Trump picks Kristi Noem to serve as his secretary of homeland security

CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to two people familiar with the selection.

Noem will be asked to take over the agency as two key immigration hardliners — Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — are slated to serve in senior roles, signaling that Trump is serious about his promise to crack down on his immigration promises. With his selection of Noem, Trump ensures that a loyalist will lead an agency he prioritizes and is key to his domestic agenda.

The department saw a tremendous amount of turmoil the last time Trump was in office. After that, DHS had five different heads, only two of whom were Senate-confirmed. The agency has a budget of $60 billion and hundreds of thousands of employees.

Formerly a South Dakota representative, Noem will now be tasked with overseeing a sprawling agency that oversees everything from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service.

Noem had once been on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, although her relationship with Trump changed after the negative rollout surrounding the publication of her book: “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.” In it, she revealed that she once killed her 14-month-old wirehair pointer, Cricket, when she did not show signs of an ideal hunting dog.

The governor wrote that the dog was “untrainable,” according to excerpts first reported by The Guardian. Noem later argued that these anecdotes should show how adept she is at doing some of life’s more gruesome jobs when necessary.