Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Sunday that the DHS is changing imagery on its seal to mark a major tactical and symbolic shift.
Mullin was speaking with Fox News host Peter Doocy about the importance of adapting to changing threats and said the department’s seal will be updated to reflect America’s wartime status.
“Every single day I get a briefing; every single day we have new threats, and every single day the threats are changing,” he said during an interview with “The Sunday Briefing.”
“Every time we stop a threat, a terrorist act, or a criminal activity that’s taken place, they also change their tactics. We have to be constantly moving from cyber to sea, to air, and to land. We are constantly moving,” Mullin stated.
“In fact, I tell you, if you look at most of our seals throughout all the agencies — the eagle looks to the palm leaf, because that’s in a time of peace. We’re actually changing our seal to make it look towards the arrows because when it looks towards the arrows, it means we’re at war.”
Mullin added that “Homeland Security is at war every single day against bad actors trying to hurt our backyards, and we’re not going to allow that to happen.”
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The DHS seal is inspired by the “Great Seal of the United States” which has a rich history behind it.
The image depicts an eagle holding an olive branch on one side — symbolizing peace — and a bundle of 13 arrows on the other, which represent the original 13 states, along with military readiness.
Mullin went on to say that Iran is being led by a “murderous regime,” but also cited cyber threats from China, Russia, and North Korea as top priorities for U.S. officials.
“China has a tremendous amount of effort moving towards cyber attacks, because of all the technology they have shipped in to the United States with our infrastructure and the amount of intellectual property that they have stolen,” he explained.
“Russia has bad actors that they allow to operate within their boundaries that are also protected, and they know about it. So it doesn’t stop. We have hundreds of thousands of attacks every week that’s coming against our critical infrastructure.”
These comments came just days after a Coast Guard plane on which Mullin was a passenger had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines failed.
The Gulfstream jet ultimately landed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the Virginia suburbs and no injuries were reported.
Mullin was one of 14 people on board and posted about the experience on social media, praising the pilots’ poise and professional attitudes.
The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine. No panic, just straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands. https://t.co/ckhCkJbsRX
— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) September 2, 2026
“The United States Coast Guard pilots made the single engine landing feel routine,” he wrote on X. “No panic, just straight professionalism. After we landed, the pilots told me that was a first for them! We could not have been in better hands.”
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