Second Trump Administration – Department of Homeland Security

Nominations and Appointments

Secretary of Homeland Security

Kristi Noem, a Republican politician and former governor of South Dakota, was nominated as Secretary of Homeland Security during the transition period and was confirmed to the post on January 25, 2025. ¹ She left the Cabinet after President Donald Trump appointed her Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. ²

Markwayne Mullin, at the time a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, was appointed to replace Noem. ² He was confirmed on March 23, 2026 and took office the following day. ³

Deputy Secretary

Troy Edgar was confirmed in March 2025 as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ⁴ As deputy secretary, Edgar was appointed to effectively act as the department’s chief operating officer, overseeing the day-to-day operations, a $100 billion annual budget, and a workforce of approximately 260,000 employees. ⁵ During the first Trump administration, Edgar was the Chief Financial Officer after serving as Associate Deputy Undersecretary for Management. ⁶

Edgar is a Navy veteran, has private-sector executive experience, and local government experience. Before founding his own $130 million consulting firm, Global Conductor, Edgar worked at Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), and IBM. ^{7   8}

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Karen Evans became the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator in December 2025 of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The title was changed because she was placed in the position through an internal delegation within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ⁹ Prior to her appointment, she was the agency’s chief of staff. ¹⁰

In 2018, during the first Trump administration, Evans was nominated and confirmed to be the first assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the Department of Energy. ¹¹ She then became chief information officer at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). ¹²

During the Biden administration Evans left the government and became the managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, a nonprofit that aims to help small and medium-sized businesses improve their cybersecurity. ¹³

During the George W. Bush administration, she served as the administrator for the Office of the Electronic Government and Information Technology at the Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw approximately $71 billion in annual federal IT spending. ^{14  15}

Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Rodney Scott was confirmed in June 2025 as the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). ¹⁶ President Donald Trump nominated Scott for the commissioner’s role on Inauguration Day 2025. ¹⁷ As Commissioner, he was appointed to oversee more than 60,000 employees and a $19 billion budget, guiding CBP’s three core missions of counterterrorism, border security, and trade enforcement, while handling $4 trillion in trade and the travel of more than 410 million people through U.S. ports of entry each year. ¹⁸ Scott was the first patrol agent to later become Commissioner of CBP, having worked his way to the top of the department. ¹⁹

Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

As of April 2026, there has not been a permanent officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nominated by President Trump. As of 2026, Ron Sartini was serving as the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, the acting Ombudsman for Immigration Detention, and the acting Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. ^{20  21}