The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a lie detector test after information about a recent private meeting was leaked, Politico's E&E News reported Friday citing two former senior FEMA officials.

Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton took the test after he met with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski on March 25, the former officials said.

The test was administered within two days of the meeting, and Hamilton passed.

In an email obtained by E&E News, DHS acknowledged the polygraph test.

"Under Secretary Noem's leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin wrote. "We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment or status as a career civil servant — we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."

Noem called the March 25 meeting the day after she declared, "We're going to eliminate FEMA" during a televised meeting of President Donald Trump's Cabinet. At the meeting, she reportedly discussed scaling down the disaster response agency and shifting its efforts to the states.

Hamilton seemingly has little control over decisions that affect FEMA, despite being in charge, and multiple people who were granted anonymity by Politico said he has expressed frustration about the situation to colleagues at FEMA.

FEMA officials told E&E that Noem blindsided them with her statement about eliminating the agency.

"We heard about it on TV like everyone else," one FEMA official said.

At a conference in Washington, D.C., three days before Noem announced that FEMA would be dismantled, Hamilton reportedly revealed his plans for the agency to hundreds of state and local emergency managers.

The advisory council Trump created to review FEMA and recommend changes is headed by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hamilton is a retired Navy SEAL who held nonsupervisory positions at the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department from 2015 to 2023. He is the first FEMA chief since 2009 without prior experience running a state emergency management agency.

Shortly after Trump took office, he put Hamilton in charge of FEMA's Office of Response and Recovery as the assistant administrator. The president has not appointed a FEMA administrator. FEMA's rules stipulate that in the event there is no official agency administrator or deputy administrator, the assistant administrator becomes the agency's acting administrator, thus giving Hamilton the authority.

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