DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on String of Swattings: We Will ‘Hunt These Cowards Down’

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is vowing to take action and “hunt down” the “cowards” who have been swatting conservative commentators and journalists.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we will not sit idly by as conservative new media and their families are being targeted by false swatting,” Noem said in an update on X, explaining that DHS has “the ability to trace phone numbers and track location information.”

“We will use it to hunt these cowards down,” she vowed. “This is an attack on our law enforcement and innocent families and we will prosecute it as such.”

DHS’s official X account followed up, repeating those warnings.

The warning follows over a week of what appear to be consistent swatting incidents against conservative personalities, commentators, and journalists. “Swatting” refers to an anonymous attacker calling for emergency services for an individual under false pretenses. Many times, these individuals claim that a violent crime has taken place or is about to, drawing emergency services to that location. The individuals at the location described by the anonymous caller are caught by surprise when emergency responders arrive.

As Breitbart News has extensively reported, over a dozen individuals in the conservative political movement and media have reported swatting attempts against them in just a little over a week:

The string of swatting incidents seemingly began on the evening of March 11, with InfoWars reporter Chase Geiser revealing in an early morning March 12 X post that six to eight “police officers used a PA system to call me by name and order me to walk out of my house.”

“I was handcuffed in the middle of the street, presumably at gunpoint, though I couldn’t tell because of the light being shined on my face,” Geiser recalled. “I was then led into the house where my wife was woken up and we were informed that they received a call from someone pretending to be me and threatening to kill my family.”

…

The following night, independent journalist Nick Sortor announced his family was swatted after his sister received a menacing email.

Others who reported being targets of swatting include conservative commentator Gunther Eagleman, conservative radio talk show host Joe Pagliarulo, conservative commentator Shawn Farash, conservative writer Mike Engleman, and more.