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HOMELAND SECURITY HEARING

In hearing, Kristi Noem pledges to prevent domestic terrorism and counter antisemitism

Noem: ‘I'm very concerned about what we've seen in this country as far as antisemitic violence that has happened’

Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on January 17, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, committed at her confirmation hearing on Friday to prioritize efforts to prevent domestic terrorism and counter the surge in antisemitism nationwide.

“We must remain vigilant against terrorism and against others who wish to do harm to our Country and its great people. I will ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are working together, hand-in-hand, fully equipped to detect, prevent, and respond to threats from radical ideologies or foreign adversaries,” Noem said in her opening statement. “This requires resources, coordination, and collaboration across all levels of government. Once again, I will seek your wisdom and you input in the months ahead. For the sake of the people we both represent, we must get this right.”

Members of the committee grilled Noem on her plans to address border security issues, prevent homegrown and foreign terror attacks and oversee one of the federal government’s largest departments – which employs over a quarter million people across 22 federal agencies including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, TSA, FEMA, Customs and Border Protection and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, among others. 

Asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) if she was tracking the surge in attacks against American Jews since Oct. 7 and if she planned to try and address antisemitism in her role, Noem responded affirmatively. 

“I’m very concerned about what we’ve seen in this country as far as antisemitic violence that has happened. In fact, last year during our legislative session I brought legislation to more clearly define it [antisemitism] so that we could fight it in our home state,” Noem said. “I’m hopeful I can work with you to continue to do what we can to make sure that we are addressing this rising threat and not facilitating it in this country.”

Republicans mostly focused their questioning on how Noem planned to execute Trump’s border security crackdown and deportation efforts, while several Democrats pressed the South Dakota governor on her counterterrorism and disaster management experience. On the immigration front, Noem vowed to bolster security at the northern and southern borders and support Trump in his deportation efforts. 

Noem also vowed to work on improving the department’s coordination with state and local governments, something asked of her by several former governors on the committee during the hearing. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Florida’s former two-term governor, urged Noem to ensure that DHS communicates with governors when resettling migrants or refugees in their states. He specifically noted issues he encountered when then President Barack Obama granted legal status to 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2015 and ignored requests from governors of both parties to provide information on how individuals were vetted before resettling them into their states. 

“The communication between states and the federal government has been absolutely broken,” Noem said to Scott. “When they were bringing refugees into the country, I as well communicated that to the federal government. They were bringing refugees and I asked how they were vetted, how we were working with their home countries to find out who they really were, what their intentions were and why they were coming to the United States.”

Noem said that she “received no information from this administration that that vetting process was being done, that we knew where they were going. In fact, they kept us in the dark and didn’t communicate to us even what states and where those refugees were being placed, so that is something that we need to change. When we have programs that fall under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, there needs to be communication, especially with the governor so that we can coordinate to ensure that it’s the right thing for that state.”

Noem faced several questions from Democrats about responding to domestic terrorism, both home-grown actors and immigrants. Sens. Blumenthal and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) separately pressed Noem to not lose sight of the threats of terrorism to the homeland by solely focusing on the southern border, with both encouraging her to take action to stem efforts by terror organizations to continue being able to radicalize people in the U.S.

“I know there’s a lot of focus on the border. We all want more border security. We want to stop migrant crime but let’s not take our eye off the ball,” Blumenthal told Noem.

Slotkin pointed out that the “most recent examples of domestic terrorism” referenced at the hearing “were not what we spent the majority talking about today,” which she noted was heavily focused on migrant crime. “I don’t dispute there is crime, but I just want to know, and I want to hear from you as an intelligence officer, that you’re going to speak about real threats and not blow something up, politicize something, make something more exciting, because that’s maybe what the president wants to hear,” the freshman senator said. 

Noem replied that she would be as “transparent and factual every day with you and the American people as possible, based on the information that I have.”

Noem also urged senators to quickly confirm her so she could begin overseeing preparations to protect New Orleans during next month’s Super Bowl, noting that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was in attendance at the hearing in support of her nomination and had expressed concerns about his ability to keep the tens of thousands of attendees safe in the wake of the New Year’s terror attack. 

“President Trump obviously won the last election with a clear mandate and that mandate is for the American people to secure that border, but also we need to focus on domestic terrorism and homegrown terrorism,” Noem told Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the top Democrat on the committee.

“Homegrown terrorism is on the rise. We see more and more incidents of people that are U.S. citizens that have become radicalized, and knowing when people are leaving the country and coming back, and changes to their behaviors and what their actions are is critically important.”

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