Donald Trump has selected Kristi Noem - a self-confessed dog killer - as his next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports.
South Dakota governor Noem will take over the agency to ensure president-elect Trump’s tough domestic agenda is prioritised by a loyalist.
Two other key immigration hardliners Stephen Miller, chief of staff for policy, and “border czar” Tom Homan have been given senior roles as Trump promises to deport millions in the United States illegally.
Noem, 52, faced criticism for sharing a story in her memoir about how she killed her pet which was “untrainable and dangerous”.
After deciding she needed 14-month-old wirehair pointer Cricket to be put down, Noem led the dog to a gravel pit and shot her.
“It was not a pleasant job,” she wrote in No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, “but it had to be done.”
Noem later argued the anecdote were meant to show how capable she is of doing some of the more gruesome jobs in life when necessary.
Homeland Security saw turmoil during Trump’s first presidency with five different leaders, only two of whom were Senate-confirmed.
The $62.2billion-a-year agency has 260,000 employees.
Noem will now be tasked with overseeing a sprawling agency that oversees everything from US Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Secret Service.
