DHS Staff Turnover Hits Record High; They Replaced Experience With Chaos
KEY POINTS
- ā¢Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski have fired or demoted about 80% of ICE leadership since early 2025 to push arrest goals.
- ā¢They pressured Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott to quit despite his Senate-confirmed status and ousted his leadership team.
- ā¢Meanwhile, DHS artfully saved $1.3 billion by cutting approximately 6,400 employees across FEMA, TSA, CISA, and other agencies while leakers faced felony threats.
In a plot twist no one asked for, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her factotum, Corey Lewandowski, turned DHS into the VIP club of high-stress quitters and finger-pointed leakers. By 2026, they had demoted or axed 80% of ICE leadership, including acting director Caleb Vitello last February, then ghosted Madison Sheehan before she could make Congressāa political career hopscotch worthy of a Netflix reality show. At Customs and Border Protection, Commissioner Rodney Scott was pressured harder to flee than a California wildfireādespite Senate confirmation. Amid this, polygraphs thirsty for disloyalty judged America's defenders while DHS celebrated $1.3 billion in savings, mostly thanks to empty desks, and TSA following 2,000 employees out the revolving door. Meanwhile, acting ICE chief Todd Lyons praised Lewandowski like a cult leader, proving loyalty fashion is alive and firing. The ultimate DHS team-building exercise: turnover so rampant it makes The Bachelor look steady.
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(1 of 3)Noem and Lewandowski fired more people than a malfunctioning fireworks show, all while celebrating $1.3 billion saved by replacing workers with ghost suits.
DHS under Noem is less 'homeland security' and more 'disappearing act academy' with mandatory polygraph loyalty tests.
Turns out You Can't Fire Me, I'm Already Gone is the new DHS workforce strategy and the dance of leadership demotions is brutal.
Source: Axios | Published: 2/20/2026 | Author: Brittany Gibson
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