Up First from NPR
Federal Worker Surveillance, Trump's Team In Europe, Elon Musk And Mars
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
Full Episode
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.
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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.
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