Natalie Alms (’20) found herself at the forefront of covering the shakeup in our federal government this year in her beat as government tech reporter for NextGovFCW.

In the past weeks, she has written about Elon Musk’s efforts at DOGE to access Social Security data, job cuts among those who run disease tracking systems at the Centers for Disease Control, IRS data and more.

The Journalism Program asked Alms to reflect on this moment in her career.

 “When I graduated from Wake Forest in 2020 and took a job at a trade publication focused on government technology, I didn’t expect that a few years later, I’d be covering some of the biggest stories happening in early 2025 as the Trump administration dramatically reshapes the federal government,” she wrote.

“No matter the administration, I believe that focused coverage of government operations is essential, not only for the niche audience I serve, but also for the broader public. How the government works, or doesn’t, impacts the lives of everyday Americans. I’m proud to be using the journalism skills I learned at Wake Forest — and the expertise on the government that I’ve gained over years on this beat — to cover these stories.”

Alms’ expertise makes her an important source of information for those watching the federal government. She earned a mention, for example, in the widely read Substack “Letters from an American” by Heather Cox Richardson, who referenced Alms in a February post on the reorganization at the Social Security Administration. “It is not clear exactly how many positions will be cut; multiple outlets say half of the agency’s 57,000 employees will be let go, while an executive at the agency told Erich Wagner and Natalie Alms of Government Executive that the initial number of firings will be 7,000.”

Alms’ work illustrates the importance of developing a deep well of sources, which allows her to report with authority on government systems now at the center of the news.  A recent story about mass firings at the CDC, for example, provides this insight from Itir Cole, a former U.S. Digital Service employee who worked with CDC.

“There are thousands of invisible systems and programs that run in the background of our lives,” Cole told Alms. “The reason that your life is as easy and healthy and simple as it is, is because those work, and you never have to think about them. Now as they start to collapse — now it’s going to be in the forefront of your life.”

Alms is a finalist for the Neal Awards.

Phoebe Zerwick