State Department Confirms Noem's 'Shield of the Americas' Envoy Term Expired in September; She Now Serves as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary
The U.S. State Department has confirmed that former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's term as special envoy for the 'Shield of the Americas' expired in September, and that she remains at the Department as a senior advisor to Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau, continuing to work on the Shield portfolio. State Department officials confirmed the arrangement to several outlets on October 15, and spokesperson Tommy Pigott confirmed it publicly in an interview the same day, calling such post changes routine. In an October 16 statement, the Department said the envoy role 'was always a six-month appointment.'
Noem was named envoy in March after leaving the Department of Homeland Security. The Shield of the Americas, launched by the United States with Caribbean and Latin American countries in March, focuses on law-enforcement cooperation against cartels along with economic and security cooperation; members include Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. In late September, Noem was still active in the envoy role on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, meeting Ecuador's President Noboa and attending a regional leaders' gathering hosted by President Trump.
Noem's envoy term expired on schedule in September; she was not removed in October. The State Department has not posted a standalone statement page on its website; the account above is based on the spokesperson's on-record interview and the Department's October 16 statement. (GSM, from USA Today, CBS News and State Department spokesperson statements)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：克里斯蒂·诺姆官方肖像（其担任国土安全部长时期）。图片来源：美国国土安全部（Tia Dufour 摄），公共领域，取自维基共享资源。Photo: Official portrait of Kristi Noem from her tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security. Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (photo by Tia Dufour), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
