Before being dismissed five days after starting as White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia spent much of her brief tenure trying to clarify her background. Her résumé attracted attention for several reasons. Although she described herself as an attorney for most of her career, she never passed the California bar, a fact she eventually acknowledged. WIRED also reported that she once worked as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, the fitness multilevel‑marketing firm.
WIRED has now uncovered additional details about Zacharia’s connection to NRED Intelligent Mining, an AI‑focused rare‑earth mining venture that lists former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem as a strategic adviser. On June 24, NRED—then called NovaRed Mining, a small copper‑and‑gold exploration company based in Vancouver—issued a press release announcing that Zacharia, who had left a DHS spokesperson role two months earlier, would join its advisory board alongside Noem. The release said she would provide “strategic guidance” to the board on exploration projects and “emerging artificial intelligence initiatives.”
When asked on Friday whether she still sat on the board, Zacharia replied, “That was fake,” and directed WIRED to Sam Amsterdam, a strategic marketing and media professional whose past clients have included the government of Kazakhstan and political parties in Georgia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Amsterdam said the release was issued without Zacharia’s consent and that his brother appears on NRED’s management list. He clarified that, while discussions about her joining had taken place, she never actually took the position.
Valentin Saitarli, NRED’s chief technology officer who is transitioning to CEO, confirmed that talks about a role for Zacharia occurred but “never materialized,” likening it to signing up for a gym and never attending a workout. He described NRED’s approach as “full robots and AI.” Despite Amsterdam’s claim that the announcement had been withdrawn, the press release remained on NRED’s website as of Friday, and an archived snapshot showed Zacharia listed as management at least through July. When WIRED queried Saitarli about the lingering listing, he said the site was being updated.
Zacharia’s appointment to NovaRed’s board was announced eight days after Noem’s own advisory‑board appointment. Zacharia had previously served under Noem as the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy assistant press secretary for public affairs for roughly a month and was reported to have close ties to de facto DHS chief of staff Corey Lewandowski, a claim she denied to The Daily Mail.
Noem’s involvement sparked backlash in Canada, where critics recalled her referring to the country as the “51st state.” At the time, The Globe and Mail described NovaRed as a copper‑and‑gold exploration firm with no revenue, noting that in January the company held only $65,689 in cash—insufficient to cover its projected expenses for the next year.
By spring, NovaRed began reshaping its advisory board, replacing typical geologists and technical consultants with high‑profile figures linked to the defense sector, MAGA politics and international interests. Earlier this month the company announced it was abandoning its flagship Wilmac Copper‑Gold Project to focus exclusively on “MetalCore,” an AI‑assisted mineral‑exploration platform.
“We want to build a new generation of robotics and mining,” Saitarli told WIRED. “Do we want to stay in the Stone Age or the horse age? No, we aim for Mars, space hotels, a wedding on the moon. We will bring robotics and AI to global mining and beyond our planet, hopefully.”
Phil Ehr, a retired U.S. Navy commander running for Congress as a Democrat in Florida, joined NovaRed earlier this year. He told WIRED he knows nothing about mining or commodities but recognizes the need for more copper and critical minerals. Ehr said he was surprised by the announcement that Noem and “another DHS spokesperson”—whom he identified as Zacharia—had been added to the advisory board.
“To the best of my knowledge, [Zacharia] arrived at the same time as Kristi Noem without any consultation with me and just appeared,” Ehr recalled. He added that Noem’s recent role overseeing the ICE occupation in Minneapolis made him reluctant to be associated with her. “I asked the company, ‘Why is Kristi Noem here? I can’t work with her because she is so controversial. We are on different sides of what’s right and wrong in the federal government,’” he said.
Ehr found it odd that NovaRed was filling its ranks with individuals who, like him, lacked mining expertise. He expected geologists or technical advisors, yet other hires included Gregory Fedun, a former key adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ Al Mualla royal family, and media executive Lee Caplin, co‑producer of HBO’s True Detective series.