The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel told the agency’s independent watchdog that Secretary Kristi Noem asserts she can unilaterally terminate its investigations, according to a letter Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth sent to Noem.
The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) describes its mission as providing objective, independent oversight of DHS programs and operations and promoting excellence, integrity and accountability within the department.
In a meeting with DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, Duckworth said she learned the DHS general counsel had repeatedly communicated with the OIG to “remind them” of Noem’s asserted authority to end investigations, according to the letter obtained by NBC News. Duckworth also wrote that the IG’s office was asked on Jan. 29 to disclose “every active audit, inspection and criminal investigation,” a request she described as “extremely unusual, perhaps even unprecedented.”
Duckworth warned that such repeated, tacit threats from the Office of the Secretary may have already weakened the OIG’s operational independence. She pointed to what she characterized as an “unusual lack of activity and engagement in the days that followed the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents” as evidence.
Former Interior Department Inspector General Mark Greenblatt noted that the Inspector General Act of 1978 does include a provision allowing a cabinet secretary to prohibit an inspector general from carrying out or completing an audit or investigation if doing so would harm national security. But Greenblatt, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in his first term and later fired at the start of his second, said in his experience that provision has never been invoked across the federal government. He is also a former chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
The statute requires that if a secretary shuts down an investigation, the decision must be reported to Congress within 30 days, along with the rationale and whether the IG supported the decision.
Greenblatt added that while inspectors general routinely notify agency leadership of ongoing audits—and many of those audits are public—notifying the cabinet secretary of ongoing criminal investigations is not normal. “The FBI doesn’t tell everyone what they are investigating in advance,” he said.
Separately, the DHS OIG posted on its website that it is reviewing the agency’s immigration enforcement efforts to determine whether they follow federal law, adhere to DHS policy and protect civil rights. The review includes ICE hiring and training, safeguards to prevent the arrest of U.S. citizens, conditions at ICE detention facilities, and the use of Border Patrol agents in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin emphasized that the federal law giving a secretary the power to end IG investigations has been in place for decades. “Senator Duckworth is arguing that a Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary shouldn’t use an existing section of federal law because she doesn’t think it should exist,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “If Senator Duckworth and her fellow Democrats do not like the law that Congress already passed, they — as members of Congress — have full Constitutional authority under Article I to change the law and assuage their own concerns.”
Laura Strickler is the senior investigative producer on the national security team; she produces television stories and writes for NBCNews.com.
