Kristi Noem is no longer the Trump administration’s special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, although she remains involved in the initiative as a senior adviser to Deputy Secretary Landau.
A State Department official said Noem’s envoy status expired last month and that she continued to work on the Shield of the Americas portfolio in her new role.
Noem said her appointment as special envoy “was always a six-month appointment”. Her designation ended shortly before last month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, where she continued attending diplomatic meetings linked to the initiative.
The Shield of the Americas brings together the United States and several Caribbean and Latin American countries to co-operate on economic matters, anti-cartel enforcement and other issues.
During the General Assembly, Noem met Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, whose government publicly described her as the initiative’s special envoy. She also attended a gathering of Shield of the Americas leaders hosted by Donald Trump.
“I want to thank Kristi Noem for doing a really terrific job,” Mr Trump said during the meeting.
Noem was appointed to the envoy role in March after being removed as homeland security secretary amid scrutiny of her management of the department and the influence of her adviser, Corey Lewandowski.
Her move to the diplomatic post came alongside a five-country tour of Latin America and the Caribbean. Lewandowski appeared in photographs from some of the visits, although the State Department later said he held no formal position there.
Noem’s public work as envoy included a meeting with Mr Noboa in Quito on March 25, discussions with Ecuadorian and Colombian diplomats in Washington in September, and talks with regional leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
