‘Shadow administrator’ at FEMA part of investigation by DHS internal watchdog, sources say | CNN Politics

An outside contractor installed in the Department of Homeland Security by then-Secretary Kristi Noem and her adviser Corey Lewandowski, gained outsized influence over the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the past year, with a major hand in steering the disaster agency’s spending and day-to-day operations, according to sources who worked with her. Now that contractor, Kara Voorhies, who was hired as a consultant and adviser, is under scrutiny as part of a sprawling investigation by DHS’ Office of Inspector General into how contracts were handled under Noem, three sources with knowledge told CNN. Federal regulations generally prohibit contractors from making decisions that bind the government on core agency work like policy changes, awarding contracts, approving budgets and overseeing operations, FEMA insiders told CNN. Contractors also are not supposed to make personnel decisions – such as hiring and firing or supervising federal employees, the insiders said. But six current and former senior officials who worked with Voorhies at FEMA said she often weighed in on — and in some instances decided — those kinds of issues for the agency. “In many cases, she was calli