President Bush has nominated the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take over the job on a permanent basis.
R. David Paulison has been running FEMA since last September, when director Michael Brown resigned in the face of criticism over the agency's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, which left a path of destruction along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Paulison was nominated after reports that several other candidates had turned down the job. His nomination, which is subject to U.S. Senate approval, comes just two months before the start of this year's hurricane season.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.