Dhruv Mehrotra

Luke Farritor. Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions

NEW investigation: DOGE-Pilled

The full story on the transformation of 23 year-old Luke Farritor and how he ended up at the Department of Government Efficiency--slashing, dismantling, undoing--wielding a résumé that "didn’t pass muster”

NO PAYWALL!

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Forthcoming March 2026

WIRED has relaunched subscriptions with a bunch of new exclusive stuff. To give a sense of what readers get for $2 a month, I'm going to highlight some of the collaborative stories I've been a part of this year, one of the most inspiring in my 11+ years in this newsroom. Thread!

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

www.wired.com/story/cbp-dn...

Secret Phone Surveillance Tech Was Likely Deployed at 2024 DNC Data WIRED collected during the 2024 Democratic National Convention strongly suggests the use of a cell-site simulator, a controversial spy device that intercepts sensitive data from every phone in it...

www.wired.com/story/2024-d...

‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls Records of hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers obtained by WIRED—including audio recordings—show a system inundated by life-threatening incidents, delayed treatment, and overcrowdin...

www.wired.com/story/ice-de...

www.wired.com/story/2024-d...

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

www.wired.com/story/cbp-dn...

Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in Germany More than 3 billion phone coordinates collected by a US data broker expose the detailed movements of US military and intelligence workers in Germany—and the Pentagon is powerless to stop it.

www.wired.com/story/phone-...

Jeffrey Epstein’s Island Visitors Exposed by Data Broker A WIRED investigation uncovered coordinates collected by a controversial data broker that reveal sensitive information about visitors to an island once owned by Epstein, the notorious sex offender.

www.wired.com/story/jeffre...

The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

www.wired.com/story/the-fb...

Friday was my last day at WIRED. Today I started a new job at Bloomberg on a dream desk with @suryamattu.com and @jeffykao.bsky.social.

Got a tip? A dataset? Something we should look at? Find me on Signal at dmehro.89

In no particular order, here’s some stuff I’d like to continue to dig in to:

The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

New: Metadata shows nearly 3 minutes were cut from what the DOJ & FBI described as “full raw” Epstein surveillance footage.

WIRED previously revealed the video was stitched together in Premiere Pro. Now we’ve found one of the source clips was nearly 3 mins longer than what was released

There were many! I’m largely joking and I welcome all tips!

Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified There is no evidence the footage was deceptively manipulated, but ambiguities around how the video was processed may further fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein's death.

The DOJ released what it called “raw” footage from the prison where Epstein died—but metadata shows it was stitched from multiple clips and processed by Adobe Premier before being made public.

Experts say its unclear what was changed, but absent an explanation it will fuel conspiracies.

San Antonio judge orders Turkish national on hunger strike to be force-fed Tayfun Kucukoglu, 32, who is being held at an ICE facility in Pearsall, has refused to...

In April, a judge authorized the forced feeding of a man detained in South Texas. According to a sealed court filing submitted by the detention centers clinical director, he had refused food for weeks. “He wants to be released from custody, does not care anymore, and would starve himself to death”

‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls Records of hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers obtained by WIRED—including audio recordings—show a system inundated by life-threatening incidents, delayed treatment, and overcrowdin...

Last week, WIRED published a story based on 911 calls from ICE detention centers. Not reported at the time were four calls we obtained that mentioned hunger strikes.

One detailed a man on day 20 of a strike in South Texas. Another about a man w severe abdominal pain.

www.wired.com/story/ice-de...

The practice of force-feeding detainees isn’t new. ICE publishes monthly hunger strike data — to track changes over time, you have to dig through past versions using the Wayback Machine.

web.archive.org/web/20240930...

ICE published a document showing that from April to mid-June, two detained people on hunger strike were subjected to either force-feeding, forced urinary catheterization, or involuntary blood draws.

www.ice.gov/doclib/deten...

'I will never forget what I saw': Shocking new reporting from inside immigration detention centers A brand new investigation by Wired into ten of the nation's largest immigration detention centers has found that serious medical incidents are rising at many of the sites. NBC News correspondent Jacob...

Thanks to @msnbc.com for covering @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social’s reporting: www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

Original story here: www.wired.com/story/ice-de...

ICYMI: WIRED obtained hundreds of 911 calls from inside ICE detention centers. Pregnancy complications, seizures, overdoses, sexual assaults, chest pains, head wounds, and more.

Experts say for every 911 call, countless medical emergencies go unreported.

The story is free to read:

WIRED has made this article free for all to read because it is primarily based on reporting from Freedom of Information Act requests

please consider subscribing to support our journalism

www.wired.com/story/ice-de...

'They're Not Breathing': Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls Records of hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers obtained by WIRED—including audio recordings—show a system inundated by life-threatening incidents, delayed treatment, and overcrowdin...

NEW: 911 audio and EMS records from ICE detention centers reveal a surge in medical emergencies — including staff sexual assaults, suicide attempts, and head injuries.

Records also show calls over severe pregnancy complications.

Free to read: www.wired.com/story/ice-de...

w/ @dell.bsky.social

Calling bullshit on you taking an herbal bath - 35 dells moving around the doc at once clicking all the footnotes

ICE Quietly Scales Back Rules for Courthouse Raids A requirement that ICE agents ensure courthouse arrests don't clash with state and local laws has been rescinded by the agency. ICE declined to explain what that means for future enforcement.

NEW: A requirement that ICE agents ensure courthouse arrests don't clash with state and local laws has been rescinded by the agency. ICE declined to explain what that means for future enforcement.

W/ @dell.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/ice-qu...

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

ICYMI: The U.S. government has been swabbing the cheeks of migrant kids and teens — and sending their DNA to an FBI criminal database.

Tens of thousands of teenagers and kids. At least one was just 4 years old. Their DNA is stored indefinitely.

www.wired.com/story/cbp-dn...

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

This is the embodiment of racist government overreach. POGO has been concerned about this kind of biometric surveillance for years. The federal government should stop collecting migrant children's DNA immediately.

My @wired.com colleagues reporting continues to astound me.

These SCOOPS were all JUST YESTERDAY:

• Migrant children's DNA stored in criminal database
• DOGE leader Nicole Hollander is leaving
• Former DOGE staffer on how the group was run
• Trump visa ban could derail US AI efforts

Links below

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4. Their genetic data is uploaded to an FBI database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

Insane dystopia scoop from @dmehro.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/cbp-dn...

Forgot to mention that this one has no paywall as part of our public records policy.

But nevertheless subscribe to WIRED