NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats. Version of original on left, updated on right:

The federal shutdown could affect people across the United States. NPR's network of member stations explains what will be impacted and where.

SCOOP: NPR actually reported the SBA email first! 👀 And we've got an extensive list of agency emails/responses from yesterday and today, thanks to tips from federal workers sharing shutdown plans and messaging. You can keep sending those tips on Signal: stphnfwlr.25 www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

NPR is reporting this too, from earlier this AM: In an email blast to the entire agency, the SBA suggested employees blame Senate Democrats for their absence, on a morning when sources tell me shutdown procedures across the government are...chaotic. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

UPDATE: At the Small Business Administration, employees were given "suggested" language for OOO email replies: blaming Senate Democrats for the shutdown and praising the "record-breaking services we are providing under the leadership of the Trump administration": www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

In response to the government shutdown, Spirit are offering free and discounted tickets for Sunday's game vs. San Diego to federal workers

New: The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center lost its federal funding at midnight. Here's my story about what happened, why it matters, and how the group — a critical resource for state and local governments — is trying to move forward: www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ms-isac...

The Justice Department website now has a banner that blames Democrats for the government shutdown. More on the partisan messaging strategy pushed by the Trump administration: www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

Now that the whole package is out: Join me in Cavendish, Vermont for a journey into a local water treatment plant and learn more about how our nation's critical infrastructure operators are dealing with the threat posed by hackers. www.npr.org/2025/09/20/n...

If you listen to @npr.org today, our hosts will tell you: it's the first day in more than fifty years that public media is operating without federal funding. We're still here, going strong and keeping you informed. Proud to be a part of this team.

When it first launched this year, NPR found DOGE's savings and efficiency tracker to be riddled with factual errors, overstatements and unverifiable claims. As a new fiscal year begins, that remains true today.

Despite DOGE's promise that canceling contracts and terminating leases would help reverse the trend of the government spending more money than it brings in, the most recent Treasury data shows an *increase* in expenditures by hundreds of billions of dollars more than the year before.

Agencies ordered to drastically slash their workforces over the last eight months are now hiring back hundreds of workers, as they struggle to perform basic operations or carry out some of President Trump's top policy priorities. Read more with @shannonbond.bsky.social @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social

NEW @npr.org: The so-called Department of Government Efficiency effort has failed to deliver on its outsized promises to cut costs and increase efficiency, NPR's latest analysis of federal data finds.

The White House is pinning the shutdown on Democrats, in a message blasted to agencies that's raising ethical questions. HUD & VA blame the "Radical Left"/"radical liberals." "It basically read like a campaign email," one federal worker told me. w/ @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social & @stphnfwlr.com

@npr.org EXCLUSIVE: Trump administration uses taxpayer dollars to blame Democrats for government shutdown Experts say the messages may violate ethics laws meant to keep partisan politics out of day-to-day governing. @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social @shannonbond.bsky.social

Text me on Signal (JennaMcLaughlin.54) if your agency got one too. (We're currently adding several more.)

NEW from @shannonbond.bsky.social, @stphnfwlr.com and myself: Staffers at over 10 federal agencies (and counting) received political internal messages blaming "Congressional Democrats" for the impending shutdown. Several say it originally came from OMB. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

"We're under invasion from within," President Trump, at Quantico, tells US military leaders. "No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. At least when they're wearing a uniform you can take them out."

🚨NEW-ICE officer caught on video pushing a woman in a NYC immigration court is the same ICE officer NPR reported last month aggressively arrested a court observer. He was placed on admin leave after this latest incident. Watch the video, hear the audio: www.npr.org/2025/09/26/n...

New: It’s increasingly more likely that a longstanding bedrock cybersecurity law will expire in tandem with a government shutdown anticipated next week. I spoke with multiple sources about the state of play on the Hill and in industry: www.nextgov.com/cybersecurit...

NEW: The Trump admin asking TikTok investors for a multibillion-dollar payment to US is the latest extractive “fee for service” from WH. "These are shakedown schemes…I'd even call it extortion…Privately, CEOs are horrified." www.npr.org/2025/09/26/g... w/ @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social

Slipped into a 10:40pm email last night: USDA is “repurposing” $285 million to start a farmer assistance program 1 year earlier than Congress authorized. They don’t say where they are taking the money from — aka the program Congress actually wanted the $280 million to fund

This is what I’ve been reporting on for months. Agencies are taking money and repurposing it against Congressional instructions, and there’s no way to know what they are taking the money from or what they are using it for.

in addition to alarming detail on what DOGE is doing with Social Security data, the Senate Dems report also gives a hilarious peek inside DOGE's workspace at GSA www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

As attention returns to DOGE, a reminder that NPR's small and mighty team also worked tirelessly to keep track of what they've been up to across the federal government. A few of our impacts: We've inspired legislation. mcclaindelaney.house.gov/media/press-...

A lot of DOGE details here , including one SSA whistleblower suggesting the agency might need to reissue SSNs "to all who possess one" due to risk of compromise: www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

The Trump administration rehiring people fired by DOGE (to find new leases after cancelling them) part of our story about GSA looking for office space for ICE: www.npr.org/2025/09/18/g...

It's unclear how long the network of devices were in operation outside New York City, and whether or not its operators were hoping to disrupt the U.N. meeting, rather than spying or organizing criminal activity: www.npr.org/2025/09/23/n...

This morning's front page @chicagotribune.com. Photo by @staceywescott.bsky.social

You don’t need to be credentialed to cover an agency.

This isn't reporting.

NEW: ICE is asking the General Services Administration to find around 300 fully furnished properties with private office space to lease by winter. GSA has created an “ICE Surge” team in response but grasping to manage the demand after staff losses. www.npr.org/2025/09/18/g...

One of the GSA employees said ICE has urgently requested the agency find around 300 fully furnished properties with private office space to lease by this winter. Story from @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social @ximenabustillo.bsky.social + me

NEW with @ximenabustillo.bsky.social and @stphnfwlr.com: The Trump administration is rushing to rent space for immigration officers conducting raids nationwide: www.npr.org/2025/09/18/g...

Uvalde school district says ransomware attack forcing closure until Thursday via @jgreig.bsky.social @therecordmedia.bsky.social

Note to NYT staff from the publisher just now. "My ask to all of you: Keep doing your important work — seeking the truth, helping people understand the world, holding power to account — as you always have, without fear or favor."

NYT reporting that this has not been verified by ATF, and that these conclusions "did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

“I’m the only door between the Iranians and our water system.” Powerful reporting by @npr.org @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social on how Franklin - and volunteer Tim Pappa - are stepping in to help water operators defend against foreign cyber threats. #CyberCivilDefense #Take9 www.npr.org/2025/09/08/n...

This is a big deal -- Apple has unveiled a comprehensive security system called Memory Integrity Enforcement in an effort to combat memory corruption vulnerabilities, a huge part what makes spyware successful security.apple.com/blog/memory-...

At the risk of stating the obvious, the Department of Defense was created by an act of Congress – the National Security Act of 1947 – and cannot be unilaterally changed by a mere Executive Order

Thank you dearly to @thisamericanlife.org's Ira Glass for the shout-out on my reporting on DOGE accessing sensitive labor data. I agree, "the time of invention" in public media "does not need to be over." Maybe the new era of public media is just beginning. current.org/2025/08/ira-...

BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago. Here is the text of his email shared with me:

At least 3 men w/ ties to Trump 2.0 have reportedly “been involved in secret influence operations in Greenland,” & Denmark is pissed. “One of the 3 men reportedly worked on lists of Greenlanders who are respectively positive & negative toward the idea of ​​Greenland being under US control.” 1/

National Guard soldiers called into service for President Trump's law enforcement surge in D.C. have been assigned to spread mulch at federal monuments. Normally the Park Service does that, but the administration laid off the workers. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Breaking News: DOGE put the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk by uploading Social Security data to a vulnerable cloud server, a whistle-blower complaint said.

Catch your friendly neighborhood NPR natsec reporters (myself included) on this new pod.

The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...