President Donald Trump shakes hands with FEMA Administrator Brock Long as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen watches after visiting areas in North Carolina and South Carolina impacted by Hurricane Florence, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, at Myrtle Beach International Airport in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON – The head of the federal disaster response agency used government vehicles without proper authorization, but will not lose his job over it. That from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William "Brock" Long had been under investigation by the Homeland Security Department's watchdog over possibly misusing government vehicles to travel to his home in Hickory, North Carolina. Word leaked of the investigation just as Hurricane Florence was poised to make landfall earlier this month.
Nielsen said in a statement Friday that there had been a longstanding practice to transport FEMA administrators in government vehicles to ensure they could remain connected during a crisis. But despite this practice, use of government vehicles for home-to-work travel was not officially authorized, and that practice was eliminated in April.
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