How It Happened…

The Steady State | By Nate Brought

February 17, 1933

Arztekammer Headquarters

Berlin, Nazi Germany

A father-of-four sat at his desk contemplating how his country had come to this…

Months before elections, the man had warned of the danger of Hitler’s rise. Hitler’s rhetoric affected ALL Germans. Many doctors across all the sciences left before the elections. This hurt German medicine and who knows what impacts it had on other fields. Physics... Weapons… Chemistry… It was a big deal when Nobel laureate Albert Einstein departed…

With Hitler in power, many orders vilifying the Jews & accusing them of evil were issued:

“Efforts to elevate the Jew eradicate the biological reality of the superiority of the Aryan, depriving us of our dignity, safety, and well-being.”

“All government agencies shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s Jewish race.”

“Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal & external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate Jewish ideology…”

He couldn’t imagine what they did to his fellow German citizens (for now…) who were Jewish. He pushed back on the orders, at personal risk. He’d written many memos…

“These orders run contrary to the results of years of our own research into race & ethnicity.”

“By complying with these orders, we will be denigrating the contributions made to our department’s mission by our Jewish staff & the contributions to Germany of Jewish citizens...”

“I implore you, for the good of our country & our community, to refuse to comply with these destructive, divisive, & discriminatory orders.”

That night the stakes were as high as they could be…Early court rulings against the push for power had given the man short-lived hope. Due to his position, directly serving with the director of the agency, he had to work on how to comply with Hitler’s orders. When the courts ruled against them, the Nazis would invent ways of disobeying but concealing their efforts. They shifted blame. They would create new reasonings to justify their actions in thinly veiled attempts to circumvent decisions. It worked…

They were now going beyond this and flat-out refusing compliance with the courts.. They’d tout this on the news, daring anyone to do anything. Some folks in the government had resigned or fled the country. Some filed lawsuits in a backlogged system (which will be used in attempts to justify circumventing courts...). Germans went about their days, oblivious of the dangers lurking in the halls of power. Without the authority of the courts or a legislature that had surrendered power, what was left but a violent dictator who had already attacked the German people?

He couldn’t bring himself to take actions that stripped the rule of law, or furthered persecution of his neighbors that called into question the oath to which he had sworn when he enlisted before the Great War and when he took his government job. This bridge was too far for him... At one point, in a meeting with senior agency officials, he challenged them: “Courts have given orders. Lawyers have told us to comply. We’re not. I need you to explain & justify to me how we’re not violating our oaths of office by refusing.”

He wrote a resignation letter that thanked his country for what it provided him. He’d grown up poor, but he’d lifted himself and his children up through service to his country. He didn’t know what he’d do after he resigned. Watching as the nation he loved was dismantled was not an option. He needed to be an example to his children that no matter the cost, some principles are worth sacrificing everything. He needed to be an example that no job is worth your soul. He needed to be able to look at himself in the mirror every morning… After laying out a damning indictment of Hitler, he noted that despite his Aryan looks, military service, and the prestige of his position, he would not use those privileges at the expense of his fellow citizens or the Jewish people. He stated “I don’t pay lip service to our laws or my love of country. I live it. It’s in the very core of my soul.”

Crying, he dropped his resignation into each mailbox, hours after everyone left. He didn’t know what the future held, but he knew that it would NOT include violating the law for a dictator or silently watching the persecution of friends and neighbors.

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This story is true. However, it occurred during my last days at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland in 2025. All quotes are from Executive Orders, or from my work communications. References to “transgender rights” have been changed to “Jewish” and references to “the majority” have been changed to “Aryan.” Emails have been changed to “memos.” This story otherwise accurately portrays what took place at the top of NIH management in early-2025.

This is MY story. The decision to resign was my hardest. We don’t all directly face the illegal things that were/are happening. Many think trying to get us back on the rails is a better way to keep their oaths. We need people to leave & tell us what happened. We need people to stay to prevent harm & to speak up when necessary. All federal employees, after soul searching and defining the lines they can’t cross, must keep our oaths in ways that are best for each.

Nate Brought began his 24-year career with service in the United States Marine Corps, with deployments to Baghdad and Ramadi during the Iraq War. He subsequently served at NSA, DHS, USDA, and NIH, resigning his position as the Director of the NIH Executive Secretariat in February of 2025. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 300 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.