Bloomberg [paywall – alternate free article via Gadget Hours]: “Pelco, a California-based security camera maker, set lofty sales targets last year for a model with sharper video resolution and other cutting-edge features. That was until Congress derailed its plans. In August, updated legislation barred the U.S. military and government from buying tech gear from firms… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
Public’s 2019 Priorities: Economy, Health Care, Education and Security
Pew – The U.S. Public’s 2019 Policy Priorities: – Growing share sees ‘great deal of difference’ between the parties: “At the outset of Donald Trump’s third year in office, the public’s to-do list for the president and the 116th Congress spans domains with the economy, health care costs, education and preventing terrorism all cited as… Continue Reading
2019 National Intelligence Strategy of the United States
“This National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) provides the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for the next four years. It supports the national security priorities outlined in the National Security Strategy as well as other national strategies. In executing the NIS, all IC activities must be responsive to national… Continue Reading
Watch the Doomsday Clock announcement January 24 at 10 a.m. Eastern time
“The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will host a live international news conference at 10 a.m. EST/1500 GMT on Thursday, January 24, 2019, to announce the 2019 time of the Doomsday Clock. The news conference will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Watch the announcement live on clock.thebulletin.org, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter. … Continue Reading
GW-Stanford Study Recommends Nuclear Waste Program “Reset”
“The U.S. must start from scratch with a new nuclear waste management and disposal strategy – a Stanford-led panel and recommends that the United States “reset” its nuclear waste program by moving responsibility for commercially generated, used nuclear fuel away from the federal government and into the hands of an independent, not-for-profit, utility-owned and funded nuclear waste management organization. The… Continue Reading
Why the US Government Is Terrified of Hobbyist Drones
Wired: “If you want to understand why the government freaked out when a $400 remote-controlled quadcopter landed on the White House grounds last week, you need to look four miles away, to a small briefing room in Arlington, Virginia. There, just 10 days earlier, officials from the US military, the Department of Homeland Security, and… Continue Reading
Massive Pentagon Agency Can’t Complete Audit – Again
POGO: “For the second year in a row, a little-known but massive Pentagon agency won’t be able to complete an independent audit. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) handles more taxpayer dollars in a year than several Cabinet-level departments, but auditors have informed agency leadership that they will not be able to complete their audit for fiscal… Continue Reading
CRS – Can the Department of Defense Build the Border Wall?
Via FAS/Secrecy News: “If the President were to declare a national emergency in order to justify building a “wall” on the border with Mexico, there would be certain legal authorities that he could invoke to initiate construction operations. But the scope of those legal authorities is uncertain and would almost certainly trigger litigation to challenge their… Continue Reading
Impact of Government Shutdown Across America
The New York Times – “In many parts of the United States, the shutdown has underscored how deeply the federal government is connected to everyday life. “From the start, it has seemed like the federal government shutdown with no end in sight. More than three weeks later, with Washington still gridlocked over President Trump’s demand… Continue Reading
U.S. Government Has Amassed Terabytes of Internal WikiLeaks Data
Gizmodo: “Late last year, the U.S. government accidentally revealed that a sealed complaint had been filed against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Shortly before this was made public, the FBI reconfirmed its investigation of WikiLeaks was ongoing, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice was optimistic that it would be… Continue Reading
Federal government was bleak workplace for past 2 years and worsened after the shutdown
Washington Post: “Over two years, the Trump administration has dealt blow after blow to government employees — budget cuts, hiring freezes, inept Cabinet secretaries and, for some, open hostility to their fundamental mission. President Trump promised to shake up Washington, and he has. But the country’s 2 million federal workers have mostly soldiered on, believing… Continue Reading
More than 4.1M students were in a school lockdown last year
Washington Post: “School shootings remain rare, even after 2018, a year of historic carnage on K-12 campuses. What’s not rare are lockdowns, which have become a hallmark of American education and a byproduct of this country’s inability to curb its gun violence epidemic. Lockdowns save lives during real attacks, but even when there is no… Continue Reading
