Conflict with Native American tribes

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintains relations with tribes in the United States, including a tribal government affairs team, a tribal advisory council, and a tribal homeland security grant program.

• All nine of South Dakota’s indigenous tribes voted to ban Kristi Noem from their lands, preventing her from stepping foot on 12% of the land in her state. Noem has claimed that tribal leaders were profiting off drug cartels in the state and prioritizing cartels over parenting children on their reservations. 

• Noem threatened to sue South Dakota tribes to prevent them from implementing their COVID-19 safety protocols, clashed with local tribes over her proposed Mount Rushmore fireworks display, which local leaders opposed, 

Blocked the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

• In 2013, the House of Representatives voted to re-authorize a version of the Violence Against Women Act that would also strengthen tribal courts. Noem voted against that bill and blocked VAWA again in 2018.  VAWA was reauthorized in 2022 and now includes an Alaska Pilot Program enabling Alaska Tribes to exercise special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Native defendants for certain crimes. 

• Sources say she spoke out against the inclusion of tribal provisions. Noem complained about Democrats including "politically polarizing language” in the Senate version of the bill, which included listing Native American women victimized by non-natives on a reservation as explicitly protected against domestic violence.

• The Department of Homeland Security maintains a Council on Combating Gender-Based Violence and a Subcommittee on Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People.

Pattern of abuse of power

• A South Dakota ethics board found sufficient information that Noem may have “engaged in misconduct” when she intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license. The state paid $200,000 to settle a complaint from the agency director after she was later forced to retire by Noem’s labor secretary.

• Noem’s family members received $600,000 from a COVID-19 relief program, previously capped at $100,000 until Noem raised the cap. 

• Noem’s use of a state plane “blurred the lines between official travel and attending family or political events,” prompting a state investigation.

Governance challenges

• During Noem’s tenure, the South Dakota governor’s office had a rapid turnover. Mark Miller became Noem’s fifth chief of staff to depart the office, leaving the governor’s office without a chief of staff for over a year.

• Noem was criticized for the trend of out-of-state staffers completing short stints in the governor’s office, which detached them from institutional knowledge and local relationship-building.

Politics over leadership

• A recent report details Noem’s decision not to deploy South Dakota’s National Guard amidst historic flooding that ruined homes and businesses. Noem said, “We have to be wise about how we use our soldiers.” Noem was traveling out of state to support Trump during a “critical point in the disaster.”

• Noem had previously spent millions of taxpayer dollars to deploy the Guard to the US-Mexico border, which was one reason Trump nominated her to lead DHS. 

• The Department of Homeland Security also includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which assists with flooding and other climate-related disasters.

Lack of experience

• Kristi Noem has no experience in federal homeland security policy. Her time in Congress did not include a stint on the Homeland Security Committee.

• In her book, Noem described meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during her time in Congress and canceling a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron last year. The anecdotes appeared to be an attempt to bolster her foreign policy experience, but her office later admitted the book contained errors.

Project 2025 connections

• Kristi Noem’s staff member, Mark Miller, was a Project 2025 contributor.

• Project 2025’s Department of Homeland Security plans include gutting several offices, including the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), which train federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers.