WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, convened a hearing to consider the nomination of the Honorable Kristi Noem to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The Committee will hold a business meeting to vote on her nomination as soon as Monday, January 20, 2025.
During his opening remarks, Dr. Paul emphasized the critical opportunity for Governor Noem to lead DHS away from a culture of secrecy and unjust targeting of law-abiding Americans exercising their constitutional rights. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the American people have suffered due to the failure of DHS to protect the homeland and oversee dangerous gain-of-function research, all while experiencing unchecked growth, resulting in a significant waste of taxpayer dollars.
Dr. Paul highlighted Governor Noem’s proven record of making difficult decisions and prioritizing the interests of Americans, demonstrating her commitment to restoring transparency and accountability to one of the most critical and scrutinized departments in the federal government. As Chairman, Dr. Paul will continue encouraging the Committee and Congress to provide constitutional oversight and restore balance to DHS and the entire executive branch.
View the Chairman’s opening statement here.
Opening remarks as prepared below:
The Department of Homeland Security, with 260,000 employees and nearly 20 distinct components, epitomizes unchecked growth. Its vast responsibilities—from border security and disaster response to counterterrorism and cybersecurity—demand rigorous scrutiny to ensure they are executed within the bounds of our Constitution and with respect for 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 it participates in—task forces, advisory boards, coalitions, commissions, and the like.
Their response was astonishingly opaque, stating, “There is not a single comprehensive list to address all the collaborative relationships that the Department and its components engage in.”
In plain language: DHS has no idea. Think about that. An agency commanding over $110 billion annually cannot account for its own activities.
This is not just bureaucratic incompetence—it’s emblematic 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 doesn’t even know the extent of its own operations?
But the problems don’t 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, monitoring social media, and labeling political dissent as “domestic terrorism” than addressing genuine security threats. While cartels traffic people and fentanyl across an unguarded border, DHS has spent its time and resources creating partisan “disinformation boards” and spying on Americans through invasive surveillance technologies.
This mission drift is dangerous. Every dollar spent monitoring law-abiding citizens is a dollar not spent on securing the homeland. Every moment spent targeting political opponents is a moment not spent addressing real threats like border security, cyberattacks, or the rising influence of adversarial nation-states. 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. DHS was absent on matters of origin accountability, absent on gain-of-function oversight, and absent when it came to protecting the homeland from a biological threat.
We’ve seen first-hand how unchecked government overreach leads to waste, fraud, and abuse. We cannot allow DHS to become yet another agency that operates behind a veil of secrecy. The American people deserve 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 Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I hope this hearing will set the tone for this Committee’s work in the new Congress to restore transparency and accountability to an Executive Branch that has grown unchecked.
Governor Noem, if confirmed, you will 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 difficult decisions, in the face of significant political pressure, and to put the interests of the American people first.
You have the opportunity today to address how your background and vision will translate to leading one of the most critical, and scrutinized, departments in the federal government.
This is the first of many consequential moments for this Committee as we renew our commitment to the constitutional oversight role that Congress must assert if we are to restore balance to our federal government. I have no doubt the nominees we will consider in the coming weeks and months will be up for the challenge.
Governor Noem, thank you for your willingness to serve. I yield to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks.
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