Chris Bing

Russia confirms it has blocked WhatsApp, citing Meta's "unwillingness to comply with Russian law", and proposes that Russians switch to the state-owned Max app (Reuters)

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DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’ Immigration officials said agent shot two ‘vicious gang members’ in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claims

After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting.

But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:

Thanks to those that supported and placed their trust in me over this past decade. Onto the next adventure.

I still believe this work is vital for our democracy though the number of people doing it is shrinking and they face more challenges today than arguably ever before. Become a ProPublica donor if you can, support the Post, support the Times, the Journal, whatever you want.

The people I worked with closely over the last year are among the best I have seen in journalism – folks like @AASchapiro @WilliamTurton @HannahAllam @AndyKroll @mtredden and others. If you’ve gotten this far, my one request is support them and other investigative reporting efforts where you can.

I have other thoughts on my time in journalism and what it’s meant to me, which maybe I’ll write about sometime in the future. Some of my final/recent reporting will hopefully assist with upcoming stories in 2026 by my impressive colleagues.

Like with many jobs, the vast majority of the work we do isn’t visible. I tried to break a bunch of different stories and I failed to deliver on most of them because I didn’t reach my own high bar for the necessary sourcing or clarity of information needed to publish.

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau…

And to close the year, for the last several months, I was deeply focused on how the FBI was being reshaped under its new and unconventional director, Kash Patel. That’s where we found that Patel was writing waivers for his top staff to not have to pass polygraphs. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts.

After that, we explored how civilian agencies were breaking norms and sharing their own data on taxpayers with DHS to empower deportation raids. For example, we discovered how the IRS was building a system in secret to automate the mass sharing of records: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family. Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a…

Then we dug into the story of one under-covered office: USIP. We discovered how DOGE had blown up a sensitive mission in Afghanistan – not realizing the initiative was meant to be kept secret – resulting in the family of a US ally being kidnapped by the Taliban
www.propublica.org/article/doge...

DOGE Archives 43 stories published since 2024

For the first part of last year, I covered closely how this confusing entity reshaped the federal workforce often through a misunderstanding of what it was or how it functioned. www.propublica.org/topics/depar...

So, with the support of colleagues, I tried to dig into what seemed important. I wish I could have done more, but I am proud of the work we did together. From early in 2025, several of us recognized the importance of DOGE and its consequences.

This was a decision I made for myself that felt like the right call. The idea of covering the latest scattered spider intrusion in February or a new Russian APT’s breach of the state department during the summer just didn’t seem like the best use of my time.

I came here from Reuters, having spent the last 7 years focused on cybersecurity, intelligence and foreign affairs. But from the start of 2025, with a new administration taking power and wielding government influence in an unprecedented manner, I became more of a generalist.

Some personal news: Friday was my last day at ProPublica after joining last January. More on what’s next later. It was an incredible journey in that short time. ProPublica’s mission and its ability to attract top talent is what makes it special – the people who work here are really good.

The reporting I've seen from @startribune.com over the last few days is a great endorsement of the need for quality local journalism, which is suffering from fiscal setbacks across the country.

That individual was fired if I recall correctly. Although you’re right that the article is vague on it.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

impressively reported and deeply embarrassing

Live updates: Trump keeping Machado’s Nobel prize after Venezuelan opposition leader presents it to him | CNN Politics Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, met with President Donald Trump today. Follow for live updates.

Sources: US officials are telling multiple agencies, including FBI, to pull pple from attending the RSA conference after Jen Easterly, who led CISA under Biden, was named RSAC CEO: www.cnn.com/politics/liv...

sharing a theory I am researching below

1.) claims of cyber-related effect in Venezuela darkreading.com/cybersecurit...
2.) potential BGP anomaly event fits timeframe x.com/blackorbird/...
3.) leaked snowden doc suggests possible relevant tooling
blog.fox-it.com/2015/04/20/d...

FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this year fired a group of FBI employees who had knelt during a confrontation with DC protestors during the George Floyd protests of 2020. Seems he unknowingly fired someone who was actively working the Charlie Kirk case (per new lawsuit)

An article that perhaps got lost in the shuffle - on record interviews with senior Dutch intelligence officials where they lament the firing of fmr NSA director Tim Haugh and reveal they are being more careful sharing intel with US partners volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief.

His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau background check is unprecedented, insiders say.

By @williamturton.bsky.social @chrisbing.bsky.social

We’re still reporting on Kristi Noem, contracts at DHS, and the ad deal. If you have any information we should know, my email is joshua.kaplan@propublica.org and I’m on the encrypted messaging app Signal (you can message me at js_kaplan.85)

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

NEW: FBI Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two newly hired senior FBI staff, exempting them from polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information, officials said.

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

New: FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

As the FBI’s deputy director, Dan Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau background check is unprecedented, insiders say. @williamturton.bsky.social @chrisbing.bsky.social

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

NEW: Kash Patel granted waivers to Dan Bongino and two other newly hired senior FBI staffers, exempting them from passing polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information.

@williamturton.bsky.social @chrisbing.bsky.social @propublica.org

A joke that was truly years in the making

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social