Rachel Santarsiero

Opinion | Why it matters that the government is messing with health databases There is no replacement for reliable data from federal government databases.

Very cool to see the @nsarchive.bsky.social’s work on disappearing climate data featured in @postopinions.bsky.social!

I’d also point readers to the excellent work of @envirodgi.bsky.social and @publicenvirodata.bsky.social, the experts in environmental data preservation!
wapo.st/4b5EUd8

Let me be clear: I’m glad Kristi Noem was fired. But we still have to abolish ICE.

Documenting U.S. planning for the Iran strike will be harder than documenting the lead-up to the Iraq War thanks to this admin's animosity to record-keeping.

Still, docs released through FOIA re Iraq provide offer a road map of what to ask for.

The best examples are from @nsarchive.bsky.social.

PEER Opens Investigation into EPA’s Use of Artificial Intelligence Workforce Monitoring and Chemical Safety Decisions Under Scrutiny

AI chatbots with programmed bias have replaced the civil service. AI sets policy, filters public input, and decides reality from within a black box. Today we, with our client @peer.org, are using FOIA to break into that black box 1/x

The Defense Department spent $38,000,000 LESS on FOIA in FY 2025 than it did in 2024.

This is a 37% decrease.

Other agencies do not report nearly the same drop in spending, in fact many spent more in 2025 than 2024.

pclt.defense.gov/Portals/140/...

Good news: Scientists were wrong about how bad sea level rise is.

Bad news: It’s even worse than we thought.

Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s Funding disclosure for these institutions is sometimes inconsistent, incomplete or inaccurate, leaving the public in the dark.

A NOTUS review of federal records and library disclosure documents, coupled with interviews with more than 30 presidential library foundation donors, indicates that available information is routinely incomplete, inconsistent or inaccurate.
www.notus.org/money/presid...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence

Via @thebulletin.org by Scoville Fellow '22 @rsanta.bsky.social of the @nsarchive.bsky.social. thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Impunity 101

The good news: Canada ruled against a Guatemalan ex-military officer, calling his actions in the horrific 1982 #DosErres massacre “crimes against humanity.”

The bad news: Canada refused to use its own War Crimes Act, so the ruling strips his citizenship and kicks him out of Canada.

The war lasted 12 days. The environmental impact on Iran may last decades Israel and United States' strikes on Iran could leave lasting health, environmental, and climate damage to the country.

Unfortunately this article that @saragoud.bsky.social and I wrote last year is newly relevant again.

War sucks. It's bad for people, bad for the environment, bad for the climate.

“That’s why anyone who thinks about the environment or cares about the environment should also care about peace.”

Banner image shots a collage of notable moments and actors in US-Iran relations.

The @nsarchive.bsky.social is one of the best resources on the web on the declassified history of U.S.-Iran relations, the 1953 coup, the 1979 hostage crisis, and more.
nsarchive.gwu.edu/project/iran...

'Mass escape' occurred before Islamic State-linked camp in Syria was closed A now-closed camp in northeast Syria saw “mass escape” of people there, raising fresh fears about Islamic State-linked security risks.

The escapes during clashes between Syrian forces and Kurdish fighters who controlled the camp have raised security concerns in a region where memories of the Islamic State running rampant for years remain fresh. https://to.pbs.org/4rDBDJa

The Long Shadow of Dos Erres Washington, D.C., February 24, 2026 - After a decade-long investigation and a trial lasting more than five weeks, a federal court in Ottawa has ruled to revoke the Canadian citizenship of a Guatemalan...

The Long Shadow of Dos Erres: Canadian Court Sanctions Perpetrator of 1982 Dos Erres Massacre in Guatemala --
@nsarchive.bsky.social publishes key records from the trial nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

Maine senator grills intelligence director Gabbard on omission of climate change from annual threat report Gabbard implied that climate change was no longer considered a direct threat to US national security.

And of course, that's when they bother to investigate the security implications of climate change at all, which is no longer a guarantee...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

There's a troubling trend of governments keeping national security and intelligence reports related to the climate crisis under wraps, @rsanta.bsky.social reports for @thebulletin.org

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

UK: A national security report about biodiversity loss & ecosystem collapse held back (& watered down) for being "too negative."

US: 2008 National Intelligence Assessment on global climate change kept classified.

Australia: PM hides a review of national security threats posed by climate change.

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Last month, the UK government was slammed for its bungled rollout of a nat sec report on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

I write about what happens when nations shield their citizens from the very real threats of ecological disruption for @thebulletin.org:
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping…

A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions.

It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping climate security reports from the public, writes Rachel Santarsiero @rsanta.bsky.social.

I had the pleasure of interviewing @rodschoonover.bsky.social for this piece, who said of the US intel apparatus: “If you artificially put blinders on, you are artificially narrowing the threat landscape…It’s destabilizing the security community and making the security community more political.”

BUT political motivations aside, there’s a backdrop of contracting international environmental commitments AND rampant and systematic climate denialism efforts in the US and other nations—and the UK risks aligning itself with those efforts.

What happened in the UK feels more like an effort by the powers that be at No. 10 Downing Street to avoid public embarrassment vs. actual suppression of information by the UK joint intelligence committee.

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Last month, the UK government was slammed for its bungled rollout of a nat sec report on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

I write about what happens when nations shield their citizens from the very real threats of ecological disruption for @thebulletin.org:
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

What is lost when environmental coverage is cut Word that the Washington Post would be cutting roughly one-third of its staff spread quickly this week. Among those affected were at least a dozen reporters, editors, and visual journalists covering c...

The Washington Post’s decision to cut a large share of its climate and environmental reporters is not just a newsroom story; it reflects a broader weakening of the institutions that sustain a shared, reliable public record on complex and contested issues.
news.mongabay.com/2026/02/what...

After my ICE arrest, I learned one crucial way to respond to trauma. We can all take part | Rümeysa Öztürk I was detained for co-writing a op-ed about Gaza as a student at Tufts. My experience has only made me feel more connected to others facing oppression

From the student at Tufts detained last year www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

There are lots of climate journalists around, myself included.

If you want more reporting on climate, try sharing our stuff, write to editors and demand more such reporting, etc - basically, give them an audience they can't refuse.

Much of Cuba Goes Dark as Trump Chokes Oil Supply A Bloomberg News analysis of satellite imagery finds the level of light at night has dropped as much as 50% across Cuba amid Trump's oil blockade

Normally this would be a 24/7 news story and instead it's like the 47th craziest thing happening right now.

Trump EPA Abandons Climate Working Group Report in Endangerment Finding Repeal Emails from the hand-picked, secretive group of climate crisis deniers revealed flaws in their methods and “animus” toward leading scientists.

🚨 NEW 🚨 Trump EPA's decision to repeal the endangerment finding now discards a signature report by 5 climate crisis deniers, produced so the admin could use it to scientifically justify rolling back climate regulations, 100s of emails reveal. @sharonkelly.bsky.social read 'em all 🧵 buff.ly/4m6XjbX

Why I don’t use generative AI 1. It’s based on stolen materials and I am not a plagiarist. 2. I do not want to outsource thinking to a machine. Thinking (which includes research, writing, editing) is a skill and will atrophy without use. Why would I inflict that upon myself willingly? 3. Thinking is a pleasure and privilege, and not worth giving up for marginal or nonexistent productivity gains. 4. My voice makes me who I am as a writer and person. Why would I want to substitute that with a generic, pale imitation that sounds like it could be anyone, or no one? 5. It’s not trustworthy. It will hallucinate. It might be biased in ways I can’t identify. Checking AI output is more work than just doing it yourself in the first place. 6. I wouldn’t want to become dependent on a tool that WILL become more expensive, either by capitalizing on my eyeballs through advertising or skyrocketing subscription costs. They are operating on the Uber model, and I don’t trust it. 7. Using AI for companionship or conversation has never appealed to me, but even if it did, it is a poor and feeble substitute for human connection. I don’t want to go down the crazy-making rabbit hole. 8. Nothing AI generates can be art. Making art is a pleasure and privilege. If you are not inclined to learn or practice art but you still want to possess art, pay an artist. 9. Environmental/energy reasons. 10. Slop sucks.

working on my personal no-ai manifesto. what did i forget?

Trump is wiping out all climate regulation. Big Oil may regret it. For decades, oil majors fought climate regulation. Now, they’re afraid Trump’s extreme rollbacks could leave them on the hook to pay for what they’ve done.

Wondering why API et al aren't celebrating the end of endangerment?

It's complicated but the short story is the oil majors seem legit spooked this is could come back to bite them in the form of liability lawsuits and state superfund laws:

heated.world/p/trump-is-w...