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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participates in a tour at Coast Guard Station Charleston, S.C., in November. Alex Brandon / AFP - Via Getty Images

Noem's use of Coast Guard resources strains her relationship with the military branch, sources say​

Some early decisions by the homeland security secretary, including to divert Coast Guard resources from a search-and-rescue mission to the deportation of immigrants, set the tone early.

By Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube, Jonathan Allen and Julia Ainsley

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s relationship with U.S. Coast Guard officials has become strained throughout her first year leading the department, according to two U.S. officials, a Coast Guard official and a former Coast Guard official.

The tensions between Noem and the only branch of the U.S. military overseen by DHS stem from some early decisions she made that rankled Coast Guard officials, including a verbal directive to shift Coast Guard resources from a search-and-rescue mission to find a missing service member, the sources said.

Noem’s leadership at DHS has created a specific split in the Coast Guard. Many rank-and-file members are motivated by her approach, in which she showcases their work by joining them on operations and visiting their ships. Some more senior officials, however, see that approach as taking away from the Coast Guard’s traditional missions.

The dynamic with more senior officials has only worsened in recent months as Noem oversaw a tenfold increase in the use of the Coast Guard's aircraft for immigrant deportations, which has strained its limited resources, the sources said. The increase was captured in data compiled by ICE Flight Monitor, a nonprofit group that tracks deportation flights. ...

READ THE FULL STORY - NBC

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