A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official was caught on undercover video admitting that the agency intends to defy the directives of newly confirmed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, according to footage released by James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Group.
Brandon Wright, Platform Services Manager for DHS, was recorded saying that the agency’s career bureaucrats do not allow political appointees to interfere with their operations. He told the undercover reporter, “Kristi Noem? I f*cking hate her.”
“The secretaries can set the priorities for the department, but they can’t actually tell us what to do,” Wright told an undercover OMG journalist, later adding, “The truth is, we don’t let them [secretaries] get in our way.” He said, “If we don’t agree with those priorities, there is a lot of room for interpretation, in terms of how we interpret what those priorities are.”
He compared the government’s bureaucratic structure to a septic tank, saying that there are layers that allow employees to filter directives in a way that minimizes their impact. “There’s a lot of layers like that in the government. And by the time the actual marching orders get to, like, me and below, we can filter it in a way that steadies the ship,” he said.
“She doesn’t know her a**,” he remarked, adding, “The Department of Homeland Security could fall on her f*cking head, and she wouldn’t recognize what it is. Kristi Noem doesn’t know sh*t” He also expressed frustration over her leadership style, saying, “To say that I am not excited about this would be the most epic understatement.”
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said, “Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation…The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent.” (Read more: The Post Millennial, 2/3/2025) (Archive)
(The tweet below would not embed for me so there is a link below the photo.)
“The truth is, we don’t let them [secretaries] get in our way,” admits Brandon Wright, Platform Services Manager for the Department of Homeland Security (@DHSgov), on hidden camera, to an undercover @OKeefeMedia Journalist. Drawing an analogy to a septic tank, Wright described the multi-layered bureaucracy within DHS: “There’s a lot of layers, like [in] government… By the time the actual marching orders get to me and below, we can filter it in a way that steadies the ship.”
“If we don’t agree with those priorities,” he said, noting executing orders often involves deceptively construing priorities set by political appointees to make them more practical and less disruptive, adding, “there’s a lot of room for interpretation.”
When discussing @KristiNoem’s role as the Trump-appointed DHS Secretary, Wright didn’t mince words on his opinions over Noem’s qualifications for the position. “Kristi Noem doesn’t know… She doesn’t know her ass,” he remarked, adding, “The Department of Homeland Security could fall on her f*cking head, and she wouldn’t recognize what it is.”
Wright also admitted his personal dislike of her leadership style, adding, “To say that I am not excited about this would be the most epic understatement.”
The Department of Homeland Security provided the following statement to O’Keefe Media Group:
“Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation … The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent.”
“The truth is, we don’t let them [secretaries] get in our way,” admits Brandon Wright, Platform Services Manager for the Department of Homeland Security (@DHSgov), on hidden camera, to an undercover @OKeefeMedia Journalist. Drawing an analogy to a septic tank, Wright described… pic.twitter.com/0N8U21PdW1
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 3, 2025