Chris Bing
@propublica.org reporter: hacking, intelligence and foreign affairs. @johnshopkinssais.bsky.social grad. 📧email: christopher.bing@propublica.org / 📞Signal:771-217-8550. More contact info: bit.ly/2wagIS7
- DHS put out a public comment opportunity as it looks to "collect social media identifiers ('handles') and associated social media platform names from applicants" to screen for potential national security threats. Deadline is May 5. Already has +1k comments. www.regulations.gov/document/USC...
- This relates to: Executive Order 14161, “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,”
- As you can expect, the discussion is super active.
- This is a really important story from earlier this week that runs in line with what I've seen. It's a period of rapid change when it comes to internal intimidation tactics for the purpose of keeping people quiet www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
- Cool
- NEW: Inspector General Probes Whether Trump, DOGE Sought Private Taxpayer Information or Sensitive IRS Material www.propublica.org/article/trum... With the full squad @williamturton.bsky.social @andykroll.bsky.social @AASchapiro
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- The startup has raised over $2B in venture capital, much of it from firms with ties to Trump and Musk. In addition to Thiel, other major backers include Thrive Capital, which was founded by Jared Kushner's brother, and 8VC, a firm run by Musk allies. By @chrisbing.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
- TPM calls our article about GSA/Trump admin eyeing fintech startup Ramp for the fed’s smartpay program: “One of the most important stories in some time” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/rampi... Story: www.propublica.org/article/trum...
- wild stuff here www.wsj.com/politics/elo...
- A sign of change?: Chinese law enforcement says it caught NSA in chinese networks (not new) then names specific alleged employees at the agency (new) they claim were involved. www.reuters.com/technology/c...
- We are finalists for the deadline club award for our Reuters reporting last year uncovering a US military psychological operation aimed at china’s covid vaccines (@joel_schectman)
- Hearing about planned large scale cuts at CISA and potentially even a reorg that moves elements of existing workforce back under main DHS. If you know more, feel free to reach out bing-chris.medium.com/how-to-conta...
- Trump has signed an EO to investigate and revoke the clearances of one of his top cybersecurity officials from the first admin, former CISA director Chris Krebs - who famously confirmed the integrity of the 2020 election.
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View full threadThe EO also appears to temporarily ban all clearances held by staff of Krebs current employer, SentinelOne - one of the leading cybersecurity firms in industry.... Another unprecedented development.
- Several confusing elements within the EO itself. Such as the concept of censoring election info and conservative viewpoints... to my knowledge, closest example would have been a rebuke of the so-called "hammer" and "scorecard" theory, which was a fantasy casebook-static.pages.dev/case-studies...
- EO: whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/... per video:https://x.com/Acyn/status/1910065764968931546 -> "instructs DOJ... to investigate some of his malign acts"
- An update: conservative activist Laura Loomer confirmed her role in the NSA director’s firing last night: x.com/lauraloomer/...
- The Laura Loomer effect
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- The one guy not in the signal chat got fired first
- The commander of U.S. Cyber Command and Director of NSA Gen. Timothy Haugh — who’s only been in the post for about a year — and his deputy were ousted today.
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View full threadAs I understand, Gen. William Hartman - the current deputy commander of cyber command - now takes the top spot in an acting capacity.
- Something to watch: This could be the first step towards splitting cyber command and NSA from one another, which would open the door for a political appointment to run the massive signals intelligence agency.
- Story first reported by CipherBrief and Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
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- Agreed
- The way that some federal workers learned today they had been laid off was their badges wouldn't scan at different federal building entrances. Wild scenes and lots of confusion/anger
- Do You Have a Tip for ProPublica? Here’s How to Contact Us Securely.
- You would assume that the development of a senior DOGE figure - a young cybersecurity engineer - briefly becoming a Fannie Mae board member would be seen as a bigger story/mystery with more attention from Congress. But I guess not
- -https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/03/doge-to-fired-cisa-staff-email-us-your-personal-data/ -https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-19/musk-ally-stanley-abruptly-resigns-from-fannie-mae-board
- A deeply important story by my colleague @hannahallam.bsky.social "Tens of millions of dollars slated for violence prevention have been cut or are frozen pending review as President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency steamrolls the national security sector."
- For decades, the U.S. government has invested millions in prevention work and academic research with the goal of intervening in the crucial window before an attack occurs. But the federal clearinghouse behind these grants just fired 20% of its staff. By @hannahallam.bsky.social
- Like the NSA briefing Musk did recently, it’s important to understand the agency/department can’t really say no. It would be political suicide even if they wanted to rebuff the advance in addition to the fact he effectively controls spending
- JUST POSTED: Musk Set to Get Access to Top-Secret U.S. Plan for Potential War With China Giving Elon Musk access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets is a major expansion of his role as an adviser to President Trump and highlights his conflicts of interest nyti.ms/4inqIP8
- The takeover of USIP is such a wild story www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
- US journalist sues Indian government after losing his overseas citizenship
- USAID staff are being marched into their old offices today/tomorrow to collect their belongings before the agency is effectively shuttered. In a moment of sort of odd, very dark humor, they will be walking through the Reagan building under giant Crowdstrike theat actor statues
- An image from last year in the same building 👍
- As you’ve probably noticed, the beginning of this new administration has brought about mass change. I’ve not been covering cyber/natsec topics as much because I am pitching in on other subjects with my colleagues. It’s all hand on deck. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand/track DOGE
- Here’s a few examples of our recent coverage: www.propublica.org/article/doge... www.propublica.org/article/elon... www.propublica.org/article/elon...
- And of course, our centralized tracker - which we’re still updating: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...
- A bit confused by how this is public(on the DOGE website) and how these numbers could be correct... huffpost.com/entry/elon-m...
- As noted by two helpful followers and some added research: -a small component of the NRO budget is unclassified (includes limited wage info) -the data is not original to DOGE (OPM/Fedscope data) -That information is not classified -hence partial picture
- Putting aside the HuffPost article... I can't see how this budget is correct? It is way too small
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- hey jason - great piece yet again. Did you publish the memorandum itself? Didn't see it in the story but possible I am just tired
- Years after reporting on Project Raven, it seems that something new/related is bubbling up, per Intelligence Online.https://buff.ly/2CWgUZR If you're familiar with what's going on, please reach out. Signal and more contact details in bilo
- New: Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. ProPublica is attempting to document who is working with him and what they are doing. buff.ly/4aO1jLq First byline at new job!
- Keep an eye on this page. More to come soon…
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- What We’ll Be Covering in a Second Trump Administration -- a list of what each ProPublica reporter is covering and updated contact information (including for me!)
- Here are the contact details: www.propublica.org/article/seco...
