Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has hired a 21-year-old former Labor Department staffer to help oversee its social media operation, despite internal concerns over controversial posts he helped publish in his previous role.
Peyton Rollins joined DHS this month in a communications position focused on managing the agency’s increasingly high-profile online presence, the New York Times reported.
But it comes after a series of controversial posts he made at the Department of Labor.
Before arriving at DHS, Rollins worked in the Labor Department’s Office of Public Affairs, where he publicly took credit for a large banner featuring Trump’s image displayed at the agency’s headquarters.
At the time, critics compared the banner to those used by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
California Governor Newsom retweeted the banner alongside a similar picture of Kim Jong Un, captioning the photo “THANK YOU GLORIOUS LEADER.”
And in recent months, the agency’s social media feeds have leaned heavily on content that some critics say echoes aesthetics associated with the 1920s and 1930s — paired with sweeping slogans such as “Restore American Greatness” and “the globalist status quo is OVER.” One post featured a dramatic image of Trump with military bombers streaking across the sky above him, captioned simply: “One of one.”
During his tenure, the department’s social media following surged. But according to more than a dozen internal emails and Microsoft Teams messages previously reported by The New York Times, colleagues repeatedly raised alarms about the tone and imagery of certain posts.
Staffers warned supervisors that some graphics and slogans could be interpreted as nods to white-nationalist rhetoric, extremist conspiracy theories, or historically charged symbolism.
In one December email, a public affairs official flagged backlash to a post that incorporated Confederate imagery and a Gothic typeface known as Fraktur, historically used in early Nazi publications.
Other internal messages cited repeated references to phrases associated with QAnon, as well as spikes in extremist commentary beneath agency posts.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and the Department of Labor for comment.
Former Labor Department communications staff said the shift in tone was abrupt. “We’re used to seeing posts about things like apprenticeships, benefits and unions,” Helen Luryi, who left the department in April, told The New York Times. “Then all of a sudden, we get white-nationalist rhetoric.”
Despite internal objections—including at least one request that security officials monitor for potential real-world fallout—the posts continued.
Omar Algeciras, a representative of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents Labor Department workers, told the New York Times the agency’s social media activity has diverted attention from their actual responsibilities.
“These posts made public service harder,” said Algeciras.
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