WASHINGTON: FBI investigations have been slowed or stalled by the second-longest US government shutdown in history, leaving the bureau without funds to pay informants or make undercover drug or gun buys, gaps that an FBI spokesperson said are putting national security at risk.

The FBI does not provide detailed public information about how its $10.7 billion budget is spent, and it is not clear how much of the total has been held up due to the shutdown, according FBI employees.

The shutdown, now in its 30th day, has frozen FBI funds used for operational travel, such as when an informant needs to travel to meet a drug supplier or boss, or another investigative subject, the sources said. FBI employees are also without funds to travel outside their local areas.

In a shutdown, the FBI’s eyes and ears go dark, said retired FBI agent Tom Simon, who worked counterterrorism and criminal cases and at one point worked on a squad recruiting and paying informants. Without funds to pay informants, the Bureau loses its most critical source of real-time intelligence, said Simon, who retired in 2021 after 26 years at the FBI.

New York declares state of emergency to fund food banks

The shutdown has furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers, interfered with the collection and distribution of economic data, and has threatened to cut off food and education aid programs. President Donald Trump’s administration has worked to find ways to continue to pay some law enforcement agents and active-duty military, but the FBI employees said that the bureau’s operations are still not fully funded.

State of emergency

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday declared a state of emergency to issue $65 million for assistance to food banks as federal funding for the national food stamp program is set to lapse on November 1.

Oregon and Virginia have also issued emergency declarations to free up funds for emergency food assistance as the federal government shutdown imperils Supple­mental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for nearly 42 million Americans.

The money will go to food banks and pantries, already under strain.

New York receives nearly $650 million in federal funding for SNAP benefits each month, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek on Wednesday pledged $5 million to food banks and declared a 60-day food security emergency. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced that the state will utilize surplus funds to cover up to a month of SNAP benefits.

Neither Congress nor the administration of President Donald Trump has acted to fund November SNAP benefits, which cost about $8 billion per month.

Radio Free Asia, founded nearly three decades ago to report on China and other Asian countries without independent media, said on Wednesday it will halt production after the US government ceased funding.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2025