Senior officials inside the Department of Homeland Security took unusual precautions to avoid potential surveillance during the tenure of former Secretary Kristi Noem, according to multiple reports that describe an atmosphere of deep internal distrust.
Staffers within Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other DHS components reportedly used sound machines to mask conversations and placed their phones in Faraday bags — signal-blocking pouches designed to prevent electronic monitoring — out of concern they were being recorded. The measures are typically associated with intelligence or national security operations, not internal discussions within a civilian agency.
The precautions were driven in part by fears surrounding Noem’s chief adviser, Corey Lewandowski, whose role inside the department had already drawn scrutiny. According to reporting from the Washington Examiner and The Daily Beast, some officials believed Lewandowski was attempting to monitor internal communications or gather information that could be used to influence personnel decisions.
Those concerns appear to have been particularly acute for Rodney Scott, who reportedly carried his phone in a Faraday bag during meetings. Scott believed Lewandowski was trying to collect damaging information that could be used to persuade Donald Trump to remove him from his position, according to sources cited in the reports.
One official described the experience as highly unusual, noting they had only encountered such precautions in intelligence settings. The use of signal-blocking devices within DHS, they suggested, reflected how seriously some staffers took the possibility of internal surveillance.
Scott also characterized the situation in stark terms, reportedly describing what he saw as an “evil” effort to push him out of his role. While it remains unclear whether any actual monitoring took place, the perception alone appears to have had a significant impact on how officials operated.
More broadly, current and former employees described the department during this period as deeply dysfunctional. One experienced staffer called it the “most toxic” environment they had seen, citing a breakdown in trust, concerns about leadership, and a sense that internal conflicts were interfering with the agency’s core responsibilities.
Even without definitive evidence of surveillance, the reported precautions point to a workplace where officials felt the need to guard their communications — a dynamic that can complicate coordination in an agency responsible for national security and immigration enforcement.
The reports offer a rare glimpse into internal tensions at DHS, suggesting that, at least for some officials, concerns about being monitored were not theoretical, but something that shaped day-to-day behavior.
