An attorney representing government whistleblowers on Thursday criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for making what she called a “rookie mistake” while condemning leaks within her department.
Writing in Salon, attorney Jesselyn Radack pointed out that Noem recently revealed during a Sunday television appearance that individuals within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “were leaking our enforcement operations that we had planned and were going to conduct in several cities.”
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Radack, whose most well-known client is NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, found Noem’s public statement highly unusual. “I’ve represented a number of alleged ‘leakers’ and this struck me as odd for many reasons,” Radack wrote.
“As an initial matter, when government, law enforcement, and/or military operations are the subject of an unauthorized disclosure, the government rarely confirms the leak’s authenticity right out of the gate. The first official response is usually that the government can ‘neither confirm nor deny’ that a leak even occurred.”
Radack further noted that Noem went beyond simply acknowledging the leak—she effectively authenticated it, a move that government officials typically avoid. “By verifying and describing the leak, Noem essentially rebroadcasted it — this time with a louder megaphone and the imprimatur of the United States,” Radack explained.
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The attorney speculated on Noem’s possible motivations for making such a disclosure, suggesting that either she was being “sloppy” or that she deliberately wanted to send a message to discourage future whistleblowers. “None of this is sound investigatory practice, nor a sign of a healthy, trusting, well-functioning government agency — especially one in charge of our homeland security,” Radack observed.
Noem’s handling of the situation has raised questions about the administration’s approach to internal leaks and whether her response could inadvertently exacerbate concerns about transparency and accountability within DHS. As scrutiny over the agency’s operations grows, her comments are likely to draw further criticism from legal experts and government watchdogs alike.
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