His exit follows the high-profile ouster in May of then-FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, who was fired after saying the agency should not be axed altogether.
The administration has repeatedly said it hopes to either eliminate or drastically reform FEMA.
More details on the administration's plans are expected to come into view soon, with the anticipated release of a report from the FEMA review council it set up.
"We've seen two acting FEMA administrators over the last 10 months," said Michael Coen, who was the agency's chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations. "For the states that are served by FEMA, there continues to be uncertainty on who's running FEMA.
Coen said it is unusual not to have an official nominee to lead FEMA this far into a new administration.
"Usually you expect a transition after a change in administration, but you don't expect that transition to continue into November [or] December of a four-year term," he said.
The transition comes on top of additional uncertainty at FEMA as the Trump administration weighs its future.
Amid rhetoric about dismantling the agency, Trump, in an executive order, set up a "review council" tasked with recommending ways to improve FEMA.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees FEMA, said in a statement the report "will inform this Administration's ongoing efforts to fundamentally restructure FEMA, transforming it from its current form into a streamlined, mission-focused disaster-response force."
It's not clear what recommendations may be included in that report. E&E News reported this week that the agency is considering moving its headquarters to Texas.
Asked about this, a spokesperson did not confirm nor deny it, saying instead that "the FEMA review council continues its work and will make recommendations in their final report."
Rafael Lemaitre, who was FEMA's public affairs director during the Obama administration, said that Richardson's departure "adds to a laundry list of chaotic management at the agency since January.
Read more at TheHill.com.
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