Federal employees within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) erupted in celebration last week after President Donald Trump fired Secretary Kristi Noem, ending what officials say was a chaotic leadership period that left the department disorganized and its disaster-response abilities dangerously weakened.
The sense of relief at DHS was obvious. Staff congregated in offices, exchanged high fives, and collectively exhaled after 13 months under Noem’s contentious administration. One source told ABC News simply: “She’s gone.”
Noem was scheduled to speak at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville when Trump gave her the news. She proceeded with the presentation and made no public mention of her dismissal. Later that day she emailed that her final day would be March 31, when she would move into a newly created position as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.
Her exit closes what many at DHS view as a disastrous tenure characterized by micromanagement, widespread firings, and policies critics argue reduced public safety. Trump nominated Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin as her successor — making Noem the first Cabinet secretary to depart during his second term.
Noem’s extreme interventions included dismissing hundreds of FEMA employees, politicizing disaster funding, and insisting on personal sign-off for every expense above $100,000 — a rule that produced dangerous delays in disaster assistance. The New York Times reports that this approach created a $17 billion backlog, including funds previously approved by regional FEMA offices for debris removal and repairs to roads, bridges, and water systems.
The agency’s reimbursement backlog swelled as Noem deferred billions in disaster payments. Republican Senator Thom Tillis confronted her at a recent Senate Judiciary hearing with a chart of postponed FEMA payments, calling her stewardship “a disaster.” She publicly expressed support for abolishing FEMA and transferring recovery duties to states — a plan that alarmed emergency managers who compared the risks to the catastrophic failures after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Noem and her chief adviser Corey Lewandowski — who is also departing DHS — earned reputations for harsh treatment of staff. The duo removed or demoted many Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field leaders, stripping away decades of institutional expertise. Sources said Lewandowski would dismiss anyone he saw as an obstacle.
Current and former DHS officials say Noem never accepted responsibility for the department’s mistakes, instead pointing fingers at others. She became a focal point of controversy after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis — both ruled homicides by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner — and for a $220 million ad campaign that prominently featured her.
At her first appearance as secretary in January 2025, she entered to the Trace Adkins song “Hot Mama,” leaving DHS staff puzzled. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on March 4, she dismissed rumors of an affair with Lewandowski as “tabloid garbage.”
FEMA personnel raised concerns about Noem’s conduct in an open letter. Officials reportedly placed some signatories on leave in response. The agency lost long-serving experts and strained ties with state and local emergency managers.
Shana Udvardy, senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Noem’s “reckless undermining of FEMA has put people’s lives at risk and greatly diminished the agency’s disaster response and recovery efforts. Good riddance.”
Dr. Jennifer Jones, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS, was even more direct. She said Noem “has overseen a reign of terror at DHS, harming communities across the country.”
Even with celebrations over Noem’s exit, longtime FEMA officials remain wary. One described the workforce as “tired, demoralized, mad, maybe a little spiteful.” Another said they are “not holding their breath” for substantive reform.
Noem will stay at DHS until March 31, though her responsibilities during this lame-duck interval are unclear. The Senate Homeland Security Committee has scheduled Mullin’s confirmation hearing for March 18. Whether he can steady the battered agency is uncertain for staff who say they’ve experienced the worst stretch in FEMA’s history since before Hurricane Katrina.
