Kristi Noem Out as Trump Envoy, Remains on the Same Portfolio With Her Third Administration Title This Year

Kristi Noem is no longer Donald Trump's special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, seven months after the president announced her reassignment from the Department of Homeland Security to the post.

The State Department confirmed on Thursday, 15 October 2026, that Noem's envoy status had expired in September and that she now serves as a senior adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. She continues to work on the same Latin America portfolio.

It is her third title in the administration this year.

From Cabinet to Envoy to Adviser

'She is now a senior advisor to Deputy Secretary Landau and continues to work on the Shield of the Americas portfolio,' a State Department official said, CBS News reported. Her designation as special envoy lapsed in September, just before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and the official said she 'is no longer in the role'.

Noem began the year as Homeland Security secretary. Trump announced on 5 March that she would be replaced, with the change taking effect at the end of that month, Al Jazeera reported. He named Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, whom he called a 'MAGA warrior', as her successor, and moved Noem to the newly created envoy post.

Trump softened the move with praise. On Truth Social, he said Noem 'has served us well' and had delivered 'spectacular results (especially on the Border!)'. He has also said: 'I want to thank Kristi Noem for doing a really terrific job.'

Noem welcomed the appointment at the time. 'Thank you @POTUS Trump for appointing me as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas,' she wrote on X, adding that her department had 'delivered the MOST secure border in American history'. Trump announced her removal two days after she faced questioning from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The State Department gave no reason for the latest change beyond the expiry of her envoy status. CBS News did not report that anyone else had been given the envoy title.

A Troubled Exit From Homeland Security

Noem left DHS amid what CBS News described as mounting scrutiny of her management of the department and of the influence of her adviser, Corey Lewandowski. She faced bipartisan criticism during a two-day congressional hearing shortly before her removal.

Several controversies dominated that period, Al Jazeera reported. Federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during immigration operations in Minneapolis in January, and Noem initially described them as domestic terrorists, a characterisation lawmakers challenged before investigations were complete.

A border security advertising campaign worth about £165 million ($220 million) featured Noem herself, including footage of her on horseback near Mount Rushmore, and contracts went to firms with Republican ties, which Noem defended under questioning.

Noem told Congress that Trump had approved the advertising campaign. Trump later said he 'never knew anything about it'. Critics also accused her department of delaying disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including reimbursements after the 2025 Texas floods and Hurricane Helene.

A March report by Democratic senators Andy Kim and Gary Peters said a policy requiring Noem to review DHS grant and contract awards above £75,000 ($100,000) had contributed to the delays. Noem disputed that she had to approve grants at that level, saying the requirement applied to contracts. 'You've failed at FEMA,' Republican Senator Thom Tillis told her.

Mullin has since taken over at DHS. Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, had been one of the most visible faces of Trump's immigration crackdown during more than a year in the cabinet. Advocacy groups welcomed her departure. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights called it 'long overdue', and Vanessa Cárdenas of America's Voice said her tenure was 'marked by cruelty'.

A Coalition With a Low-Profile Envoy

The Shield of the Americas is a coalition of the United States and several Caribbean and Latin American countries, set up by the Trump administration this year to co-operate on economic matters, anti-cartel enforcement and other issues, CBS News reported.

When Noem was appointed, the initiative was described as aiming to dismantle cartels, combat drug trafficking and counter Chinese influence in the region.

Noem made a five-country tour of Latin America and the Caribbean in March, meeting Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa in Quito on 25 March. She met Noboa again on 22 September, after her envoy designation had expired, and Ecuador's government still referred to her as the special envoy, according to CBS News.

Beyond those meetings, her public activities as envoy appear to have been limited, according to CBS News. The new adviser role keeps her working on the same issues, but from inside the State Department under Landau, the department's second-ranking official.

The initiative took shape in March, when Trump was due to host leaders of 11 Latin American countries at his Doral golf club in Florida days after Noem's appointment. Noem said at the time that Trump would announce 'a big agreement' on cartels and drug trafficking.

The State Department has not suggested that the change was disciplinary. Noem, first appointed to lead the initiative as special envoy, now works on it as an adviser without the envoy title.