic financial oversight,” another DHS spokesman said in a statement about Pagurek’s resignation. “We’re being responsible with taxpayer dollars, that’s our job.”
ALT
July 21, 2025 at 11:15 PM

Catherine Rampell
‪@crampell.bsky.social‬

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Head of FEMA Urban Search and Rescue branch resigns.
He told colleagues that TX delay was tipping point after months of admin efforts to dismantle the agency. DHS Sec Noem took 72 hours after TX flooding to authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue network

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/politics/fema-search-and-rescue-chief-resigns

FEMA search and rescue chief resigns after frustration with Texas flood response | CNN Politics
The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.
www.cnn.com
July 21, 2025 at 10:45 PM

FEMA search and rescue chief resigns after frustration with Texas flood response

By Gabe Cohen, CNN
5 min read
Updated 7:53 PM EDT, Mon July 21, 2025



Captain Ken Pagurek of Pennsylvania Task Force 1 talks to CNN after his 12-hour shift searching the rubble of a collapsed condo in Surfside, Florida.

Ken Pagurek talks to CNN after searching the rubble of a collapsed condo in Surfside, Florida, in 2021 CNN

(CNN) — The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday. … Ken Pagurek’s departure comes less than three weeks after a delayed FEMA response to catastrophic flooding in central Texas caused by bureaucratic hurdles put in place by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster response agency.

Pagurek told colleagues at FEMA that the delay was the tipping point that led to his voluntary departure after months of frustration with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, according to two sources familiar with his thinking. It took more than 72 hours after the flooding for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue network.

{snip}

Some FEMA officials have balked at sweeping changes to FEMA under the Trump administration, more than a dozen agency sources have told CNN, which they believe have stripped the agency of its autonomy and undermined its ability to respond to disasters quickly and efficiently. … Pagurek, who declined to comment, joins dozens of high-ranking officials to leave FEMA since Trump took office, as the agency undergoes a major overhaul and faces plummeting morale and a brain drain from the departure of longtime leaders.

{snip}

Cost controls

As CNN first reported, FEMA leaders were unable to quickly mobilize some critical resources, including these elite teams, in the crucial first hours of the Texas floods. The holdup stemmed from a new rule imposed by Noem, who continues to require her personal approval for every contract and grant over $100,000 before funds can be released – a threshold that FEMA officials called “pennies” during a disaster response. … Some FEMA teams, which are involved in large area searches, water rescues and finding human remains, didn’t arrive in Texas and begin field work until a week after the flood.

{snip}