A senior Federal Emergency Management Agency official is planning to depart just weeks before the start of hurricane season and the World Cup.
Deputy Associate Administrator Keith Turi is on his way out of the agency, according to a source with direct knowledge. Turi oversees FEMA’s response, recovery, logistics and field operations nationwide and was a public face and behind-the-scenes player for the agency’s response to Hurricane Helene and other major storms.
The departure of one of the agency’s most experienced leaders, after more than two decades in emergency management across the federal government, comes amid a wave of leadership changes over the last year.
“It’s another example of decades of FEMA institutional knowledge walking out the door at the most critical time (the start of hurricane season),” said the source with direct knowledge in a text to NOTUS. “Keith is one of the most trusted voices in the agency and it’s a huge blow to not only the workforce but our readiness at large.”
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Turi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“DHS has no personnel announcements to make at this time,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to NOTUS.
As assistant administrator for recovery beginning in 2018, Turi oversaw nationwide disaster-recovery operations and the distribution of billions of dollars in disaster aid annually while managing an organization of more than 4,000 employees. In 2022, Turi led FEMA’s newly created Field Leadership Directorate, which was established to support federal coordinating officers and incident-management assistance teams deployed to disasters nationwide.
“Mr. Turi is a calm leader,” Michael Coen, a chief of staff at FEMA during the Biden administration who heard about the departure from current employees, told NOTUS over text. “He has provided critical leadership during challenging disasters. His experience and relationship can’t be replaced.”
Turi was not only the face of FEMA during major disasters, he was also often the operational leader for senior officials inside the agency and with state officials, helping to oversee major decisions on deploying search-and-rescue teams, logistics and field resources. He also participated in high-level briefings when President Joe Biden visited FEMA headquarters for updates during disasters.
“Often in disasters, you don’t actually have all the information,” said another former senior FEMA official who had also heard of Turi’s upcoming exit. “And so sometimes the decisions that you have to make occur without having all of the facts, but people who have experience know how to respond even when they don’t have all the answers. That’s what concerns me the most about Keith leaving.”
Turi is due to depart June 1, according to the source with direct knowledge.
The upheaval comes as the U.S. is set to co-host the World Cup, one of the largest sporting events in history, with 78 matches across 11 U.S. cities over 39 days and an estimated 6 million international visitors expected to attend. FEMA, which is part of DHS, is set to play a critical role in safety preparations.
Agency leadership has drawn criticism from lawmakers in Congress and current FEMA employees, though many of them are hoping the agency will take a new direction under the new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
But concerns about some officials in senior leadership roles continue to come up. In March, Democratic lawmakers called current FEMA Associate Administrator Gregg Phillips “unqualified” for the job because of his past rhetoric about immigrants and his claim that he teleported to a Waffle House.
Three of the four top leadership positions at the agency remain vacant. Since the start of Trump’s second term, FEMA hasn’t had a Senate-approved administrator at the agency.
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Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with comment from DHS.
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