BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has chosen North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to head the Interior Department. Some things to know about the two-term Republican governor of a sparsely populated state:
Burgum, 67, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota, population 328. He earned a bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University and his master’s of business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
He went on to become a wealthy software executive. He led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum stayed on as a vice president until 2007. He's also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
In 2016, Burgum ran for governor, his first campaign for elected office. He touted a message of “reinventing” government as the state dealt with a massive revenue shortfall.
In a major upset, Burgum defeated North Dakota's longtime attorney general in the Republican gubernatorial primary. He handily won his first term in the strong Republican state, which has about 784,000 residents.
He was easily reelected in 2020.
Burgum has taken a business-oriented bent as governor of North Dakota, where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He's pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.
Burgum and his wife, Kathryn, have been public about her recovery from addiction, and as governor he has prioritized resources for addiction treatment.
Burgum is known as a policy wonk who works long hours and is highly inquisitive.
He has largely resisted wading into social issues, such as anti-LGBTQ measures pushed by members of his own party, vetoing a few such bills in 2021 and 2023. But also in 2023, as he was planning a run for president, he signed a pile of bills opponents said targeted transgender people. They included a ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender kids, sports bans for transgender athletes, and transgender restrictions in schools.
Burgum ran for president from June to December 2023. He campaigned on priorities of energy, economy and national security, but dropped out after his bid failed to resonate.
He appeared in two Republican debates — including the first, which he attended after hurting his Achilles tendon playing basketball. He drew attention for his campaign offering $20 gift cards to people who would donate $1 to his campaign so he would have enough individual donors to make the debate stage.
In January, before the Iowa caucuses, he endorsed Trump. The same month, he declined to seek a third term as governor.
When he entered office in December 2016, he dealt with the final months of the sometimes-chaotic protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. He's led the state through terrible droughts and crippling storms.
He was the face of North Dakota's response to the coronavirus pandemic, holding dozens of press conferences, many of them daily in early 2020, including an emotional plea about face masks. He and his wife publicly received their COVID vaccinations in 2021.
Last year, amid his presidential campaign, Burgum called a special session for the Legislature to deal with a budget mess weeks after the state Supreme Court voided a crucial bill, putting some state funding in jeopardy.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum arrives before President-elect Donald Trump at an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday.
The country’s latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a U.S. aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defense posture against North Korea.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Kim talking with officials near at least two different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. They included those with X-shaped tails and wings that look similar to the ones the country disclosed in August, when Kim inspected another demonstration of drones that explode on impact.
The drones flew various routes and accurately struck targets, KCNA said. Its images showed what appeared to be a BMW sedan being destroyed and old models of tanks being blown up.
Kim expressed satisfaction with the weapons’ development process and stressed the need to “build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production,” noting how drones are becoming crucial in modern warfare.
KCNA paraphrased Kim as saying drones were easy to make at low cost for a range of military activities. The report didn’t say if Kim spoke directly about rival South Korea, which the North Korean drones are apparently designed to target.
North Korea last month accused South Korea of sending its own drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the North's capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea’s military has refused to confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true.
Tensions in the region have escalated as Kim flaunts his advancing nuclear and missile program, which includes various nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland.
Kim is also allegedly sending military equipment and troops to Russia to support President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, which raised concerns in Seoul that he would get Russian technology in return to further develop his arsenal.
In addition to his intensifying nuclear threats, Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash in the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.
South Korean officials say North Korea will be a key topic in a trilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Peru.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the margins of the APEC on Thursday and discussed “strong concerns” over deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, particularly the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, warships of South Korea, the United States and Japan including the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, bottom center, take part in the trilateral Freedom Edge exercise in international waters off South Korea's southern island of Jeju, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows a burning vehicle during tests of drones designed to crash into targets, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, left, inspects tests of drones designed to crash into targets, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
