The state’s top emergency official also is under discussion to lead FEMA. The agency’s acting chief resigned Monday after a six-month stint.
The Trump administration is considering moving the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters to Texas and putting the state’s top emergency manager in charge of the agency, two former senior FEMA officials told POLITICO’s E&E News.
Moving the agency from its headquarters in Washington would create “huge challenges” coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA and is located across town from the agency, according to one former official, who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, White House officials interviewed Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, to run the nation’s disaster agency. After POLITICO’s E&E News reported the interview, Kidd posted a statement on his LinkedIn account acknowledging the interview but saying, “My work in Texas is not done.”
On Monday, FEMA acting Administrator David Richardson resigned after a six-month tenure and is returning to the private sector. Starting Dec. 1, FEMA chief of staff Karen Evans will assume the role of acting administrator, a DHS spokesperson said.
A panel appointed by Trump to review FEMA plans is expected to recommend moving the agency to Texas, which would accommodate Kidd and his refusal to leave his home state, according to a former FEMA official.
“The admin wanted him, but he refused to leave Texas,” one FEMA source said.
Kidd has remained close to the Trump administration and is one of 13 members of Trump’s FEMA review panel, which is expected to make recommendations shortly.
Kidd had a high profile in July after flash flooding overwhelmed central Texas and killed at least 130 people, including many young girls at a summer camp. Kidd was at a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shortly after the deadly flood and met with Richardson at the disaster site.
Kidd is widely respected and has extensive experience running one of the nation’s largest disaster agencies. He appears to meet all statutory requirements to run FEMA and likely would be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Kidd would be FEMA’s first permanent administrator since Trump returned to the White House in January. Before Richardson ran the agency, Cameron Hamilton was acting administrator until he was fired in May after publicly disagreeing with the administration about the importance of FEMA.
When the White House interviewed Kidd in February, it also interviewed the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, who has helped Trump by establishing an immigrant detention site in the Everglades to handle the increasing number of detainees.
Neither Kidd nor the Trump administration immediately responded to requests for comment.