Category «Defense»

The Secret History of Trump’s Private Cellphone

The Atlantic no paywall: “Just before Election Day, a disturbing piece of information made its way to Donald Trump. Whenever he takes or makes calls on his personal cellphone, Trump learned, Chinese hackers could be listening and gathering intelligence. Iranians had already hacked into his campaign’s email system—which was not a problem for Trump personally, …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research

2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA’s) assessment of the global security environment – “The United States is confronting an increasingly complex national security threat environment. In addition to traditional military modernization, developments in artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, quantum sciences, microelectronics, space, cyber, and unmanned systems are rapidly transforming the nature of conflict and the global threat landscape. …

Subjects: Defense, Government Documents

What has Elon Musk’s Doge actually achieved?

FT.com no paywall: “It was never meant to be $2tn. Elon Musk’s vow last year to cut almost a third of the annual federal budget, made in front of a frenzied Maga crowd during a Trump rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, came as a surprise even to the event’s organisers. “The deal was …

Subjects: Censorship, Climate Change, Courts, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, E-Records, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

The Alien Enemy Act: History and Potential Use to Remove Members of International Criminal Cartels

CRS Legal Sidebar – The Alien Enemy Act: History and Potential Use to Remove Members of International Criminal Cartels, Updated April 2, 2025: On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (E.O.) declaring a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to address the threat to U.S. national security …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trump’s proposed budget would mean ‘disastrous’ cuts to science

Science: “President Donald Trump today asked Congress to make massive and unprecedented cuts to the 2026 budgets of major federal science agencies. The request calls for cutting spending by 37% at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and more than 50% at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the country’s two major science funders. The White …

Subjects: AI, Climate Change, Defense, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents

Documenting the Damage 100 Harmful Policies from the First 100 Days of the Second Trump Administration

Brett Heinz. April 30, 2025 – “The United States of America is a different nation than it was 100 days ago. The opening months of the second Trump administration shattered the post-World War II record for the most executive orders issued by a new President. Within the first two weeks of his second term, President …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Copyright, Courts, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, Economy, Education, Energy, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

From help to harm: How the government is quietly repurposing everyone’s data for surveillance

The Conversation, Nicole M. Bennett: “A whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board reported an unusual spike in potentially sensitive data flowing out of the agency’s network in early March 2025 when staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency, which goes by DOGE, were granted access to the agency’s databases. On April 7, the Department …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Defense, E-Mail, E-Records, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Musk has left little of the federal government untouched in Doge role

The Guardian – “From mass firings to unprecedented influence…Musk’s role in the Trump administration is without modern precedent. Never before has the world’s richest person been deputized by the US president to cull the very agencies that oversee his businesses. Musk’s attempts to radically dismantle government bureaus have won him sprawling influence. His team has …

Subjects: AI, Courts, Defense, E-Government, Economy, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Trumpism echoes Timothy McVeigh’s right-wing extremism, 30 years after the Oklahoma bombing

Via LLRX – Trumpism echoes Timothy McVeigh’s right-wing extremism, 30 years after the Oklahoma bombing – On the morning of April 19 1995, anti-government right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck loaded with 5,000 pounds of agricultural fertiliser and diesel fuel at the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At …

Subjects: Defense, Legal Research

U.S. House Panel Says China’s DeepSeek AI Is a ‘Profound Threat’ to National Security

Deepseek Unmasked: Exposing the CCP’s Latest Tool For Spying, Stealing, and Subverting U.S. Export Control Restrictions “Some in the industry have claimed that the U.S. holds an 18-month AI lead, but that obfuscates reality—it’s closer to three months.” – U.S. AI Executive  Read the full report here. DeepSeek represents a profound threat to our nation’s …

Subjects: AI, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Governance, Defense, E-Records, Government Documents, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Here’s What Happened to Those SignalGate Messages

Wired [no paywall] – A lawsuit over the Trump administration’s infamous Houthi Signal group chat has revealed what steps departments took to preserve the messages—and how little they actually save. Attorneys suing the United States government over its use of vanishing Signal messages to coordinate military strikes last month in Yemen allege that new court …

Subjects: Censorship, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Governance, Defense, E-Records, Legal Research

Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance

The New Republic: “…Surveying this Boschian hellscape, many good people will despair. Yes, Trump is much more dangerous than he was during his first term (which was harrowing enough). He’s more giddily reckless about impounding funds, shutting down agencies, disobeying court orders, and using the government to punish political enemies. But if you allow yourself …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Economy, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Legal Research