The Daily Signal, May 12, 2025, printed a November 27 email it attributed to Julia Spiegel, CEO of Governors Action Alliance: “All: Please join for a briefing on executive actions governors can take to protect sensitive data and prepare for potential national guard deployments.” The outlet said the December 12 Zoom was titled “GovAct/GSD Briefing: Sensitive Data and National Guard Protections (Confidential),” and that a January 28 session was titled “Immigration EOs: National Guard – What Governors Need to Know” and labeled confidential/privileged. Daily Signal said the emails came from a public-records request to Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office, and that Lamont’s chief of staff declined a formal listing on Governors Safeguarding Democracy.
A March 12, 2025 Daily Signal exclusive described a 126-page packet obtained from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office by Government Accountability and Oversight, including a “Firewalling for Freedom – Template Gubernatorial Executive Order.” The outlet said the draft National Guard language was “No assistance to deployments over objection of the office of the governor,” and that state employees “shall provide no time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources” to assist another state’s Guard deployment if the governor objected. A December 12 email from Emma Clough, “special assistant to Governors Action Alliance CEO Julia Spiegel,” invited the same kind of briefing. A December 3 Spiegel email, as Daily Signal paraphrased it, offered “white glove” staffing help and said ACLU national support staff would be available. Daily Signal: Spiegel, Chapman, and a spokesperson “did not respond.” This is the outlet’s account of FOIA documents. It is not a conviction. Later in 2025, Spiegel’s name appears as counsel on Governors Action Alliance amicus filings for former governors in National Guard federalization cases — including a Supreme Court amicus PDF listing Julia Spiegel at GovAct’s Washington address. That is a public brief, not a secret.