Trump taps former Ala. official to lead FEMA

摘要

President Trump plans to tap Jeffrey Byard, a longtime disaster recovery official who led Alabama's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to be administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The White House announced the nomination late Friday. Byard has served at the agency since 2017 as its associate administrator for response and recovery. FEMA Administrator Brock Long announced his resignation last week after overseeing the agency's much-criticized response to the devastating string of hurricanes and wildfires in 2017. Despite catching flak from congressional Democrats, Long was a staunch defender of his agency. After Hurricane Michael last year, Long warned against what he termed "hurricane amnesia" (Greenwire, Oct. 12, 2018). He frequently called for states and localities to engage in more resilient building and have more involvement in disaster planning. If confirmed as administrator, Byard appears poised to continue that line of thinking.