Is Iwona B. Horyn the real name of the acting chief security officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Yes, that's true: Some social media users have questioned if this was a joke, but Horyn's name is listed on several pages of the DHS official website. There is a LinkedIn profile with the same information and photograph used in a viral post. A public information search has also confirmed Horyn is a real person.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) shared by @feraljokes account on X on November 25, 2025. The caption, which is above a screenshot of an article that referenced Horyn, read:
There is a real human at DHS named
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
The screenshot used in the post is from an article (archived here) on antipolygraph.org published on October 5, 2025, about an "anti-leak polygraph directive" at the DHS.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of antipolygraph.org)
The leadership directory (archived here) on the DHS.gov website names Horyn as the acting chief security officer:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of DHS.gov)
A LinkedIn profile (archived here) matches this information. Archived transcripts of congressional hearings that include Horyn can be read here and here. Lead Stories also found Horyn in the database of BeenVerified.com.
