FEMA head resigns. Richardson had been hard to reach during Texas floods. [View all]

Source: Washington Post

David Richardson on Monday resigned as acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to people familiar with the situation, ending a brief tenure leading an agency the administration had publicly expressed a desire to dismantle.

Richardson, who spent about six months as the acting head of the nation’s disaster response agency, kept a low profile and was known for frequently being inaccessible, including during the early hours of the flood disaster in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend.

In recent months, current agency employees said Richardson spent limited time in daily operations meetings and shrank away from his role. In one meeting, according to people within FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, he said he did not expect to be in the position after Thanksgiving.

FEMA and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Richardson, a former Marine Corps artillery officer who was leading the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, took over for Cameron Hamilton in May, after Homeland Security Kristi L. Noem ousted Hamilton for publicly contradicting the administration’s desired aim to eliminate FEMA.

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