The Trump administration is considering whether to relocate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Texas and put Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TEDM), in charge of the agency.
Moving the agency about 1,500 miles from Washington to Texas could create “huge challenges” by separating the headquarters from its overseeing agency, according to former FEMA officials.
Kidd acknowledged he was interviewed by Trump to run FEMA but posted on LinkedIn that he declined and is committed to serving Texas first.
Kidd currently sits on a 13-member Trumpappointed FEMA review council. Should FEMA be moved to Texas, it could accommodate Kidd’s wish to remain in Texas.
FEMA Administrator David Richardson resigned recently to return to the private sector.
FEMA chief of staff Karen Evans will fill the acting administrator role stating Dec. 1.
The FEMA Review Council is in place to advise the president, through the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, the assistant to the president for Homeland Security, and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, on the existing ability of FEMA to capably and impartially address disasters occurring within the country and make recommended changes to serve the national interest.
Other members of the council include Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Gov. Greg Abbott, Phil Bryant, former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant, Tampa mayor Jane Castor, former chief of staff Mark Cooper Gov. John Bel Edwards, Miami-Dade County sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, Chubb LTD. CEO Evan Greenberg, Florida Division of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie, RNC chairman Michael Whatley, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and FEMA Region 9 administrator Robert J. Fenton Jr.
The review council tasked with overhauling FEMA was supposed to release its recommendations before Monday but missed the deadline, likely due to the government shutdown. A spokesperson for Homeland Security declined to say when the report would be published but wrote in a statement that it would “inform this administration’s ongoing efforts to fundamentally restructure FEMA, transforming it from its current form into a streamlined, missionfocused disaster-response force.”
The report could be published as soon as mid-December, and a spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a council member, said the finalized report could be voted on at an upcoming public meeting.