Kristi Noem has moved into her third Trump administration role this year, becoming a senior adviser at the State Department after her designation as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas expired in September.
The change, confirmed Thursday, October 15, leaves the former homeland security secretary working on the same Latin America initiative under Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. The department provided no explanation beyond the expiration of her envoy status and did not describe the transition as disciplinary.
"Kristi Noem's envoy status expired last month and she is no longer in the role," a State Department official told CBS News. "She is now a senior advisor to Deputy Secretary Landau and continues to work on the Shield of the Americas portfolio."
Her designation had lapsed before last month's United Nations General Assembly in New York, although she continued attending diplomatic meetings connected to the initiative. Ecuador's government still identified her as special envoy when she met President Daniel Noboa on September 22, CBS reported.
President Donald Trump also acknowledged her work at a gathering of the coalition's leaders around the General Assembly. "I want to thank Kristi Noem for doing a really terrific job," he said.
The Shield of the Americas brings together the United States and several Latin American and Caribbean countries to coordinate economic cooperation, anti-cartel enforcement and other regional priorities. Its stated objectives have included combating drug trafficking and countering Chinese influence.
Noem received the envoy assignment in March after Trump announced her removal as homeland security secretary. He selected Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her following bipartisan congressional scrutiny of her management and questions about the influence of her adviser, Corey Lewandowski.
Trump announced the personnel change on March 5, with Noem's departure from DHS taking effect at the end of the month. He praised her border enforcement record while moving her out of the Cabinet.
Her final weeks at DHS were dominated by disputes over immigration operations, advertising spending and disaster assistance.
Lawmakers challenged Noem's initial characterization of Renee Good and Alex Pretti as domestic terrorists after federal agents fatally shot the two U.S. citizens during January immigration operations in Minneapolis, before investigations were complete, Al Jazeera reported.
A $220 million border-security advertising campaign featuring Noem also drew scrutiny. She told Congress that Trump had approved it; the president subsequently said he "never knew anything about it."
Separately, Democratic senators alleged that her review requirements for DHS spending contributed to delays in disaster assistance. Noem disputed their description of the policy, saying the approval requirement applied to contracts rather than grants.
Her transition to the envoy position overlapped with a five-country tour of Latin America and the Caribbean in March. Lewandowski appeared in photographs from those visits, though the State Department subsequently said he held no formal position there.
CBS described Noem's public activities as envoy as limited. They included a March 25 meeting with Noboa in Quito, September discussions with Ecuadorian and Colombian diplomats in Washington, and meetings with regional leaders during the General Assembly. The network did not report that a replacement envoy had been appointed.
