A new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) warned his staff that he would not tolerate boycotting President Donald Trump's agenda.

Friday marked the first day of FEMA leadership by David Richardson after the agency saw a reintroduction of its helm earlier this week. But he began his tenure and warned the agency.

I am here on behalf of FEMA and I am speaking on FEMA alone.

He predicts that 20% of employees will oppose Trump's vision for FEMA, and he promises to demolish it.

"Confusing, delaying, disrupting. If you're one of the 20% of people and you think these strategies and tips will help you, then they won't be because I'll get past you," Richardson said.

"Don't get in the way of me," he added. "I know all the tricks."

FEMA is the agency responsible for coordinating and implementing federal government responses to natural disasters and other emergencies, from hurricanes and floods to domestic attacks.

But it has long been criticized for lag, inadequate resources and chaos, especially in major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which displaced thousands of Louisiana's residents and killed more than 1,300 people.

Trump responded to this criticism by promising to eliminate FEMA completely and reassign its functions to various countries.

"When the country has problems, I think that problem deserves the care of the country," Trump said in January. "That's what we are about. They solve the problem. The Governor can handle something very quickly, you know?"

During his 2024 re-election campaign, he also spread false events about the agency, including refusal to provide relief to Republican residents in North Carolina, which recently suffered extensive flooding from Hurricane Helen.

Since taking office in January, Trump has followed his plan to reorganize the federal government and reduce funds and staff to independent entities such as the United States International Development Agency (USAID) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Trump and his allies ruled in the administration to deal with the necessary conditions for “fraud” and “waste”, although he has not provided a definite proof of wrongdoing.

At FEMA, an estimated 2,000 employees have been terminated or accepted for resignation. The 2023 Government Accountability Office report shows that FEMA has only 5,000 full-time staff, as well as a group of reserve and emergency response workers who can be summoned to resolve the crisis.

To become an administrator of FEMA, a Senate confirmation hearing and a vote are required.

But while these Senate hearings continue to hold senior administration positions, Trump appointed interim leaders to run the organization during this period.

Former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton has held the post since Trump began his second term.

He was an outstanding critic of the FEMA during his administration of former President Joe Biden. But his time as FEMA chief suddenly stopped earlier this week, after a appearance in the House Appropriations Subcommittee.

During Wednesday's hearing, Democratic representative Rosa Delauro of Connecticut asked Hamilton about the idea of ​​closing the FEMA.

Hamilton measured the opposition. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the federal emergency management agency,” he said.

He added that it was not ultimately his decision to make and criticize FEMA's decision as part of "over-expanding the federal bureaucracy."

"I can't make decisions and influence the outcomes on the determination I should make. This is a dialogue between the President of the United States and this governing body," Hamilton told the committee.

But the next day, Hamilton was taken off from his role as FEMA's temporary head and replaced by Marine veteran Richardson.

Critics, including Delauro, will blow the switch, directing a White House that will not tolerate dissent even if necessary.

"The Trump administration must explain why (Hamilton) is removed from this position," Drewro said in a statement. "Integrity and morality should not let you work."

Meanwhile, Richardson set a stricter tone for his tenure through a popular call on Friday. He warned FEMA employees that no action in any “in our mission” would be considered a waste of taxpayer funds.

"We're going to figure out how to do better. We're going to figure out how to push things to the state level that should be done. We're going to figure out how to share more cost with states," he said.

Trump has refused to ask for aid, including from Republican-led states such as Arkansas, which suffered a tornado that destroyed communities the week of March 14. Several deaths have been reported.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump's press secretary in his first Trump press secretary, has written to the president to resort to denial of aid.

“Arkansas has experienced unprecedented frequency of disasters since 2023, with four federally declared disasters and ten nationally declared disasters. These overlapping events seriously distort state and local agencies’ ability to respond and recover effectively,” Huckabee Sanders wrote.

“Many Arkansas are still living under temporary conditions or repairing damage from previous events, only again being displaced or affected. The state and its citizens are in desperate need of assistance to recover, rebuild and mitigate further losses.”