#government-oversight

#government-oversight

DHS investigators entered FEMA headquarters to search an office linked to a key figure overseeing operations, amid scrutiny of contracts issued under Kristi L. Noem.

What we want to do is make sure that CIOs are fully empowered to be there at the beginning of conversations, that they are part of the formulation of budget and policy from liftoff.

We demand DHS preserve all communications and internal records concerning Mr. Lewandowski's role within the Department, as well as the Department's practices, policies, and procedures related to contracting, personnel, and the handling of classified materials. Any deviation from standard record-keeping will be treated as an attempt to hide or destroy evidence.

We write with deep concern regarding the Department of Homeland Security's investigation into whether cybersecurity staff provided false information to the former Acting Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The lawmakers said the development raises questions about whether officials adhered to established intelligence security rules and whether career CISA staff were improperly targeted after administering the exams.

According to the Post's reporting, the former DOGE employee claimed at least one database was held on a personal thumb drive, and claimed to have retained "God-level" access to SSA systems, the whistleblower alleged. The former staffer also allegedly told colleagues they wanted to share the data with their private-sector employer, the Post reported.

In a widely leaked internal memo that Sam Altman sent last Thursday night, a copy of which I obtained, the OpenAI CEO said that he would seek "red lines" to prevent the Pentagon from using OpenAI products for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons. These were ostensibly the very same limits that Anthropic had demanded and that had infuriated the Pentagon, leading Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to declare the company a supply-chain risk.

U.S. regulators have allegedly drafted rules that would require U.S. government approval to ship AI chips anywhere outside the U.S., according to Bloomberg, citing sources. This would give the U.S. significantly more control over companies like AMD and Nvidia.

Unlike showing ID only for age-restricted items in a physical store (like alcohol), the bill would require age checks for everyone right when entering the app store, before any specific app or content is selected. Heightened risks from handling sensitive personal data online: Users would submit identifiers such as driver's licenses or facial scans to multiple parties that might store this information, unlike a quick, temporary check in the real world where the ID is simply viewed and returned.

The movements of a hard drive's components, keystrokes on a keyboard, even the electric charge in a semiconductor's wires produce radio waves, sound, and vibrations that transmit in all directions and can-when picked up by someone with sufficiently sensitive equipment and enough spycraft to decipher those signals-reveal your private data and activities.

Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US persons and nationals.

Anthropic said it sought narrow assurances from the Pentagon that Claude won't be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons. But after months of private talks exploded into public debate, it said in a Thursday statement that new contract language "framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will."

I mean, there were dozens of people who received clemency in addition to the January 6th folks. I was not consulted about any of those decisions. I learned about all of them when they popped up in the news.

To comply with the policy, we are now restricted from further use. The board's decision was based on mounting concerns about data security and information sharing practices, not the agency's management of the system or the effectiveness of ALPR technology in supporting public safety.

I was looking for an adult to help protect me from what felt like monsters, only to find that the monster was him all along. Now I look to the government for help, and they are no better, gaslighting and manipulating victims, the same tactics as Jeffrey and Ghislaine Maxwell. The DOJ assures us that they are focused on our safety, but only to exploit us further.

Under the proposal, city council members, the mayor, the public advocate, borough presidents and comptroller would get 16% raises, and district attorneys would see a 6% salary increase. Introduction 1493 would have council members give themselves their first raise since 2016, from $148,500 to $172,500. The council based that figure on cost of living, increased job expectations and increases to private, nonprofit and other electeds' salaries in comparable cities, like Chicago.

We speak again of that near-invisible form of local government called "special districts" - usually single-purpose agencies that form an awe-inspiring patchwork quilt above, below and alongside your higher-profile city and county governments. Some special districts deliver your water. Others cart away your sewage. Still others handle regional transportation, fire services, health care, cemeteries ... heck, some even battle mosquitos and rats! Heaven knows we need separate little governments for that.

Hospices in England are cutting hundreds of beds and staff because of a funding crisis, despite a sharp rise in demand for palliative care, a damning report warns. People needing end of life care faced a postcode lottery because access to services was so patchy, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported. A lack of government oversight meant ministers were unaware of how reliant they were on independent hospices, its 52-page report found.

The independence of the Electoral Commission must be fully restored to protect the UK's electoral integrity from a future authoritarian government, a new report warns. The Democracy in Danger report by Spotlight on Corruption found the UK government is in breach of eight different international standards on ensuring the independence of electoral bodies by maintaining the government's oversight of the watchdog. It warned current ministerial power over the Electoral Commission, brought in by Boris Johnson, could easily be abused to undermine our democracy.

copied Americans' sensitive Social Security and employment data into a cloud database without any verified security controls,

The U.K. has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a 'back door' that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties, Gabbard wrote in a post on X.

The more than $175 billion that Congress handed to the nation's immigration enforcers when it passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is larger than the annual military budget of every country in the world except the United States and China.

Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, gives the federal government and border officials broad new powers to search devices, collect data, and make immigration decisions without full parliamentary oversight.

In effect, if this bill becomes law, the head of SAPO will become a nominal figure, while NABU will lose its independence and turn into a subdivision of the prosecutor general's office.

The report states that we currently have no idea the extent to which recommendations and action plans from domestic homicide reviews are being implemented on a national level. This is a huge opportunity missed.

Sen. Todd Young called for Senate hearings into reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth failed to inform President Trump about a weapons pause to Ukraine, heightening concerns among Republicans.

The number of parking fines issued by private parking companies has skyrocketed since they successfully challenged a Conservative bill three years ago that enacted a proper code of practice for handing out fines. Private parking firms issued a record 14.4 million tickets last year as motorists urged the government to crack down on the bandit practice.

Howard Lutnick, after losing the Treasury secretary position, took over Commerce. His sons, Brandon and Kyle, stepped in at Cantor Fitzgerald following his ascension.

The Department of Arts, Culture, the Gaeltacht and Sports has instructed the chair of the Arts Council to draw up a report on an alleged incident that took place on June 19.