Chris BingSome 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. https://www.propublica.org/topics/department-of-governmental-efficiency
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
https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-musk-mohammad-halimi-institute-peace-taliban
https://www.propublica.org/article/doge-musk-mohammad-halimi-institute-peace-taliban
Getting “DOGED”: 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 U.S.-funded nonprofit.
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: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations
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. https://www.propublica.org/article/fbi-kash-patel-dan-bongino-waived-polygraph
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 background check is unprecedented, insiders say.
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.
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.
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 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.
Thanks to those that supported and placed their trust in me over this past decade. Onto the next adventure.
noplasticshower@Bing_Chris corruption everywhere