Brock Long, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told senior staff at the agency on Tuesday that he planned to step down in two weeks for family reasons, administration official said.
In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Long said that while the job “has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my family.”
His departure wasn’t scheduled to be announced until March, officials said, but Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen released a statement on Wednesday after inquiries from The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Long’s departure comes after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general determined in September that Mr. Long cost the federal government $151,000 through the unauthorized use of government vehicles that included travel to his home in North Carolina and on a family vacation in Hawaii. Ms. Nielsen ordered Mr. Long at the time to repay the government “as appropriate.”
“Over the last two years, Administrator Long has admirably led the men and women of FEMA during very difficult, historic and complex times,” Ms. Nielsen said in a statement on Wednesday. “I appreciate his tireless dedication to FEMA and his commitment to fostering a culture of preparedness across the nation.”