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Defector

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees terminated after the Trump administration dismantled the agency collect their personal belongings at the USAID headquarters on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. Thousands of (USAID) workers who have been fired or placed on leave have been given a 15 minutes window to clear out their workspace after the Trump administration, under the guidance of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), shuttered the agency.

Interviews

Meet The Civil Servants Under Attack By The Trump Administration

a photo of Mary Giovagnoli, a fired Unaccompanied Children Ombuds

An Interview With A Fired Unaccompanied Children Ombuds

a headshot of Laura Mata López, a psychiatric nurse and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University

An Interview With A Psychiatric Nurse Whose Research Funding Was Cut By The Trump Administration

Joy Binion, formerly a social science analyst at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMSHA

An Interview With A Terminated Analyst At The Substance Abuse And Mental Health Administration

a photo of Patrick Kelly, a Doctoral Candidate at Brown University School of Public Health, whose NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse funded doctoral research was terminated

An Interview With A Public Health Researcher Whose Funding Was Terminated By The Trump Administration

Mamta Patel Nagaraja, a fired NASA associate chief scientist for exploration and research, giving a keynote at the Department of Transportation for a White House event

An Interview With A Fired NASA Associate Chief Scientist

a headshot of Becca Beckham, a former AmeriCorps portfolio manager

An Interview With A Fired AmeriCorps Portfolio Manager

An Interview With A Fired Contract Specialist At The Office Of Personnel Management

a photo of Chuck Sebian-Lander, a fired CFPB web manager. He is wearing a a shirt from my union, NTEU 335, and b) a lapel pin with the CFPB seal that he was given as part of a Director's award

An Interview With A Fired Web Content Manager At The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

A photo of fired EPA program analyst Amanda Cronin holding the text of Executive Order 14096

An Interview With A Fired EPA Environmental Justice Program Analyst

a headshot for Charla Burnett, a fired science for development fellow at USAID

An Interview With A Fired Science For Development Fellow At USAID

Claire Sneed, a recently fired US Forest Service hydrologic technician

An Interview With A Fired U.S. Forest Service Hydrologic Technician

A headshot of Madyson Miller, a fired NOAA program analyst, in a blue sweater and golden light

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Program Analyst

a photo of matt o'malley, a fired USDA agricultural engineer, smiling in front of mountains

An Interview With A Fired USDA Agricultural Engineer

a headshot of fired CDC health communications manager Sarah Boim

Politics

An Interview With A Fired CDC Health Communications Manager

A photo of a USAID education officer, Joel Runnels, standing in a field

An Interview With A Fired USAID Education Officer

A photo of Jules Reynolds, a fired USDA program coordinator, sitting near a valley of farmland

An Interview With A Fired USDA Program Coordinator

a photo of Veronica Correa, a fired EPA public affairs specialist, standing in snowy woods by a stream

An Interview With A Fired EPA Public Affairs Specialist

A photo of Sara Hugentobler, a USFWS fish biologist, in the lab extracting DNA

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Fish Biologist

a photo of Kate Wheeler, a former USDA farm to school specialist. Kate has short brown hair and is smiling in front of several painted planks

An Interview With A Fired USDA Specialist

a selfie of Sarah Cooley, the former director of NOAA's ocean acidification program, with an orange life vest on a river

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Director

a photo of Sabrina Valenti, formerly a budget analyst for NOAA. Sabrina has brown curly hair and is standing against a floral background.

An Interview With A Fired NOAA Budget Analyst

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

The Virgin River flows through the valley floor as viewed on November 9, 2019 in Zion National Park, Utah

Why Bully The National Park Service?

a photo of Kaesee Bourne, a former fish and wildlife biologist at the USFWS, holding a shovel in front of a wetland

An Interview With A Fired USFWS Biologist

Dennis M. Hogan

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 19: People including researchers from Chicago area universities gather on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) campus to voice concerns about the potential loss of federal funding for medical research on February 19, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. The researchers are worried about the future of their projects as the Trump administration cuts grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).