13 months at DHS: what happened and when

Every major DHS event during Noem's tenure, plotted on top of real on-time arrival data from BTS.

Noem's DHS tenure: on-time rate plotted with key events — TSA firings, shutdown, resignations, termination

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On-time arrival rate by month with key DHS events annotated. Source: BTS (flight data), NPR/ProPublica/Federal News Network (events).

Event details

Jan 25, '25Noem confirmed as DHS Secretary. Senate vote: 59–34.81% on-time

Feb '25243 TSA employees fired — probationary workers terminated.

Mar '25Collective bargaining revoked for 45,000 TSA workers.80.8%

Jun–Aug '25Summer travel: on-time drops to 76% range. Lower than prior summers.76.0–76.6%

Oct '25Government shutdown begins. 61,000 TSA officers work without pay. Houston IAH: 9 lanes → 2. Wait times exceed 2 hours.81.3% → 81.0%

Nov '251,100 TSA officers resign during shutdown — childcare, gas, rent.

Dec '25Holiday travel aftermath. On-time rate hits 74.3% — lowest month.74.3%

Jan–Feb '26On-time rate holds at 73.9% for two straight months. Second partial shutdown begins Feb 14.73.9%

Mar 5, '26Trump fires Noem via Truth Social after two days of hearings.

Sources: BTS, NPR, Federal News Network, ProPublica, TSA.gov.

Takeaway

Over 13 months: TSA workers fired, collective bargaining revoked, a 43-day government shutdown, 1,100 TSA resignations, and on-time rates that never recovered. Then she was fired.

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