Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem screamed at department officials and dropped multiple f-bombs after a series of news articles revealed how the secretary’s policies had plunged the agencies she oversees into chaos.
Noem announced in June that she needed to personally sign off on all payments exceeding $100,000, compared to a previous threshold of $25 million, leading to widespread delays and bottlenecks.
In July, the secretary waited four days to sign off on crucial aid for Texas flood victims, delaying the deployment of Urban Search and Rescue crews and leaving thousands of disaster-assistance unanswered because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hadn’t renewed a contract for hundreds of call center workers.
The Transportation Security Administration also allowed a contract for airport-screening equipment to lapse, as did contracts for immigration-enforcement reports and polygraph tests for candidates applying for law enforcement jobs.
After the contract approval delays were reported in the press, Noem and her de facto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski—a former adviser to President Donald Trump—called DHS officials to complain, according to a new report from New York Magazine.
“They were screaming,” a DHS employee told the magazine. “The level of disrespect and screaming at everybody in that room — I think people were really shocked and taken aback.”
Another former DHS staffer said it was clear Noem and Lewandowski—who is heavily involved in the department’s contract work—were embarrassed by the coverage. Feeding off one another’s negative energy, Noem dropped “multiple F-bombs,” the source said.
They also accused the people in the room of “lining their pockets” from government contracts, which seemed like projection to the people listening.
The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS and Lewandowski for comment.
A lobbyist who has done business with DHS told New York Magazine that even though Lewandowski was brought on as an unpaid Special Government Employee whose tenure is supposed to be temporary, “Everything has to go through Corey.”
“It’s all based on ‘You’re my buddy, or you’re not my buddy. You hired my friend, or you didn’t hire my friend.’ That place just runs that way,” the lobbyist said.
Lewandowski had wanted to serve as Noem’s official chief of staff, but the White House nixed the idea over both security concerns—he has been accused of taking undisclosed payments from foreign governments—and over rumors that he and Noem have been having an affair.
A FEMA official told New York Magazine that the alleged affair was the “worst-kept secret in DC,” and that DHS employees assume the two are romantically involved, even though they’re both are married to different people.
Noem and Lewandowski have repeatedly denied having an affair.
Regardless, Lewandowski was brought on as a Special Government Employee, and the chief of staff role was never filled. The White House suspects that Lewandowski has been undercounting his hours to stay in the role indefinitely, which he also denies.
Sources told New York Magazine Lewandowski in particular is a micromanager who has fired and reassigned dozens of agency employees. People are afraid that if they push back, he will call and “rip their heads off,” a source close to the administration said.
Another former administration official said, “It’s the Corey show over there,” while a current top administration official described the culture at DHS as “terrible.”
“People are scared s–tless of Corey,” the official said.
In mid-September, Trump called Noem and Lewandowski into the Oval Office to complain about their management style, an administration official who was later briefed on the meeting told New York Magazine.
“He was particularly mad at Corey” because “he can’t get along with anybody,” the official said. Noem and Lewandowski, however, managed to assuage the president’s concerns and keep their jobs for the time being.
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