Name: Acting FEMA head David Richardson resigns
Uploaded: 2025-11-17T21:01:17.642Z
Duration: 2 min 15 s
Description: David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, submitted his resignation Monday morning, according to multiple current and former Homeland Security officials familiar with the decision.

David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, submitted his resignation Monday morning, according to multiple current and former Homeland Security officials familiar with the decision.

Washington

David Richardson, who served as the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for six months, has announced his resignation. Richardson's leadership style drew attention during his short tenure, and his resignation comes after criticism of FEMA's response to the central Texas floods in July, which resulted in over 130 deaths.

Richardson faced accusations of being inaccessible during the early stages of the flood crisis, though he later defended FEMA's actions in a congressional hearing. The Department of Homeland Security has not yet commented on his resignation, and FEMA will soon need to appoint a new head.

Acting FEMA head David Richardson resigns

We've got some breaking news now from Washington, where the acting head of FEMA, David Richardson, has just announced his resignation. CBS News correspondent Chanel Call following along from our newsroom. What do we know about this? Well, Reid, our teams here at CBS News just confirming this moments ago. As you mentioned, David Richardson, who is the head of FEMA, announcing his resignation this morning, saying he's leaving his post. Important to mention here, he's only been serving in this role for the last six months. Before this, Reid, we understand that he was the assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction's office. These are some photos of Richardson. Now, from the outset, we understand that his leadership style sort of garnered a lot of attention within the agency. In fact, in his first all-hands meeting with agency staff, he said, quote, don't get in my way. I will run right over you. Then he declared, I and I alone speak for FEMA. Now, we have, Reid, reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on his resignation today. So far, have not heard back. But again, this is just breaking moments ago. As for why this may have happened, we know that this timing of this is important. His resignation comes, you know, just after he and FEMA got a lot of criticism over their response to those central Texas floods that happened back in July. You'll remember we talked about this on your show, Reid. More than 130 people lost their lives during those floods. And Richardson himself was pretty sharply criticized because people said that he was inaccessible during the early moments of that crisis. FEMA officials had actually told CBS News, Reid, that he was unreachable for hours. And obviously, they believe that that complicated efforts to get people on the ground, to get those search and rescue teams there, to try to help people who were impacted by those floods back in July. Now, for his part, he took part in a congressional hearing where he actually said that FEMA's performance is a, quote, model of disaster response. He also disputed any of those claims that he was inaccessible and unavailable during the early hours of that crisis. But again, just months later, we're hearing today that he has now resigned from this post and FEMA will soon need to find a new head. Back to you. Chanel Call, with that breaking news, thank you for that.

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