"He didn't bring my blanket": Homeland Security chief fires pilot, faces cronyism and influence-peddling allegations

[Financial News]


The downside of Donald Trump’s reliance on close loyalists is now on full display at the Department of Homeland Security.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 13th (local time) that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her closest aide, Corey Lewandowski, have been abusing their authority and effectively privatizing power within the department.

According to the WSJ, the extent of power abuse inside the Department of Homeland Security defies belief.
Noem ordered that a U.S. Coast Guard pilot be immediately dismissed because he left a blanket behind on her government jet. The pilot was reinstated only after it was confirmed there was no replacement available.
Lewandowski, her aide, wields power comparable to the secretary herself. Although he holds no official title, he instructed staff to issue him a federal agent’s firearm and badge. When that order was refused, he had the legal team officials and field commanders who pushed back reassigned to the sidelines or demoted.
Since Noem and Lewandowski took over, roughly 80% of the Department of Homeland Security’s field leadership has been replaced. Experts say they appear to have purged professional managers and installed loyalists who are personally beholden to them.

Like President Trump, Noem is obsessed with media exposure. Her office has deliberately released photos of the secretary wearing a bulletproof vest and personally joining enforcement operations in the field.
This kind of showmanship and lack of restraint has translated into increasingly aggressive raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Lewandowski, the de facto power broker, goes even further. Despite having no formal position, he exerts control over personnel decisions, contracting, and access to classified information across the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem asked Trump to appoint Lewandowski as her chief of staff at the department, but Trump refused, reportedly citing allegations of an extramarital affair. Noem then used the special government employee (SGE) program to bring him in as her adviser, exploiting a system meant to allow agencies to hire outside experts for up to 130 days a year for specific projects.
The two have also been scrambling to curry favor with Trump, for example by attending events at Mar-a-Lago and making sure they stay in his good graces.

According to the WSJ, Noem and Lewandowski are accused of misusing the Department of Homeland Security’s budget and meddling in lucrative contracts.
The department is in the process of purchasing a lavishly outfitted Boeing 737 Max, officially described as being for “high-level deportations.” The price tag is 70 million dollars. Staff reportedly mock the jet as “the secretary’s big, beautiful plane,” a jab that echoes Trump’s phrase “one big, beautiful bill (OBBBA).”
They also face suspicions of steering business to favored companies.
Noem required that all departmental expenditures over 100,000 dollars receive her personal approval. She is suspected of canceling existing contracts in order to channel work to firms close to her and Lewandowski. Because of those cancellations, higher steel prices had to be reflected in new contracts, wasting more than 100 million dollars in taxpayer money.
The pair are further suspected of using the Department of Homeland Security as a springboard for a possible run in the 2028 presidential election.

dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter