Secretary Noem: ‘We Will Exercise All Legal Authorities’ to Protect Homeland

As Americans’ “first line of defense,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will pursue all legal avenues for keeping the United States safe, Secretary Kristi Noem said on Jan. 28. “I tell people, we have jurisdiction over everything, and we will exercise all legal authorities that we have to protect this country because it is the only last light of freedom left,” Noem said, addressing department personnel for the first time. “We woke up this morning more blessed than 99 percent of the people in this country because we woke up in the United States of America. We woke up in a country where we get to exercise our freedoms, and that responsibility has been laid at our feet. And I know that the people in this room and the people of this department are up to the challenge and up to the task.”...