Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday defended a passage from her memoir in which she described shooting a family dog more than two decades ago, saying the episode illustrated taking responsibility and protecting children.
On the latest episode of the "Pod Force One" podcast with columnist Miranda Devine, Noem, 53, said she had "no regrets" about recounting the incident in her book No Going Back, which was published last year. She told Devine she "absolutely love[s] animals" and said the decision to kill the dog, Cricket, was driven by safety concerns around children and other animals at a hunting lodge the family operated.
In the memoir, and reiterated on the podcast, Noem described Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, as repeatedly attacking livestock and attempting to bite her. "The dog [Cricket] was actively killing animals for fun, had been massacring chickens and then had tried to bite me and attack me," she said on the show. "At that time, we had little kiddos around every single day in a hunting lodge we were operating … I knew that I needed to take responsibility for the situation."
Noem also recounted another episode from the same period in which she shot a billy goat that she described as aggressive. In the book, she wrote that she "hated" Cricket and called the dog "dangerous to anyone she came in contact with." The passage drew widespread public attention and mockery after the book was published, including references on late-night television and in satirical programs.
The incident had been raised in prior political campaigns, Noem said on the podcast, and she said she decided to "tell the truth of the story" in the memoir. "People in the state knew it, they had tried to attack me with it, and I decided to tell the truth of the story in the book," she said.
Noem, who served as South Dakota governor before joining the Biden administration as Homeland Security secretary, said the anecdote also figured into a pitch she made to former President Donald Trump when he asked whether she would be interested in a Cabinet position. "When [Trump] asked me after he won the election if I would be interested in being in his Cabinet, what position I would be interested in, I asked for Homeland Security," she recalled. She said she told Trump the nation needed "somebody who’s tough enough to do it" and emphasized the importance of communicating immigration policy impacts to families.
"It will impact families and you’ll need somebody who can talk about it and that will visit with the American people about why we’re doing what we’re doing," she said she told Trump, adding that the work "is about our kids." Noem said Trump "does talk about" the story.
The memoir passage prompted a strong public response when it became widely read, with commentators, online users and comedians lampooning the account. Noem said on the podcast that she continues to own and travel with a dog and that she loves animals, characterizing the episode as a difficult but necessary decision made to protect people.
Noem’s remarks on the podcast do not include new legal or investigative developments; she framed the story within a broader effort to explain her qualifications for overseeing homeland security and to present herself as a leader willing to take responsibility for difficult decisions. The account remains a point of public contention amid debates over her record and public persona.