Yay! 
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is stepping down at the end of the month, President Donald Trump said Thursday, saying that he would tap Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her.
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He added that Noem, who he said “has served us well,” will take over a new role called “Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.”
The president described that position as one that will lead “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.”
Trump spoke to Noem this afternoon about the job switch, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The secretary is traveling outside of Washington, D.C.
Earlier Thursday, Mullin declined to answer questions from NBC News about whether he had spoken to the president about taking over the homeland security secretary role.
The senator simply said that he’d spoken to Trump “recently” and added, “I just don’t want to talk about that right now. We’ll discuss it later.”
Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, served for a decade in the House before he won a 2023 special election to the Senate.
Noem had fallen in and out of Trump’s favor throughout her tenure, but her comments before lawmakers this week over an ad campaign and whether Trump had approved it incensed the president and appeared to have pushed him over the edge.
In the congressional hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, lawmakers questioned Noem on the $200 million ad campaign she oversaw that urged anyone in the U.S. illegally to deport voluntarily. The ad campaign, which was conducted mostly in English, featured Noem. According to AdImpact, the Department of Homeland Security has spent almost $80 million to air these ads since the start of 2025, not including the cost of production.
Noem on Tuesday told the Senate panel that the president approved the multimillion-dollar ad campaign, a claim that the White House denied.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is stepping down at the end of the month, President Donald Trump said Thursday, saying that he would tap Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her.
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He added that Noem, who he said “has served us well,” will take over a new role called “Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.”
The president described that position as one that will lead “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.”
Trump spoke to Noem this afternoon about the job switch, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The secretary is traveling outside of Washington, D.C.
Earlier Thursday, Mullin declined to answer questions from NBC News about whether he had spoken to the president about taking over the homeland security secretary role.
The senator simply said that he’d spoken to Trump “recently” and added, “I just don’t want to talk about that right now. We’ll discuss it later.”
Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, served for a decade in the House before he won a 2023 special election to the Senate.
Noem had fallen in and out of Trump’s favor throughout her tenure, but her comments before lawmakers this week over an ad campaign and whether Trump had approved it incensed the president and appeared to have pushed him over the edge.
In the congressional hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, lawmakers questioned Noem on the $200 million ad campaign she oversaw that urged anyone in the U.S. illegally to deport voluntarily. The ad campaign, which was conducted mostly in English, featured Noem. According to AdImpact, the Department of Homeland Security has spent almost $80 million to air these ads since the start of 2025, not including the cost of production.
Noem on Tuesday told the Senate panel that the president approved the multimillion-dollar ad campaign, a claim that the White House denied.
