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chair green: the hearing to consider the nomination of kristi noem to be secretary of the department of homeland security will now come to order. the department, with 206 2000 employees and nearly 20 distinct components, epitomizes in many ways unchecked power. its vast responsibility from border security and disaster response to counterterrorism and cyber security demand rigorous scrutiny to ensure they are executed within the bounds of the constitution, and with respect to the freedoms of the american people. nearly two years ago, when i became the ranking member of this committee, my team sought to understand the extent of this bureaucratic labyrinth.

we asked dhs for a comprehensive list of collaborative entities that participates in test forces, advisory boards, coalitions, commissions, and the like. the response was astonishingly opaque. they stated there is not a single comprehensive list to address all the collaborative relationships of the department and its components. we do so much stuff and we are so big, we cannot describe it for you. but if we cannot describe what we have, we have got a problem. in plain language, the dhs had no idea -- think about it. an agency commanding over $110 billion annually cannot account for its own activities. this is not just bureaucratic incompetence. it is a medic of a deeper issue, an agency unsure of its own boundaries and commitments. how can an agency fulfill its mission or earn the american people's trust if it does not even know the extent of its own operations. the problems do not stop there. instead of focusing on critical threats like securing the

southwest border, dhs has shifted its gaze inward, targeting law-abiding americans. dhs, under the biden administration, has often used its vast powers to target americans exercising their constitutional rights. it has become an agency more focused on policing speech and monitoring social media, and labeling political dissent as domestic terrorism, then addressing genuine security threats. while cartels traffic people and fentanyl across an unguarded border, dhs has spent time and resources creating partisan disinformation boards, spying on americans through invasive surveillance technologies. the mission drift is dangerous. every dollar spent monitoring law-abiding citizens is a dollar not spent securing the homeland. every moment spent targeting political opponents is a moment not addressing the real threats like border security, cyber attacks, or the rising influence of adversarial nationstates. the priorities of dhs have been

deeply distorted, and the american people are paying the price. and what about dhs's response to covid-19, arguably one of the greatest threats to homeland security? the answer is clear -- nothing. they knew nothing of the origins. they did not study the issue, and they had no information about gain of function research. we have seen firsthand how unchecked government overreach leads to waste, fraud, and abuse. we cannot let dhs become yet another agency that operates find a veil of secrecy. the american people's of transparency, accountability, and leadership that puts national security and liberty hand in hand, not at odds with each other. today, we gather to consider the nomination of governor kristi noem to serve as the head of the department of homeland security. i hope this hearing will set this committee's work to restore transparency and accountability to an executive branch that has grown unchecked. governor noem, if confirmed, you would lead an agency that has

lost its way. your record as governor of south dakota and a former member of congress demonstrates your willingness to make decisions in the face of significant political pressure, and to put the interest of american people first. you have the opportunity today to address either background and vision translate, leading to one of the most scrutinized role in the federal government. we were newer commitment to the constitutional oversight right congress wants to serve. i have no doubt that the nominee will consider coming in the coming weeks and months, you will be up to the challenge. thank you for your willingness to serve, and i think the opening member -- the ranking member for his opening remarks. rep. peters: thank you for making yourself available not only to the entire committee, but for the discussions we had in my office, going perhaps more in-depth than is possible in a hearing like this, and having

that conversation is something i appreciate. i also appreciate your willingness to spend time with committee staff as we conduct our due diligence and review of your qualifications and a background to serve, the secretary of the department of homeland security. as our third-largest federal agency with more than to hunt 40,000 employees and an operating budget of more than $100 billion, the department of homeland security requires strong, stable, and principled leadership. our nation faces serious threats and security challenges, from securing our borders and combating terrorism to preventing cyber attacks and responding to our nation's increasing number of natural disasters. dhs is the first line of defense in all of those areas. i appreciated the conversations we had at today's hearing, where we discussed the importance of ensuring that our nation's borders are safe and secure. and while we must address the significant challenges we face on the southern border, we also

need to ensure that there are sufficient resources to secure our northern border, something i know you are very familiar with of your state, including building out our northern border mission center. this is especially important in my home state of michigan, it has two of the nation's busiest border crossings. we will be adding another spanish shortly, the gordy hop international bridge. to facilitate the lawful trade and travel to ports of entry that are absolutely critical to our economy, i have worked on legislation to hide -- to hire additional border protection officers to meet staffing demands. we must secure our borders, but we know it is well past time to streamline our immigration and asylum process as well. in addition to border security, dhs is responsible for addressing many threats that face our nation. a few weeks ago, unfortunately,

americans were shocked to see horrific incidents in new orleans and las vegas, a deadly reminder that terrorism on what a causation remain very real and ongoing threats to our homeland. i have made combating foreign and domestic terrorism as well as extremism a top priority. in this complex environment, it is essential that dhs continue to focus on all terrorism threats, track and report dated to congress and to the american people, and coordinate between all components to ensure that the department is effectively addressing all types of terrorist threats. we have also seen the persistent cyber attacks are still a very serious threat. in fact, an increasing threat. a recent attack from chinese-based hackers infiltrated the treasury department. the salt typhoon hank compromised numerous u.s. tele-communications companies. the dhs must continue to lead the way in protecting our

networks from foreign adversaries, cyber criminals, and so-called activists -- hacktivists. finally, the emergency management agency must work hard to address the increasing number of natural disasters affecting our communities as a result of climate change, from violence dorms -- violent storms and hurricanes across the south to devastating wildfires in california and countless other severe threats. we need leadership at the department that will ensure our nation effectively response to communities when disaster strikes them. the safety and security of our nation and the american people depend on the department's ability to effectively address these wide-ranging threats. thank you again for your willingness to serve in this incredibly important position. we thank you for being here today.

i look forward to a comprehensive discussion about how you intend to lead this critical department through a series of national security challenges, if indeed you are confirmed. chair paul: this morning, governor noem will be introduced by john thune and senator kevin cramer. sen. soon -- sen. thune: i'm pleased to be here to introduce south dakota's outstanding governor, who has been nominated to serve as secretary of the department of homeland security. i've known kristi noem for a long time. she has a compelling personal and family story which inspired her interest into the public arena. i'm sure you will hear a little bit more about that from her. but i have observed as she has gone through the state legislature as a leader there -- the state house of representatives, the u.s. house of representatives, where she was our only member from south

dakota, representing our state's interest there for eight years, and a currently south dakota's governor. i think she brings to this job a number of things that will be really essential. one is obviously a skill set when it comes to managing hard problems. she let our state through the pandemic, managed what were extraordinary circumstances all across this country, in a way that made south dakota a magnet for people from other states who were trying to flee or get away from some of the heavy-handed requirements that were imposed on other states around the country. our state stayed open, stayed free. that was largely due to her leadership. i would say as we tackle what is an enormous the complicated and hard issue, which is our southern border, it is going to require a skill set which i believe she possesses. it is going to require tremendous the termination,

which i think she has, and a large amount of energy, which she has in abundance. and frankly what i would say is absolute toughness. it is going to take hard leadership to get the expect in order. something she said in her state of the state address to south dakotans -- over the past four years, we have seen a complete disregard for the security of our borders and the safety of the american people, to say nothing of the rule of law. chaos at the southern border has left our country vulnerable to a host of security concerns, from terrorist entries to cross-border criminal activity like drug trafficking. i think it is well-documented and i think it is high time that it gets fixed. we have somebody nominated by somebody who has the capabilities, the experience, and the determination and toughness to solve what is a very tough issue, and one that is desperately in need of solutions.

i am pleased to be able to be here today to introduce our great governor, and to thank you for your consideration. i look forward to this committee acting on her nomination, and i look forward to voting for her on the floor of the united states senate to be the next secretary of the department of homeland security. thank you, mr. chairman. chair paul: senator cramer? sen. cramer: chairman paul, ranking member peters, colleagues, once again i find myself in full agreement with the majority leader. it is a good place to be, in our business. this is a very special opportunity. i want to thank nearly all of you. i got into almost every one of your offices as your amateurish sitting senator sherpa. my blessing was not only to be with my good friend and former colleague, but to learn a lot about this committee that i am not on. and to get an inside view. and especially learning how we

can work together at the northern border and how similar, although very different, michigan and north dakota are. thank you for your hospitality. you were both very kind to kristi and to me. when you are the only member of a body of 435 from an entire state, it is really important to have friends. together, kristi and i -- two ou t of 430 five. if we could get montana, wyoming, and nebraska, would be five of us who could take on the fight. i remember our very first year. my first year. not hers. my first year in the house, the unthinkable happened, and the house of representatives failed to pass a farm. all i can tell you is the least secure homeland person in america was the speaker of the house and the majority leader the next day, when kristi and i doubled up. eventually, we got a farm bill done. i say that because we are living at a time -- senator peters, you

use the word strong, stable, and principled. i cannot think of three better words to describe kristi noem than those three words. i would add this. i am not surprised that president trump turned to governor noem. security -- securing the homeland is on number one priority. our number one constitutional priority as a congress. and it is for sure the number one priority of the last election. it is the number one priority for president donald trump. naturally, he would say who is the toughest, smartest, most capable protector that i know? i think i would like to find a ranch woman who knows how to protect her. when you grow up a ranch, in the

prairies or the west, nobody else is going to look out for your critters. no one else is protecting your family. you do it. it brings the skill set as i am a as a legislator, as a member of congress, as a governor. very important. when i get into the room with other governors, i might have just left because i am part of a club where i don't belong. it was very rich because there is an alliance there that is really important. for me, it is a really special opportunity to be here for them to have had this time in your offices, introducing her to you. but i want to wrap up. last night, i received a very touching letter, unsolicited by either kristi or me, from the tribal chairwoman from the standing rock sioux tribe, which straddles north dakota and south

dakota. they don't really care who wins the football game. but they do care about the reservation. and the chairwoman sent me this letter. standing rock is the home of sitting bull, in case you were wondering about the credentials of their ability to protect the homeland. i will just read a few words. on multiple occasions, governor noem has invited the standing rock sioux tribe to her table at the south dakota state capital to enter into meaningful discussions. that is what i witnessed when she came to your offices. and janet writes, it is with great excitement and enthusiasm that arnaud's dakota governor, doug burgum, will be at the head of the department of interior. i hope you'll feel the same about kristi noem at the department of homeland security. these governors understand the needs of indian country and what words like tribal sovereignty,

jurisdiction, and consultation mean to the indigenous people. it speaks volumes to her leadership and character. it is my honor to support her. chair paul: thank you for those great introductions. the committee has also received several statements in support of governor noem's nomination, including a letter from 20 two fellow governors, the international association of firefighters, and six other organizations. without objection, these letters of support will be made part of the hearing. i know our senators have to go, thank you for coming and doing those introductions. it is the practice of this committee to swear in witnesses. governor noem, please stand and raise your right hand. do you swear that the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? governor noem, you are now

recognized for your opening statement. gov. noem: thank you, and good morning, chairman paul, ranking member peters, and the distinct members of this committee. i'm honored to appear before all of you today as nominee for the secretary of homeland security. i want to thank president-elect donald j. trump for his confidence in my leadership, and the people of south dakota for their fantastic support throughout my time in public service. i would also like to express my sincere gratitude to senator cramer. he has been an invaluable resource to me throughout this process, and given me much wisdom as well as insight into the thoughts and the procedures of the senate and this body. i would also like to express my gratitude to senator thune, the majority leader of this esteemed body. he has been an advisor for many years, as well as a friend. i'm grateful for the generous support of these men and their willingness to be here to speak

on my behalf and introduce me to this committee. i am a wife and a mother and a grandmother -- a farmer, rancher, businessperson. i've served in our state legislature in congress for eight years, and also the governor. i spent my entire life in rural america. i understand what it means to work hard every day and to build a better future for your kids and for all of our communities. i come before you today the deep sense of responsibility and humility as the nominee to lead the department of homeland security, and also a commitment to the more than three or 30 americans who we will work together to help serve and to keep safe and secure in their homes and in their communities. before i proceed, i want to introduce to you my husband, brian, who is here with me today. he is my constant 24/seven reminder for our dedication to public service. it is not a solo effort or done

alone. he has been a rock by my side and i appreciate his love over so many years. and grateful he is here today. securing our homeland is a serious sacred trust that must be relentlessly pursued and can never be taken for granted. being safe within our borders here in america is quite a call, and yet americans feel less safe than they have felt in decades. for the first time in 30 years, more than 40% of americans are afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their homes. president-elect trump is going to change that. i have seen firsthand the challenges and the opportunities facing our great nation. in the two years since the department of homeland security was formed, the nature of threats to our homeland has grown, and they have evolved. this department was created in response to the failures of the government that led to the september 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. that reality is not lost on me, especially in the wake of the

most recent terrorist attacks over new year's. i have led south dakota for the last six years with a focus every day on making our state safer, stronger, and freer. i focused every day on making the best decisions not just for right now, but for generations to come. i have overseen a state workforce of more than 13,000. i have addressed important issues like cybersecurity, human trafficking, drug -- drug interdiction, and natural disasters, the same challenges facing so many of the people you represent back home. i have secured our state and supported the rule of law. if confirmed as the aids -- as the secretary, that is the same approach i would take to leading the department of homeland security. as we face the evolving threats of the toy first century, the mission and the success of dhs is more critical than ever. we must be vigilant and proactive and innovative to

protect the homeland. the challenges in front of us are extremely significant. we must secure our borders against illegal trafficking and make sure we are protected against cyber attacks, respond to natural disasters, and terrorism. i believe we can meet those challenges with resolve. you can use collaboration with federal and state partners. senators, i want your input. border security must remain a top regarded. as a nation, we have the right and responsibility to secure our borders against those who would do us harm. we must create a fair and lawful immigration system that is efficient and effective and that reflects our values. president was elected with a clear mandate. he needs to achieve this mission, because two thirds of americans support his immigration and border policies, including the majority of hispanic americans.

i was the first governor to send troops to the southern border in texas ask for help and they were being overwhelmed by an unprecedented border crisis. i will ensure our exceptional, extraordinary border patrol agents have all the resources and support they need to carry out their mission effectively. the same is true of my commitment to the men and women of u.s. customs enforcement. they are responsible for apprehending, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants, and getting criminal aliens off our streets and out of the country will help american communities be safer again. the bravery and dedication of the border patrol and ice are unmatched, and i will restore dignity to their work. the rising threat of cyber attacks also demands our utmost attention, and our critical infrastructure, from energy grids to financial institutions, is under constant attacks by

criminal actors and foreign adversaries. i will privatize a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity. in the coming days, we have to plan bigger and think faster and smarter. i fully acknowledge that people in washington, d.c. do not have all of the answers, and therefore i will leverage private-public partnerships. i will advance cutting-edge state-of-the-art technologies, to protect our nation's digital landscape. and i will have a proven track record of doing this in south dakota to back me up. i have helped make dakota state university and global leader in cybersecurity education. we recognize the need to address this emerging threat. and i will take a proactive approach if given the opportunity to serve as secretary. president trump has been a tremendous friend to law enforcement over the years, and i will do the same in my role as secretary. as governor, i worked closely with law enforcement to make

south dakota safer. i have overseen hundreds of state troopers in the south dakota highway patrol, and on several occasions, i have convened groups of law enforcement from across our state to address policies that will make our people safer. in fact, while some in this country were attacking law enforcement and defunding them, we took the opposite approach in south dakota. we recruited law enforcement officers to move to south dakota, a state that respects their service and sacrifice, and we revamped our law enforcement training to provide the first ever state-led tribal-focused law enforcement training academy. i am very proud of the work we have done in cooperation with our tribes to help make their communities more safe. and we must remain vigilant against terrorism and against others who wish to do harm to our country and to our great people. i will ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are working together, hand in hand, that they are fully equipped to detect, prevent, and respond to threats

from radical ideologies and foreign adversaries. this requires resources, coordination, and collaboration across all levels of government. once again, i will seek your wisdom and i will seek your input into the months ahead. for the sake of the people we both represent, we have to get this right. now i recognize that homeland security is not just about prevention. it is also about resilience. when disasters strike, as we know they will, department of homeland security must be ready to respond swiftly, efficiently, and effectively, to protect the lives and the property of americans. as governor, i have worked with fema in response to a dozen natural disasters in south dakota. these have included historic floods, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, a derecho, and a global pandemic. as secretary, i will enhance our emergency preparedness and strengthen fema capabilities, and we will ensure no community is left behind, and that

life-saving services like electricity and water are quickly restored. as secretary, i will oversee the secret service, an agency that is in serious need of reforms. we all saw the threats to president-elect trump last year, and the consequences of failure. that should never happen again, and i have worked closely with my own gubernatorial protective detail, and i am familiar with what works and what does not work. i will bring that experience toward strengthening the secret service once again. i am committed to working with this committee, with congress, and with the dedicated men and women of the department of homeland security, to fulfill our mission. together, we can ensure that the united states remains a beacon of freedom, safety, and security for generations to come. so thank you for the opportunity and the honor to appear before you today. thank you for the meetings and the time you took in your office to discuss the department and what we can do in the future to make the american homeland much more secure. i look forward to your questions

and i hope to earn your trust. and hopefully also your vote as we embark on this critical work together. with that, mr. chairman, i yelled back. chair paul: thank you, governor noem. we will proceed to questions. each member will have seven minutes. you will have a boat that will start at 10:00 a.m. we are going to continue the hearing and keep people in more line as you come and go to vote. we will keep the hearing moving. i want to be clear from the outset that we will not tolerate any disruptions. capitol police have been asked to escort people immediate -- immediately from the room if they disrupt the hearing. this is a standard question that we ask of all nominees. do you agree without reservation to comply with any of the requests or summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of congress, if you are confirmed? gov. noem: yes, mr. chairman. chair paul: i'm going to reserve the rest of my time for my questions and go to senator peters. sen. peters: the dhs secretary

as many competing priorities, as you well know, and mentioned in your opening comments. from borders to wildfires to cyber attacks. as you and i discussed at length, and i appreciate you bringing it up in your opening comments, we have a northern border in addition to a southern border. it is essential that dhs has the resources necessary at the northern border to carry out its mission, both between points of entry and all along the border. in fact, we have seen an increased in -- increase in unauthorized crossings at the northern border. if confirmed, do you commit to ensuring, along with the southern border, that the northern border is sufficiently staffed to maintain its security and robust trade between the u.s. and its neighbors, including at the gordie howe international bridge in my home state of michigan -- to facilitate trade will keeping americans safe? gov. noem: yes, senator peters.

you and i talked about this in your office and with thunder slotkin, how important it is to remain focused on our northern border and all borders and points of entry that the united states has. i think there has been universal concern from some of the committee numbers that as we focus on the southern border and what we are seeing as far as the invasion there in the amount of people crossing, that the northern border would lose focus. but that will not happen. we will ensure that our borders are secured, addressing all threats that may come from any direction. with the bridge and staffing up on that, that as well. i have assured that our focus is there to make sure it is staffed appropriately. sen. peters: the department is diligently working to stand up the northern border mission center in michigan, following the authorization and funding that i was able to secure in the last congress. this center is critical to supporting the department's northern border security mission

, addressing evolving threats. if confirmed, you commit to working with me to fully build out the ore than border mission center? -- northern border mission center? gov. noem: yes, senator. i look forward to working with you to assure that is a priority and is adequately resourced, working with congress and senators to make sure we have what we need to make sure the mission for that base is fully fulfilled. sen. peters: thank you. on new year's, we witnessed two incidents that reminded us that terrorism and extremism remain serious threats to all americans. both dhs and the fbi have consistently said that the most persistent threat to the homeland is from u.s.-based or small groups radicalized by a variety of ideologies, from whites up remedy to isis to al qaeda. we must certainly continue to focus on people who are radicalized here in the united states with the intent of terrorizing our communities. my question for you is how do you plan to address this threat

of u.s.-based terrorists. gov. noem: senator, this is a grave concern for our country. we all agree the number one threat to our homeland security is the southern border. in fact, since joe biden has been president, we have seen 380 two individuals that have come over that border that are on the terrorist watch list. behind me, i have the governor of louisiana with me, and he and his state and people in this country went through a horrific event on new year's day, one we never want to see repeated again. this governor behind me is concerned also about an upcoming event which is the super bowl, coming shortly. we need to do all that we can to work together so that he has the reassurance that the federal government, that the department of homeland security is prepared to help him protect that event, and to keep people safe while they are there. those 382 terrorists are known terrorists who have come over our border. don't know necessarily where they are, because of what has

been happening under joe biden's policies. 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, she just referenced in your question. homegrown terrorism is on the rise. we see more and more incidents of people who are u.s. citizens that have become radicalized. knowing when people are leaving the country and coming back, and changes to their behaviors and what their actions are is critically important. the resources that the department of homeland security has needs to be utilized as far as identifying those threats and being proactive to prevent them, also protecting civil rights and liberties in that process, and making sure the department is on mission to do what it was called to do, why it was created, and what authorities congress and the senate has given them. i hope is that governor landry and his staff and his people and the people that attend the super

bowl know that the department of homeland security is their partner, is on watch to protect them and to keep that event safe. i hope all americans know that leadership has consequences. i hope that we can get through and get your support for this nomination, and get confirmed quickly, so that we can address the threats we currently face and make sure we do not have any repeats of the day we saw just starting this year, on new year's day. sen. peters: in the last two years, we have seen increasingly aggressive and expansive cyber attacks against our federal agencies. just last month, chinese hackers infiltrated the department of treasury and stole potentially thousands of unclassified documents. given these concerning trends by the prc to hold our federal networks hostage, do you believe that federal agencies should be required to implement cybersecurity upgrades and maintain the highest cybersecurity standards to protect sensitive or classified

data and u.s. citizen information? gov. noem: the mission of cisa, the cybersecurity and info structure agency -- the mission is to find those bad actors and help work with local and state infrastructure, wykle infrastructure entities, so they can help them be prepared for such cyber attacks, and they can make sure they are hardening their systems to protect them in the future, recognizing the vulnerabilities they have. since i has gotten far off mission. they are using the resources in ways that were never intended. misinformation and disinformation they have stuck their toe into and meddled with should be refocused back onto what their job is, and that is to support critical infrastructure and to help our local and small businesses and critical info structure at the state level, to have the resources and be prepared for those cyber attacks they will face. salt typhoon was a campaign of espionage by the prc and china

against our telecoms, where a large amount of data was stolen and taken, and people's private information was taken as well. we have also seen china and the prc go after our critical infrastructure with the ball typhoon hacked, and that was extreme lead dangerous because there was no reason for them to do that, just to steal people's data and information. the reason for them to go after that was to control our critical infrastructure, the ability to see if they could shut down a water plant, a utility company. that was to cripple our country. these threats are real. cisa needs to be more effective, smaller, more nimble, to really fulfill their mission, which is to hunt and help harden our nation's critical infrastructure. chair paul: senator scott? sen. scott: governor noem, congratulations on your nomination. i think you are going to do a great job. i think it is great that you are

a governor and you bring the expertise to the table. i just went through the campaign to get reelected. it was after the butler shooting. at all my events, i said raise your hand if you think the acting director of the secret service is going to tell us what happened. not one person. i said, what about secretary mayorkas? he is running hhs. online security. what do you think? i said, what about christopher wray, head of the fbi? not one person. can you just talk about the importance of transparency and accountability in government, and how you are going to bring that to the table? gov. noem: senator scott, thank you for that question. that is what i have found across the country and in my state of south dakota. people do not trust the federal government. they do not trust the leadership and the current administration in the white house to tell them the truth -- the truth about what the threats really are,

about our agencies and departments, when there are failures, addressing them and fixing it. the secret service is one of those perfect examples. they need leadership that understands why that secret service was created, and what it needs to do. there are two elements the secret service is tasked with. that is protective detail, and also investigations. yet we see investigators within the secret service out there investigating antiquities and other things that are off mission, when they should be focused on making sure we are addressing national security events with the protocols that are necessary, and protecting the individuals they are charged with, adding the skill set and training that are necessary. that has been compromised by not having enough people there and being adequately staffed and resourced. frankly, the leadership has not been honest about talking about it. he saw this with the drones over new jersey, the federal government not answering the questions from the public. when they finally got a straight answer out of president trump, they felt reassured that somebody recognize that this was something they were questioning,

and that they deserve answers. my goal and my mission is to build trust. we will undertake a large job and a large duty that we have to fulfill, that the american people expect us to do, to make sure our nation is a nation with borders, or we are no nation at all, and making sure that those criminal actors that are perpetuating violence in our communities and in our cities and towns and states are removed from this country -- that there are consequences for breaking the law in our country. there has to be consequences. when americans break the law, there is consequences. i would we ever allow someone to come in from another country and not have consequences, or allow them to continue to go forward and to commit rate and murders and break other laws that endanger our society? we have had over 13,000 murderers loose in this country that have come over that border.

we have had almost 16,000 rapists and sexual assault perpetuators that are loose in this country right now. 485,000 plus people have criminal convictions, that are here illegally in this country, that our current administration is doing nothing to round them up and get them out of our country. we will be doing that immediately and that will be the priority. that is one of the reasons that today the american people have lost their trust. president trump will build it back and know that there federal government is accountable to them and is working to put america first again. sen. scott: joe biden dismantled our entire immigration system. as former governor, i know that when federal government policies are failing americans, you see the impacts in your state, like i did when i was governor. you take steps to protect your family and your state. you talked about before you sent troops, our nationals -- our national guard to the southern border. can you talk about how these policies affected your community

and the role you played in helping secure the border? gov. noem: we have seen the effects in south dakota that many of your states did. i would say every state has seen the effects of an open border and the policies under the biden administration. we saw increased crime. we also saw increased drug activity. we saw the cartel and their affiliates moving into our state to proliferate trafficking. and we saw people being victimized and a lack of accountability with the federal government. so when texas was addressing the situation and asked other governors for help, we sent help. i know many other governors at the time were sending law enforcement, but i made the decision at that time that it was more appropriate to send the national guard, that our national guard could be activated under title 32 and sent to assist another state from the invasion that was happening. because the national guard is trained for just such a mission -- because of this invasion, it is a war zone down there. what they are going to see, the

threats they would see -- they are trained specifically to interact with other agencies. the national guard is used to falling in with other agencies and cooperating with them, and can do that seamlessly. and the families and communities are normalized to them being deployed. we have, in south dakota, deployed our national guard to the southern border eight different times. two of them were federal deployments. the biden administration send them down there. one was to send our helicopters which are used for surveillance of drug interdiction -- interdiction that was going on down there. other times, i sent them under state activation to partner with texas and other states. they did security operations. they also did building of the wall, and partnered with texas, recognizing the failures of the federal government. the failures of the federal government are significant. we have seen our families and communities devastated by those effects, by the drug epidemic,

the trafficking, the increased crime. we recognize that just because the federal government was not doing their job, we could not fail our state. i needed to protect the people of south dakota. the people of south dakota were overwhelmingly supportive of these deployments and supportive of our national guard. sen. scott: when i was governor, there was a terrorist attack in paris. president obama was president. i said i would like to know if you were going to send refugees to my state. if a some background on them. i assume you vetted them. tell us what is going on. tell me and our state law enforcement and local law enforcement. they said go jump in the lake. they said you have no rights as a governor. which made no sense. we had over 70,000 people come here after afghanistan, on planes into this country, completely unvented. never giving our governors any information. would you change that? gov. noem: yes.

the communication between states and the federal government has been absolutely broken. what i love about this committee -- you have governors sitting on this committee that have been in that role as commander-in-chief and have the responsibility for being ceo's of their state. it is a different perspective. i served in congress, and both are extremely important. they are just different in that responsibility that weighs on your shoulder. i told folks that that is the thing that most times, if something was going to keep me up at night, it was the responsibility being commander-in-chief, recognizing the decisions i made. i'm sure you had this feeling as well as governor, that impacted those soldiers, and impacted their communities when we pulled them out, and the importance of that. and when they were bringing refugees into the country, i communicated that to the federal government. they were bringing refugees and i asked how we were working with the home countries to find out who they were, their intentions, and why they were coming to the

united states, and received no information from this administration that the vetting process was being done, that we knew where they were going. they kept us in the dark and did not communicate to us what states and where those refugees were being placed. that is something we need to change when we have programs that fall under the purview of the department. there needs to be communication, especially with the governor, so we can coordinate to ensure it is the right thing for that state. chair paul: senator hassan? sen. hassan: thank you, chair, and welcome, governor noem, and your family as well. families do share in this kind of public service, and we appreciate them very much. as we discussed at our meeting last month, as a former governor, i appreciate the important responsibilities governors have to ensure the safety and security of their communities, including by managing public safety and emergency agencies.

i will say that in many ways i agree with some of the things that senator scott just said about improving communication between the department of homeland security and governors around who is being sent to states. it is a critical issue and something that i was frustrated by when i was governor. so i look forward to hearing more today about your priorities, if confirmed -- about how your experience as governor would help you run the department of homeland security. let me just start by following up with a question that senator peters had also touched on. we have recently, in new hampshire, seen a dramatic increase in unauthorized border crossings at the northern border . when i was at the northern border recently, law enforcement told me about the need for more personnel and resources. we still don't have cell phone coverage in a lot of our

northern border. i worked with senator cramer on bipartisan legislation to strengthen our northern border strategy, because it is clear more support is needed. would you deploy additional personnel and equipment along the northern border? gov. noem: i enjoyed our meeting and you identifying the northern border issues that are going on -- the lack of security and the lack of technology that you really need to cover some of the landscapes that are there. very different than the southern border. i definitely will be working with you to ensure our northern border is adequately resourced as well. and we do have to have the resources in order to be successful. i want to work with congress, the senate, and the house, to ensure the resources are there to meet the challenges we have. we have not fully utilize the technologies that are available, that are necessary, to secure this country and to compete with those bad actors which wish to infiltrate our country.

and having the ability to utilize them will make us much more safe. i will work with you to ensure the northern border is protected. sen. hassan: i will note that at the same time, there is concern in new hampshire and along the northern border that we strengthen the border and have the resources we need. we also have a really strong economic relationship with our friends to the north, and a lot of family relationships, so i think it is important we are smart in the deployment of technology. we don't want to impede the flow of economy and people that is lawful. we do want to make sure we have the resources we need. i want to turn to the southern border. we need significant technological investments to support law enforcement personnel and their efforts to catch fentanyl smugglers, to stop human traffickers, and to seize the cash and guns that criminals traffic southward to the cartels. we talked about this a little

bit. there is bipartisan support for these, and i have worked on legislation around these issues. can you identify specific technological investments you would make at the southern border, and are you willing to work with me on increasing southbound inspections if you are confirmed? gov. noem: certainly, senator. you have heard president trump talk about a need to build the wall. the ball and quickly for structure is quickly important. at our legal ports of entry, we need technology so that flow can happen, north and south, and can happen in a legal manner to ensure our commerce can continue to operate, and that we can continue to make sure we are also secure. i think de minimis shipments are a concern, and to look at how traffickers and fentanyl distributors are using that. i think we also need to use scanners, surveillance operations. there is new technologies out there to cooperate with

satellites in areas where the top fee does not necessarily facilitate having actual infrastructure. also, the ability to make sure we are utilizing the technology that allows us to know what is going south that might be fueling some of the violence that ends up coming north, and ensuring we stop that before it has a chance to supply the cartel and bad actors that would come in. supple hassan i appreciate that, because the southbound flow of cash and weapons q will -- feels the cartels and strengthens them. it is something we really have to focus on. i also want to follow-up on the issue of cybersecurity. recently, criminals launched a successful cyber on power school, a cloud-based record management system that includes personal information about tens of millions of kindergartners through high school seniors, including many students and teachers in new hampshire. this comes as schools and local

governments across the country have seen a surge in cyber attacks on their systems. when a small school of maybe -- a system of maybe a thousand students has to pay 2 million dollars of ransom. i want you to think about what that does to one of our small communities, right? if you are confirmed, how will you empower the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency to improve the cybersecurity of state and local governments in the united states? gov. noem: if i am confirmed and have the opportunity to serve as secretary of this department, i will be following the constitution and the rule of law, and getting these departments back on mission to why they were created and why they are existing. what cisa should be doing is helping those small entities, those schools, those local city governments, state governments, and small businesses that are critical infrastructure that don't have the resources to stay on top of the critical

protections they need to enact. sen. hassan: let me follow-up quickly on that one point, as something we discussed when we had our meeting. i worked with senator cornyn on a bipartisan bill that became law that created a cybersecurity grant program for state and local governments. this is in addition to each state getting a cyber coordinator to help on the ground. we discussed this program and i know you had some reservations about the structure of this program. if confirmed, will you commit to working with congress to adjust it? i would love your input about what gave you pause as governor. i think there were only two governors who did not participate in the program. and i hope that as we work on the concerns you have, you will work with me to reauthorize the program. gov. noem: all grants will be looked at to ensure they are actually fulfilling the mission to which they were established. what i would say about the

cybersecurity grants in south dakota -- when i came in as governor, on of priorities was to bring the next industry into the state. i determined that would be technology and cybersecurity. we have to go to state university in our state, which is a cybersecurity national leader in training those cyber warriors that we need to protect us and keep us safe. i have since then partner to grow and double the size of the school. we train a lot of nsa employees in south dakota. understanding cybersecurity and my experience in that is critically important to the department and bringing it to the table to do this. you talked about why we did not take that grant in south dakota. the requirements of that grant would have cost me to grow my state government. the administration cost of it would have been more than it would have been able to facilitate at the local level. our state was already proactively helping these individuals that needed the resources to secure their systems. sen. hassan: while i appreciate that, and i am way over time,

there were very few requirements, purposely, in that grant program other than to make sure the money was spent the way we authorize. that's continue to talk about that. supple holland -- supple holla -- sen. van hollen: it is for testing to have you here. the department of homeland serity is not particularly old, but you already have what i hope will soon be the distinction of succeeding the worse -- worst secretary in the history of the department of homeland security. new york is has been an absolute disgrace that department, and friendly to this country, and i am glad to see you willing to step up and serve. i repeatedly ask your predecessor, when he sat where you are sitting, whether the southern border was secure, and he repeatedly told me under oath it is secure. he repeatedly said our policies

are working, winning biden administration policies that gave us this devastating open border. let me just ask you. is the southern border secure, as we find it today? gov. noem: senator, no, the southern border is not secure today. in three days, we will have a new president in this country, president donald j. trump, and he will secure our border. sen. hawley: that is refreshing. i'm glad to hear it. let me ask you about a young man from my state. this is travis wolf, who is 12 years old, when he was killed just over a year ago, by an illegal migrant who mowed him down, and i choose my words carefully -- mowed him down in a motor vehicle. hit him head on doing 75 in a 40. killed him. others were severely injured. just yesterday, a witness sitting where you are sitting today told this committee that migrant crime is, and i quote, not an actual concern. not an actual concern.

in a hearing before this committee advising us to drop the lake and riley -- to drop an act and not focus on migrant crime. with the death of officer avis lee, who was assaulted and killed in st. louis, and others who have been carjacked and stabbed -- would you agree with me that migrant crime is an actual concern and that you intend to do something about it? gov. noem: absolutely, and i'm so sorry about travis. my prayers go out to his family. i cannot imagine what that is like. thank you for telling his story. there are so many families in this country that have the same story and they don't understand why the federal government is allowing people to come into this country illegally and perpetuate crimes against their people and give them resources and shelter and food and debit cards to take care of their families, and they go to work every single day to make sure they are providing for their families and are held accountable when they break our

laws. sen. hawley: will you work to reinstate the remain in mexico program which did so much to ensure that those who would seek to abuse our asylum system are not allowed into the country and that claims are processed in good order and course, that they wait in mexico until claims are fully processed. will you work to reinstate that program? gov. noem: yes, senator. the president and i have talked extensively about this and will partner with him to reinstate the remain in exit code policy. -- in mexico policy. sen. hawley: let me ask about the biden administration effort to allow asylum-seekers to apply ahead of time using their phones, not actually to provide any evidence they needed asylum. there was a press they don't ask for any asylum

evidence. they simply release these so-called asylum seekers who use the app into the country on parole, sometimes they're never given a hearing the inspector general did a report, a full investigation report, on cvp1 and found users of this app were claim the same addresses even though they didn't know each other. in other words, it has been completely abused. and the idea that the federal government would pay for this service for illegals is outrageous. will you end the use of this app? gov. noem: yes, senator, confirmed. there's data and information in there that we will preserve and who's already here that we need to go find but also we make sure that there's another program which you're very familiar with where a federal government pay to fly people into this country

without any vetting or knowing who they are. so there's several. these programs that need to be eliminated and we need to ensure that we're following the laws. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org.] sen. hawley: our law allows parole and very limited circumstances. there are two circumstances it and requires case-by-case evaluation. the president administration soon to be gone has grant mass parole in direct defiance of the law. the program is one of those instances. will you put a stop of this abuse of our parole law in our asylum system? gov. noem: yes. we go back to case-by-case to look at it and make sure that our legal immigration system is utilize stood that we can process people legally and make sure that they are going through that process rather than what joe biden has done, use us an

excuse. sen. hawley: your predecessor established a disinformation board using taxpayer resources to police speech on the internet and elsewhere to tag american citizens viewpoints as either legitimate or not legitimate and use the power of the state to censor them and penalized. this has got to be the darkest chapter, i think, in dhs's short history. will you boston college to us here today that under your leadership, there will never be a disinformation board or anything like it at d.h.s. and you will be the first amendment rights of all americans? gov. noem: yes, there will not be a board under my leadership at the department of homeland

security. sen. hawley: fantastic. one more thing. about the secret service. you've mentioned this and i'm glad that you did. this committee has done bipartisan work on the assassination attempts of the former president soon to be the future president, president trump. we were stymied at every turn and i shouldn't use the present tense. we finally had to pass my own law in this committee which we unanimously dominated a law of statute which would require d.h.s. and secret service to turn over relevant information to us about the assassination attempts. it's unbelievable. when you come to office to this office, i hope very soon, will you pledge to us that you will open the books on all of the

facts, associated and around these sass makes -- assassination attempts that you will mike vrabel all the fact -- make available that the needed reforms are put into effect? gov. noem: senator, if i am the secretary of homeland security, i will make sure the facts are shared with you and your committee. i know it was a bipartisan report and i appreciate you focusing on that and i will work with you to get the information so that you have the truth of really what happened there and the failures so they can be fixed. sen. hawley: thank you. that's a great place to end. senator blumenthal did a fantastic work on this effort and it will be an incredible new

day and refreshing to have a d.h.s. secretary to tell us the truth, who will be honest with the american people and who will enforce our law and i know you'll do that, governor noem. i look forward to supporting your nomination. congratulations. >> thank you for visiting with me and thank you to your family for their service as well. let me begin on a high note. thanking senator hawley for his leadership to essentially get some basic facts out of the secret service when we were investigating senator johnson and i as leaders of the investigation helping to lead it with -- it calls for a

housecleaning top to bottom in the secret service and greater transparency with this committee and with the american public. gov. noem: yes, sir, i will certainly work with you to do that and to work to make sure that we have that transparency and the committee has the information that it needs to do due diligence of its oversight. sen. blumenthal: our investigation is continuing. senator johnson and i have discussed it and we will be making more requests to pursue the fact-finding that is so important. i want to ask you about disaster relief. california is on fire. the fires raging there are going to leave destruction and devastation that is heartbreaking.

i am really disappointed with some of the statements that president-elect trump has made. for example, saying that, "we won't give him, referring to governor newsom money to put out all of his fires and if we don't, he's got a problem." inspector is there of potential politics, withholding from california or other state. it's not an unfounded fear in the last administration. there were public reports about president trump withholding money from the state of washington because of his disagreements with governor insley. connecticut, like the rest of the nation suffers from these natural disasters, most recently in uga. we were hit by major flooding. and these natural disasters are going to be more frequent as will be the need for the federal government to meet the requests

for declarations of natural disaster. withholding natural disaster relief is a violation of his duty and of law. gov. noem: well, senator, leadership has consequences. and looking at the tragedy that's happened -- sen. blumenthal: i want to ask you a yes or no with all due respect. it's an easy -- gov. noem: what's happening in california is the ramification of many decisions over many years but under my leadership with the homeland security, will be no political bias to delivered -- sen. blumenthal: no if president trump were to say you to we're going to withhold money from connecticut or michigan or any of the states, iowa because we don't like the governor, you would stand up to him and say

mr. president, we need to allocate that money. gov. noem: in three days, president trump will take an oath to uphold the constitution the rule of law in this country and he will do that -- i don't speak to hypotheticals which is what you're asking me do but as secretary, i will do the same. sen. blumenthal: it's more than a hypothetical with all due respect. i apologize for interrupting you, but it's more than a hypothetical. it's based on experience with president trump withholding money from washington state and elsewhere. i need to know from you will you stand up to the president and say no, the constitution and the act requires us, for example, to allocate the $100 billion that we have just appropriated in the last session to say like

connecticut, $3 million, texas, $10 million, almost every one of the states represented here. will you say no to the president if he witt holds that money? gov. noem: i don't know wnba the scenario with president trump but if given the chance to be secretary of homeland security that i will deliver the programs according to the law and that it will be done with no political bias. if the programs change or if you decide to change the rule of law, then i will follow that while -- sen. blumenthal: no, you pledge to al skate -- allocate and distribute that $100 billion. gov. noem: according to how the program is written with no political bias. sen. blumenthal: let me ask you, senator peters asked you about homegrown terrorists.

the new orleans tragedy with the result of a homegrown terrorist, born in this country, radicalized by isis. and it reflects the reason why the intelligence community, the f.b.i., almost all of our law enforcement has said repeatedly domestic violent extremism is the most lethal and persistent threat to our security. that terrorist was radicalized by isis. we do know that it was a military veteran and isis was responsible for radicalizing. shouldn't we focus on isis as a threat to this country's security?

gov. noem: that's the mission of the homeland security and homegrown terrorism is growing. we have more and more incidents -- sen. blumenthal: what will you do to combat it? what will you do to stop isis and other extreme organizations from radicalizing? gov. noem: i will work the partners and the department of defense, the intelligence agencies and within secretary of state and the other branches and cabinet officials to make sure we're bringing all resources to bear to identify and to stop these terrorist activities. what i would say is the cybersecurity and intelligence elements that we have within the department of homeland security have been siloed. ina has some interactions but not enough and we also need to

have cisa with the f.b.i., c.i.a. to stop these types of threats and identify when they're growing among our citizens. sen. blumenthal: my time has expired. this area of questioning is supremely important. 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. the governor of louisiana for the super bowl ought to be really riveted on the potential for homegrown terrorism as a threat. and i hope that you will help him and other governors to do their duty to protect the people of the united states from that homegrown terrorist threat. thank you. gov. noem: i look forward to it. >> governor noem, thank you for being here today and i want to thank you for your continuing service. the service that you had as a member of congress, the service

that you have displayed as a governor of the great state of south dakota, our neighbor to the northwest. and for being willing to step up and take on this immense responsibility. we talk about fixing our immigration system and i would like to share a story about one of my constituents from council bluffs iowa. so very similar to the story that was shared by my colleague from missouri with his constituent mr. wolf, i have a young woman by the name of sarah root who encountered tragedy

nine years ago. so sarah root was struck and killed by an illegal immigrant who was drunk driving. he was driving at it three times the legal limit of alcohol. and sarah's killer was bonded out. bonded out before the roots laid her to rest. he fled the country and not -- has not been seen or heard from since. the root family has not seen justice. so governor, how do you plan to prioritize the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants like sarah's killer? gov. noem: yes, senator. thank you for telling sarah's story. i remember when this happened because it was so close to home and so devastating for her and her family and the entire state of iowa. and our country, president trump has focused on making sure that these types of situations don't

happen again, that we don't continue to lose our children and our family members to illegal immigrants that come in and perpetrate crime with no accountability and released with no consequences. the number one priority of the president is to secure the border and deport these criminal actors immediately. and as soon as possible, they will be the number one priority to make our community safer and so we don't have this kind of situation going forward. people, i think when they first heard my name being mentioned and nominated for the department of homeland security maybe thought it was a little bit of a surprise. like oh, i didn't think about kristi doing that job. the reason that i asked for it was because i knew it was the president's number one priority. i knew it needed to have someone in the position that would do what the president promised the american people would be strong enough to do it and follow through to make sure that we're protecting our communities and america, but that also came at it from a perspective of how these families feel that was a

wife and a mom and a grandmother and would be able to stand up and communicate to the american people what we were doing and why we were because that's what they asked us to do. i have three grandchildren and one more on the way and when i look at little missed ay every day, i look at what kind of country will we leave her? and her brother and her sister? and i don't want them to think that their grandma sat on the sidelines and didn't do all that she could. i will enforce the constitution and the law and i will make sure that when people enact horrific things like this, that happened to sarah and her family, that will there will be consequence toss it. sen. ernst: i know you are perfectly positioned to enforce this. i do want to move on to another topic that we vivid about in my office. so i'm the founder and the chair of the doge senate caucus. so we do need greater governor

efficiency and we need less of our employees teleworking and more of those government workers back in the office working for our constituents. and to that end, it ties together then, too, we just found out that the treasury department had a cyberattack on december 8 from china. and no surprise here. they access servers through work from home software. so it all ties together. we need more people back in the offices, making sure that any communications are secured, any work is secured. and to that, i know the biden administration has put a huge emphasis on the cyberbureaucracy, but they haven't really done anything about it. and they haven't given any authority to those that are

enforcing the standards. so, we need to enforce the standards that are set forth to make sure the cybersecurity is truly there, but what can dhs do, one with telework? how do we get the employees back? and how do we make sure our systems are secure from these cyberattacks? gov. noem: senator, thank you for focusing on remote work and the need to get people back in their offices and accountable to the work that they do. in fact, i've heard since being nominated for this position that many of the agencies within the department are not showing up they're not doing their jobs. but even fema who is responsible for disaster response that they have the alternative some of these employees to not even respond to a disaster which might explain the horrific results that we saw in north carolina when they had such a terrible disaster that impacted families and communities and fema failed them so miserably.

it's not even a responsibility of them to show up when terrible things happen, what other day-to-day activities that's not getting done because they're working from their home or not doing their job at all? you talked about cybersecurity and the need ensure our systems are safe and secure. we don't necessarily even know how some of these espionage attacks that have infiltrated our systems have happened. we don't know how to stop them yet. we don't have the knowledge that our departments and intelligence agencies and cybersecurity agencies are working together to stay in front of these bad actors but many times, the most vulnerable area staps at the state and local level. some of these smaller entities that feeds us information into our systems is where they choose to infiltrate and get our data and to really hold for ransom. many of these companies and then impact our federal systems as well. so one of the first meetings i had when i was elected governor with the former governor during

the transition was he said the number one priority you're going to have as governor is to secure our systems. he said our systems are so antiquated and we've had over 16,000 heckling attempts in just the last month you. need to secure our systems and get it done. that was a priority for me and to do that, we fully funded it and got it done in south dakota and it's being implemented today. i look forward to doing that at the federal level to make sure our country is safe from these bad actors that have a plan to take us out. sen. ernst: thank you. my time has expired but i want to end on a note that another thing that they truly appreciate about you and your nomination is that as a governor, you have worked with those local constituents as well and those local governments and i know that this will be an incredible strength that will ensure continued success for you within the department. so, thank you, governor, very much.

>> i want to ask you not just about your work, but how it's going to fit into the broader incoming trump administration and i'm uncertain about roles and responsibilities regarding your position and tom holman's. i want to ask you point-blank like who's going be in charge of the border? gov. noem: the president will be in charge of the border. it's a national security species and the president is in charge of this country and has made a frohms the american people and we will fulfill his agenda. sen. kim: trump said i'm pleased to announce that tom hollman and said that he's in charge of our nation's border. i like to go back to you. how are you going to work with mr. holman? what is the division there? i'm trying to get a better sense of who's in charge. gov. noem: yeah, tom holman is

an incredible human being who has over 30 years of experience. sen. kim: incredible experience, i get that. i'm trying to get through the decision-making process when it comes to your work. for instance, will he be giving orders directly to cvp, ice, uscis? gov. noem: tom hollman has a direct line to the president. he is an advisor of the president. the borders are. i will, if nominated and confirmed, and put into the position of being the department departmentof homeland security y take the measures. sen. kim: i want to make sure that we empower the department of homeland security. in our nation and that started this after september 11 said all offices employees and organizational units of the department are vested in the secretary. so i guess the reason why i mention this is i've just seen some quotes from mr. holman

where he said i'll be making decisions on border security and deportation. he was asked in another interview about the stronger role that he'll play and he said absolutely. i'll be making decisions on how we do the border. this is a concern of mine. not only is that about the function of our executive branch but the capabilities of this committee to be able to properly do our constitutional duties for oversight, the ability for us to be able to have that conversation. we can talk you, engage with you. that is the direct way. but if he is going to be making decisions, then he should come before this committee as well and i know that's something whether as far as i know his role will be directly at the white house is not something that will be under the purview of this committee. i just wanted to raise those concerns. gov. noem: yeah, tom and i work very well together. talk and communicate all the thyme and we will be working together on a daily basis under the new administration.

and i would say there's no authorities being planned to be taken away from the department or myself if i'm in the role -- sen. kim: but it sends some mixed signals. you can understand when people hear mr. holman saying i'm making the decisions. when they hear president-elect trump saying he's in charge of our border. so i just -- i urge that we're going to try to do our best to make sure we're empowering the department, empowering that secretary because that's where, you know, our laws are invested in our decision-making. gov. noem: yeah. thank you, senator, and we'll make sure you have all the information that you need and tom working directly with the president and i working directly with the president help hope to help you to get reassured the authorities will stay the same but we will secure that border and make sure that we're working together in that way. sen. kim: i want to switch gears about you raised the concerns about terrorism and foreign terrorist groups.

i want to ask you. what are the major foreign terrorist groups that are -- well, what are the groups that are out there that we're tracking and which are the ones that are concern to us in terms offspring inspire or coordinate an attack upon us and if you can just give me a sense of what their current capabilities are to try to enact that. gov. noem: we face a lot of threat, senator, and since i'm not in the role today, i shouldn't get into specifics with you. sen. kim: you can at least get into specifics about what organization that are out there. gov. noem: you have all the traditional terrorist organizations that are always in the united states and i would say hamas, isis, continuing down that path of those terrorist organizations but we'll continue to also focus though not just on those, but also the cartels, their partnership with the chinese and what they're doing. listen, i've told people for years, for over 30 years. i've worked on national policy, on food policy, on agriculture

policy and i've seen the chinese agenda to infiltrate our country, control our food supply chain and their manipulation of their currency and steal our i.p. and now i believe that this fentanyl crisis that they have flooded our country with is gear and the purpose is to kill our next generation of americans. sen. kim: no, i don't discount the importance of those -- gov. noem: gov. noem: on one or two groups, it takes your eye off the ball. we've spend a amount of time talking about homegrown terrorism. sen. kim: the reason i mention this is just that when the department of homeland security, when their threat assessment for 2025 lists three organizations, lists al-qaeda, lists isis and khorasan and the irgc and the threat of iran. i get it. you're talking about the importance of the border. we understand that. we all want to work with the

administration to try to have an orderly process with that. but i want to make sure with dhs the primary mission, we look at the founding legislation, the primary mission, the very first mission is to prevent terrorist attacks within the united states. and do everything we can to minimize that type of threat. so, yes, i do think it's important for us to focus in on one, two, or three or just wherever these terrorist groups are at. yes, i know that part of that effort to try to minimize terrorist attacks is through the war that we try to do -- to secure our borders, all of them, air, sea, and land. but the primary mission still, is about preventing terrorism, not just the border security. that's a tool to be able to accomplish that. so i just raise that with you. i want to make sure that the next homeland security secretary has a very detailed knowledge and understanding about the terrorist groups, their capabilities and is tracking that on an absolute daily basis

and that they understand that is their top mission. with that, i'll yield back to the chairman. chair paul: senator johnson. >> thank you for your willingness to serve. you will be taking over a massive federal government agency, 240,000 employees. that's probably too massive. had i been there back then, i don't think i would have assembled these agencies and this massive department but it's what we got. it's a department that is misused. instead of using border protection to do that, protect our border and security, they've utilized those resources to incentivize a instead of using the cybersecurity infrastructure set to do that, they engaged in mission creep and utilized it to

censor americans with the misinformation. i'm concerned about disaster relief creating greater and greater increasing levels of moral hazard resulting in higher costs of these disasters. let's cover each one of those. how do you gain control over a massive agency whose resources and personnel have been misused? how do you root out those individuals who instead of securing our border open it up and facilitated this? gov. noem: this has been a big topic of conversation in most of the meetings i have had was how do we fix this agency, the reputation is it is broken and dysfunctional.

that is the question i get the most, why would you want to head up a dysfunctional department? because the mission of the department is to secure the homeland, it is our biggest vulnerability right now. we have a president not enforcing the law. everyone should be subject to our laws. a nation without laws and borders is not a nation at all. people have to show up for work. there will be a majority of people who don't have their primary mission to secure the homeland. maybe they are not truly passionate about protecting america. they need to do that and recognize what their job is. the morale is very low. i will remind people what their jobs are. border patrol agents haven't been able to do their jobs for a long time. they have been processing paperwork when they should be securing our border.

we will build partnerships with local law enforcement, ice, tax forces. we are communicating with sheriffs and mayors to partner together. when you talk about this being a broken agency that needs so much improvement, a lot of it goes back to wire are we created? these individuals are getting back on task. -- sen. johnson: we did rename part of the agency, i in no way shape or form contemplated that the sub agency with dhs, it was focused on securing us against cyber threats. to make sure they would never be used to violate the constitution the way it was used to violate the constitution under the biden administration. this administration has been completely opaque.

we do not have the information in terms of what happened here. my question relates to how they misused it. will you commit to providing the transparency, information, investigating yourself, providing my subcommittee the information to expose the truth to the american public. more importantly, propose a piece of legislation based on our investigation to fix it so that no administration could ever miss use the language of the law to commit that kind of unconstitutional act and violate people's first amendment rights. gov. noem: i look forward to working with you on that. what we saw during the covid pandemic, the misinformation,

disinformation campaign, the materials they were putting out was shocking. deciding what was true and what wasn't. we saw it in the elections with russian influence as well. ensuring they cannot do that in the future would be a priority that they stayed doing what they are supposed to do and working with local officials is a priority and i look forward to working with you should you wish to bring them in. sen. johnson: the first step of your process is to expose the truth, expose who they were, hold them accountable. that is crucial that we take that first step. the tragedy of california fires, the more we learn, the more we understand that not only was his predictable, it was predicted.

it was preventable. you can't prevent the start of the fires. you could prevent them from raging into the tragedy that they became, the dozens of people who have lost lives, billions of dollars in property damage. it's not just california. that was grotesque mismanagement. you can't prevent a hurricane, floods, we could start to try and reduce the moral hazard that we have allowed to explode with the federal government rushing in immediately, tell us how big of a check you want. what could you do in your new role to try and start reducing the moral hazard we have created in this country with federal disaster relief? gov. noem: emergencies and

disasters are always locally led. they are led by the local communities and leaders because they are much more responsive on how to bring relief and get those emergency services. it means that when we come in, they were supporting what the mission is, what those plans are that the local city and county and state have implemented. one of the things fema is not doing today that we should be doing is streamlining communications. we saw this in new orleans and other terrorist attacks. the american people not getting the truth. the transparency that we need. fema could always put out a blueprint for what the response should be. we look at the secret service, what happened in butler,

communication was an issue. the ball was getting dropped with local authorities, local lawn oarsmen, we could put forward a blueprint for how communication could happened and be streamlined with the state and local entities so that should something happen this is how we talk to each other. make sure the public has the facts, they are not getting misinformation. also up in pennsylvania, that blueprint is what we do at the state level that fema has failed to do to educate the public on what everybody's roles are. whether it be a natural disaster or terrorist attack, that we could put out those blueprints ahead of time and educate people , train those local entities. they currently do to an extent today but not good enough.

the resources could be pre-deployed in many of these situations so they are more readily accessible. how will we communicate and make sure everybody is on the same page to be more efficient? i wish that we would've had different leadership and a different governor in california and we might have a different result there. in the department of homeland security we could do all we can to make sure the people live in california know that they will get a response that is appropriate and we did all that we could so they could protect themselves when we -- when they have a failure in leadership. chair paul: i have to interject. we talk about burn policies, how we try to not have so much brush. they are also next to the largest body of water in the world, the pacific ocean.

i see these homes burning, if they just had a generator and hose, you start sucking the water out. we could pump it in the hills, it doesn't rain very much. why don't they take the ocean water and have a bunch of water waiting when a wildfire shows up? once again, bad local government. sen. -- sen. gallego: following up to our conversation, in recent years, unlike other border communities with the funding to address migrant influxes through the ssp program. border communities must bear all of the financial burden for innovation challenges and the border in general. that means police, fire, hospital systems.

at the same time you also face the challenges of street releases. having thousands of people being released becomes more burdensome. we get lumped in with places like new york and chicago by how they do their shelter programs. we do not permanently put people in apartments or anything of that nature. we are trying to move people away from the burden -- border. i am highly concerned, when the ssp program becomes politicized to the point where we get put in with those policies that are counterproductive. depriving our small arizona borders of vital funds that they need. as dhs secretary, how would you assure border communities are not left to respond and pay for these influxes from the broken

border system on their own. how do you commit to not politicize this program to the point where places that are doing things correctly aren't lumped in with people doing things incorrectly? gov. noem: thank you for the conversation. the southern border and the challenges, also the difference between your state and how you utilize funds versus other states. my hope is that if given the opportunity to serve as secretary the federal government would no longer facilitate an illegal alien invasion. your communities in arizona would no longer have the issue with having people in small towns and communities that you need to figure out how to take care of. the president as promised would secure the border.

we will uphold our nations laws. he will do that to the benefit and be putting america first again. we talked about the ssp program and how you have utilized it. getting these programs back to what they were intended is important. fema is a disaster response agency. some of the facilities that have been utilizing these types of funds and dollars need to be reevaluated to make sure it is truly doing the service it is upholding our nations laws. sen. gallego: in an ideal world we don't have this massive humanity coming towards our borders. this is why my concern is to not get rid of this program. these small communities of maybe 10,000 people, maybe only six or seven cops will be bearing the brunt, they are not a big state.

we can't compensate for these kinds of losses. counties that are largely rural don't even have a tax base. when the system sends people to these borders and we end up not having enough money to pay for cops, firefighters, hospital systems, it is that type of program that keeps these small communities afloat. just want to make sure this does not become politicized and we are kept separate from the mistakes other states have taken on. in arizona we have large parts of the border that runs through tribal lands. we have great relationships. they want to be partners when it comes to border security. we have some great programs that have worked in the past. a collaborative program of tribal law that worked with dhs

to make sure they stopped human smuggling and cartels going through the borders. what is your plan to consult with our border tribes to balance both national security but also their sovereignty? gov. noem: i believe my experience as governor and my relationship working with our tribes is going to be an incredible, powerful tool at the department of homeland security to work on how we secure our southern border and respect her bank sovereignty and work with them this year. looking at public safety issues we had in south dakota and their lack of ability to hire officers on our reservations in south dakota. i offered to train federal law enforcement officers but also tribal police in south dakota at no cost to our tribes. it has been a powerful tool to build relationships. those tribal police had a chance to go through academy with

deputies from the counties in the state hired patrol troopers that were coming on board. those relationships have built partnerships we did not have before. the training opportunity is incredible that you spoke of. looking into that program, i would like to continue to build on that so that our tribes have an opportunity to have a secure border and have it reflect values, culture, have people be a part of the solution. that we are respecting their landscapes and land as well. i look forward to working with you as we move into this next administration to protect our country and work and respect our tribes. sen. gallego: president trump and some of his other potential staff and advisors have been vocal about implementing a mass deportation strategy.

talking to my agricultural community, they have concerns this approach will lead to workforce shortages that will further drive up the cost of everything. something we have been working hard across a bipartisan manner to bring down the cost of everything. this would reignite inflation. what is your thought on the safe practices for agricultural workers while protecting local operations in our home states? gov. noem: the president trump has been very clear his priority has been deporting criminals. those who have perpetuated violence in our communities. that will be the priority. as i spoke earlier having 425 thousand of those convictions in our country, that will be a focus that we need to tackle right away. it will be a big one. beyond that the priority will be those individuals who have long

overstated and there is consequence for -- ignoring our federal laws. i'm a farmer and rancher. i come from an agricultural state. we will work together to make sure laws are followed. it is the senate and house that puts forward the laws. as secretary, i uphold the laws. you determine what that is and i will be transparent to share as much information and insight as i have to continue to work with you. sen. burr: reino -- sen. moreno: nine years ago today we met in probably the coldest day i have ever been in my life in iowa and you and i were making phone calls and

whipping up votes. my wife is here, got a chance to meet you. we left iowa saying that person is really going to go far. here we are nine years later, you have been an amazing governor and now you will make it even better as secretary of the department of homeland security. sometimes we complicate things. there is a current secretary of why don't we do a little job review and compare and contrast him to you. i might ask you some questions and that you could give me an answer. secretary mayorkas allowed 400 people on the watchlist to come into this country illegally. if you are confirmed how many people on the terror watch list would you allow into this country? gov. noem: we would work every single day until we had that number at zero.

if you look at the previous trump administration in comparison to joe biden's number, president trump, it was 11 that were then removed from the country and faced consequences. when you look at the 382 joe biden has led in, it is shocking and needs to be changed. sen. moreno: he led in about 12,000 murders, how many would you allow in? gov. noem: my goal would be zero. sen. moreno: 16,000 rapists. gov. noem: every day i would work to make sure there is none leaden. sen. moreno: 600,000 people with criminal convictions, how many would you allow in? gov. noem: we would work every day to make sure people are safe. sen. moreno: how many private jets would you have the united states taxpayers have flying to foreign countries to pick up people to bring them here? gov. noem: we will no longer be

undertaking that issue. sen. moreno: so you would not have any? gov. noem: i will be working with president trump to put in place his agenda. sen. moreno: how many illegals would you plan to house in luxury hotel rooms in manhattan at a cost of $6,000 per month? gov. noem: during the selection of the american people said they did not support that and that would not be a part of this administration. sen. moreno: how about sex change operations? how many would you fund? gov. noem: i believe the department of homeland security will be reevaluating its mission in this country to not allow that going forward. sen. moreno: if you had an illegal migrant that was in this country and they committed a crime, would you offer them airfare from one state to another to evade law enforcement? gov. noem: i will be following this nation laws and the constitutions to make sure all laws are of your -- adhered to.

sen. moreno: would you have close the detention center in georgia that would have allowed the release of somebody charged with a crime? gov. noem: i don't have the specifics. that would not be something i would want to have under my watch. sen. moreno: just to be clear, lincoln -- laken riley would be alive today. gov. noem: my hope is that would be true. sen. moreno: let's switch to another part of the disgraceful immigration laws of biden and mayorkas who objectively have been the worst cabinet member ever in the history of the united states of america. let's talk about temporary protected status. temporary being the operative word. they just extended temporary protected status again through

2027. will you continue to corrupt tps to allow open borders agenda and will you use hot weather and sunny beaches in el salvador as a reason why people have to stay in america and not safely return? gov. noem: this program has been abused and manipulated by the biden administration. that will no longer be allowed going forward the way they are. the program was intended to be temporary and its extension of over 600,000 venezuelans as well is alarming when you look at what we have seen with gangs doing damage and the individuals that live there. sen. moreno: in terms of the physical border. who should be in charge? who should have operational control of our border?

the united states government or the mexican drug cartels? gov. noem: the united states needs to control our borders and secure them. sen. moreno: if this were a job interview in a private sector and you had somebody like alondra mayorkas in charge and you had the opportunity to upgrade, this would be the greatest upgrade in history of the united states of america. i will end my time with a startling statistic and a challenge to the democrat party. when mayorkas was confirmed, every single democrat voted to confirm him. six republicans joined all 50 democrat in that confirmation. if we get to the vote and hopefully we could do that monday. we cannot wait one single day without you being in charge of that department, we should have

100%, 100 senators vote for your confirmation. this will be the litmus test in my mind as to whether we have a democrat party that is actually serious about doing bipartisan things like securing this country and protecting our citizens. any democrat that voted for mayorkas that does not vote for you should be in front of their voters and removed from office. thank you for serving, thank you for putting up with the nonsense you have had to put up with over the years, you are going to make an amazing secretary, thank you for being here. >> thank you for being here and thank you for time in my office governor. i'm a former c.i.a. officer. i joined right after 9/11 and sorbed -- served three terms in

iraq. i'm the first cia officer in the senate. to me, the most important thing as a democrat from a state that trump won, i understand we will have different policy opinion, i understand that the incoming president has the right to nominate whoever he wants. those are not the issues i will spend my time on. the ones that i care about the most relate to the mission of the organization when it was founded, protecting the homeland. i think to me it is one thing when there is campaign rhetoric or politics of things. everybody does that on both sides of the aisle. when it comes to actually protecting the country, you have to be clear and honest about fat and not complete rings. -- conflate things.

you have one of the intelligence agencies that you will call a spade a spade. the most recent acts of domestic terrorism in new orleans, horrible incident, in nevada had nothing to do with migrants, correct? they were homegrown american citizens. one of them was in an elite military unit. it's one of the hardest things to catch, those lone wolf radicalized american citizens. i want to protect ourselves. the most recent examples of domestic terrorism were not what we have spent the majority talking about today. i don't dispute that there is crime. i want to know and hear from you as an intelligence officer that you will speak about real threats and not blow something up, politicize something, make something more exciting because that's what the president wants to hear.

your mission means calling honestly what the threats are, could you give me a yes or no? gov. noem: yes. i will be as transparent and factual every day with you and the american people based on the information i have. i don't know if the investigations are closed in new orleans and nevada. what we know so far, it needs to be the truth and facts. sen. slotkin: we talked a lot about border security. i think one of the only people on this committee that has worked on protecting the homeland. i believe deeply in it. every country of the world gets to decide who comes into its borders. i have been open with this committee. it is on us to fix the deeply broken legal immigration system.

i'm glad to hear you will carry out the laws. democrats and republicans are to blame that we have not fixed this system. i believe you can't fully control the border unless you give people a legal vented wade to come here. do you believe in legal, vetted immigration and we need more of it? gov. noem: i believe we need to follow our legal immigration laws. we need more resources in some of the elements of this. sen. slotkin: do you believe our economy depends and needs, just like your family came from norway and wanted a better life. gov. noem: immigration has always been a part of our history. we need to make sure we are adhering to our nations laws. sen. slotkin: i'm with you. again, going back to you pledging it up to the constitution, not president

trump. president trump said in november that he is willing to use law enforcement, national guard, or active duty military to go after the threat from within the united states. i don't know exactly what he was talking about. we have recent examples from your predecessors where federal law enforcement were sent into a state without coordination with the governor. those federal law enforcement officers were putting down threats to federal buildings and they were legitimate. i don't dispute there was destruction and property going on. they were wearing insignia, any markings. people were arrested by folks with no names like right out of

a bad hollywood movie. if the president asks you to send and federal law enforcement to a would you support that action? gov. noem: senator, my job if nominated and sworn in as secretary of homeland security the constitution in the rules of this country. that will be the oath and pledge i will be making. my goal is to work with you that we have situations that are always appropriate. >> you are former governor, you can imagine that if joe biden sent in 700 federal law enforcement undersecretary mayorkas without coordinating with you, i think you would agree you would be a little upset. i just ask you give the same respect for coordination and that we are very sensitive. people are worried about politicizing in the military.

lastly, i will just say, i look forward to looking at the northern border, the gordie howe bridge, helping staff that. across many administrations we haven't met our staffing goals at dhs so we want to make sure that happens in time. i also want your assurances. you received fema assistance from joe biden's administration. you asked and requested of the administration and you were given millions of dollars to help with that. i understand you don't like gavin newsom, but can you say in front of the american people that you will open the books to this committee who does have oversight over fema, that you will open the books in a bipartisan way to ensure whether it is north carolina or california or anywhere in between that the american people could know you are not playing politics with disaster assistance? gov. noem: yes, senator i will work with you and the committee

to make sure i'm following federal law and ensuring you have information and transparency from us and dhs and fema every it -- fema. >> governor noem, great to see you. thanks for accepting this not the president -- nod the president has given you. i've had the privilege of knowing you for a long time. i have the benefit of knowing your qualifications and how strong you are in all these background issues. i have seen it firsthand. i appreciate you stepping into this. a lot of attention across the country will be focused on this. you know that full well and stepped into it. many folks in my state are praying for you and your state and you have done a great job in leadership in a very tough time for louisiana. we don't want to see acts of terrorism anywhere./ thanks for your leadership on

that as well. i have to tell you, i have whine d to my wife about the temperature coming monday. i'm excited about trump's inaugural, that we will be sitting outside in 12 degrees. i thought for fun i would check south dakota and it is 1 for a high, so i will stop whining about the temperature monday. i'm going to run through a couple things here. not everybody in oklahoma knows you. the questions i get from people in oklahoma i want to be able to run past you because they want to know the answer. will you use the legal authority dhs already has to be able to close our border? gov. noem: yes, senator. i will work with president trump to ensure we are closing our border. >> there are a lot of things this congress needs to do to

close loopholes to give you additional authority, but there is a tremendous amount of authority currently not being used and oklahomans are saying, is that about to be used? they will be grateful to hear that. no other president has ever created a phone app to facilitate a faster processing of aliens in. will you use your authority to stop facilitating faster processing of illegal aliens into our country? gov. noem: yes, we will eliminate the app, we will maintain some of the data to know who is in our country. gov. noem: no other president has use the humanitarian role authority to assist faster processing of aliens into our country which leads to the catch and release we have all heard about. the oklahomans i talked to say, are we about to end catch and release? gov. noem: president trump has

been very clear that he will end catch and release. >> terrific. will you use your authority with the funds given to you by congress to actually build more wall, rather than use the funding given to you to do environmental remediation around the border, rather than actual border wall and border structure? gov. noem: yes, senator. president trump has been clear he wants to build the wall. >> so do we. will you use sort -- your authority to scan more vehicles. we have to get you the funding to be able to do this, to scan more vehicles carrying fentanyl into the country via orts of entry. gov. noem: we will continue to use technologies and use more with the resources we are granted to know what is coming in and out of the country. >> last year, fema employees were instructed by one of their supervisors that if they see a trump sign or a trump flag

flying, to skip that house, to not stop by and tell them what their federal government can do for them. will you allow fema employees or any within dhs to politicize their role and to pick and choose who gets help and who doesn't as an american? gov. noem: senator, under president trump's administration disaster and emergency release -- relief will not be handed out with political bias. >> that is what folks want to know. will you review the secret service responsibilities to go back through it and say are they focused on their primary mission or is there something that could distract? secret service still chases down financial crimes, child exploitation. those are serious things for treasury or fbi to do. there is a question if that is the first priority for secret service. gov. noem: the secret service is in need of dramatic reforms. they do have a protective detail

element that is their priority and also an investigation side. my understanding is that that investigation side is often used to train the protective detail officers, but clearly they are not focusing on what their true duty is and it needs to get back on what they were created for and that is the protective detail mission and emergency situations they need to plan and prepare for and defend. >> this committee made a request to the secretary last year and also the head of the fbi to come before this committee and to do whatever he secretary of homeland security has done for the last 20 years, every single year in broken until last year and then the secretary refused to come before this committee in an open session to talk about national threats. the former chairman protested strongly to the biden administration and dhs that they weren't coming, but they still refused to be able to come.

will you come before this committee and talk about the threats openly so the american people can hear them in a public forum? gov. noem: yes, senator, senator peters and i discussed this quite a bit as well and i have committed to come and give that briefing to this committee and the american people. sen. lankford: thank you. let me tell you another challenge we have had with homeland security in the past four years. when we ask for data and information, we get, i will get back to you on that. when we ask again and again, we get the same statement. i can go down the street to the command center where they get the data in lives and they have it up on big screens and they are tracking what is happening one of southern border to the minute, but if i ask for what happened last month, they will say we are still gathering that data. we are not asking for anything other than what congress is supposed to get. that is the ability to see data and have real oversight over dhs. that has been a failure of this dhs along with multiple other

issues. when we request the data for basic things, like how many special-interest aliens were allowed across the border -- it was 70,000 people that were targeted by this administration as a potential national security risk that were not just found at the border, that were released when they were found at the border. 70,000 people just from last year in the country right now that this administration declared at the border they were a potential national security risk. i know you are not going to do that. but when we ask for the data and information, when we say, how was the national vetting center working, do you have the connection to screen individuals, we are just doing our oversight responsibility. you served in congress before and did a great job and did oversight. will you provide data to this committee so we can cooperate with you to help? gov. noem: senator, i will follow the law and be transparent with you and allow

you to do the due diligence. sen. lankford: i have absolutely no doubt and i look forward to serving. thank you. >> well, congratulations, governor, you are almost done. [laughter] we have been through a lot of questions, you have handled the questions very well. i will ask a couple questions that i think the ranking member has a few and we will be done shortly. i think a lot of americans including some conservatives misunderstand the first amendment. they think it says facebook has to publish my opinion or the wall street journal has to publish my opinion or we need to force them to be fair. the first amendment really doesn't apply to telling private companies what we can or cannot say. youtube censored me and i despise their policy, they took speeches down. i don't have a legal recourse other than i can complain about youtube being unfair.

however, with the government there is a rule. the first amendment specifically says congress shall pass no law banning or bridging speech. this is what got us worried about what not only the fbi was doing, but the department of homeland security actually meeting with these companies on a weekly basis. imagine the chilling effect of this. imagine that there are cameras here, that they are going to end their filming of this interview and then decide what he said or she said with misinformation and they should edit that out. can you imagine? the media has not been in more of an uproar about the government meeting with the media to decide things. some of this we didn't know and then elon musk bought twitter. people asked him, you paid 44

billion dollars for twitter and he said, i paid it to defend free speech. it has been an amazing service to allow more viewpoints and point out with the government is doing. mark zuckerberg said that the pushy nest, the coercive nest of government meeting with them was unprecedented and that they pushed back, but he also said worse than telling him he should respect speech, they also threatened him. they threatened to come after him through antitrust law and remove parts of section 230 of the liability protection. just to imagine this bully nature of government and i know you are opposed to that, but if you are confirmed, will saying we are no longer sending people to meet with media. i talk about constitutional and

protected speech. what about pornography or what about child trafficking? those are illegal and not constitutional protected speech. for constitutionally protected speech, will you tell us in america you will no longer be sending government agents to meet with the media? gov. noem: yes, i will work with you to ensure civil rights and liberties are protected and we are not in the misinformation and disinformation space like the current dhs is. chair paul: we will send requests, we sent requests previously, sometimes and often a bipartisan request for information. the twitter files, michael shellenberger, mattei b, barry weiss did a great job of what was happening in twitter and how they were cooperating with the government. the other investigation that needs to occur is who were they talking to? to those people work at dhs and

can we make sure they are not in a position of authority? this is just a request, that you have your own investigation, that you have people who work for dhs to say, we are going to look for people who are bringing their political bias to work and trying to influence speech and restrict speech based on their bias and help us in rooting that out and making sure that these people never again have that authority. i don't think there has ever been anything like this as far as a restriction of speech. i think the election is largely going to stop until things the other way, but will you help us by looking internally for those trying to restrict speech? gov. noem: i look forward to working with you on that mission. chair paul: i don't have any other questions now, but i think senator peters and senator blumenthal and we will see how it goes. we will start with senator peters with one more five minute. sen. peter: i will be fairly

brief. we have had opportunity to talk at length about many issues. i just want to stress going forward and we have heard a lot of comments here, i think there has been a fair amount of political theater, not as much as i know exists in other committees and i have always strived and i know chairman paul share the notion that we want to be a fact-based committee and trying to find tangible solutions to the tough problems that we face and data is important. we have heard a lot of numbers being thrown around and i don't have time to go through and challenge those numbers, some of them we don't even know where they came from. i don't think that is helpful to the very important mission that you will be dealing with have confirmed. i hope in the future that we are actually dealing with facts. you said you do want to deal with facts and real data. we have heard a lot here that is not real data and we should not operate that way. if confirmed, i'm going to look

forward to working with you based on the facts and understand where the real threats are, how we need to appropriate resources to make sure we are meeting those threats. let's take this hyper-partisanship out of homeland security. we have way too much partisanship in this country and it has resulted in a polarization of people here. we've got to come together, we've got to lock arms and understand we are all proud americans and all want to do what is best for the american people and solve the issues that are before us. in that spirit and certainly have you -- you have communicated that spirit to me, but i hope if confirmed that is what you will be bringing to this office and let's move away from this toxic political environment we have in the country and celebrate what is great about our country in the spirit of bringing the american people together. i have one question before i

turn it over to other members. as a member of this committee as well as the armed services committee, i focused a great deal on the safe integration of drones in our airspace, while addressing the growing threats that drones possess. we certainly see what drones are doing in changing the face of warfare, whether ukraine and other battlefields around the world. we are very concerned about the weaponization of those drones and what it could mean to security in the united states. i have proposed comprehensive legislation to extend authorities be in the fbi and doj and homeland security to local law enforcement. you mentioned in your comments about security for the super bowl, which is incredibly important. we have to remember that that threat exists for all games. one of the biggest supporters of my legislation is the nfl. we just had a recent playoff game that was delayed because of drones that flew into that playoff game.

we are very concerned that you could have a drone with a grenade or an explosive device, which would be absolutely catastrophic. it is essential we address this threat. what we are sitting around the world and what we are seeing in daily activities should be a concern. i think this is just a matter of time. it is not if, but when and we need to be one of the front end of that. with that in mind, i want to remind folks that congress recently extended a critical counter drone authority only for short time basis for the 12th time. we do these tiny, short-term extensions and we aren't dealing with the problem comprehensively and those are going to expire march 14, a very short time from now. my question for you, governor, is if confirmed as secretary, we you commit to working with me and my colleagues to pass durable, long-term authorities that will protect this country from what is a real threat and just a matter of time?

i don't want to have a horrible incident occur and people wonder why we didn't take action before hand. please address that. gov. noem: senator, i look forward to working with you and the committee to address the threats we may face in the usage of drones in this country and in relation to our national security interests and homeland security interests. i thank you for bringing up the conversation today because it is one of the areas within dhs we have to address. sen. peters: my first comments on bringing people together. i didn't ask the question, but in my 24 seconds left. gov. noem: i'm looking forward to working with everyone, republicans and democrats, and everyone else in between in this country that is focused on keeping america safe and secure for our future. i would just point to my background and history. when i came to congress, i worked with republicans and democrats on both sides of the aisle on many pieces of legislation on both sides of the

aisle and i was happy to do so and knowing we may disagree on some issues, but there were areas where we could keep the federal government accountable and do due diligence by the people who pay their taxes and go to work every day. i was governor for every single person in the state of south dakota. they were my number one priority and everyone knew it didn't matter if you were republican or democrat, that my focus was on them and keeping my state thriving and free. i look forward to continuing the work that i always have to be coming up with solutions in a bipartisan manner and hopefully my visits to your office and conversations reflected that and my intention on how i would conduct the role as the department of moment security secretary. sen. peters: a brief follow-up. data and facts we can all agree on to draw a policy and not to political theater. would you agree? gov. noem: certainly, sir. we need to be addressing facts

and information rather than political theater. we also need to speak truth to facts. i think it is important we are willing to confront our challenges head on and have those conversations and you will see me back at your office door very soon to continue our work together. sen. peters: very good, thank you. >> i want to second what senator peters said. it is going to be administration of my party, there are legitimate records where we sign requests together and we would like to get the records. i think senator lankford mentioned this, you ask a question, to the administration or any administration and they said they will get back to you. many times i have asked in advance. i would suggest that we ask in advance together, we say we want this data, be prepared to talk about it. if you are, you will have many more friends on both sides because what usually happens, we are going to tell you when

advance and that goes along way. really what happens is we get stiff armed. we have no way to force you really other than to cut the money off. you have 200,000 people working for you. my goodness, send your experts out, scour the records. facts are difficult. but i think that will help. another drones, i think we need more factss. i'm more than willing to work with the ranking member on doing something on drones. but i don't want every share of up in the sky. we've got to get the truth about, do we really have drones everywhere flying all the time? how many of them are planes, how many are drones? let's go through this and figure out. let's talk about how we bring drones down? if we collect a lot of cellular signal through that, are we doing it through warrant?

what are we doing with americans data? there are a lot of innocent people's data that is being collected. nobody wants drones, the only thing i will say is i'm all for the super bowl being protected. they need to pay, they are a very rich organization. the nfl ought to pay the government or if we have our private contractors doing it, but they shouldn't get it for free. senator lankford: thanks again. there used to be a public facing website that all americans could look at what is happening on the border and then when the numbers got bad, that seemed to disappear. i look forward to finding ways to have the ability to see this data as well.

there was a reason the dhs secretaries in the first week of nominations. it is a nonpartisan role, it is a national security role. it is grateful he stepped into this. you mentioned earlier in your testimony that we do have a morale problem at dhs. i think a lot of that is because people who signed up to do federal law enforcement to protect the united states of america have felt like they have been sidelined and not able to do the job they signed up for. you will allow them to do your job again. to help protect the country and the citizens in this community. right now in the structure of this, cbp facilities along the border are run by a different

entity and they are not allowed to be able to do updates on their facilities or design their facilities. somebody who lives 3000 miles away and who doesn't do border patrol actually design and oversee their facilities. that is a problem we have to be able to fix. we have worked to get more flexibility to cbp, that they have the ability to make those changes. i'm not going to ask you to make this commitment. will you work with us that we can work together to figure out how the folks in the field can make decisions about the facilities they work in. gov. noem: i commit to working with you on that issue. sen. lankford: that's terrific. i had a constituent in oklahoma that is a hunter like you are, like i am. he had a bag that he had some additional rounds in his back left over from hunting trip, he packed his back and went on a vacation trip overseas, went

through security with his bag, when he got overseas and left and came back, they scanned his bag and said, you have rounds in your bag. he had five that were in his bag that he didn't even remember were left over in an outside pocket from hunting trip. they promptly put him in jail and detained him. we worked through all the process to get him back. my question is that same bag went through tsa security in my state before it went through security overseas. one of the questions i've asked is why were those rounds picked up there and not here? we don't have the full answer to that yet, but that is one of those tsa questions we need to have. americans are on planes all over the country and they count on a certain level of security in that process. will you work with me to be able to identify what are the challenges we still face with the screening process and to be able to correct those for the

security of all americans? gov. noem: yes, senator, i will work with you on that. i was surprised tsa didn't come up more today, but that is an area in need of reform as well and i look forward to working with you. chair paul: government needs a healthy dose of common sense. bullets in your bag. i had a guy with bullets in the back of his pickup truck, we arrested him and took his truck and only because the institute of justice fought for him for three years did he get his truck back. that is crazy, the things we do. let's have common sense. senator blumenthal, you will finish us up. senator blumenthal: i'm the last of your questionnaires, so i get unlimited amounts of time. [laughter] not really. not even close. i want to sort of continue the emphasis on bipartisanship and most especially on immigration

reform, what this nation needs is comprehensive immigration reform. we know about the need for more h-1b visas and other kinds of extensions of the visa program that enabled the united states to have more workers that are desperately needed in certain areas of our country. we know that there has to be better border security generally. we know we need to provide some kind of path to earn citizenship in this country. the united states senate overwhelmingly, it was bipartisan. i was proud to be a part of it going through the judiciary committee. i hope that we can continue as senator lankford was a part of

it to expand, i want to talk to a little bit about domestic terrorism. i know you discussed it afterward. including not just migrant crime and isis, which are real and present problems. we have seen a rise of anti-semitism in this country. it has spiked beyond any prediction. i want to know if you are concerned with anti-semitism, racist events, charlottesville,

buffalo, pittsburgh is a shorthand for these violent, terrorist acts against people in the united states. gov. noem: yes, senator, i'm very concerned about what we have seen in this country as far as anti-semitic violence that has happened. last year during our legislative session i brought legislation to more clearly define it so we could find it in our home state and i'm hopeful i can work with you to continue to do what we can to make sure we are addressing this rising threat and not facilitating it in this country. sen. blumenthal:sen. blumenthal: i want to make sure that when you say we are protecting americans against terrorism that we are protecting all americans including people in mosques, in churches, and synagogues, people regardless of their worship, their race, their background. we need to protect all americans from anti-semitism, racism, islamophobia, i hope you will

commit to that effort. gov. noem: yes, correct, thank you senator and i look forward to working with you to do that. sen. blumenthal: in my closing minute and a half, i want to call your attention to an effort i have led to help reunite children with their parents. children who were separated as a result of the so-called family separation policy in the last administration. i have introduced a measure called keep families together, not only to limit separation of families to help bring the children, the kids who were victims of this policy, i hope you will support that kind of

effort. sen. blumenthal: senator, the trump administration never had a family separation policy. they had a zero-tolerance policy which said that our laws would be followed. when i'm alarmed by his the over 300,000 children that went missing during the biden administration and when we talk about children and what they are potentially facing as far as victimization and the trafficking going on, this administration's lack of desire to find out where those children are or what that may be going through is alarming to me. sen. blumenthal: my time is expiring and i will interrupt again with apologies to say, let's put aside -- gov. noem: i can't put aside 340,000 children. sen. blumenthal: let's put aside what happened in the past, there are still 1000 children separated and waiting to be reunited. i would like your commitment you will continue the effort to reunite them with their parents. gov. noem: senator, keeping

families together is critically important to me and this country. i'm concerned about lincoln reilly's family, that they no longer have her. i'm concerned that we have people in this country that don't know where their children are or people in other countries who sent their children here and they have been lost by this administration. yes, my focus will be to keep families together. we will uphold our law and make sure we are doing everything we can to keep our children safe from the trafficking and drug epidemic that has hit this country. sen. blumenthal: i will end on an optimistic note and say i take that as a yes. chair paul, the nominee has filed responses to biographical questionnaires, answered prehearing questions submitted by the committee and had their financial statements reviewed by the office of government ethics. without objection, this will be part of the hearing record with the exception of financial data which are on file and available for public inspection. the hearing will remain open until 5:00 p.m. today for the

summation of statements and questions. this hearing is adjourned. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [general chatter] our

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