In a letter to Congress sent just days before Kristi Noem was removed from her post, Trump-appointed Inspector General Joseph Cuffari charged that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials had “systematically obstructed” his team’s ability to conduct investigations into allegations having “a nexus” to the department, as well as other “audits and inspections” of their operations.
The letter documents several alleged instances in which leadership is said to have stymied the independent agency watchdog, including a critical probe into the Secret Service’s failures involving the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Cuffari alleges his team was denied access to a highly compartmentalized intelligence program essential to uncovering what went wrong.
“I&A (Office of Intelligence and Analysis) refuses to conduct the purely ministerial act of indoctrinating OIG personnel into a compartmented program; the data owner has authorized OIG’s access,” a section of the letter outlining “instances of unreasonable denial” reads.
“I&A’s intransigence is impeding an OIG review related to the July 13, 2024, attempt to assassinate then-former President Donald Trump in Butler, PA.”
“This is particularly troubling given the other reported attempts on President Trump’s life coupled with the present worldwide conflict,” Cuffari wrote to congressional leaders.
🚨 🚨 FIRED DHS SEC KRISTI NOEM WAS BLOCKING OVERSIGHT OF HER RECORD AND THE SECRET SERVICE’S FAILURES AT BUTLER, THE TRUMP-APPOINTED DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL CHARGED.
Just days before Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump-appointed DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari… pic.twitter.com/MZC2Rq0aA6
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) March 5, 2026
READ MORE: So Long, ‘ICE Barbie’: As DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem Was the Architect of Her Own Demise
Did This Moment at Kristi Noem’s Senate Testimony Seal Her Fate at DHS?
The letter, dated Monday, was released just hours after the former Homeland Security Secretary was grilled during a Senate hearing on Tuesday. In it, Cuffari outlined 11 separate instances in which he contends his office was denied access to records and information.
The IG said he had requested access to a DHS-controlled database last April in connection with a criminal investigation that had national security implications. Cuffari contends that DHS’s refusal to cooperate on the matter was “particularly egregious.”
“The department’s approach would risk compromising the investigation and needlessly complicate it and any potential prosecution,” Cuffari wrote.
As the New York Times points out, DHS leaders have a right to refuse access to cases involving national security or counterintelligence concerns, but access was reportedly blocked without invoking that authority.
Here are the Exhibit A attachments Cuffari included in his letter. pic.twitter.com/eVeCxrQ0Qz
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) March 5, 2026
Noem has denied the allegations, insisting she never blocked oversight and that the IG was simply required to narrow the scope of his requests for classified information.
“He can have access to anything at the Department of Homeland Security; he can,” Noem said during her testimony earlier this week. “He just needs to provide a scoping memo. He just hasn’t done that. He wants unfettered access to every single thing in the department, and that’s not the process.”
It has been widely reported that President Trump was not pleased with Noem’s performance at the hearing, going so far as to deny a claim that she made under oath regarding a controversial $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign that heavily featured her as the star. The New York Post also contends that sources have told them it was another wild moment that sealed her fate. Events in Minnesota involving protesters and her knee-jerk reaction most likely also helped set her firing in motion.
As RedState’s Jennifer Oliver O’Connell writes, whatever the defining moment, Noem’s tenure at DHS has been marked by some pretty terrible headlines, and she has been the sole “architect of her own demise.”
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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