Kristi Noem has found out who her new boss is—and it is majorly embarrassing.
In her new capacity as “Special Envoy to the Shield of the Americas,” the former Homeland Security chief, 54, will report directly to Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau—not the secretary of state himself, Marco Rubio—according to a State Department official cited by CBS News journalist Olivia Gazis on X.
The news is the latest low in a swift and spectacular fall from grace for ICE Barbie, the nickname coined by the Daily Beast for her habit of strapping on body armor to join immigration agents on raids.
Trump fired the South Dakota Republican on March 5, making her the first Cabinet secretary ousted in his second term, after a pair of congressional hearings that proved disastrous.
At the time, Trump dressed up the departure as a sideways move, announcing the freshly minted Shield of the Americas initiative and staging a summit at his Doral, Florida, golf club to unveil it.
Noem gushed over the new gig, writing on X: “Thank you @POTUS Trump for appointing me as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
Social media was less effusive after her new boss was revealed. “Talk about a major demotion!” wrote one X user. Another offered a more precise job description: “Assistant Regional Manager to the Deputy Secretary of State.”
“Deputy-to-a-deputy,” read a third post.
Noem’s new boss, Landau, 62, is a Harvard-educated lawyer who clerked for both Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas, then served as Trump’s ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021, before being sworn in as the 23rd deputy secretary of state in March 2025.
His confirmation was bipartisan, with the Senate backing him 60-31, and his focus is the Western Hemisphere—precisely the territory Noem’s new role is supposed to cover.
Trump’s patience with Noem finally wore out over a $220 million advertising campaign that featured Noem riding on horseback near Mount Rushmore.
In congressional testimony, she said Trump had approved the campaign in advance, but after firing her the president said, “I never knew anything about it.”
This has led, the Beast reported Saturday, to a civil war between the Department of Homeland Security and the White House.
The hearings also revisited Noem’s false labeling of VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti and mother Renee Nicole Good—both 37, killed by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis in January—as domestic terrorists.
Corey Lewandowski, 52, Noem’s de facto chief of staff and rumored lover, is expected to follow her out of the building.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, 48, was sworn in on Tuesday to take over the department.
The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department and Noem for comment.
