Court circular / Who’s the most special envoy? |
On the final weekend of her tenure as Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem was in South America meeting the President of Guyana. Photos posted by the US Embassy in Guyana show Noem’s “senior advisor” Corey Lewandowski sitting alongside her. It would, of course, be “tabloid garbage” to repeat rumors of an affair between the two, to use Noem’s phrase when questioned (both Noem and Lewandowski have vehemently denied the affair, although she didn’t explicitly deny “sexual relations” when under oath in Congress).
Noem’s South American jaunt seemed to straddle the role she was leaving and the one she’s just started. She was officially in Guyana on DHS business but has a new posting as Donald Trump’s “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.” The Shield is a transcontinental organization Trump created that very week to coordinate military operations with other nations in the American hemisphere.
Make no mistake though: the “special envoy” role is a step down for Noem. Rather than being a cabinet secretary, she now reports to the Deputy Secretary of State. This is a face-saving exercise for Team Trump. The White House didn’t want to fire a failing official so instead gave her a new portfolio, billing the change as a reshuffle. (See also: UN Ambassador Mike Waltz.)
Special-envoy designation is helpfully vague. In the Trump era, “special envoy” can be an empty honorific or a de facto cabinet-level position. “It’s a role whose importance is totally defined in accordance with your relationship to Trump,” says a DC insider.
America’s first special envoy........