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Kristi Noem Accuses Own Department Of Secretly Bugging Trump Official Devices
The Daily Caller ^ | 26 Feb, 2026 | Mariane Angela

Posted on 02/27/2026 10:55:58 AM PST by MtnClimber

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that members of her own department secretly installed spyware on government-issued devices used by Trump administration officials, including her phone and laptop, allowing staffers to record meetings and monitor internal communications.

Noem said on “PBD Podcast” that tech experts, including Elon Musk and members of his team, helped her uncover what she described as unauthorized surveillance software embedded on devices assigned to political appointees. Noem said the discovery came after outside technology specialists examined DHS hardware and flagged suspicious software activity.

“I can’t believe what I found since I’ve been in this department. I just found the other day a whole room on this campus that was a secret skiff secure facility that had files nobody knew existed. So we just happened to have an employee walk by a door and wonder what it was and started asking questions,” Noem said. “We went in there. There was individuals working there that had secret files that nobody knew about on some of these most controversial topics like that, and now I’ve got that turned over to attorneys, and we’re getting to the bottom of what exactly happened there.”

When asked for additional details to support Noem’s allegations, a DHS spokesperson declined to elaborate, saying, “We will let the Secretary’s post speak for itself.” Noem reiterated in a post on X that DHS staff had installed surveillance software on devices used by her and other political appointees and that officials discovered secure rooms containing hidden files that were later turned over to attorneys.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The secretary said Customs and Border Protection maintains extensive records that she has begun reviewing alongside information from national laboratories under her jurisdiction.

“We have CBP which is Customs and Border Protection. They know every traveler that comes into this country, every good that comes in, they’re the ones who assess and collect all of the tariffs, but the information that they had on travelers that came in during COVID, what are national labs, which I also have national labs under my jurisdiction,” Noem added. “They’re scientists that participated with that Wuhan lab, how they were traveling back and forth between each other and working on those experiments. It’s been eye-opening, and I’ll tell you, Patrick, even from the time I came into this office it was, Elon and his team were extremely helpful to me. They helped me identify that some of my own employees in my department had downloaded software on my phone and my laptop to spy on me to record our meetings.”

Noem said several political officials had similar surveillance software installed on their government-issued devices and that the activity might have continued without outside intervention.

“They had done that to several of the politicals, and so we ended up bringing in people and that was something that if you didn’t have those technology experts here in the department looking at all of our laptops and our phones and recognizing that kind of software it would still be happening today. So one of the things I need to do and continue to do is partner with technology companies and experts to bring them in and help us because many times in government and especially in this department, which was extremely neglected, we were just behind and not up to the standard we should be at. I remember the first four months I couldn’t even send a PowerPoint over email from the Department of Homeland Security servers that was longer than six pages long.”

Noem said the department’s prior approach to security was deeply flawed and that the problem extends beyond DHS.

“So the backwards thinking of protecting our country was extremely detrimental to keeping us safe, and many times the deep state. What I tell people most of the time is I always believed when people talked about the deep state before, that it existed,” Noem said. “I never would have dreamed that it was as bad as it is.”


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: deepstate; leftism
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To: fruser1

None would be convicted in DC. The leftists would fully support them. The only hope for justice is SWAT raids where the officers “think” they see a perp about to shoot.


21 posted on 02/27/2026 12:46:06 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: RandallFlagg

Hope they’ve done all listed except the nailing part. I’m ready for that stage.

😇 😎


22 posted on 02/27/2026 1:42:44 PM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: MtnClimber

Article:

“I always believed when people talked about the deep state before, that it existed,” Noem said. “I never would have dreamed that it was as bad as it is.””

Another conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact.


23 posted on 02/27/2026 1:45:58 PM PST by cgbg ("Your identity is how power treats you.")
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To: MtnClimber

All involved need to be given their own Antarctic science station (the size of one of the old phone booths) where they are the test subjects.

We can find out how well dirtbags function under conditions of extreme isolation (no contact with the outside world).


24 posted on 02/27/2026 1:48:23 PM PST by cgbg ("Your identity is how power treats you.")
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To: ClearCase_guy

I think we’ve got some 17 intelligence agencies and many more fed agencies that can make anyone MISERABLE in some way shape or form.

IRS, EPA, USPS, Attorney Generals, etc.

🤔


25 posted on 02/27/2026 1:54:52 PM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: MtnClimber

Have they been fired and indicted?


26 posted on 02/27/2026 2:12:26 PM PST by Midwesterner53
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To: Midwesterner53

I hope they had surveillance and found who were involved before announcing this. But they may have just tipped them off to delete all evidence. The deep state may reach farther than I think.


27 posted on 02/27/2026 2:18:40 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber; All

Wanna stop this crap. Execute the perps. Actions should have consequences. As long as we tinker, and nibble around the edges, nothing will change.


28 posted on 02/27/2026 2:33:49 PM PST by Cobra64 (ECommon sense isn’t common anymore. )
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To: butlerweave
They should be SHOT

AFTER waterboarding.

29 posted on 02/27/2026 2:39:40 PM PST by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: cgbg

Nah, give ‘em a 110 baud modem on a crappy pots line. That would be more fun than strict isolation. They would keep hoping they might get a decent signal just once. But run it to a server/ai in Antartica spoofing that it is the whole www. Then let reports get through such as President Trump has won a third term, more democrat govs have been arrested, that sort of stuff to amp up their TDS. It would be fun - maybe stream it all live like ‘The Truman Show’ movie and put it on pay-per-view. Might help reduce the national debt.


30 posted on 02/27/2026 5:32:43 PM PST by curious7
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