Noem's DHS report card
We graded Kristi Noem's 13-month DHS tenure using 10.0M federal flight records from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, compared to every recent DHS Secretary.
These grades reflect flight performance data during each secretary's tenure. The DHS Secretary doesn't fly the planes — but they do run TSA, and the data is what it is.
Overall grade
D
GPA: 0.9 / 4.0
On-Time Arrivals
Worst of 5 secretaries
D
76.8%
Tenure-average on-time rate of 76.8% — the lowest of any DHS Secretary in the past decade (excluding COVID). By Feb 2026, monthly rates hit 73.9%.
Kelly: 80.2% · Johnson: 79.2% · Nielsen: 79.2% · Mayorkas: 78.6%
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Flight Cancellations
Highest non-COVID rate
D+
1.99%
137,360 flights cancelled across 50 major airports. The 1.99% cancellation rate is the highest of any DHS Secretary outside COVID's 6.0%.
Kelly: 1.50% · Johnson: 1.62% · Nielsen: 1.75% · Mayorkas: 1.79%
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Delay Trajectory
Got worse, never recovered
D-
+36%
The share of delayed flights rose from 19.2% to 26.1% — a 36% increase. Performance declined sharply after October and never bounced back.
Started at 81% on-time, ended at 73.9%. Seven-point drop with no recovery.
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Delay Severity
Consistently high
C-
44.6 min
When flights were late, they averaged 44 minutes behind schedule. November peaked at 47.5 minutes. Not the worst ever, but stubbornly high for 13 straight months.
No month dipped below 42 minutes. The average never improved.
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TSA Workforce Stability
Workers fired or resigned
F
1,343
243 TSA employees fired in February. Collective bargaining revoked for 45,000 workers in March. During the October shutdown, 1,100 more resigned — citing inability to pay rent while working unpaid.
Houston IAH went from 9 screening lanes to 2. Multiple airports reported 2+ hour wait times.
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Tenure Duration
Fired by the president
Inc.
13 mo
Noem lasted 13 months before being fired via Truth Social on March 5, 2026 — after two days of congressional hearings. For context, Mayorkas served 4 years, Nielsen 18 months, Kelly 6 months.
The only DHS Secretary to be fired. Others resigned or transitioned with administrations.
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Fine print: The DHS Secretary doesn't control the weather, airline scheduling, or air traffic control staffing. What they do control is TSA — the 62,000+ officers who screen every passenger in America. When you fire 243 of them, revoke collective bargaining for the rest, and then ask them to work a 43-day shutdown without pay, the downstream effects show up in the data. We're not saying she caused every delay. We're saying the data got worse on her watch, and here's exactly how much.
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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics · flightcheck.live
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