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--:-- Host Michelle Martin: A group chat among intelligence officials discussing Yemen war plans is now public. It is completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Did Trump administration officials put national security at risk by using the messaging app Signal?
--:-- Host A Martinez: I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: President Trump slaps 25 percent tariffs on imported cars, saying it will boost U.S. manufacturing.
--:-- Host A Martinez: I think our automobile business will flourish like it's never flourished before.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But will it really create jobs or just raise prices?
--:-- Host A Martinez: And a single federal employee has access to millions of Americans' personal data.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Why are the courts pushing back against Doge for having so much control?
--:-- Host A Martinez: Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Everyone can now read that group chat among senior national security officials who are discussing airstrikes in Yemen.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But that doesn't mean this story is over.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Democrats say they still have questions about how the Trump administration is handling national security.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Republicans, meanwhile, say it's time to focus on what they are calling a successful bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myrie.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Yeah, shortly before the hearing, the Atlantic magazine published details of the group chat on March 15th among the top security officials.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the timing for the attacks two hours before they began.
--:-- Greg Myrie: And he laid out a timeline for the warplanes and the drones and how they would take off and win.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Democrats said this was a major security failure, providing details of an imminent military strike on the publicly available messaging app Signal.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And as we know they included Jeffrey Goldberg the editor of The Atlantic.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Here Democrat Jason Crow of Colorado who served as an army ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: It is completely outrageous to me that administration officials come before us today with impunity.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Nobody is willing to come to us and say this was wrong.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: This was a breach of security and we won't do it again.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So how are Trump administration officials responding?
--:-- Greg Myrie: Well, CIA Director John Ratcliffe essentially said there's just nothing to see here.
--:-- Greg Myrie: I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information.
--:-- Greg Myrie: It was permissible to do so.
--:-- Greg Myrie: I didn't transfer any classified information.
--:-- Greg Myrie: And Defense Secretary Hegseth, writing on X, was also adamant that there was no classified information released.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And other officials have said the same.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Now, President Trump has been saying the same thing.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He was a bit more ambiguous when asked Wednesday evening if he still thought that no classified information was disclosed.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He said, quote, that's what I've heard.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: I don't know.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: I'm not sure.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: You have to ask the various people involved.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: All right.
--:-- Greg Myrie: So if there's no formal investigation, I mean, what's going to happen now?
--:-- Greg Myrie: Well, Democrats say they'll keep pressing for details in this particular case, like whether national security officials have been using Signal for other chats.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Because, you know, it's more convenient, though clearly not as secure as government communication networks.
--:-- Greg Myrie: More broadly, the Democrats are questioning Trump's foreign policy.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Trump has boasted about efforts to arrange ceasefires in Gaza and the Ukraine war, but the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has collapsed.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Russia and Ukraine are still attacking each other despite U.S. mediation efforts.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So these haven't been quick successes that Trump had hoped for.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: All right.
--:-- Greg Myrie: So to the bombing campaign in Yemen that the Trump administration say was successful, enough evidence so far to say that?
--:-- Greg Myrie: Not yet.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Now, the U.S. forces have bombed the Houthis now for nearly two weeks, but we're getting relatively little information.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Trump's team says the campaign will be much more robust than it was under the Biden administration and that they'll halt the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which the Houthis describe as solidarity with the Palestinians.
--:-- Greg Myrie: But the Houthis have proved very tough, and it's just not clear whether a U.S. bombing campaign, even if it's sustained for a while, can end these attacks and return shipping to normal levels.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: All right.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: That's NPR's Greg Myrie.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Greg, thanks.
--:-- Greg Myrie: Sure thing.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And we'll note here that NPR CEO Catherine Marr chairs the board of the nonprofit Signal Foundation.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: President Trump announced that he's imposing a 25 percent tariff on all car imports.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He says the money collected will boost government revenues and encourage automakers to build cars and parts in the U.S. rather than import them.
--:-- Host A Martinez: I think our automobile business will flourish like it's never flourished before.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But auto service providers like Cox Automotive estimate that that could add thousands of dollars to car prices if the tariffs go through.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And stocks of automakers declined in the hours before the announcement, underscoring the uncertainty Trump's trade policy is having on markets.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is here to tell us all about this.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Yeah, Trump says these tariffs will go into effect next week.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Now, they apply to both autos and auto parts.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Trump is kind of painting this as a way to jumpstart the auto industry and raise tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: He says auto companies even foreign ones will build more operations in the U or expand existing ones.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And he criticized those who took operations in the past out of the U.S.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: So we'll effectively be charging a 25 percent tariff.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: But if you build your car in the United States, there is no tariff.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And what that means is a lot of foreign car companies, a lot of companies are going to be in great shape because they've already built their plant, but their plants are underutilized, so they'll be able to expand them inexpensively and quickly.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But as Michelle noted, the move is also raising a lot of concerns.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Who are the winners and the losers here?
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Well, one of the big winners are the auto unions.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: The United Auto Workers Union, for example, is praising this decision, saying it's time to, end the free trade disaster.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: But the big three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are very concerned.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: They have production spread out across the world, including Canada and Mexico, and the cars and the parts are going to be tariffed.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: They've raised big concerns in the past when these threats were posed.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And a group that represents foreign automakers like BMW, Honda, has also raised concerns that it's all just going to make it more expensive to produce cars and lead to higher prices.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So how do these fit into Trump's larger trade policy?
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Yeah, Trump's already imposed a bunch of other tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as other goods from China, Canada and Mexico.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And these new tariffs come just a week ahead of his promised announcement of reciprocal tariffs on imports, which he says are, you know, furthest countries that impose tariffs on the U.S.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: But he did yesterday back off a bit on how tough those reciprocal tariffs will be.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Yesterday, he said people may be surprised that they're going to be more lenient than they once feared.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: He also did say, though, to expect tariffs on lumber and pharmaceuticals.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: It does seem like President Trump loves tariffs or even the threat of tariffs.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Economists don't seem to share that view.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: How do you square those two things?
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Yeah, he really does love tariffs.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: He says that all the time.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: I mean, he argues that they're an important tool to be used for leverage on things like national security and other U.S. interests.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: But you're absolutely right.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Most economists say tariffs raise prices for consumers.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And that could hurt the economy.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Trump often uses them as a negotiating tool and that has really made economists even more worried.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: And that's because of the uncertainty that they cause and you see that in the markets.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Now, in some cases, he says these tariffs will go away if countries do things that he wants, like help him with immigration.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But this time he says he's serious and that these car tariffs are here to stay.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: All right, we'll see.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: That's NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Thanks a lot.
--:-- Host A Martinez: Thanks, A.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Fewer than 50 people have the highest level of access to the Social Security Administration databases with hundreds of millions of people's personal and private financial information.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: But only one person also has access to federal student loan data and the government's human resources files.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: That's what NPR's Stephen Fowler found after reviewing thousands of pages of federal court records in lawsuits challenging the Department of Government Efficiency team's access to data.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He's been digging into these court cases.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: He's here now.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Well, court filings show it a Doge employee named Akash Boba.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: He one of a few people that been given carte blanche access to see all of these different sensitive financial and personal data repositories across multiple federal agencies.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: A, it is normal for a small group of employees to be able to have complete access to these databases.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: And Trump's Doge executive order did direct agencies to set up teams to look through the data to find, quote, waste, fraud, and abuse.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: But these sources are all supposed to be compartmentalized.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: The people who access Social Security's master beneficiary record are not the people who can see everything about student loan borrowers, are not the people who can go through the government's HR files until now.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So I know there have been lots of lawsuits around Doge and what it has access to.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: So what sort of legal and privacy concerns do these suits raise?
--:-- Stephen Fowler: So piecing together all of the different lawsuits and combining what we know from there, there's a few different buckets that all point towards this.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Doge giving conflicting answers about what data is accessed, who has that accessed, and most importantly, why.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: One, records show these staffers were sometimes brought on board without having proper training on handling personally identifiable information.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Two, there have been filings where the government admits it can't account for when or how these Doge staffers access the data.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: And that also includes a revelation that one person sent personally identifiable information to other government employees outside the agency.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Which brings us to three.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: It's something called the Privacy Act that's in place to ensure information included in these databases is not disclosed to anybody who does not need to know.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: The government's response has been, Doge needs to know to be able to find waste, fraud, and abuse, which they haven't found yet either.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And the White House never responded to our questions about whether Doge was following privacy laws or whether this level of access should concern Americans.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: OK, so how are the courts then responding to the Trump administration's arguments?
--:-- Stephen Fowler: They largely have not seen why Doge needs everything everywhere all at once instead of a more tailored approach.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: I mean, one judge even called it like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer shortly before blocking Doge from Social Security data.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Another judge warned that, quote, a real possibility exists that sensitive information has already been shared outside the Treasury Department.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: And on Monday, a different judge temporarily halted Doge from accessing data on millions of union members through the Office of Personnel Management, Treasury and Education Departments, finding that the Doge employees had, quote, no need to know the vast amount of data shared.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: There's more than a dozen cases dealing with access right now, and these rulings aren't the end-all be-all right now, but it's one of many things about government restructuring we're keeping track of in coming weeks.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: All right, that's NPR's Stephen Fowler in Atlanta.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Stephen, thanks.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Thank you.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And that's Up First for Thursday, March 27th.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: I'm Amy Martinez.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: The NPR app lets you keep public radio in your pocket.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: You'll find a mix of local, national, and international news, plus the best podcasts from the NPR network.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Download the NPR app in your app store today.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Roberto Rampton, Brett Neely, Arzu Razvani, and Mohamed Elbardisi.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas, and our technical director is Carly Strange.
--:-- Host Michelle Martin: Join us again tomorrow.
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