'New bureaucracy' at DHS made Trump official unreachable for '24 hours' during deadly crisis

After Central Texas was rocked by deadly floods over the 4th of July Weekend, President Donald Trump drew vehement criticism from Democrats for toying with the idea of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — an idea he appeared to back down from, at least temporarily. And Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was criticized as well for FEMA's response to the tragedy.

One of the FEMA officials who is still being scrutinized over the Texas disaster is acting administrator David Richardson. According to Washington Post reporter Brianna Sachs, he was unreachable for "hours and hours" during the flooding — and Noem is being blamed for it.

"Just a few weeks earlier, his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, instituted a policy requiring her approval for any expenditure over $100,000," Sachs explains in an article published on September 25. "That meant, in order to deploy resources to Texas, FEMA officials needed Richardson to get those requests in front of Noem — fast. But for about 24 hours in the early aftermath of one of the nation's deadliest flash-flooding events in decades, key staff members could not reach FEMA's top official, according to eight current and former officials with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they said they feared retaliation."

Sachs adds, "The agency's typical posture is to get resources to a disaster zone before state and local governments even have to ask for them, current and former officials have said, because minutes can cost lives."

Quoted anonymously, a senior official who handles search-and-rescue resources said of Richardson, "Nobody could get ahold of him for hours and hours."

Sachs notes that "Richardson's predecessor," Cameron Hamilton, believes that Noem's requirements are creating "entirely new forms of bureaucracy" at FEMA.

"In a lawsuit that 20 states have brought against Richardson, Noem and DHS over the shuttering of an aid program," Sachs observes, "the plaintiffs argue that Richardson is 'unlawfully' acting as FEMA's top official because he does 'not satisfy any of these criteria' under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for stepping into such a high-level position. For example, he was not the first assistant to the administrator as of January 20; nor was he nominated or confirmed by the Senate to temporarily fill the role, according to the lawsuit."

Read Brianna Sachs' full Washington Post article at this link (subscription required).