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2w ago

FEMA Faces Leadership Crisis After US&R Chief Resigns Over Texas Flood Response Delays

Ken Pagurek quit over three-day search-and-rescue delays under DHS spending approvals, prompting Capitol demands for accountability.

FILE - Members of a search and rescue team embrace as they visit a memorial wall for flood victims, Sunday, July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Volunteers work to clear the area around the Guadalupe River near Camp Camp after catastrophic floods in Center Point, Texas, U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores/File Photo
A chair stands amid the ruins of a house near the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, U.S., July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo

Overview

  • Ken Pagurek stepped down Monday after a new DHS policy requiring Secretary Kristi Noem to sign off on all contracts over $100,000 delayed urban search-and-rescue team deployments by more than 72 hours.
  • Understaffing at FEMA call centers left thousands of central Texas flood survivors without timely assistance as at least 136 people perished.
  • At a July 23 House hearing, Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson defended the response as a model for disaster handling and rejected allegations of mismanagement.
  • Lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation to make FEMA an independent Cabinet-level agency over concerns about the agency’s autonomy under DHS oversight.
  • President Trump’s FEMA Review Council is preparing recommendations to overhaul or possibly phase out the agency as internal dissent grows.