Brock Long, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, cost the U.S. government $151,000 when he used government-owned vehicles without proper authorization and extended a trip to Hawaii for several days with his family, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The report comes days after Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Long would reimburse the government and not be fired for using vehicles to commute home to his family in Hickory, North Carolina.
According to Nielsen's statement, use of government vehicles was "established practice" by FEMA administrators for "more than a decade to ensure senior leader connectivity in times of crisis."
But Long's trip to Hickory was at least a six-hour drive from Washington, D.C.
"Despite this established practice, use of government vehicles to provide home to work transportation for the FEMA Administrator was never authorized in accordance with applicable law," Nielsen wrote.
"We had a productive conversation where we discussed my expectations regarding the agency's use of government vehicles going forward," she said. "The administrator acknowledged that mistakes were made, and he took personal responsibility."
As for the Hawaii trip, Long reportedly extended a business trip to stay with his family for severals days, using government-rented vehicles. Details from the Hawaii trip became embroiled in scandal when a FEMA aide destroyed evidence surrounding it.
Long's job was in jeopardy because of the issue and was the target of an internal investigation looking into the travel. He considered resigning last week because of the probe and public sparring with Nielsen.
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