FEMA administrator must reimburse U.S. for misuse of agency vehicles

WASHINGTON — Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will have to reimburse the government for misusing government vehicles by traveling to and from hi s home — but will keep his job, offifficials said Friday.

Long, a hurricane expert with years of emergency management experience, had come under scrutiny in connection to his frequent commutes between the agency’s headquarters, in Washington, and Hickory, North Carolina, where his wife and two sons live.

He faced investigations by the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, as well as by House Republicans, at a time when his agency was grappling with Hurricane Florence’s drubbing descent on t he Carolina coast.

The inspector general’ s report found that Long had used government vehicles on trips between his home and work “without proper authorization,” Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, said in a statement Friday.

She said FEMA administrators have long“been transported in and had access to” government vehicles that are meant to “ensure senior leader connectivity in times of crisis.” But she said using t he vehicles to get to and from work was not authorized.

“In April of this year, FEMA corrected the long-standing practice and eliminated unauthorized home-to-work transportation,” she said.

Nielsen said she had taken action to correct problems identifified in the report and had a “productive conversation” with Long.

Long, who has been the FEMA administrator since last year, had denied that he knowingly violated agency rules.

In his statement Friday, he acknowledged mistakes and said he was working with Nielsen to make sure similar issues did not happen again.

“As the leader of this agency, I accept full responsibility for any mistakes that were made by me or t he agency,” he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions late Friday about how much Long had been instructed to re pay and whether he faced any other consequences.