Kristi Noem 'Tech Blunder' While at DHS May 'Take Years to Fix' — As Department Was Unable to Use Wiretaps for Months Following 'Inadvertent' Decision
HSI switched internet providers while Kristi Noem was in charge.
Oct. 21 2026, Published 3:05 p.m. ET
Homeland Security Investigations "inadvertently" changed internet providers in April 2025, three months after Kristi Noem took charge at the Department of Homeland Security, and the switch left the agency without the ability to use wiretaps for months, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to a report, the change assigned HSI, ICE's criminal investigative arm, a new internet address and required it to rebuild connections with roughly 50 telecommunications providers.
Connection Loss Caused Logistical Nightmare
Wiretaps were down for months.
DHS admitted the result was "months of downtime for wiretaps."
The department warned that losing wiretap capability for long periods can "severely cripple" ongoing investigations and pose a "direct, unquantifiable risk" to undercover agents and the public.
The records do not say how long the system was down, how many of HSI's seven sites were affected, or how many investigations were disrupted.
HSI's electronic-surveillance operation supports investigations involving other federal agencies, including the FBI and DEA.
Wiretap Numbers Fall Drastically
Wiretaps went down by almost 83 percent compared to 2024 numbers with Noem at the helm.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported that DHS's Investigations Office had 23 wiretaps in 2025, compared with 133 in 2024, a drop of almost 83%.
DHS has pointed to government shutdowns, shifting priorities, and staffing and reorganization issues to explain the decline.
Former HSI agent Eric Balliet, who spent 25 years in federal law enforcement and used between 250 and 300 wiretaps, said, "I truly cannot comprehend how a law enforcement agency could drop the ball in such a catastrophic manner."
He added, "I cannot fathom a federal law enforcement agency not having the capability or capacity to legally intercept communications.
"When you lack the ability to intercept communications – phone calls, messaging apps and texts – the criminal networks win. Fentanyl, cocaine and heroin hit the streets. People are smuggled. People die."
Balliet also noted, "It will take years to recover from something like this."
Outage Revealed By DHS Document
Markwayne Mullin took over as head of DHS.
The outage came to light in a procurement document DHS released last month as ICE explained why it was sticking with its current internet provider.
ICE awarded Cox Virginia Telcom a no-bid contract on September 25, potentially worth $702,884.56, to provide dedicated network circuits for HSI's Title III and Linguistics Unit.
The department appears to have disclosed the failure only to justify retaining the existing provider under the sole-source contract.
Kristi Noem's Tenure as Head of DHS
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Noem was fired in March 2026.
Noem took charge at DHS in January 2025 and was fired on March 5, 2026, after lawmakers questioned a $220million advertising campaign that featured her. Republican Markwayne Mullin took over in her place.
The department cited urgency at the border to skip a fully competitive bidding process and awarded the contracts to two firms, one of them linked to her allies.
At a Senate hearing days before the firing, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked whether President Donald Trump had approved the spending in advance, and Noem answered, "Yes, sir."
Trump later said he had not signed off.
