Coast Guard Buys Two Private Jets for Noem, Costing $172 Million

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Coast Guard Buys Two Private Jets for Noem, Costing $172 Million

Public documents show the Department of Homeland Security has contracted to purchase a pair of top-of-the-line Gulfstream jets for the secretary and other top officials.


Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, has implemented a requirement that she personally approve any department expense over $100,000. But her own spending has come under scrutiny. Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times

By Catie Edmondson
Reporting from the Capitol
Oct. 18, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security has purchased two Gulfstream private jets for Kristi Noem, the secretary, and other top department officials at a cost of $172 million, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. … The jets, which a department official said were needed for safety, are the latest expenditures on behalf of Ms. Noem to draw scrutiny from Democrats and other critics who have noted her lavish spending on living and other expenses during her time in public life.

The Coast Guard put in its budget earlier this year a request to purchase a new long-range Gulfstream V jet, estimated to cost $50 million, to replace an aging one used by Ms. Noem. … “The avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable and it’s in need of recapitalization, like much of the rest of the fleet,” Kevin Lunday, the acting commandant of the Coast Guard, told members of Congress at a hearing in May. … He said a new aircraft was necessary to provide agency leaders with “secure, reliable, on-demand communications and movement to go forward, visit our operating forces, conducting the missions and then come back here to Washington and make sure we can work together to get them what they need.”

Documents that were posted to a public government procurement website and reviewed by The Times show that the department has since signed a contract with Gulfstream to buy not one but two “used” G700 jets, touted by the company as having the “most spacious cabin in the industry.” The total contract value is listed as a little over $172 million. … It was not immediately clear where the funding for the jets came from.



The interior of a G700 aircraft. The Homeland Security Department has signed a contract with Gulfstream to buy two “used” G700 jets, touted by the company as having the “most spacious cabin in the industry.” Gregg Newton/Reuters

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Before coming to Washington, Ms. Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, also attracted attention for her spending habits. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported in 2021 that she had spent $68,000 in taxpayer money on a redecoration of the governor’s mansion that included rugs, chandeliers and the installation of a sauna. … The Associated Press reported in March that South Dakota taxpayers had covered about $150,000 in Ms. Noem’s personal and political travel costs including while she was campaigning for Mr. Trump; taking a six-day trip to Paris that included a speech at a right-wing gathering; and on a bear hunt in Canada with her niece.

Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 19, 2025, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: $172 Million Spent on Homeland Security’s Private Jets. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe