Latest news with #FederalPersonnelandPayrollSystem
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
First Thing: Markets brace for trade war as Trump prepares reciprocal tariffs
Good morning. As Donald Trump prepared to unveil a swathe of reciprocal tariffs, global markets braced themselves and some Republican senators voiced their opposition to a strategy that critics warn risks a global trade war, provoking retaliation by major trading partners such as China, Canada and the EU. The US president said on Monday he would be 'very kind' to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, possibly as early as Tuesday night. The Republican billionaire insists that reciprocal action is needed because the world's biggest economy has been 'ripped off by every country in the world', promising 'Liberation Day' for the US. What do Europeans think of the plans? A large majority of western Europeans support retaliatory tariffs against the US, a survey has shown, if Trump introduces sweeping import duties for major trading partners as expected this week. Members of Elon Musk's 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes the salaries of about 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks. According to two people familiar with the situation who spoke to the New York Times, Doge employees had spent about two weeks trying to obtain administrative access to the program, known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System. Then, toward the end of last week, senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo highlighting the unusual nature of the request and the associated risks with granting it. What did the memo say? The memo, reviewed by the Times, stated that 'such elevated access to critical high-value asset systems is rare with respect to individual systems and no single [Department of Interior] official presently has access to all HR, payroll and credentialing systems'. The president of France's far-right the National Rally (RN) party has described a court's decision to ban Marine Le Pen from public office for five years as 'disproportionate, political and partisan'. Myanmar's military faces criticism over continued airstrikes and claims it is blocking aid to earthquake survivors, as international agencies urged 'unfettered access' to humanitarian aid in the conflict-riven nation. Donald Trump's executive order seeking to overhaul US elections faced its first legal challenges yesterday as the Democratic National Committee and a pair of nonprofits filed two separate lawsuits calling it unconstitutional. At least three people have been killed and seven injured in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs early on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said. OpenAI said it had raised $40bn in a funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300bn – the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup. It comes in a partnership with the Japanese investment group SoftBank and 'enables us to push the frontiers of AI research even further', OpenAI announced, adding it would 'pave the way toward AGI (artificial general intelligence)' for which 'massive computing power is essential'. The fear that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace millions of jobs is widespread. But equally, in today's tough job market, not using AI wisely as part of your search could mean you miss out, Harriet Meyer writes. It's a tricky balancing act to harness the technology's power without losing the human touch. Here are some tips for supercharging your search and beating the screening, sharpening your speaking skills and boosting your negotiating position. Economic models have systematically underestimated how global heating will affect people's wealth, according to a new study that finds 4C warming will make the average person 40% poorer – an almost four-fold increase on some estimates. The study, by Australian scientists, says average global GDP per person will be reduced by 16% even if warming is kept to 2C higher. This is much higher than previous estimates of a drop of about 1.4%. In the end, whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump liked to insist, the astronauts Barry 'Butch' Wilmore and Sunita Williams have said they were never stuck, nor stranded in space, and definitely not abandoned or marooned. The world heard on Monday, for the first time since their return to Earth two weeks ago, from the two Nasa astronauts whose 10-day flight to the International Space Station (ISS) last summer turned into a nine-month stay. And their story was markedly at odds with the narrative that came from the White House. First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: Doge access to federal payroll and Trump's third term comment spark alarm
Members of Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks. Senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo last week highlighting the unusual nature of the request to gain access to the Federal Personnel and Payroll System and the associated risks with granting it, the New York Times reported. The memo, reviewed by the Times, stated that 'such elevated access to critical high-value asset systems is rare with respect to individual systems and no single [Department of Interior] official presently has access to all HR, payroll and credentialing systems.' Senior employees at the interior department reportedly warned that granting Doge employees this level of access to the federal payroll system would allow them to be able to view highly sensitive personal information that is subject to controls under the Privacy Act. They cautioned that individuals given this elevated access could become targets for cybersecurity attacks by terrorists, nations or other malicious actors. Read the full story Donald Trump's suggestion that there are 'methods' by which he could run for a third term as US president has been met with scorn – but also warnings that he could seriously attempt it, despite being explicitly barred from doing so by the US constitution. Read the full story The Trump administration announced a review on Monday of $9bn in federal contracts and grants at Harvard University over allegations that it failed to address issues of antisemitism on campus. Read the full story The US has sent 17 more people accused of being gang members to El Salvador without providing their names or any other identifying information, the latest in the Trump administration's controversial method of deporting people to be imprisoned abroad without due process in the US. Read the full story More than 1,900 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine signed an open letter warning Americans about the 'danger' of the Trump administration's attacks on science. The letter comes amid the administration's relentless assault on US scientific institutions which has included threats to private universities, federal grant cancelations and ideological funding reviews, mass government layoffs, resignations and censorship. Read the full story The federal government has cancelled dozens of grants to study how to prevent new HIV infections and expand access to care, decimating progress toward eliminating the epidemic in the United States, scientists say. Read the full story Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to another person involved with the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and commuted the sentence of a former business associate of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's scandal-plagued son. Read the full story More Republican voters think that Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, should resign than those who think he should remain in his job, according to a poll conducted after he and other Trump administration officials shared sensitive military attack plans with a journalist who was accidentally added to a message group chat. Read the full story Stock markets across the world fell heavily on Monday after Donald Trump suggested that new tariffs he is expected to announce this week would hit 'all countries'. New York University canceled a presentation from a former leader of Doctors Without Borders because some of her slides discussing USAid cuts could be viewed as 'anti-governmental'. Iran has reacted with outrage after Trump said the country will be bombed if it does not accept US demands to constrain its nuclear program. A nearly two-century-old tree with a history tied to the former US president Andrew Jackson will be removed from the White House grounds because it is deteriorating, Donald Trump said on Sunday. Donald Trump said the conviction of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on charges of embezzlement and her subsequent ban on running for the presidency in 2027 was a 'very big deal'. Catching up? Here's what happened on 30 March 2025.
WIRED
31-03-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Top Officials Placed on Leave After Denying DOGE Access to Federal Payroll Systems
Top career officials at the Department of the Interior (DOI) were placed on administrative leave late last week after declining to immediately give affiliates of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) levels of access to a payroll system that would in theory allow them to, among other things, stop individual Supreme Court justices' paychecks. The New York Times has reported that these officials include DOI's chief information and information security officers; sources tell WIRED they also include a top lawyer. For several weeks, say sources with direct knowledge of the situation, DOGE operatives have been seeking what they termed 'full' or 'system' access to DOI's payroll, human resources, and credentialing systems. Among the systems to which it demanded full access is the Federal Personnel and Payroll System (FPPS), which is housed in DOI's Interior Business Center and used by dozens of federal agencies ranging from the Department of Justice to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to handle payroll and records associated with more than 275,000 federal workers, including at agencies outside the executive branch. The DOGE associates in question are Tyler Hassen, an energy executive and acting assistant secretary of policy, management, and budget at DOI; Stephanie Holmes, who runs HR for DOGE and is the acting chief human capital officer at DOI; and Katrine Trampe, an adviser to Doug Burgum, the secretary of the Interior. According to sources with direct knowledge, when asked why they sought full access to these systems, the DOGE operatives said they specifically sought levels of permissions that would give them the ability to create, pause, and delete email accounts. This functionality doesn't, strictly speaking, exist for any one user within the systems they were seeking to access because such actions are, as a security measure, designed to be initiated by one person and approved by another. Granting their request would thus require them each to be given an essentially God-mode level of access to the entire system architecture. According to sources and a risk assessment memorandum reviewed by WIRED and first reported on by the Times, top career officials saw several issues with granting these unprecedented levels of access.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk's Doge gains access to federal payroll system despite staff warnings
Members of Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes salaries for around 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks. According to two people familiar with the situation who spoke with the New York Times, Doge employees had spent around two weeks trying to obtain administrative access to the program, known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System. Then, toward the end of last week, senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo highlighting the unusual nature of the request and the associated risks with granting it. The memo, reviewed by the Times, stated that 'such elevated access to critical high-value asset systems is rare with respect to individual systems and no single [Department of Interior] official presently has access to all HR, payroll and credentialing systems.' The senior employees reportedly warned that granting Doge employees this level of access would allow them to be able to view highly sensitive personal information that is subject to controls under the Privacy Act and cautioned that individuals given this elevated access could become targets for cybersecurity attacks by terrorists, nations or other malicious actors. The memo emphasized that gaining administrative access to the system 'typically requires training and certification'. 'Without formal qualifications, the Department may experience significant failure because of operator error,' the memo said. On Friday, the federal employees reportedly asked the Doge workers to deliver the memo to Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, for his signature, thereby assuming the legal responsibility for the associated risks. However, Burgum reportedly never signed the memo. But on Saturday, interior department officials reportedly granted at least two Doge employees the access they had requested, the two people told the Times. With this access, the Doge employees now have visibility into sensitive employee information, like social security numbers, and are able to more easily hire and fire federal workers, according to the Times, citing the two people with knowledge who spoke with the newspaper on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution. Meanwhile, Tyler Hassan, the recently named interior department's acting assistant secretary of policy, management and budget and a former Doge employee, reportedly placed two of the IT officials who had resisted the Doge employees on administrative leave and under investigation for their 'workplace behavior', according to the two sources. In a statement, a spokesperson for the interior department said: 'We are working to execute the President's directive to cut costs and make the government more efficient for the American people and have taken actions to implement President Trump's Executive Orders.'
The Guardian
31-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Musk's Doge gains access to federal payroll system despite staff warnings
Members of Elon Musk's so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes salaries for around 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks. According to two people familiar with the situation who spoke with the New York Times, Doge employees had spent around two weeks trying to obtain administrative access to the program, known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System. Then, toward the end of last week, senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo highlighting the unusual nature of the request and the associated risks with granting it. The memo, reviewed by the Times, stated that 'such elevated access to critical high-value asset systems is rare with respect to individual systems and no single [Department of Interior] official presently has access to all HR, payroll and credentialing systems.' The senior employees reportedly warned that granting Doge employees this level of access would allow them to be able to view highly sensitive personal information that is subject to controls under the Privacy Act and cautioned that individuals given this elevated access could become targets for cybersecurity attacks by terrorists, nations or other malicious actors. The memo emphasized that gaining administrative access to the system 'typically requires training and certification'. 'Without formal qualifications, the Department may experience significant failure because of operator error,' the memo said. On Friday, the federal employees reportedly asked the Doge workers to deliver the memo to Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, for his signature, thereby assuming the legal responsibility for the associated risks. However, Burgum reportedly never signed the memo. But on Saturday, interior department officials reportedly granted at least two Doge employees the access they had requested, the two people told the Times. With this access, the Doge employees now have visibility into sensitive employee information, like social security numbers, and are able to more easily hire and fire federal workers, according to the Times, citing the two people with knowledge who spoke with the newspaper on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution. Meanwhile, Tyler Hassan, the recently named interior department's acting assistant secretary of policy, management and budget and a former Doge employee, reportedly placed two of the IT officials who had resisted the Doge employees on administrative leave and under investigation for their 'workplace behavior', according to the two sources. In a statement, a spokesperson for the interior department said: 'We are working to execute the President's directive to cut costs and make the government more efficient for the American people and have taken actions to implement President Trump's Executive Orders.'
