Kristi Noem’s pick for head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been quietly dumped from the role, less than six months into the job.
An internal memo announced Evans was removed and her replacement, Robert Fenton, was slipped into the role as a temporary replacement, Politico reported.
FEMA staff were notified of the change in a memo. “I know this year has been challenging for many across the agency,” Fenton wrote in the memo, according to Politico.
Karen Evans, who was known inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency as “The Terminator”, oversaw cuts at the agency, which is under the umbrella of Homeland Security.
The Daily Beast reached out to FEMA for comment, but the agency didn’t immediately respond. A spokesperson told Politico that “she has been asked to lead special projects at the Department of Homeland Security as director of the so-called Waste, Fraud and Abuse Task Force.”
Noem appointed Evans to the top job in late November, after Trump appointee David Richardson resigned. Richardson was appointed in May 2025, after Trump fired his first pick, Cameron Hamilton, for disagreeing with his vision.
Evans had been FEMA’s chief of staff before she was elevated by Noem.
The president has said that all FEMA does “is complicate everything.”
Evans, acting at Noem’s directive, was reportedly a “final gatekeeper” on spending inside FEMA, earning her the Terminator nickname among staff. “She was terminating grants, terminating contracts, terminating people,” a former senior official told CNN.
Her spending vetoes reportedly delayed crucial funding for communities either preparing for, or recovering from disasters. Noem was dogged throughout her tenure at DHS by issues caused by cuts to FEMA, including the lack of access to assistance for disaster victims.
On May 7, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council released its final report into FEMA, a process instigated by Trump following his threats to disband the agency.
The final report says that it is “time to close the chapter on FEMA,” and provides a series of recommendations that it says would shift the agency’s role from “leading to supporting.”
That report came out just days before the internal memo announcing Evans’ departure and Fenton’s elevation was circulated.
On Monday, Trump nominated former acting FEMA head Cameron Hamilton, the same man he fired in 2025, for director. Hamilton will have to be vetted and confirmed by the Senate before he can assume the role.
In the meantime, Fenton will take on the job.
Fenton was already listed on FEMA’s Offices and Leadership page as the “Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator“ on Tuesday, but his biography still listed him as a regional administrator.
Fenton has been at FEMA since 1996, holding various positions within the agency over five administrations.
