Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was transported to a hospital on Tuesday due to an allergic reaction, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Noem is "alert and recovering," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News. She was brought to a hospital "out of an abundance of caution."

The secretary was transported to George Washington University Hospital, sources told CBS News. She is accompanied by her security detail.

A former South Dakota governor and U.S. representative, Noem, 53, leads an agency with . DHS oversees immigration enforcement, airport security, disaster response, cybersecurity, the Secret Service and the Coast Guard in peacetime. It is the federal government's newest major cabinet agency, founded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.