Nov 2025

Posting from her personal account on X, the USDA Secretary asserts that the agency had uncovered massive fraud in the personal data of SNAP recipients that it had collected from 27 cooperating states. In an appearance on FOX News, she claims the administration had eliminated 700,000 people from SNAP benefits and had arrested 118 people. She provided no other details to verify her claims.

An advocacy group, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, releases a report that notes the US Forest Service is 38% behind its usual pace in forest-thinning and other preventative measures. The group directly blames DOGE for all of its staff-reduction and cost-cutting efforts.

In a court filing, the Department of Interior reveals that it has frozen its plans to imminently layoff more employees.

Moving under the cover of the government shutdown, NASA leadership has reportedly permanently closed 13 our of 30 buildings on NASA’s Goddard Campus and emptied them of equipment and supplies. This includes highly unique equipment for testing satellites as well as components for future missions to observe the earth and the cosmos.

In a new capacity as Deputy Chief of Staff, Sam Beyda tells scientists at the CDC that it is time to wind down its primate research division. Despite the fact that CDC has an Acting Director, he presents himself as conveying the direct wished of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. here.

Months after the dissolution of the Wilson Center, the Kennan Institute, researching Russia and its surrounding region, is able to relaunch as a smaller but independent entity.

Months after DOGE first illegally fired probationary employees, the National Forest Service continues to endure poor morale and disruptions to service due to low staffing numbers

Sam Beyda promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff at CDC

Under the direction of Sam Corcos, the IRS has rolled out coding tests hosted on the site HackerRack to its technical staff to assess their “technical proficiency.” This is likely the precursor to restructuring and layoffs within the agency’s 8500-person IT division. When asked about the purpose of the tests in an all-hands meeting, IRS leadership refused to answer.

Acting in his new capacity as a global health advisor in the State Department, Brad Smith is reportedly pressuring African nations to sign memorandums of understanding which would grant the US access to their health data for the next 25 years in return for limited health aid from the US for the next five years. This is blasted by critics as extractive and an attempt by the US to bypass the World Health Organization’s normal role in monitoring for emerging pathogens.

In an interview, Joe Gebbia affirms he has been the Chief Design Officer since being appointed to the role in September, after EO 14338 was issued in August. He also confirms the position is in the White House and reports directly to the Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Although it has an office nearby, Gebbia will primarily be working from his home in Austin, Texas.

The Department of Health and Human Services proposes 16 initiatives for the CDC to focus on as part of a restructuring and change in direction for the agency. This includes de-emphasizing Hepatitis B vaccination in favor of increased screening. Newly appointed deputy chief of staff Sam Beyda is in charge of 5 out of the 16 initiatives, despite only having graduated from college in 2023 and a lack of public health or leadership experience.

Ruling in State of Rhode Island v. Trump, Judge Ryan Jackson grants an order for summary judgment finding that EO 14238 is illegal and that the Trump Administration is not allowed to shutter the small agencies – the IMLS, MBDA, FMCS and USICH – targeted in the executive order.

Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly grants a summary judgment in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS giving the plaintiffs temporary relief in their lawsuit to stop the IRS from sharing data in bulk with ICE. The judge expressed concerns that that IRS had acted arbitrarily and carelessly in drafting a policy to allow ICE to pull address data on flimsy justifications.

Many current and former members of DOGE reportedly hold a reunion in Austin, Texas where Elon Musk and Steve Davis are expected to attend and it’s likely there will be discussions on the future of DOGE.

Reuters reports that DOGE has been disbanded, based on a comment made by Scott Kupor that the effort has become more decentralized and that many of its functions have now been taken over by regular agency staff. While this might be true for OPM, it’s unclear how many DOGE staff are still working across the government.

EO 14363: Launching the Genesis Mission

Revising earlier dire estimates even higher, OPM head Scott Kupor reports that the US government will eliminate 317,000 jobs in 2025. He also reports that it will hire 68,000 new employees this year.

CMS publishes a notice in the Federal Register that it intends to share information on suspected undocumented immigrants with ICE, using Medicaid data that has been sourced to the agency from states. Multiple states have sued CMS over a previous order mandating these data-sharing arrangements, precisely because they were concerned about how the data might be used.

The Department of Energy launches a new “Genesis Mission” to heavily use AI tools for scientific research. The website for this endeavor is created by the National Design Studio and features the classic hallmarks of their work: bold fonts on a black background with animations all on a single page with no navigation and an email signup form. According to Edward Coristine’s twitter account, this page took 3 weeks to make.

Sahil Lavingia starts at IRS.

Tyler Hassen leaves role at DOI (exits govt. service)