Up First from NPR
Federal Worker Surveillance, Trump's Team In Europe, Elon Musk And Mars
Wed, 12 Feb 2025
Employees at the General Services Administration are facing massive staff cuts and threats of near-constant monitoring, three top Trump administration officials are in Europe this week talking with European leaders about transatlantic issues, and proponents of going to Mars see an opportunity in Elon Musk's close relationship with President Trump. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Brett Neely, Ryland Barton, Gisele Grayson, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenburg. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: How are federal workers affected by new surveillance measures?
Workers will be under heavy surveillance of the General Services Administration.
The agency that manages almost all government contracts is also having its budget cut in half.
Is this the plan for other agencies, too? I'm Amy Martinez, that's Leila Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. A White House team is traveling through Europe this week. The vice president, defense secretary and secretary of state are meeting with European leaders to discuss transatlantic issues. What's their main message?
And sending astronauts to Mars is a key goal of Elon Musk, who also has the president's ear on the subject. That means the U.S. may become closer than ever to putting a human on the red planet.
This is quite a singular moment for the prospects of getting to Mars.
Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at Kresge.org.
The General Services Administration manages most of the federal government's contracts and real estate. but its budget will soon be cut in half.
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Chapter 2: What are the budget cuts facing the General Services Administration?
The remaining employees have been told they will be closely watched while they're on the clock, and this could be a model for what might happen across much of the entire federal government.
That's according to reporting from NPR's Jenna McLaughlin, who joins us this morning. Good morning. Hi, Leila. Hey, so the GSA probably isn't a household name for a lot of people. Just walk us through why it's so important.
Sure, yeah, GSA doesn't often make the headlines, but it is really important. A source told me to think about it this way. It's basically the federal government's circulatory system. It pumps blood to the rest of the body. Without GSA, federal agencies would have a really hard time doing things like buying anything or accomplishing their mission.
They buy real estate, they get supplies for the government, but also manage nearly all of the government's contracts, so it runs kind of like a business. If GSA is impacted, that's going to trickle down to the rest of the government and eventually to normal people who are seeking public services.
Okay, so you describe these really important functions. So what does a 50% budget cut at an agency like GSA look like?
Yeah, so sources at GSA spoke to my colleague Shannon Bond and I on condition of anonymity about all this. They're not allowed to speak to the press, and they were really scared of being further retaliated against by Trump officials. But listen, Layla, what they told us is that there's going to be big job cuts, canceled contracts, terminated leases.
They're still figuring out the particulars of how to get to that 50% number. But there will be three requirements to keep your job. Is it required by law? Is it critical to the mission? And lastly, does it generate revenue? Remote work is all going to be over by March 3rd, but it is kind of unclear where employees around the country will actually go into the office.
That's because GSA wants to consolidate all its regional and local office space into four or five major hubs across the country. You know, inevitably, there's going to be more and more legal challenges to what's going on.
The deferred resignation offers we've been hearing about and these firings that have been happening without cause or notice, but everything's moving so fast, it's hard to keep up. By the way, at the end of the day, it's unclear how much all these major changes are going to cost.
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Chapter 3: Why are Trump administration officials visiting Europe?
Chapter 4: What is Elon Musk's influence on the U.S. Mars mission?
And sending astronauts to Mars is a key goal of Elon Musk, who also has the president's ear on the subject. That means the U.S. may become closer than ever to putting a human on the red planet.
This is quite a singular moment for the prospects of getting to Mars.
Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at Kresge.org.
The General Services Administration manages most of the federal government's contracts and real estate. but its budget will soon be cut in half.
The remaining employees have been told they will be closely watched while they're on the clock, and this could be a model for what might happen across much of the entire federal government.
That's according to reporting from NPR's Jenna McLaughlin, who joins us this morning. Good morning. Hi, Leila. Hey, so the GSA probably isn't a household name for a lot of people. Just walk us through why it's so important.
Sure, yeah, GSA doesn't often make the headlines, but it is really important. A source told me to think about it this way. It's basically the federal government's circulatory system. It pumps blood to the rest of the body. Without GSA, federal agencies would have a really hard time doing things like buying anything or accomplishing their mission.
They buy real estate, they get supplies for the government, but also manage nearly all of the government's contracts, so it runs kind of like a business. If GSA is impacted, that's going to trickle down to the rest of the government and eventually to normal people who are seeking public services.
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Sign in to access all 65 segments of this chapter and more.
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