If you think that part of the job of FEMA is to preserve public confidence in times of crisis, the comments she cites are certainly not helpful.
PR does count for an agency head, and people have been fired before for making bonehead statements.
Malkin, being a journalist, examines wordcraft under a mircroscope. She needs to give it a rest. She needs to see the larger picture of how the Feds have been reined in from exercising humanitarian relief, not attack the Feds themselves, especially for a few phrases.