During Kristi Noem’s tenure as Department of Homeland Security secretary, an obscure government contractor emerged as the “shadow administrator” of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a new report.
Kara Voorhies, a DHS contractor with no emergency management experience, exerted outsized control over FEMA’s spending, scrutinizing every grant and directing staff to cancel those that she opposed, The Washington Post reported. She specifically targeted funds allocated towards Muslim groups; diversity, equity, and inclusion and climate change initiatives; and the state of California.
Voorhies also participated in high-level meetings and was permitted to view proprietary government information. “We were told to give her access to whatever she wanted,” a senior official told The Post.
Soon after she arrived at FEMA last spring, it became clear that Voorhies was acting as “eyes and ears” for Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s top aide and rumored romantic partner (a claim Noem told lawmakers was “tabloid garbage” at a congressional hearing). Voorhies’ flurry of directives mirrored Noem and Lewandowski’s ideological priorities, multiple current and former FEMA officials said.
Noem was fired March 5 by President Donald Trump in the wake of a string of controversies including the deaths of American citizens during ICE’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and growing scrutiny of $200 million in DHS budget spent an ad campaign featuring Noem on horseback before Mount Rushmore.
Noem, Lewandowski and Voorhies are under investigation by DHS’s inspector general including over their handling of contracts, according to reports.
The Independent has contacted DHS, the State Department — where Noem now works — and Lewandowski for comment. Voorhies could not be reached by The Independent.
Voorhies, who is no longer employed by DHS, did not respond to The Washington Post‘s requests for comment. Neither Noem nor DHS responded to questions. Lewandowski, who stepped down as a special government employee in the wake of Noem’s firing, denied via his office that he had personally benefited from DHS contracts.
‘Out of nowhere’
Voorhies, whose background is in financial consulting, emerged “out of nowhere” at FEMA in spring 2025, according to the Post. She quickly became a key power broker, working closely with Lewandowski. She may have been paid as much as $1 million per year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
After Noem demanded that all contracts worth over $100,000 be approved by DHS leadership, Voorhies instituted a line-by-line review of every existing contract and grant, a process multiple officials described as “chaotic.”
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While coordinating with the Department of Government Efficiency, run by Elon Musk, Voorhies axed federal grants that mentioned “climate change, social media, diversity, equity or inclusion,” a senior official told The Washington Post. She further moved to block Muslim groups from receiving security funding and tried to cut off the entire state of California from FEMA funding due to its sanctuary status for immigrants.
Multiple FEMA officials were alarmed by her management approach particularly after Texas suffered catastrophic floods last July that killed at least 135 people, including dozens of young children. As the federal government worked to provide assistance to responders, Voorhies “questioned the need for those resources,” The Washington Post reported. Voorhies later allowed a funding request to go forward, which was approved.
In June 2025, Voorhies became involved in the creation of Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades, which has faced accusations of abuses against detainees.
Voorhies gave staff “lots of direction and drove many of the conversations and even approvals on what we were doing,” a former senior official said.
‘In 20 years I have never seen this done’
During the contractor’s time at FEMA, she was also allowed to view proprietary government information, including specifics about projects and major contracts.
Despite her deep involvement at the agency, many of the people who worked with her were not aware she was a contractor. Federal regulations require government contractors to identify themselves during conversations and in correspondence — which Voorhies purportedly did not do in some instances.
Neither are contractors usually involved in handing out contracts and making spending decisions at federal agencies.
“In 20 years I have never seen this done,” a former senior official said. “This was a huge shift.”
In the final days of Noem’s rocky tenure at DHS, Voorhies, who had long flown under the radar, began to draw scrutiny.
“I have reason to believe that DHS has delegated responsibilities of the FEMA administrator to an outside contractor,” Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, told Noem during a Senate hearing in early March. “Who is Kara Voorhies? What is her official role in DHS?”
On March 26, a few weeks after Noem was fired, Trump administration lawyers said in a court filing that Voorhies “is no longer employed by or serving as a contractor with DHS or FEMA.”
Two days later, The Wall Street Journal reported that officials with the DHS inspector general had seized documents from Voorhies’ office, and that investigators are looking into her handling of FEMA contracts. Also reportedly under review is her compensation, which may have been as high as $19,000 per week.
Noem, who is now “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas” and focused on security in the Western Hemisphere, has been replaced by former Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. The new DHS boss quickly scrapped Noem’s $100,000 contract review rule.
Mullin “has the opportunity to be like a prince or knight in shining armor as he comes riding over the hill and saves everybody from this freaking chaos,” a senior DHS official told The Washington Examiner last month.
“All he has to do, literally, is put things back in a normal order.”
