DHS Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that holdover staff at the Department of Homeland Security were found operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility spyware, discovered after tech mogul Elon Musk and his team helped uncover that it was installed on devices belonging to her and other political appointees within the Trump administration.
In an interview on the PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David last week, Noem described the discovery as part of a broader deep state effort to undermine the Trump administration and obstruct the Department of Homeland Security’s operations.
“I’ll tell you, Patrick, even from the time I came into this office, it was—Elon and his team were extremely helpful to me,” Noem said.
“They helped me identify that some of my own employees in my department had downloaded software on my phone and my laptop to spy on me, to record our meetings.”
She added that the software had been installed on devices belonging to “several of the politicals,” referring to political appointees. Noem said the issue was identified through technology experts examining department devices.
“They had done that to several of the politicals,” she said. “And so we ended up bringing in people … and that was something that if you didn’t have those technology experts here in the department looking at all of our laptops and our phones and recognizing that kind of software, it would still be happening today.”
Performing my role as Secretary of Homeland Security has shown me just how real and dangerous the deep state really is.@elonmusk helped us find that a few DHS staff had installed spying software on the phones and computers of myself and other political hires. We found secret,… pic.twitter.com/ktnM6j7kog
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 26, 2026
When asked if evidence suggested coordination with the Chinese Communist Party, Noem framed the spying as evidence of a “deep state” operating within the government.
“I always believed when people talked about the deep state before that it existed,” she said. “I never would have dreamed that it was as bad as it is.”
Noem went on to confirm the existence of rogue federal employees – embedded in DHS and throughout the federal government – who are operating against America’s interests—adding that she’s still working on a daily basis to dig them out.
The secretary also revealed the shocking discovery of a previously unknown SCIF secure facility on the DHS campus containing sensitive files.
“I just found the other day a whole room on this campus that was a secret SCIF secure facility that had files nobody knew existed,” Noem said. “So, we just happened to have an employee walk by a door and wonder what it was and started asking questions. We went in there. There were individuals working there that had secret files that nobody knew about on some of these most controversial topics like that. And now I’ve got that turned over to attorneys and we’re getting to the bottom of what exactly happened there.”
Noem highlighted ongoing cybersecurity threats, including Chinese-linked operations like Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon targeting critical infrastructure. Emphasizing the 24/7 nature of defending against hacks to the electrical grid, telecoms, and military bases Noem stressed the need to modernize technology and information sharing between agencies.
While DHS has not responded publicly to the revelations shared, the interview highlights critical concerns over operational security during highly coordinated efforts to take down the United States from within.
