Kristi Noem is living rent-free in home used by Coast Guard commandant

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem is living for free in a military home typically reserved for the U.S. Coast Guard’s top admiral, officials familiar with the matter said. The highly unusual arrangement has raised concern within the agency and from some Democrats, who describe it as a waste of military resources.

Noem recently moved into Quarters 1, a spacious waterfront residence at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington where the Coast Guard commandant typically resides. She did so because of concerns over her safety after the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published photographs in April of the area around Noem’s residence in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin described Noem’s time at the commandant’s residence as temporary. She did not specify how long the setup would last or how long Noem has lived there.

Noem pays no rent to live in the commandant’s house, according to an official familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. That’s a departure from how other Cabinet secretaries have handled similar arrangements. Other Cabinet officials, including during both Trump administrations, have paid to use military housing that otherwise would be occupied by top generals and admirals.

Noem’s housing has raised eyebrows among current and retired Coast Guard officials, as well as Democrats, who warn that Noem risks creating the perception that she is exploiting the perks of her position as DHS secretary, in which she supervises the Coast Guard. They say her decision could set off a chain reaction that could displace other senior members of the service in a situation with limited housing.

Current and former Coast Guard members have also cited Noem’s frequent use of a Coast Guard Gulfstream aircraft as a point of tension. Agency guidelines require the DHS secretary to use a plane with secure communications for both personal and professional business, though they are required to reimburse the government for personal travel. McLaughlin said Noem had reimbursed “tens of thousands of dollars” for the air travel.

Noem faced scrutiny for her expenses when she served as governor of South Dakota. She spent $68,000 in taxpayer money to refurbish the governor’s mansion with a sauna, chandelier and other amenities, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported in 2021. And South Dakota picked up the tab for at least $150,000 in campaign and personal travel for Noem related to her security when she was governor, the Associated Press reported this year.

“What are the optics?” Brown said. “And is this taking advantage of your individual position as a government official to benefit unduly?”

McLaughlin defended Noem’s living arrangement in an email to the Washington Post, saying it was necessary because the secretary had been “so horribly doxxed and targeted that she is no longer able to safely live in her own apartment.”

She added that it was “sad” for a Post reporter to “suggest a rancher should have to pay a second rent because of a reporter’s irresponsible decisions to dox where she lives.”

“If you cannot find humanity in another human’s safety and security, I invite you to find it here,” she said, including a link to Washington National Cathedral.

Noem earns more than $200,000 in annual salary as secretary, and Forbes recently estimated her net worth at $5 million, mostly due to her husband’s business and real estate holdings in South Dakota.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Coast Guard, Adm. Kevin E. Lunday — the No. 2 officer currently serving as acting commandant — has yet to be formally nominated and confirmed by the Senate. Lunday lives in a nearby home on base, according to two people familiar with his living arrangement. A White House official said they expected nominations to be sent to the Senate soon, when asked about the status of Lunday’s nomination.

McLaughlin didn’t address whether Lunday would move into the commandant’s house once confirmed. Before Noem moved in, the residence was vacant following the administration’s January firing of Adm. Linda Fagan, the last commandant. The house is occasionally used to host Coast Guard events and dignitaries.

Former administration officials and members of the Coast Guard described Noem’s living situation as unorthodox and said the arrangement could affect other senior military officials, given that there is limited housing on the base.

Some defense secretaries — including the current one, Pete Hegseth — have lived in military housing, following a federal law allowing housing for their role but dictating they must pay for it. No such statute exists for other top presidential aides, including Cabinet secretaries.

Jeh Johnson, who led DHS under President Barack Obama, told the Post that until now, no DHS secretary had lived in government housing. He expressed concern “about the message that sends down the line in the career military community.”

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zukunft, who served as commandant during the first Trump administration, said the service typically has four homes for its top admirals at Anacostia-Bolling. If Noem resides in one, he said, that would displace another Coast Guard leader in what amounts to “brinkmanship of musical quarters.”

“Quarters 1 has been used exclusively by the current serving commandant since we entered into an agreement for this quarters circa 2010,” Zukunft said in an email.

The arrangement is drawing scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers who oversee the Coast Guard.

Sen. Chris Murphy (Connecticut), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, said that the commandant’s house is “not a vanity residence” and that Noem is “essentially taking that property from the military.”

“It’s a real insult to the brave men and women who are protecting our shores that she thinks that house belongs to her instead of to the Coast Guard,” Murphy said.

McLaughlin did not disclose what specific threats of violence Noem has faced following the Daily Mail story, though she pointed to the fact that her security detail had to be increased — especially outside her living space. The publication touted that story as an “exclusive” and included pictures of the building and of Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s longtime political adviser and chief adviser at DHS, outside the complex. The Daily Mail did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In April, Noem’s Gucci purse was stolen from a downtown Washington restaurant, along with her passport, DHS security badge and about $3,000 in cash. Federal officials said at the time that she was not targeted for her role as DHS secretary.

During the first Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came under scrutiny after seeking housing at Potomac Hill, a Navy-controlled facility in Washington where several senior military officers live. A Navy lawyer assessed that it would be “problematic” if Pompeo moved into the home, citing a shortage of housing for top Navy and Marine Corps officers, according to a memo obtained by the nonprofit American Oversight.

The memo added that Congress “clearly and explicitly identified only the Secretary of Defense as an eligible resident in housing usually reserved for military personnel, and that grant was unquestionably exclusive to the Secretary of Defense.” That statute “seems to rule out similar treatment to other members of the President’s Cabinet,” the lawyer concluded.

Pompeo ultimately moved into Army quarters at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall nearby in Virginia and paid “fair-market value” for it, his staff at the time said.

Nonetheless, DHS leadership does not typically live on military bases.

There have been exceptions. John Tien, who served as deputy secretary from 2021 to 2023, lived at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling as a retired U.S. Army colonel. He paid $3,000 a month for a four-bedroom condominium, according to a former senior DHS official.

The Coast Guard, established in its modern form in 1915, is the only one of the six branches of the U.S. armed forces that is not controlled by the Defense Department. Charged with providing maritime law enforcement, protecting ports and waterways, and conducting search-and-rescue operations, the agency has about 40,000 active-duty personnel and thousands more civilian employees, and an operating budget of $10.4 billion this year.

As DHS head, Noem oversees the Coast Guard and 21 other federal agencies and has assumed a high-profile role spearheading the president’s mass-deportation campaign. She has focused much of her attention and messaging on immigration enforcement, drawing scrutiny and criticism amid souring public approval of Trump’s handling of the issue.

Noem has featured the Coast Guard on DHS social media accounts and her personal feeds with posts that show her posing in front of a helicopter with service members, riding in a Coast Guard boat and at the controls of an agency plane.

Noem’s frequent use of the Coast Guard plane has also created tension with the military branch’s officials, given that two Coast Guard planes are reserved for admirals and senior civilian officials at DHS.

In the spring, Noem requested $50 million to pay for a new Gulfstream V jet that would replace one of two Coast Guard planes. A DHS official said at the time that the new jet would substitute for the one in service for more than two decades, which is “well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft.”

Like her DHS predecessors, Noem generally travels on Coast Guard planes equipped with secure communications capabilities so that she remains in touch with other federal officials in case of emergencies. The Coast Guard commandant also typically flies in a military jet with similar equipment.

Noem had used the jets to travel home to South Dakota at least nine times as of mid-July, according to publicly available flight-tracking information. The jets have made trips to and from Watertown Regional Airport in eastern South Dakota, which is close to Castlewood, near which Noem has a ranch.

The secretary is given special dispensation to use Coast Guard aircraft for both official and unofficial travel, so long as he or she refunds the government the cost of a regular coach seat on a commercial aircraft for personal travel, according to federal government policy.