Trump chooses Kristi Noem as his homeland security secretary

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

Noem is tapped to take over the agency as two key immigration hardliners – Stephen Miller and Tom Homan – are set to serve in leadership roles, signaling Trump is serious about his promise to crack down on his immigration pledges. By choosing Noem, Trump is ensuring that a loyalist will lead an agency that makes him a priority, and that is key to his domestic agenda.

The last time Trump was in office, the department experienced tremendous turmoil. At the time, DHS had five different leaders, only two of whom were confirmed by the Senate. The agency has a budget of $60 billion and hundreds of thousands of employees.

Noem, who previously served as South Dakota’s representative, will now be tasked with leading a sprawling agency that includes everything from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service monitored.

Noem was once on Trump’s short list for vice president, but her relationship with Trump changed after the negative reaction to the release 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 wirehaired dog, Cricket, when he didn’t show the 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 were intended to show how capable she was of doing some of life’s crueler jobs when necessary.