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Grounded editorial scene illustrating A Guardian investigation reveals a climate of fear within the Department of Homeland Security during the final months of Kristi Noem’s tenure and the transition to Markwayne Mullin, marked by intimidation tactics against career officials. — Editorial image for "Inside DHS: Intimidation and Pressure Amid Leadership Changes". Bold News.

Inside DHS: Intimidation and Pressure Amid Leadership Changes

A Guardian investigation reveals a climate of fear within the Department of Homeland Security during the final months of Kristi Noem’s tenure and the transition to Markwayne Mullin, marked by intimidation tactics against career officials.

Jul 11, 2026, 10:34 PM Guardian US

Department of Homeland Securityorganization Trumptopic Markwayne Mullinperson Kristi Noemperson Guardiantopic DHSorganization USCISorganization USgeography Border Protectionperson Immigration Servicesperson Ron Rosenbergperson US Citizenshiptopic

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Federal officials responsible for implementing the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” program experienced a campaign of intimidation inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the closing months of Kristi Noem’s leadership and the arrival of her successor, Markwayne Mullin, according to a Guardian investigation.

Over four months, the Guardian interviewed more than three dozen current and former DHS officials who described a climate of fear driven by Trump loyalists in senior roles. These officials reported sidelining or removing career employees who raised concerns about potentially illegal actions, with threats of termination or arrest used to suppress dissent. Several also claimed to have undergone polygraph examinations conducted by US military personnel.

Harun Ahmed, a former deputy chief in the refugee affairs law division at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said in a phone interview from Texas, “I wanted to work with refugees. I wanted to help.” However, after Trump’s return to office in 2025, Ahmed stated that career officials increasingly faced pressure to support policies they believed violated the system’s spirit and purpose.

Current and former officials noted that DHS’s sprawling structure, encompassing over 20 agencies with diverse missions, enabled leadership to use reassignments as a powerful pressure tactic against career employees. Ron Rosenberg, a former senior executive service leader at USCIS with more than 26 years of federal service, said such reassignments were also used during Trump’s first term.

A former senior Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official with direct knowledge of DHS leadership dynamics said Noem frequently clashed with senior career leaders inside CBP, including those she lacked authority to remove.

In late March 2026, weeks after Noem’s dismissal, the Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma and a staunch Trump supporter, as the new DHS secretary in a 54-45 vote. The reported intimidation and pressure tactics have continued during Mullin’s leadership transition, according to current and former officials.

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Guardian US: Inside homeland security’s campaign of fear

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Guardian US

Left -70

Six-hour polygraphs, forced reassignments: inside homeland security’s campaign of fear

Factuality: Not reviewed yet
Ownership: Unknown
Profile: 10% complete

Read original Captured Jul 11, 2026, 9:43 PM

Source-balance is publication-level context. It is not an article truth rating.

Guardian US Captured Jul 11, 2026, 9:43 PM Â· Original story

Left-weighted source mix 1 of 1 source reviewed

-70

Reviewed source ratings are weighted by confidence. Unrated sources stay visible but do not affect the score.

1reviewed 0unrated 1source

Guardian US Editorial review / 60% confidence Left -70

Bias detector 38/100

Bold News detected moderate framing pressure from source perspective and uncertainty framing around Left-weighted source mix, uncertainty, which could steer readers toward the perspective of the rated source mix.

Guardian US53/100 / bias -70

Article weight system 38/100

Overview: This article shows moderate framing pressure with a left-weighted source mix.

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Collect attached source records, extracted paragraphs, article text, source ratings, named entities, and framing signals.
Source mix starts with 1 reviewed of 1 attached source; reviewed feed scores are confidence-weighted on the -100 to +100 scale.
Framing pressure is 38/100 from 2 detected cues: loaded terms, negative adjectives, timeline/title wording, uncertainty, causal claims, opinion markers, and source perspective.
Negative adjective/framing count is 0 for the available source text.
Timeline/title wording did not add pressure for this article.
Named entities and article tags identify relevance; they help attach cues to people, places, organizations, and topics, but they do not create the bias score by themselves.