(Bloomberg) – With just a week to go before hurricane season, top jobs at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency remain vacant and critics say that will make it harder for the government to respond to disasters.
FEMA lacks a second-in-command and three of four associate-administrator posts are either vacant or temporarily filled. The agency's external affairs director and press secretary left in February, followed in April by the head of insurance and mitigation. Separately, the White House adviser in charge of coordinating disaster response departed a few days later.
FEMA's full-time staff has shrunk 25% since 2012
The vacancies come on the heels of a tragic year for disasters. Of the five costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, three struck within weeks of each other in 2017 from Texas to the Virgin Islands, levying a combined financial toll of $265 billion and at least 200 deaths. Those disasters were followed by the worst wildfires in California's history, straining FEMA, an agency whose full-time staff authorization has shrunk 25% since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Elizabeth Zimmerman, the agency's top official during the Obama administration for responding to disasters, said the openings have left “gaping holes for the internal workings of FEMA.”
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