Noem touts state experience on national security issues

Chris Johnson, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 17, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Kristi Noem used her opening statement Friday to articulate a broader overview of her priorities if she becomes Homeland Security secretary, saying her experience as governor of South Dakota has prepared her to act on an array of national security concerns.

On border security, Noem told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that she was “the first governor to send National Guard troops to our southern border when Texas asked for help and when they were being overwhelmed by an unprecedented border crisis.”

On cybersecurity, Noem said she will “advance cutting-edge, state-of-the-art technologies to protect our nation’s digital landscape,” and that she has helped make Dakota State University a global leader in cybersecurity education.

And she said she has worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in response to a dozen natural disasters in South Dakota, including historic floods, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, a derecho and even a global pandemic.

“As secretary, I will enhance our emergency preparedness and strengthen FEMA capabilities, and we will ensure that no community is left behind and that lifesaving services like electricity and water are quickly restored,” Noem said.

The top members of the panel articulated their own priorities for the agency as well as broad issues she would need to address as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., emphasized his views on reining in the size of the federal government and scrutiny of the origins of COVID-19, which are now believed to be gain-of-function research in a laboratory in China.

“DHS under the Biden administration has often used its vast powers to target Americans exercising their constitutional rights,” Paul said. “It’s become an agency more focused on policing speech, monitoring social media and labeling political dissent as domestic terrorism than addressing genuine security threats.”

Paul said the priorities of the department have been deeply distorted, and “the mission drift is dangerous.”

“Every dollar spent monitoring law-abiding citizens is a dollar not spent securing the homeland,” Paul said. “Every moment spent targeting political opponents is a moment not addressing real threats like border security, cyberattacks or the rising influence of adversarial nation states.”

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee, brought up concerns about the northern border relevant to his state, but also the general mission of DHS.

“We must secure our borders, but we also know it is well past time to streamline our immigration and our asylum process, as well,” Peters said.

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