By Patricia Lopez / Bloomberg Opinion
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s years of devotion to President-elect Donald Trump may have finally paid off.
Despite having the thinnest resume in the history of Homeland Security secretaries, the two-term governor appears poised for easy confirmation by a Senate that views her as relatively normal compared to some of Trump’s more eyebrow-raising nominees.
Granted, it’s a low bar, especially considering that Noem torched her chances at the vice presidency after publishing a memoir that backfired spectacularly, containing as it did a confession of having shot her own dog; along with several horses and a family goat.
In most previous administrations, someone like Noem — without a strong legal or military background and no experience in either foreign terror threats or in leading extremely large, complex organizations — would not be under consideration for a position that carries such grave responsibility.
Tom Ridge, the first DHS secretary, was the former two-term governor of Pennsylvania, a decorated Vietnam war hero, a Harvard graduate and a former congressman. He was followed by Michael Chertoff, a former federal judge and prosecutor who went after the 9/11 attackers. Even Trump’s first-term picks were considered well-qualified, and included Kristin Nielsen, a former chief of staff in DHS who also served as special assistant to President George W. Bush, developing policies for the department in its early days.
That department, created by Bush in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is a massive agency with a sprawling mission, including national security, anti-terrorism, immigration, border security, customs enforcement, cybersecurity, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Secret Service.
The third-largest department in the federal government, it has a 2025 budget of $64 billion and a diverse and highly specialized workforce of more than 260,000 employees. Noem’s biggest responsibility to date has been steering one of the smallest states in the country, with an annual budget of $7 billion and 13,000 state workers.
Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant DHS secretary during Trump’s first term, who also served in the department under President George W. Bush, recently expressed concern to CNN that Noem lacks the necessary experience and “really knows nothing about Homeland Security.”
Despite all this, Noem’s nomination has amassed serious support in the Senate. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ranking member and incoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said her confirmation will be his “first order of business.” That could make her one of the earliest members of Trump’s cabinet. The Republican Governors Association is behind her, as is the union representing the U.S. Border Patrol. The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law enforcement organization, is already pledging to cooperate with her.
Noem is not without accomplishment. She served in the South Dakota House and the U.S. House, where she did a stint on the Armed Services Committee. In 2018 she became the first female governor in South Dakota history and won re-election by a landslide in 2022.
But her accomplishments as governor are also a bit skimpy, particularly for a one-party legislature dominated by Republicans. She did pass a tax cut in her first term but has come to be seen more as a culture warrior: an anti-abortion, gun-slinging rancher with a penchant for the performative. When her state needed to attract workers, Noem hit on the idea of featuring herself in a series of public service videos — as a plumber, welder, construction worker, dental assistant — all with the appropriate garb. When she accompanied the state’s National Guard to the U.S. border with Mexico, she used a Republican donor and the state’s emergency fund to cover the $1.4 million tab for the photo op.
There have been other controversies as well. Noem is on the outs with every native tribe in her state after making unproven allegations that they had been infiltrated by drug cartels. She has been forbidden from entering each of the tribal reservations that, together, make up about a fifth of the state.
And for better or worse, Noem will be sharing an unusually large measure of her portfolio as DHS secretary. Tom Homan, a previous acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been named Trump’s border czar, with authority over mass deportations; a key Trump campaign promise. Unlike Noem, Homan will have an office in the White House itself as will Stephen Miller, architect of Trump’s first immigration policy and now deputy chief of staff over policy.
In fact, Homan pitched Noem for the job; possibly with the understanding that an inexperienced secretary would prove little challenge to him or Miller as they run immigration and border policy out of the White House.
Even so, Noem will be the head of the department, expected to master national security issues and under immediate pressure to deal with several urgent issues, from a disaster relief process Trump has called broken to a Secret Service that has allowed two assassination attempts against Trump on its watch.
The president-elect is taking a gamble by nominating someone who clearly will need on-the-job training. It’s also a gamble on the safety and security of a nation.
Patricia Lopez is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. She is a former member of the editorial board at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she also worked as a senior political editor and reporter. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P., bloomberg.com/opinion. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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