Inside the decision to remove Kristi Noem as DHS secretary

The decision to replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary came together quickly, and the timing of President Trump’s announcement caught many across DHS off guard, even as tensions had been building for weeks between Noem and the White House, according to senior White House and DHS officials. 

Though many officials within DHS conceded that the writing was on the wall, the exact timing of the president’s Truth Social post announcing that he intended to replace her with Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma took DHS officials and the secretary herself by surprise. The post went up during her live remarks as the keynote speaker at Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville, although just before she took the stage, the president briefly spoke with her by phone to inform her of his decision.

Following the controversial immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and fatal shootings of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, administration officials tell CBS News the aggressive tactics used by ICE and CBP had become politically problematic nationwide, drawing criticism not only from Democrats but also from some supporters of the president’s immigration agenda who viewed the operations as overly broad and poorly executed.

Inside DHS, the president’s earlier decision to put border czar Tom Homan in charge of winding down the Minneapolis operation — effectively sidelining Noem — was widely viewed as an early sign of Trump’s dissatisfaction with her performance.

The backlash against Noem’s statements regarding Pretti and Good corresponded with a quiet shift in enforcement strategy in recent weeks. Officials said under Homan’s leadership, the administration moved away from sweeping urban enforcement operations and refocused efforts on arresting immigrants in the country illegally who also have criminal records. The departure of top border official Gregory Bovino, a vocal field commander charged with the earlier operations in LA and Chicago, also reflected that recalibration.

Several officials said that in the weeks following the Minneapolis controversy, both Noem and Lewandowski had lost support from key figures inside the White House, even after they appealed directly to both the president and senior White House officials in an effort to salvage their standing.

According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump’s frustrations were also evident during a tense conversation late Wednesday with longtime adviser Corey Lewandowski, which centered in part on controversial advertising spending by DHS — roughly $220 million — that had drawn scrutiny from the administration and on Capitol Hill.

Inside DHS, another source of friction stemmed from a directive Noem issued in June 2025 to require her personal written approval for contracts, grants and funding obligations above $100,000. Although she intended to tighten oversight, officials said the policy created significant backlogs for what they described as mission-critical funding, including disaster relief programs run by FEMA.

Senior officials across DHS also complained privately about what they described as the micromanagement of contracts and operational decisions by Noem and Lewandowski, which they said undermined the trust of leaders who run major DHS components. 

A series of smaller controversies also drew attention inside the administration, including the so-called “blanketgate” incident involving Lewandowski. According to news reports, Lewandowski walked into the cockpit of the Coast Guard plane as it was ascending and demanded to know where Noem’s blanket was. The pilot said he didn’t know, and Lewandowski allegedly fired him on the spot, although the Coast Guard soon reinstated him.

This episode and other alleged personnel interventions by Lewandowski reinforced the concerns of some officials about the level of influence Lewandowski wielded inside the department.

Other controversies compounded the pressure. During another congressional hearing last December, Noem was caught off guard when she left the panel early, learning later that a DHS review panel vote intended to greenlight reform recommendations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been scrapped altogether. The episode forced the department to delay and ultimately scrap the planned rollout of the panel’s FEMA reform recommendations.

Republican senators had also grown weary of some of the DHS secretary’s policymaking decisions. GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Thom Tillis called out Noem Tuesday, amid a growing dispute between DHS leadership and the department’s internal watchdog, Joseph Cuffari, over access to records and communications with Congress related to a classified report examining vulnerabilities in Transportation Security Administration airport screening procedures. 

The clash was notable because even officials who are viewed as sympathetic to the administration — including Cuffari — had begun speaking publicly and to lawmakers about concerns with Noem’s leadership. Cuffari even asked Congress to help rein in what he described as repeated obstruction of oversight work by DHS.

“Does anyone have any idea how bad it has to be for the inspector general to come out and do this publicly?” Tillis told lawmakers, Tuesday.

Mr. Trump said he plans to nominate Markwayne Mullin, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, to replace Noem. Administration officials described Mullin as an immigration hardliner who is viewed inside the White House as someone who can quickly execute the president’s enforcement agenda and restore some operational discipline to the department. While much of Noem’s leadership team is expected to stay in place for the immediate interim, it is widely assumed among DHS senior leadership that Lewandowski will be departing the department along with Noem. 

Mullin will still need to be confirmed by the Senate before taking the post, including a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. The confirmation process could prove awkward: Mullin recently referred to Paul as a “snake” during a dispute among Senate Republicans.

The Oklahoma senator was speaking to the McGrath Breakfast Group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last Saturday, when he reportedly recounted helping to thwart a government shutdown by voting against an amendment.

“I respect Bernie Sanders because he’s an open socialist, and you know that he’s a communist so you know what you’re getting. Rand Paul’s a freaking snake,” he reportedly said.

Much of DHS’ current leadership is currently serving in an acting capacity, without Senate confirmation including the Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Karen Evans, senior official performing the duties of the administrator of FEMA; Nick Andersen, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting administrator of Transportation Security Administration. 

Noem’s last day on the job will be March 31, according to a department-wide message to staff obtained by CBS News. In her final note to DHS personnel, the secretary said that in her new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, she “will be working alongside Secretary Rubio and Secretary Hegseth to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our country killing our children and grandchildren.”

“I want to thank you all for the tremendous work you do to keep the Homeland safe, defend American citizens, and protect our way of life,” Noem wrote. “It has been the honor of my life to serve as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and lead you.”