DHS head reportedly authorized purchase of 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own

>The secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, reportedly authorized the purchase of Spirit Airlines jets before discovering the airline didn’t actually own the planes – and that the aircraft lacked engines.

>Noem and Corey Lewandowski – who managed Donald Trump’s first winning presidential campaign – had recently arranged to buy 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from Spirit Airlines. People familiar with the situation told the paper that the two intended to use the jets to expand deportation flights – and for personal travel.

Hey lady – you want engines to go with those planes?

The level of incompetence of these people is staggering.

What a joke.

The true purpose of the planes is to be able to deport *without record*.

Kash Patel must be like, “Wtf, why does she get to fly for personal reasons?!”

As a reminder, Kristi Noem(pathy) implemented a policy where she has to *personally* sign off on any DHS contract exceeding $100,000, so the incompetence and lack of due diligence on this is *entirely* on her.

Perfectly in line with Federal philosophy of how to use taxpayer dollars. Waste, fraud, and abuse on an epic level!

>The bizarre anecdote was contained in a [Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/department-homeland-security-deportation-disfunction-976a0e9b?) report released on Friday, which recounted how Noem and Corey Lewandowski – who managed [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump)’s first winning presidential campaign – had recently arranged to buy 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from Spirit Airlines. People familiar with the situation told the paper that the two intended to use the jets to expand deportation flights – and for personal travel.

So, this article is strange. Spirit Airlines does not operate 737s. They’re an all Airbus A320 series fleet. Also, its common for airlines to lease planes (as Spirit does), and even more common for an airline to lease engines.

There was another charter carrier called *Swift* which operates old beat up 737s for both cargo and prisoner transport roles. I wonder if the author conflated the two carriers.

In any other administration, this would be an absolutely huge scandal. There would be an investigation, people would be fired, the DHS head would step down.

My personal airline expert believes that Spirit doesn’t even operate 737s. He also points out that the engines are the most expensive part of a used airframe.

Hey DOGE, here’s your fraud waste and abuse.

Its just laundering. But the good news is planes without engines can’t be used as the private deportation express

I have some magic beans for sale! They grow a beanstalk to another realm where you can deport everyone to! Only 1 billion per bean. No refunds.

Apropos of nothing but it’s an open and widely shared rumor in DC that Noem and Lewandowski are having an affair. They are both currently married and have children with their respective spouses. Gotta love all those Christian values in this administration.