Wrongdoing in vehicle use won’t cost the FEMA chief his job.

WASHINGTON — The head of the federal disaster response agency used government vehicles without proper authorization but will not lose his job over it, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday.

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.

Nielsen said in a statement Friday that there had been a practice to transport

FEMA administrators in government vehicles to ensure they could remain connected during a crisis. But use of government vehicles for home-to-work travel was not officially authorized, and that practice was eliminated in April.

Nielsen said the report by Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General also found that Long used government vehicles for nonofficial reasons.

She said they spoke about the problems and Long agreed to reimburse the government, but it wasn’t clear how much money that might be.

The House Oversight Committee is also looking into the allegations and has asked Long to turn over to the committee all documents related to the trips by Oct. 1, including whether his staff was put up in hotels paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Brock Long