SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Noem was first floated as a possible running mate for Trump, but her admission of killing a dog she considered “untrainable” knocked her out of consideration for the vice presidential role. Many still suspected her loyalty to President-Elect Trump would lead to something else.
“I love being the Governor of South Dakota, and President Trump knows I will help him however I can,” she told News Nation on Monday.
In transitioning from Governor to Secretary of Homeland Security, Noem will go from managing 13-thousand state workers and a budget of 7 billion dollars in Pierre to overseeing 260 thousand federal workers with a budget of 107 billion dollars.
The Department of Homeland Security’s mission is to protect U.S. citizens from a wide range of threats. DHS was established in 2002, bringing 22 different federal agencies into one Cabinet-level department to help them communicate better.
DHS is the third largest department in the U.S. Government behind Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Noem will be in charge of agencies like the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard and TSA, among others.
Noem says Trump wants to uphold the law and make sure people are held accountable when they break it.
“He wants to bring some integrity back to those organizations and that’s exactly what he will do by picking the right leaders to be in charge of it and do exactly what the American people want,” said Noem.
Noem has long complained about problems at America’s southern border, sending SD National Guard troops to Texas multiple times. Now she will be one of the people in charge of securing that border.
