Latest news with #Foia
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
US Supreme Court keeps Doge records blocked in watchdog group's challenge
The US Supreme Court extended its block on orders requiring Doge to turn over its records to a watchdog. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court extended on June 6 its block on judicial orders requiring the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by President Donald Trump and previously spearheaded by his billionaire former adviser Elon Musk. The court put on hold Washington-based US District Judge Christopher Cooper's orders for Doge to respond to requests by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for information about its operations. The judge concluded that Doge likely is a government agency covered by the federal Freedom of Information Act (Foia). The brief, unsigned order said that portions of one of the judge's decisions 'are not appropriately tailored' and that 'separation of powers concerns counsel judicial deference and restraint in the context of discovery regarding internal Executive Branch communications.' The court sent the case back to a lower appeals court to narrow the judge's directives. The court's three liberal justices - Ms Sonia Sotomayor, Ms Elena Kagan and Ms Ketanji Brown Jackson - dissented from June 6's decision. In a separate case, the Supreme Court on June 6 permitted Doge broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. Doge has played a central role in Mr Trump's efforts to downsize and reshape the US government including by slashing the federal workforce and dismantling certain agencies. The watchdog group, called Crew, said its intention was to shed light on what it called Doge's secretive structure and operations. Mr Musk formally ended his government work on May 30 and his once-close relationship with Mr Trump has since unraveled publicly, a split that followed Mr Musk's recent attacks on the president's sweeping tax and spending Bill and played out dramatically on social media on June 5. Crew sued to obtain an array of records from Doge through the Foia statute, a law that allows the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. It sought information on Doge's activities over its role in the mass firings and cuts to federal programmes pursued since the Republican president returned to office in January. The Trump administration contends that Doge is an advisory entity and not subject to Foia. In response, Crew sought information to determine whether Doge is subject to Foia because it wields the kind of authority of an agency independent of the president. Mr Cooper ruled in April that Doge must turn over some records sought by Crew and that the group was entitled to question Doge official Amy Gleason at a deposition. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined on May 14 to put Mr Cooper's order on hold. The administration urged the Supreme Court to act, saying that the judge's orders intruded on the powers of the executive branch and compromised the ability of a wide array of advisers to provide candid and confidential advice to the president. Crew told the justices that siding with the administration in the dispute would give the president 'free reign' to create new entities that would 'functionally wield substantial independent authority but are exempt from critical transparency laws.' In one of his decisions, Mr Cooper said Doge's operations have been marked by 'unusual secrecy.' In another, the judge said that the language of Mr Trump's executive orders concerning Doge suggests that it is 'exercising substantial independent authority.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Conservationists sue Trump administration over rollback of green policies
Conservationists on Wednesday sued the Trump administration over its attempts to boost the oil industry by rolling back green policies. Filed by the environmental non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, the litigation focuses on Trump's day-one 'unleashing American energy' executive order. In an effort to boost already booming US energy production, the emergency declaration directed federal agencies to identify all policies and regulations that 'unduly' burden fuel producers and create 'action plans' to weaken or remove them. The lawsuit seeks information about the development of these action plans from four federal agencies: the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. Since the executive order was passed, the administration has announced plans to eliminate scores of other green policies. Last week, for instance, it emerged that the EPA plans to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluting companies to collect and report their greenhouse gas emissions, ProPublica reported. The legal challenge follows a February request for information filed by the advocacy group under the Freedom of Information Act (Foia), for which officials have not yet provided any records. 'Given the substantial implications for air and water, wildlife and nature, climate, public lands, and the environment generally through the development of energy resources,' the lawsuit says, 'the Center is deeply interested in, and affected by, how the action plans implementing the Executive Order could harm, undermine, or negate the Center's longstanding efforts to protect the environment.' Foia is meant to compel officials to provide access to information about the functioning of federal agencies within 20 business days of a request. Though backlogs have long been common, the advocacy group says it is concerned the Trump administration is deliberately slowing the process to block public access to information. The lawsuit comes as federal agencies have slashed protections for public lands, approved air pollution permits for fossil fuel-processing facilities without environmental reviews, and gutted slews of green policies and spending plans while firing thousands of civil servants. It also follows record donations to Trump's presidential campaign from oil, gas and coal companies, sparking concerns of corruption. In a June meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump infamously asked fossil fuel bosses for $1bn in campaign contributions, while vowing to unravel dozens of Biden-era environmental policies. 'It seems obvious that polluters and other special interests are completely in the driver's seat and probably ghost-writing all of Trump's pro-fossil fuel directives,' said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'Why else would Trump officials be so defiant about illegally keeping the public in the dark?' The EPA declined to comment on the pending litigation. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The new lawsuit comes as part of a wave of litigation seeking transparency from the Trump administration. Green groups earlier this week sued federal officials over the removal of government webpages containing federal climate and environmental justice data; last month, another lawsuit targeted the US Department of Agriculture's erasure of climate data. The Trump administration and the so-called 'department of government efficiency', helmed by billionaire Elon Musk, pledged to be 'maximally transparent'. Yet federal officials have undercut that promise, environmentalists say, including by gutting public records teams. 'The Trump administration and Doge continue to dismantle environmental safeguards across the nation without a modicum of transparency,' said Hartl. Foia was an important tool for environmentalists during Trump's first term. A request filed by the Sierra Club led to the former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's resignation, and records obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity led to an investigation by the inspector general of then interior secretary David Bernhardt.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
USAid employees told to destroy classified documents, email shows
Officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have begun a large-scale destruction of classified documents at their headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building including with shredders and using 'burn bags', according to an internal email seen by the Guardian. The email, sent by Acting USAid Secretary Erica Y Carr, instructs staff on procedures for clearing 'classified safes and personnel documents' through shredding and the use of 'burn bags' marked 'SECRET' throughout the day on Tuesday. 'Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,' Carr wrote in the email, which provides detailed instructions on how to properly seal and label the burn bags. The timing of this document purge comes amid ongoing controversy over what is essentially the shuttering of USAid following the Trump administration's attempts to reshape the independent agency through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Doge is headed by Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and he has been tasked with slashing the number of jobs at the federal government and the amount of money it spends. Amid the huge turmoil that has gripped the US government as the Musk-led Doge carries out its activities, USAid has been among the worst-hit government agencies. The huge cuts at USAid have impacted projects across the globe as vast numbers of projects are paused, shuttered or have their funding slashed. There has been widespread outcry at the move from USAid workers but also across the international development sector as they warn of the detrimental impact it will have on some of the world's most vulnerable populations. When federal agencies are dissolved or restructured, their records are typically transferred to successor agencies or the National Archives and Records Administration (Nara) in accordance with the Federal Records Act (Fra). During the US' hasty exit out of Afghanistan in 2021, the Nara sent a reminder to safely and lawfully discard the sensitive documents. But compliance with the Fra in this situation is deeply in question, since the law explicitly prohibits the destruction of government records before their designated retention period – typically a minimum of three years. There's also lingering concern that it risks permanently eliminating evidence needed for ongoing Freedom of Information Act (Foia) requests and future oversight investigations. Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February demanding answers about Doge's access to USAid headquarters and agency records, though they did not specifically address potential document destruction. It's unclear whether proper records management protocols are being followed during this process, or if documents that should be preserved are being destroyed. 'If you need additional burn bags or sharpie markers, please let me or the SEC InfoSec Team know,' the email said. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Musk's takeover of US health agencies raises pandemic threat, experts warn
The 'department of government efficiency', the Donald Trump-created program known as Doge and headed by the billionaire Elon Musk, has accessed or requested access to sensitive systems at multiple health agencies as the US president attempts to grant the committee sweeping powers within the federal government. The bid for access comes amid an unprecedented effort to halt government spending, despite multiple court orders to unfreeze funds and reverse staff suspensions. Thousands of people were laid off from health agencies on Friday after the Trump administration announced a plan to fire nearly all probationary employees, potentially numbering in the hundreds of thousands across the federal service. 'The potential for doing harm is significant,' said Scott Cory, former chief information officer for an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Related: Trump disrupting US bird flu response as outbreak worsens Health agencies maintain tightly controlled databases with sensitive information, and upheaval at these agencies threatens the US healthcare systemeven as the threat of infectious diseases like bird flu continues to ramp up. 'The possibility of new outbreaks or public health events is certain given the recent concerning spread of bird flu, which is still hampered by a slow response,' said an employee at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. 'With external communications cut off, extensive work-stop orders and dramatic changes in the federal workforce, the ability of any health agency is severely limited and ultimately will serve no one but those who choose to profit off the suffering,' the employee said. Trump attempted to give Doge the power to shrink the federal workforce in a new executive order signed on Tuesday, despite lawsuits from unions over Doge access. Some 5,200 people across health agencies reportedly received layoffs notices on Friday. About 1,250 of them worked at the CDC, according to a source who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. This included senior officials and the entire first-year class of the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Services officers, known as 'disease detectives'. Other senior health officials are also being targeted for layoffs, and employees are bracing for more mass layoffs in coming days, sources say. Several contractors also report being laid off this week. Probationary employees include any staff who haven't served the full time (usually a year or two) needed to gain civil service protection in their positions – and this also applies to senior officials who have recently changed positions. Staff at some health agencies, including HHS and CDC, report being instructed not to talk about Doge in internal emails and messages, for fear of attracting attention through Freedom of Information Act (Foia) requests or searches from those who have gained access to these systems. 'In my whole time in the federal government, I've never seen this,' said the CDC employee. 'It's just a complete upheaval.' Representatives of Doge gained access to the Atlanta offices of the CDC last week, according to sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. Doge-affiliated officials have also gained access to payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Musk, the unpaid 'special government employee' heading up Doge, appeared to confirm the CMS access and the search for potential fraud in Medicare payment systems: 'Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening,' he alleged on X on 5 February. Medicare fraud has long been a focus of careful investigation, with 193 medical professionals arrested in June under the Biden administration on charges related to $2.75bn in suspected healthcare fraud. But stopping payments already authorized by Congress, as the Trump administration has already done with foreign assistance and federal grants and loans, is an unprecedented move. Doge representatives have also sought access to the HHS payment systems that process billions of dollars in healthcare funding, and seem to have gained access to at least some of them, the Washington Post reports. The HHS did not respond to the Guardian's media inquiry by press time. One of the requested systems, the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, contains financial information about all of the hospitals, doctors and other health organizations participating in federal programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. It requires training on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in order to access; it's not clear if Doge representatives have undergone this training. Doge officials have reportedly gained extensive access at the treasury department as well. Musk's 'unclear role' in a committee that has not been approved by Congress 'has been a loud signal by this administration that the legal rulebook that the federal government operates by no longer applies', the CDC employee said. 'Musk's aggressive takeover of many sensitive data systems, including those in CMS and treasury, should concern everyone,' the employee continued. 'Having access to all this data is not only a security risk but the abusive potential of having such data is incomprehensible.' Armed with these systems and data, the Trump administration could dismantle healthcare support for Americans and punish states or entities refusing to align with the administration's priorities, the employee said. Interference in the systems that health agencies use to process payments could threaten the lives of people who depend on the funds, Cory said. There are privacy concerns as well. 'There's a whole lot' of sensitive data running through these systems into individuals' bank accounts, including personally identifiable information about individuals who are recipients of government benefits, like social security, Cory said. While the information is not usually stored in payment systems, 'you can go backwards from that system, presumably, to the system that holds and maintains that information', Cory said. 'And that's where this gets scary.' No one individual should have access to entire systems like these, Cory said. Even small changes are a big deal, and need to be tested extensively before being deployed. Yet the legal repercussions to unlawful access and activities in federal systems are limited, he said. 'The constraints on bad actors who are in there, inside the system, doing bad things, are relatively few,' Cory said. The data collected by agencies plays a crucial role in keeping Americans safe – particularly in ongoing outbreaks like bird flu, Cory said: 'If it's not possible to report that data and disseminate that data, then we're all at risk.'
The Guardian
11-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US arrests in Mexico for cartel-related crimes soared under Amlo, study finds
The number of Americans arrested in Mexico for offenses related to organized crime increased by 457% – or nearly sixfold – during the 2018-24 presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador compared to his predecessor, according to a new report. Since the current president Claudia Sheinbaum took office in September, 185 US citizens have been arrested by the Mexican army on organized-crime related charges – an average of three a day. According to an investigation by local news site Animal Político, which cited Foia (Freedom of Information Act) requests, open-source data, and interviews with local authorities, during the presidency of López Obrador, 2,500 Americans were arrested for crimes such as drug trafficking, compared to just 449 during the previous administration of Enrique Peña Nieto. The report found that out of the nearly 4,000 foreigners arrested by federal authorities for organized-crime related offenses in the last six years, more than two-thirds were Americans. The investigation suggests that Americans have increasingly become pawns for Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs northwards and weapons and cash back across the border. 'The truth is [Americans] aren't being recruited as sicarios,' said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security analyst, using the slang term for gunmen. 'But there are a lot of things that cartels buy in the southern United States … the technology of war that is used by the cartels. And for all those purchases, well, yes, it's very useful to have a gringo that can easily come and go into the country.' Guerrero also noted that some of those Americans recruited by Mexican cartels may be drug users who end up indebted to the cartels. 'To pay off their debts, the organization asks them to start selling,' Guerrero said. 'They start out as clients and consumers and end up being employees without a way to escape the criminal organization.' The report is backed by numbers from the US: according to data from the US Sentencing Commission, of the 3,000 fentanyl trafficking offenses in fiscal year 2023, 86% of those sentenced in the United States were American citizens. 'When you see the cases in courts that are at the border, those that are related to large-scale trafficking,' said Cecilia Farfán, an expert on organized crime, 'these are operations that involve Mexican and American citizens.' The report from Animal Político comes as Donald Trump has increasingly attacked Mexico for the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order designating certain drug cartels as ''foreign terrorist organizations.' Trump also threatned a 25% tariff on all goods flowing from Mexico and Canada, 'because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens'. Trump later paused the tariffs on Mexico for a month after President Sheinbaum agreed to send an additional 10,000 national guard troops to the US-Mexico border. According to Farfán, these arrest numbers may also indicate an increased push from Mexico to demonstrate that drug trafficking is a bi or tri-national problem. 'Those numbers have a lot to do with precisely wanting to get away from this narrative of the cartel that wants to poison the poor ignorant American citizen,' she said. 'It's a way of saying that this is a business that requires actors from both sides of the border, drug trafficking, but also arms trafficking.' The report from Animal Político also points out that, while Americans may be the foreigners most likely to commit crimes in Mexico, they are also the most likely to fall victim to organized crime, with more than 700 US citizens reported as missing or disappeared. According to Animal Político, between 2022 and 2023 307 Americans were murdered in Mexico, by far the highest of any nationality killed in the country. But Americans are also being recruited in significant numbers to smuggle people across the border. Between July 2021 and August 2024, more than 1,000 US citizens were detained by Texan authorities for people smuggling, local government data shows, with Americans making up more than 70% of the nationalities arrested on those charges.
