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Sam Sacks - page 62

Sam Sacks has 859 articles published.

SIGAR Releases Corrected Accounting Data, Relieving Some of the Blame on “Blackwater” for Failed Afghan Drug War

Corrected data released on Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows that Academi—the firm formerly known as Blackwater—is not the top contractor for the Pentagon’s counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan. According to the revised data, Academi has still, in recent years, made a lot of money in Afghan counternarcotics, just not as much as Northrop Grumman. Between 2002 and 2013, Academi received $309 million from the Department of Defense to provide training, equipment, and supplies in the effort to limit opium production… Keep Reading

Defense Contractor Sends Military Blueprints to Foreign Actors, Feds Leave Espionage Act Charges in Pocket

After a former defense contractor was busted selling sensitive military blueprints to foreign actors, the Obama administration opted not to pursue Espionage Act charges, despite its frequent use of the law against whistleblowers On Wednesday, Hannah Robert, formerly the owner of two New Jersey contracting firms, pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Arms Export Control Act after feds discovered she had exported secret military documents to India and beyond. Mostly drawings, they included details about “parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines,… Keep Reading

Government Contractor Forced to Ditch Whistleblower Suppressing Confidentiality Agreements

A defense contractor has agreed to give up a long-standing policy that has intimidated potential whistleblowers, following a historic enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC said that a company-imposed gag order used by KBR, Inc. could violate securities laws implemented through Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms. The first company punished under Dodd-Frank whistleblower protection rules, KBR had previously urged employees to sign confidentiality agreements during internal investigations into taxpayer waste and malfeasance. Under the terms of the agreement, workers would be fired… Keep Reading

New Executive Order Could Sanction Cyber Activists, Wikileaks

After spending a week trying to narrow its scope, President Obama on Wednesday released an executive order that still grants the White House broad authority to sanction individuals and organizations engaged in civil society online. The order targets entities located partially or wholly outside the United States “directly or indirectly” responsible for cyber-activities “harming, or otherwise significantly compromising…entities in a critical infrastructure sector.” “I’m for the first time authorizing targeted sanctions against individuals or entities whose actions in cyberspace result in significant threats to the… Keep Reading

“It’s In Country Somewhere,” Report Details How Army Lost $420 Million of Equipment in Afghanistan

At critical army equipment facilities in Afghanistan, officials failed to properly report the disappearance of more than 15,000 pieces of equipment, decreasing the likelihood that it will ever be recovered, according to new report from the Pentagons’ inspector general. Although standard operating procedure requires that the loss of equipment in excess of $100,000 be reported within 75 days, the IG found in a report released Tuesday that claims on missing gear totaling $419.5 million weren’t processed for on average 318 days. The delays resulted in… Keep Reading

“Blackwater” Second Most Paid Contractor in Failed Afghan Drug War, Reaps Hundreds of Millions

UPDATE: SIGAR released corrected data on Thursday showing that Academi received $309 million in Pentagon contracts to supply Afghan counternarcotics operations–not the initially reported $569 million. The new figure puts Academi second, behind Northrop Grumman, in receiving the largest contracts servicing the Afghan drug war. The headline has been changed to reflect the new information. Read the latest story here.    A mercenary force infamous for a 2007 massacre in central Baghdad has received nearly $600 million from US taxpayers to clamp down on Afghan opium… Keep Reading

Amid Talks With C.F.P.B., Student Debt Strikers Take Aim at Arne Duncan

A burgeoning student debt strike that has the attention of the nation’s primary financial consumer watchdog is taking aim at the administration’s top education official. Ninety graduates of Corinthian Colleges are set to meet with regulators at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday, where they will discuss their movement against the disgraced for-profit college–one that includes a demand for the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Although the CFPB has its own predatory lending investigation underway into Corinthians, the graduates are using their bureau-granted platform to ask Duncan… Keep Reading

Morning in the city

Gorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam… Keep Reading

Pentagon Upset Outer Space No Longer Dominated By U.S.

Testifying on budget matters at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Douglass Loverro, the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, warned that US dominance over the final frontier is being challenged, and called for a massive uptick in spending on outer space security. “We no longer can view space as a sanctuary,” he told lawmakers. “Potential adversaries understand our reliance on space and want to take it away from us—we won’t let them,” Loverro added, noting that his department’s budget request for… Keep Reading

Wikileaks Releases Top Secret T.P.P. Chapter, Confirming Skeptics’ Worst Fears

Opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is likely to grow following the unauthorized disclosure of draft provisions that call into question the administration’s assessment of the deal. Wikileaks on Thursday published the material, the Investment Chapter, to the working TPP. The documents detail how the much-maligned Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunal will be structured to provide multinational corporations tools to challenge signatory nations’ laws. Although there have been prior leaks of sensitive TPP-related documents, these come at a critical juncture–with the veil of… Keep Reading

FBI Director Continues Crusade Against Encryption, Calls on Congress to Act

FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday called on Congress to pass legislation that would undermine the ability of Americans to securely communicate. Calling the use of encrypted phones and computers a “huge problem” and an affront to the “rule of law,” Comey, painted an apocalyptic picture of the world if the communications technology isn’t banned. “We’re drifting to a place where a whole lot of people are going to look at us with tears in their eyes,” he told the House Appropriations Committee, describing a… Keep Reading

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