Kristi Noem no longer serving as Trump envoy to Shield of the Americas

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is no longer serving as the Trump administration’s special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative, a State Department official said Thursday, though she remains involved in the administration’s efforts to coordinate security cooperation across the Western Hemisphere.

“Kristi Noem’s envoy status expired last month and she is no longer in the role,” a State Department official told CBS News Thursday. “She is now a senior advisor to Deputy Secretary Landau and continues to work on the Shield of the Americas portfolio.” 

The Shield of the Americas is a coalition made up of the United States and several Caribbean and Latin American countries established by the Trump administration earlier this year to cooperate on economic matters, anti-cartel enforcement and other issues.

Noem’s envoy designation expired just before the United Nations General Assembly last month in New York, where she continued participating in diplomatic meetings connected to the initiative. 

On Sept. 22, she met with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, whose government publicly identified her as the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. She also attended a gathering of Shield of the Americas leaders hosted by President Trump, where he publicly acknowledged her work. 

“I want to thank Kristi Noem for doing a really terrific job,” Mr. Trump said during his remarks.

Noem was appointed special envoy for the Shield of the Americas in March, after she was removed as homeland security secretary amid mounting scrutiny of her management of the department and the influence of her adviser, Corey Lewandowski. 

Her transition to the envoy role coincided with a five-country tour of Latin America and the Caribbean in March, much of which took place as she completed her tenure as homeland security secretary. Lewandowski appeared in photographs during those visits, though the State Department later clarified he had no formal position at the department. 

Her public activities in the envoy role appear to have been limited, and included meeting Noboa in Quito on March 25, holding discussions with Ecuadorian and Colombian diplomats in Washington in September, and participating in meetings with regional leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.