Special Envoy to the Shield of the Americas Kristi Noem bungled her geography when asked about Washington’s best friend in South America.
Noem, who is the US representative to a coalition of countries in the Western Hemisphere to combat drug cartels and other transnational criminal groups, listed El Salvador and Costa Rica.
“Well, we’ve worked so much with El Salvador and migration issues and third country agreements,” Noem replied to Newsmax’s Greta Van Susteren on Saturday. “But also Ecuador’s been fantastic; we did a joint operation with them with the Department of War against the cartels in their country.”
“We work very well with Argentina; their economic policies line up with ours. Costa Rica’s been fantastic; they have a new president…she’s going to be a great leader for us as well.”
Of the four countries she listed, two — El Salvador and Costa Rica — are in Central America, not South America.
Noem has served as US special envoy to the Shield of the Americas since March after being pushed out of her old post as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
President Trump had unveiled the new coalition that same month.
“I think it’s going to be stronger than NATO because it is bringing these countries into alignment with American values and American freedom,” Noem said of the nascent coalition.
She predicted that the Shield of the Americas will continue to grow over time and stressed how its members are closely aligned with the Trump administration.
Noem touted the coalition’s work to tackle issues such as gang violence and illegal immigration. She also explained that Haiti will be a top agenda item for the group.
“Haiti is an area that has been a lost cause for a very long time,” Noem contended. “We’ve got some gang suppression forces that we’re going to be working to get into that country.”
Noem’s appearance on Newsmax appears to be one of her first major TV outings since she was jettisoned from her old perch atop DHS.