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Jenna McLaughlin

@jennamclaughlin.bsky.social

27K followers 1.1K following 240 posts

NPR Correspondent covering technology and national security. Send me a tip: Text JennaMcLaughlin.54 on Signal from personal (nonwork) devices.

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · Nov 18

Hi BlueSky!

I'm Jenna, NPR's on-air cybersecurity correspondent.

I've been covering technology and national security for ten years.

Listen to All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Up First, and more on npr.org to hear from me.

I want to hear from you! All tips welcome.

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 2h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 20h

New @npr.org

President Trump is floating the possibility that some of the roughly 600,000 furloughed federal workers could be denied back pay once the government reopens, despite a 2019 law intended to ensure federal employees are compensated after a shutdown.

w/@cgrisales.bsky.social

White House floats no back pay for some furloughed federal workers despite 2019 law

A new draft White House memo suggests a 2019 law signed by President Trump that guarantees federal employees get paid after a shutdown ends would not apply to furloughed workers.

www.npr.org

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 16h

I’ll have to try harder!

Does no favors to their colleagues in PR on the other side.

Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 16h

a woman from schitts creek is holding a book and saying i won t be doing any of that

ALT: a woman from schitts creek is holding a book and saying i won t be doing any of that

media.tenor.com

Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 17h

Yeah I’m sure this is it. Sometimes I respond to try and make them feel bad for being lazy.

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 17h

Good thought!

Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 23h

Now that would be more entertaining than firewalls and the like!

Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 23h

It's astounding how many salespeople think I work for NPR's security team and try to hawk their tools to me.

Please, please, please, stop.

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Hannah Bloch @hannahbloch.bsky.social · 1d

Many congratulations to @npr.org’s Anas Baba on this wonderful, hugely deserved recognition of his “steadfast and factual coverage of the war in Gaza [that] is making a singular contribution to public understanding of the conflict at great personal risk.”

www.academyofdiplomacy.org/news/press-r...

Press Release | The Academy’s 2025 Ross Media Award Winners Announced | American Academy of Diplomacy

In a statement issued on October 6, 2025, the American Academy of Diplomacy announced that the winners of the 2025 Ross Media Award for Reporting and Commentary on the Practice of American Diplomacy a...

https://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/news/press-release-%7C-the-academy’s-2025-ross-media-award-winners-announced

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 5d

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:

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the
Department's operational status.
Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

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NPR @npr.org · 5d

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

Here's what is being affected by the government shutdown across the country

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

n.pr

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 6d

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...

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 6d

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...

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 6d

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...

Trump administration uses taxpayer dollars to blame Democrats for government shutdown

Federal employees across the government reported seeing similar messages. Experts say the messages may violate ethics laws meant to keep partisan politics out of day-to-day governing.

www.npr.org

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NPR @npr.org · 6d

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

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Jason Anderson @jasondcsoccer.bsky.social · 6d

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

Washington Spirit @washingtonspirit.com · 7d

Different roots. Same home. ONE SPIRIT 💛

The first 200 federal employees can claim a voucher for a free ticket on a first-come, first-served basis.

After that, a limited number of $10 tickets for federal employees will be available so you can bring your friends & family!

🎟️ bit.ly/46vSPrX

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 6d

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...

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 6d

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...

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 7d

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...

Flushable wipes and Iran: Water treatment facility adds cyberattacks to worry list

Water treatment workers are grappling with how to protect against a new threat: hackers burrowing into the system and wreaking havoc.

www.npr.org

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Jenna McLaughlin @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social · 7d

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.

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 7d

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.

Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE's push to cut

Eight months after the Department of Government Efficiency effort to shrink the federal workforce began, some agencies are hiring workers back – and spending more money than before.

www.npr.org

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 7d

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.

Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE's push to cut

Eight months after the Department of Government Efficiency effort to shrink the federal workforce began, some agencies are hiring workers back – and spending more money than before.

www.npr.org

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 7d

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

Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE's push to cut

Eight months after the Department of Government Efficiency effort to shrink the federal workforce began, some agencies are hiring workers back – and spending more money than before.

www.npr.org

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stephen fowler @stphnfwlr.com · 7d

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.

Federal agencies are rehiring workers and spending more after DOGE's push to cut

Eight months after the Department of Government Efficiency effort to shrink the federal workforce began, some agencies are hiring workers back – and spending more money than before.

www.npr.org

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Shannon Bond @shannonbond.bsky.social · 7d

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

Trump administration uses taxpayer dollars to blame Democrats for government shutdown

Federal employees across the government reported seeing similar messages. Experts say the messages may violate ethics laws meant to keep partisan politics out of day-to-day governing.

www.npr.org

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