{"id":151998,"date":"2025-06-03T04:34:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/acting-head-of-fema-said-he-wasnt-aware-u-s-has-a-hurricane-season-sources-say-cbs-news\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T04:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:34:55","slug":"acting-head-of-fema-said-he-wasnt-aware-u-s-has-a-hurricane-season-sources-say-cbs-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/acting-head-of-fema-said-he-wasnt-aware-u-s-has-a-hurricane-season-sources-say-cbs-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting head of FEMA said he wasn&#039;t aware U.S. has a hurricane season, sources say &#8211; CBS News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Watch CBS News<br \/>           <time datetime=\"2025-06-02T22:19:44-0400\">Updated on:  June 2, 2025 \/ 10:19 PM EDT<\/time>           \/ CBS News         <br \/>Staff of the <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/fema-rescinds-strategic-plan-less-than-2-weeks-before-hurricane-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Federal Emergency Management Agency<\/a><\/span> were confused and dispirited on Monday after the acting head of the agency said during a daily briefing that he had not been aware the country has a <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/south-florida-miami-broward-noaa-2025-hurricane-season-forecast\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">hurricane season<\/a><\/span>, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.<br \/>The remark was made by David Richardson at the conclusion of an 8:30 a.m. daily operational briefing typically attended by hundreds of FEMA staffers and interagency partners. Reuters was first to report the comment.<br \/>Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, has <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/fema-acting-administrator-david-richardson-staff-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">led FEMA since early May<\/a><\/span>.&nbsp;<br \/>It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally or as a joke, but current and former employees who spoke with CBS News said the comment flustered many who genuinely believe Richardson was truly surprised to learn that&nbsp;<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/nws-staff-hurricane-season-meteorologists-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">hurricane season<\/a><\/span> had started.&nbsp;<br \/>Others suggested that any joke made by the leader about the upcoming season was delivered in poor taste, offending agency staff already suffering from low morale amid a flurry of resignations, firings, leadership overhauls and polygraph tests distributed to staffers.&nbsp;<br \/>A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later suggested the comment wasn&#8217;t serious.<br \/>&#8220;Despite meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy, there is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season. FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people,&#8221; the spokesperson said.<br \/>The Atlantic <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/nws-staff-hurricane-season-meteorologists-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">hurricane season<\/a><\/span> officially began on June 1 and lasts through November.<br \/>NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, recently predicted it will be an&nbsp;<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/noaa-hurricane-season-forecast-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">above-average hurricane season<\/a><\/span> that could bring 13 to 19 named storms, with six to 10 becoming hurricanes and three to five strengthening into&nbsp;<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/miami\/news\/understanding-storm-and-hurricane-categories-why-wind-speed-isnt-the-whole-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">major hurricanes<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>Nicole Sganga is CBS News&#8217; homeland security and justice correspondent. She is based in Washington, D.C. and reports for all shows and platforms.<br \/>       <small>&copy; 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/small>     <br \/>Copyright &copy;2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMid0FVX3lxTE02SmtXRkhNRFJLTTFJWV9FTFgwUnFYS1BPRUliZW5IamR1TzlQM1ZDNm0zMHIzWjBwX1EweFdydkNaTVh0NHVCWDJXdXNibjhxTTdOWU84eW1xQjE2TnV2Y2FBRFJrWDYyWkpncWQyYzVoa2I2M25J0gF8QVVfeXFMTTBpWUp6WGh1MWJxblo3R0YySzN1enZZOXk1dnUyMmNrUkZqY3Z1cENrYndFSDRzV3RUMFpoejNaZzAwQlNzWUpQSHhLcHlvZUxBdWhpMmM1VWJBZzRHRmVQeXRuUVRaMUxkTERJZmtmNEZiX01KOWFMV0JYOA?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch CBS News Updated on: June 2, 2025 \/ 10:19 PM EDT \/ CBS News Staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were confused and dispirited on Monday after the acting head of the agency said during a daily briefing that he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to three [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}