Kristi Noem’s ‘catastrophic’ wiretap blunder could take years to fix: report

Former Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem left a mess behind her after she was fired, with a former federal agent calling a wiretap blunder on her watch “catastrophic.”

According to a report by Tom Latchem of PunchUp, the Daily Beast’s sister investigations outlet, a “tech blunder” at DHS while Noem was secretary knocked out Homeland Security Investigations’ ability to use wiretaps for months. PunchUp reported that experts say recovering from it will take “years.”

HSI, ICE’s criminal investigative arm, “inadvertently” changed internet providers in April 2025, three months after Noem took charge at DHS, according to a procurement document DHS released last month. The agency was assigned a new internet address and had to rebuild connections with roughly 50 telecommunications providers. DHS admitted the result was “months of downtime for wiretaps.”

The disclosure appears to have come only as ICE explained why it was sticking with its current internet provider. ICE awarded Cox Virginia Telcom a no-bid contract Sept. 25, potentially worth $702,884.56.

In the document, DHS warned that losing wiretap capability for long periods can “severely cripple” ongoing investigations and pose a “direct, unquantifiable risk” to undercover agents and the public.

The records do not say how long the system was down, how many of HSI’s seven sites were affected, or how many investigations were disrupted. A DHS spokesperson told PunchUp, “We will not comment on law enforcement sensitive methods.” DHS has pointed to government shutdowns, shifting priorities, and staffing and reorganization issues to explain the decline in wiretaps, PunchUp reported.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported that DHS’s Investigations Office had 23 wiretaps in 2025, compared with 133 in 2024, a drop of almost 83%.

Eric Balliet, a former HSI agent who spent 25 years in federal law enforcement and used between 250 and 300 wiretaps, told Latchem he was astonished, complaining, “I truly cannot comprehend how a law enforcement agency could drop the ball in such a catastrophic manner.”

“I cannot fathom a federal law enforcement agency not having the capability or capacity to legally intercept communications,” he elaborated for PunchUp. “When you lack the ability to intercept communications—phone calls, messaging apps and texts—the criminal networks win. Fentanyl, cocaine and heroin hit the streets. People are smuggled. People die.”

PunchUp reported that DHS records show HSI’s electronic-surveillance operation supports investigations involving other federal agencies, including the FBI and DEA. Richard Marianos, a former ATF assistant director whose agency used the HSI wiretap system, said prolonged outages make it “much more difficult to get intelligence against an organization.”

Trump fired Noem in March and named then-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to replace her.