Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has taken on an advisory role with NovaRed Mining, a Vancouver-based critical minerals exploration company. The announcement was made Tuesday, positioning Noem as a strategic adviser for the company's mission of acquiring and advancing critical mineral exploration opportunities through its artificial intelligence-enhanced technology platform.
Noem's New Role
In a statement, NovaRed CEO Brian Goss highlighted Noem's exceptional leadership experience and deep understanding of policy, regulatory, and economic factors influencing infrastructure investment, resource development, and long-term economic growth. Goss expressed confidence that Noem's perspective and experience working across government and industry would be valuable as NovaRed advances its corporate development strategy and evaluates new opportunities.
Controversial Tenure
Noem served as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security during a controversial immigration crackdown under the Trump administration. She drew widespread condemnation for calling two people killed by federal agents domestic terrorists. Her tenure was marked by leadership scandals within the department and violent confrontations between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in major U.S. cities.
Her undoing came from a pricey advertising campaign in which she posed atop a horse in western gear in front of Mount Rushmore. Noem claimed President Donald Trump signed off on spending $220 million on the campaign, which proved to be the final straw after a series of other controversies. She was removed from the role in March.
Cross-Border Connections
Working with a B.C.-based mining company may seem surprising given Noem's provocative statements about Canada during her tenure. She repeated Trump's remarks that Canada should be the 51st state during a March 2025 visit to a historic Quebec library straddling the Vermont border. When Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China in February 2025, Noem told Meet the Press that the countries would feel pain if they did not cooperate with U.S. efforts to secure borders and stop the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants.
NovaRed stated that Noem's appointment is about assembling a team with expertise across government, industry, capital markets, infrastructure, and resource development. The company aims to combine machine learning-driven geospatial intelligence with traditional geological expertise to generate domestic exploration opportunities.
In the statement, Noem emphasized that secure and reliable access to critical minerals has become an important economic and national security priority in an increasingly competitive global environment.
