Overview

• New York Magazine’s anonymous sources say Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski yelled at officials and used profanity in a closed-door session reacting to critical coverage.
• Reporting cited by Alternet and Raw Story links Noem’s June decision to require her personal approval for payments over $100,000 to widespread delays and lapsed contracts across DHS components.
• Operational impacts reported earlier include a four-day pause on FEMA aid during central Texas flooding, delayed Urban Search and Rescue deployment, and thousands of unanswered disaster-assistance calls.
• Other lapses attributed to the bottlenecks include TSA airport-screening equipment, immigration-enforcement reporting, and polygraph testing contracts for law enforcement applicants.
• Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign adviser serving as a Special Government Employee, is portrayed as a de facto gatekeeper whom staff describe as feared, and the articles do not include an on-the-record DHS response.