Samantha Ehlinger

Washington, D.C.

Technology reporter at FedScoop, former McClatchy intern, former Houston Chronicle intern, former Managing Editor of TCU360, a digital first newsroom Summa cum laude graduate from Texas Christian University (B.A. Journalism and English, minor in French)

Samantha Ehlinger

Washington, D.C.

Trump transition team 'evaluating' entire executive office structure
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is evaluating the entire structure of the Executive Office of the President, a source with knowledge of the transition efforts underway told FedScoop. To be sure, this doesn’t mean the office will definitively change, or positions will be eliminated, the source cautioned, but noted that the team is "evaluating" what positions will meet their needs. Some positions being examined are technology-related, but the team’s efforts will focus broadly on the whole office’s makeup, the source noted.
FedScoop
Tiptoeing out of the intel contracting clique — NGA tries to change its ways
The government’s eye in the sky is undergoing a major shift toward greater openness and leveraging new acquisition techniques to attract nontraditional companies, strategies one of its officials told FedScoop are actually crucial to staying ahead of adversaries. Marc DiPaolo, chief of mainstreaming capabilities in NGA's Enterprise Innovation Office, told FedScoop.
FedScoop
Cloud server an avenue for foreign nationals to use certain U.S. nuclear codes
A cloud-based server at a national lab allows researchers from across the globe access to computer codes that could help them design safer nuclear reactors, or safely transport nuclear material. Opened for business in April of last year by the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center, the server allows its users to work on projects “in the interests of the U.S. government.” So far, only 80 people have access, but Timothy Valentine, director of the center, hopes that will soon expand. The center is teaming up with Nuclear Energy Agency’s Data Bank to establish a training workshop in late fall or early winter for those who usually have limited access to the code, particularly Russian citizens. U.S. regulations on nuclear exports normally prevent researchers or students from certain countries, like Russia, from accessing the code. Creating the cloud server allowed the government to give some people access in a secure, controlled way, Valentine said.
FedScoop
Inside NATO's take on the DOD's West Coast trip
In an exclusive interview for FedScoop, General Manager of the NATO Communications and Information Agency Koen Gijsbers explained what he got out of the experience.
FedScoop
IRRADIATED
The hidden legacy of 70 years of atomic weaponry: At least 33,480 Americans dead Will the nation’s new nuclear age yield more unwanted fallout?
McClatchyDC
Irradiated project
For many workers, the nuke plant is the only game in town
A tall and broad-shouldered former Savannah River Site worker named William Still is only 51, but simple tasks make it difficult for him to breathe. Walking to the mailbox 300 yards from his front door is impossible. Carrying in groceries gets him winded. His life is forever punctuated by a nagging cough, shortness of breath and a dry throat.
McClatchyDC
Irradiated project
Obama administration criticized for delay in filling watchdog jobs in government
At the end of June, seven inspector general positions in the U.S. government will have been vacant for at least a year, a government watchdog group told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. The Project on Government Oversight, which investigates allegations of government waste, told the hearing that the Obama administration on average takes 613 days to fill an inspector general vacancy.
McClatchyDC
Some $800M paid to SRS workers for Cold War radiation exposure
More than 8,000 current or former workers of the Department of Energy nuclear site in Aiken have received at least $800 million in federal compensation and paid medical expenses for job-related illnesses, Labor Department data show. The payments under a little-noticed federal program represent a fraction of the staggering nationwide toll of a nuclear weapons industry born out of the Cold War: More than 104,000 sick workers have received almost $11 billion in compensation and medical expenses.
The State
Irradiated project
How a S.C. incumbent is spreading campaign wealth
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn may not face a difficult re-election on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean he’s not been busy this campaign season. The No. 3 Democrat in the House of Representatives, Clyburn has been aiding Democrats in elections around the country through his own political action committee.
Lexington Herald-Leader
Did members of terrorist group cross Mexican border? Answer remains unclear
A series of statements this week from Obama administration officials have left a murky picture about whether four people caught last month crossing the United States border from Mexico had ties to terrorist groups. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, raised the issue last month when he said he had heard that individuals with terrorist ties to the Middle East had been caught crossing the border.
The News & Observer
Historic council to review Freedman's Town project
A national historic preservation council is reviewing whether a recently approved project to repair roads in the Fourth Ward community of Freedmen's Town violated federal law.
Houston Chronicle
Freedmen's Town activists stand their ground over historic bricks
Deandre Gafford, 18, rides over bricks that were put in over 100 years ago in historic Freedmen's Town. In the small neighborhood called Freedmen's Town on the west edge of downtown, there are two cherished narrow brick roads riddled with bumps, cracks and concrete patches from decades of use. Most in the Fourth Ward community know the lore - that freed slaves and descendants first laid the bricks on the streets 100 years ago.
Houston Chronicle

About

Samantha Ehlinger

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Journalism is about accessibility. It's about helping readers learn something that they didn't know before, and giving them the information in a way that is engaging and easy to understand.

I want to be a journalist because above all, I love learning. One of the reasons this job is so exciting is that there is always something new to discover—be it the content or how to cover it.

It's crucial for journalists to want to learn new things, and for me, this has never been a problem. I am interested in just about everything, and I love asking questions. Every person has a story to tell, and I want to be the one to tell it.

Right now I am working as a technology reporter for FedScoop, a news site that focuses on government IT. Most recently I spent a year in France teaching English part time, and freelancing.

During Summer 2015 and Fall 2014, I interned with McClatchy in their DC bureau, working on national stories with a regional focus. A little digging toward the end of my first four months with McClatchy led to a year-long investigative project into the U.S. nuclear weapons legacy, which has received press on both PBS NewsHour and Huffington Post Live. And in the summer of 2014, I interned with the Houston Chronicle. I was also in 2014 a lead writer on an investigative team project on civil asset forfeiture for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.