Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has temporarily traded her Navy Yard apartment for military housing after what her department calls a surge in death threats and an outbreak of “vicious doxxing.” According to a DHS spokesperson who spoke to Fox News Digital, things escalated after media outlets published the location of her Washington D.C. apartment.
“Following the media’s publishing of the location of Secretary Noem’s Washington D.C. apartment, she has faced vicious doxxing on the dark web and a surge in death threats, including from the terrorist organizations, cartels, and criminal gangs that DHS targets. Due to threats and security concerns, she has been forced to temporarily stay in secure military housing,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. McLaughlin added that Noem is still paying rent for her original apartment despite the move.
In the same statement, McLaughlin didn’t mince words about who she blames for the situation. “It’s a shame that the media chooses sensationalism over the safety of people enforcing America’s laws to keep Americans safe,” she said. The department argues that revealing her address opened the door for threats from exactly the kinds of groups DHS is supposed to protect against.
Noem herself hasn’t let the moment pass quietly. Last week she pointed to what she described as a dramatic rise in violence against immigration officials. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are now facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them as they risk their lives to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” she said.
Her message, posted to X, had the tone of someone trying to rally both her staff and her political supporters. “We will not and have not let this violence stop us or slow us down. Everyday our law enforcement continues to enforce the law and arrest the most depraved criminals including pedophiles, terrorists, murderers, gang members, and sexual predators,” she wrote, as reported by DHS.
The numbers backing her claims are striking. In July, the New York Post reported that ICE officials faced an 830% increase in assaults between Jan. 21, 2025, and July 14, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. The timing is notable, as that stretch began the day after Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, according to the New York Post.
All of this adds up to a pretty volatile backdrop for someone leading Homeland Security. On the one hand, there’s the regular chaos of dealing with immigration, terrorism, and international criminal networks. On the other, there’s the surreal side plot of having your home address passed around online like the latest meme template. Noem’s shift to military housing is being framed as a practical safety move, but it also plays into the larger political storyline she’s been pushing about federal law enforcement being under siege.
The irony is hard to ignore. The secretary in charge of keeping Americans safe has to hide out for her own safety, her address floating around the dark web while her department insists the attacks on ICE have never been higher. For Noem, the job description isn’t just about enforcing the law anymore. It’s about proving that she can take the hits—literally and figuratively—while warning that her agents are taking even more.