Latest news with #ProPublica
Gizmodo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
Elon Musk Is Digging Tunnels Under Nashville
Somehow, Elon Musk keeps convincing cities to allow him to dig under them. The latest locale to give The Boring Company the rights to displace dirt directly under their feet is Nashville, Tennessee, which announced an agreement this week to allow Musk's firm to build a 10-mile 'loop' that will connect the city's airport and convention center—an arrangement that has modestly improved traffic flow in Las Vegas while turning the city into a laughingstock of the infrastructure design community. The Nashville project will be privately funded, according to an announcement from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, and will be backed by The Boring Company and 'its private partners,' who were not named. Musk's firm will have to go through the approvals process to 'evaluate potential routes, engage community stakeholders, and finalize plans for the project's initial 10-mile phase,' which one would imagine could result in some delays—but the governor's office insisted that the loop may open as 'early as fall of 2026,' which sure sounds like the type of date you'd set if you intended to steamroll the whole regulatory procedure. That would be in line with The Boring Company's M.O., for what it's worth. Earlier this year, ProPublica published a massive report on The Boring Company's operation in Las Vegas, which has basically become a free-for-all. Taking the private funding approach allowed the company to bypass many of the regulatory hurdles that a publicly funded transit system would be required to undergo, which also means it may not be up to snuff on safety standards, either. It has, for instance, been regularly criticized for its lack of obvious emergency exits, presenting the risk of trapping people in a fiery death hole. Musk's firm basically has free rein in Vegas, and The Boring Company Goes Country appears like it's going down the same path. But plenty of cities have opted to back out of agreements with The Boring Company once it became obvious that their plans were haphazard and the public wasn't all that into it. Chicago axed a plan that would have built a loop to the O'Hare International Airport, and even Musk-friendly Fort Lauderdale backed off giving The Boring Company the go-ahead to dig after pushback from its residents. Even after undergoing an environmental review to build a tunnel between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the company simply never started digging. Frankly, that might be for the best.
AllAfrica
a day ago
- Business
- AllAfrica
Microsoft used China-based support for multiple US agencies
This article was first published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox . Last week, Microsoft announced that it would no longer use China-based engineering teams to support the Defense Department's cloud computing systems, following ProPublica's investigation of the practice, which cybersecurity experts said could expose the government to hacking and espionage. But it turns out the Pentagon was not the only part of the government facing such a threat. For years, Microsoft has also used its global workforce, including China-based personnel, to maintain the cloud systems of other federal departments, including parts of Justice, Treasury and Commerce, ProPublica has found. This work has taken place in what's known as the Government Community Cloud, which is intended for information that is not classified but is nonetheless sensitive. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, the US government's cloud accreditation organization, has approved GCC to handle 'moderate' impact information 'where the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability would result in serious adverse effect on an agency's operations, assets, or individuals.' The Justice Department's Antitrust Division has used GCC to support its criminal and civil investigation and litigation functions, according to a 2022 report. Parts of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education have also used GCC. Microsoft says its foreign engineers working in GCC have been overseen by U.S.-based personnel known as 'digital escorts,' similar to the system it had in place at the Defense Department. Nevertheless, cybersecurity experts told ProPublica that foreign support for GCC presents an opportunity for spying and sabotage. 'There's a misconception that, if government data isn't classified, no harm can come of its distribution,' said Rex Booth, a former federal cybersecurity official who now is chief information security officer of the tech company SailPoint. 'With so much data stored in cloud services — and the power of AI to analyze it quickly — even unclassified data can reveal insights that could harm US interests,' he said. Harry Coker, who was a senior executive at the CIA and the National Security Agency, said foreign intelligence agencies could leverage information gleaned from GCC systems to 'swim upstream' to more sensitive or even classified ones. 'It is an opportunity that I can't imagine an intelligence service not pursuing,' he said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has deemed China the 'most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. Government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks.' Laws there grant the country's officials broad authority to collect data, and experts say it is difficult for any Chinese citizen or company to meaningfully resist a direct request from security forces or law enforcement. Microsoft declined interview requests for this story. In response to questions, the tech giant issued a statement that suggested it would be discontinuing its use of China-based support for GCC, as it recently did for the Defense Department's cloud systems. 'Microsoft took steps last week to enhance the security of our DoD Government cloud offerings. Going forward, we are taking similar steps for all our government customers who use Government Community Cloud to further ensure the security of their data,' the statement said. A spokesperson declined to elaborate on what those steps are. The company also said that over the next month it 'will conduct a review to assess whether additional measures are needed.' The federal departments and agencies that ProPublica found to be using GCC did not respond to requests for comment. The latest revelations about Microsoft's use of its Chinese workforce to service the U.S. government — and the company's swift response — are likely to fuel a rapidly developing firestorm in Washington, where federal lawmakers and the Trump administration are questioning the tech giant's cybersecurity practices and trying to contain any potential national security fallout. 'Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems,' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X last Friday. Last week, ProPublica revealed that Microsoft has for a decade relied on foreign workers — including those based in China — to maintain the Defense Department's computer systems, with oversight coming from US-based digital escorts. But those escorts, we found, often don't have the advanced technical expertise to police foreign counterparts with far more advanced skills, leaving highly sensitive information vulnerable. In response to the reporting, Hegseth launched a review of the practice. ProPublica found that Microsoft developed the escort arrangement to satisfy Defense Department officials who were concerned about the company's foreign employees, given the department's citizenship requirements for people handling sensitive data. Microsoft went on to win federal cloud computing business and has said in earnings reports that it receives 'substantial revenue from government contracts.' While Microsoft has said it will stop using China-based tech support for the Defense Department, it declined to answer questions about what would replace it, including whether cloud support would come from engineers based outside the U.S. The company also declined to say whether it would continue to use digital escorts. Microsoft confirmed to ProPublica this week that a similar escorting arrangement had been used in GCC — a dynamic that surprised some former government officials and cybersecurity experts. 'In an increasingly complex digital world, consumers of cloud products deserve to know how their data is handled and by whom,' Booth said. 'The cybersecurity industry depends on clarity.' Microsoft said it disclosed details of the GCC escort arrangement in documentation submitted to the federal government as part of the FedRAMP cloud accreditation process. The company declined to provide the documents to ProPublica, citing the potential security risk of publicly disclosing them, and also declined to say whether the China-based location of its support personnel was specifically mentioned in them. ProPublica contacted other major cloud services providers to the federal government to ask whether they use China-based support. A spokesperson for Amazon Web Services said in a statement that 'AWS does not use personnel in China to support federal contracts.' A Google spokesperson said in a statement that 'Google Public Sector does not have a Digital Escort program. Instead, its sensitive systems are supported by fully trained personnel who meet the U.S. government's location, citizenship and security clearance requirements.' Oracle said it 'does not use any Chinese support for US federal customers.' Renee Dudley is a ProPublica reporter focused on technology, cybersecurity and business. Doris Burke, who covers corporate wrongdoing, contributed reporting.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
US Lawmaker Presses Defense For Details On Microsoft's Chinese Engineers
San Francisco: A US lawmaker on Thursday pressed the US Defense Department for further details on what information the US military shared with Chinese engineers as part of a cloud computing services contract with Microsoft. After a report by investigative journalism publication ProPublica, Microsoft last week said it has ended the practice of using China-based engineers to provide technical support to the US military under the supervision of US "digital escorts" who may not have had the expertise to assess whether the work was a cybersecurity threat. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a two-week review to ensure other contractors were not employing the same practices. In a letter seen by Reuters, US Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, asked Hegseth to provide details to lawmakers on what information Chinese engineers accessed and to disclose "the discovery of potential security incidents or malicious events that have already occurred or are likely to occur." In addition, Cotton asked whether Microsoft had been required to perform self-audits of the program and if so, the results of those audits. "While I applaud your actions, I am concerned that the Department (of Defense) is hampered by agreements and practices unwisely adopted by your predecessors, including contracts and oversight processes that fail to account for the growing Chinese threat," Cotton wrote in the letter.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
US lawmaker presses for details of Pentagon use of Chinese engineers under Microsoft deal
A US lawmaker on Thursday pressed the US Defense Department for further details on what information the US military shared with Chinese engineers as part of a cloud computing services contract with Microsoft After a report by investigative journalism publication ProPublica, Microsoft last week said it has ended the practice of using China-based engineers to provide technical support to the US military under the supervision of US "digital escorts" who may not have had the expertise to assess whether the work was a cybersecurity Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a two-week review to ensure other contractors were not employing the same a letter seen by Reuters, US Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, asked Hegseth to provide details to lawmakers on what information Chinese engineers accessed and to disclose "the discovery of potential security incidents or malicious events that have already occurred or are likely to occur."In addition, Cotton asked whether Microsoft had been required to perform self-audits of the program and if so, the results of those audits."While I applaud your actions, I am concerned that the Department (of Defense) is hampered by agreements and practices unwisely adopted by your predecessors, including contracts and oversight processes that fail to account for the growing Chinese threat," Cotton wrote in the letter.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
West Point emails reveal how the prestigious military academy messed up Pete Hegseth's admissions status
A West Point official said in December that Pete Hegseth hadn't applied to the military academy. Hegseth proved he had been accepted, prompting attacks from Republicans and calls to investigate. Internal emails released to BI show staffers had to query an "out-of-use database" to find the record. Recently released West Point records shed new light on exactly how the December snafu over Pete Hegseth's admission to the prestigious military academy happened. On the morning of December 11, Hegseth wrote on X that the investigative news website ProPublica was about to run a "knowingly false" story saying that he hadn't been admitted to the US Military Academy, where many of America's Army officers are trained. ProPublica denied Hegseth's claim, saying it had simply asked Hegseth to respond to a statement by a West Point public affairs official who told the news outlet that Hegseth hadn't even applied, much less been admitted. At the time, Hegseth and his allies used the incident to blame West Point and the media. The new records show the mistake was West Point's, which neglected to review an old archive of the academy's thousands of past applicants before the controversy took off. Internal emails, released to Business Insider under the Freedom of Information Act, showed West Point staffers exchanging emails on December 10 about Hegseth's claim to have been admitted, after he produced a letter as proof. "Look what they now provided??" Theresa Brinkerhoff, a public affairs official, wrote to another West Point employee. In another email thread, an employee whose name was redacted wrote, "anyone can generate an acceptance mean its legit." "Very true," Brinkerhoff replied. By the afternoon of the 10th, West Point staff seemed to have realized their mistake. "Hes in there," an employee whose name was redacted wrote in an email. "Its in an old archived table," the person said, typing out a line of search query language to demonstrate how the admissions record could be found. "The record shows that he declined the offer," the employee wrote. Hegseth ended up going to Princeton, where he studied politics, played basketball, and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He served in the Army National Guard after graduation and moved into conservative activism and media jobs. Hegseth has been a magnet for criticism in his six months as defense secretary. His nomination to lead the Pentagon was looking uncertain last December amid allegations of alcohol abuse and mistreatment of women. Hegseth denied the claims and promised to stop drinking. Terrence Kelley, the head of West Point's communications office, apologized to ProPublica the afternoon of the 10th. "My sincere apologies for the incorrect information," he wrote. "It was inadvertent." Hegseth apparently didn't get the memo. He posted at 8:10 am the next day that ProPublica was about to run a false story. Kelley told colleagues on December 11 that it was important that they get "official word" to ProPublica that Hegseth was telling the truth. "Confirming Hegseth's claim probably kills any interest Propublica has in the story but the longer we delay response, the more likely that becomes a story," he wrote. In a later email to ProPublica, which never ran a story about Hegseth's admission, he called the flub an "honest mistake." By the afternoon of the 11th, West Point's press office had received inquiries about Hegseth's post from eight other media outlets. That same day, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas asked the school's leadership to look into how the statement was made. "The academy takes this situation seriously and apologizes for this administrative error," West Point told media outlets. "Following the release of inaccurate admissions information last December, West Point implemented additional guidance for the proper review and release of any information to outside parties," Kelley, the West Point spokesperson, told BI. "We regret the error and are committed to ensuring it does not happen again." "Reporters do their job by asking tough questions to people in power, which is exactly what happened here," a spokesperson from ProPublica said. "Responsible news organizations only publish what they can verify, which is why we didn't publish a story once Mr. Hegseth provided documentation that corrected the statements from West Point." The Pentagon and Cotton didn't respond to requests for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider Solve the daily Crossword
