The head of FEMA’s Urban Look and Rescue branch, Ken Pagurek, surrendered on Monday, several resources verified to ABC Information.
Pagurek informed coworkers he was discouraged by the Division of Homeland Safety’s initiatives to take down FEMA and by brand-new obstacles that slowed down the company’s feedback to the tragic flooding in Central Texas previously this month, according to resources knowledgeable about the issue.
Resources stated he indicated a brand-new DHS plan calling for all costs over $100,000 to be directly accepted by Assistant Kristi Noem as an essential variable behind the hold-ups and, eventually, his choice to tip down.
The information was initially reported by CNN.
Pagurek had actually dealt with FEMA’s search and rescue procedures for greater than a years and had actually worked as its principal for the previous year.
Pagurek did not react to an ask for remark by ABC Information.
A broken home is seen near Camp Mystic, the website of where a minimum of 20 women went missing out on after flash flooding in Search, Texas, on July 5, 2025.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP through Getty Pictures
DHS speaker Tricia McLaughlin informed ABC Information, “The effort to rotate an individual job choice right into some large rumor is ludicrous. It is absurd that an occupation public staff member, that declares to offer the American individuals, would certainly select to surrender over our rejection to quickly authorize a six-figure implementation agreement without fundamental monetary oversight.”
” We’re being accountable with taxpayer bucks, that’s our work,” McLaughlin stated. “FEMA experienced no hold-ups in implementation of possessions, and Texas authorities have certainly and vocally praised the federal government and FEMA’s feedback. If any person is distressed by the end of unattended, blank-check costs under Head of state Trump’s management, that claims extra concerning them than it does concerning us.”
