Power & Secrets Monitor

Thiel's $35.7 billion fortune stems from early bets on Facebook and PayPal, plus stakes in SpaceX and OpenAI. Palantir, his flagship, holds billions...

• Spending cuts can't close the gap: Mandatory programs (Social Security $1.7T, Medicare $1T) plus interest make up most of the $7.7T budget; even...

• ICE agent shot Venezuelan man Wilber Rafael Garces Perez once in the torso after a traffic stop, leaving him in serious but stable condition.
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• Muse pushes users to link email and bank accounts for "personalization" while offering task help
• Interactions auto-opted into AI model training;...

How can an unverified AI facial-recognition lead produce months of detention, reputational damage, and civil liability?

• Angela Lipps was arrested...

A federal judge paused Texas Republicans' effort to close primaries, after the party argued that open primaries violate their First Amendment right to choose leaders.

Atlas of Surveillance data maps Kennesaw Police Department's local tech footprint.

• Camera Registry: Axon Fusus platform in active use
• License...

The Pentagon is weighing cuts of 25,000–40,000 U.S. troops from Europe, the largest drawdown since the 1990s, with some forces possibly shifted to...

• Federal judge blocks major Trump changes to Kennedy Center without 30-day court notice.
• UN experts find reasonable grounds for U.S. war crimes in...

Competing models of public AI oversight are emerging at federal and state levels.

• Federal control push: Palantir CEO Alex Karp calls for US...

Potential Democratic-led congressional investigations face institutional resistance from a non-cooperative Trump regime.

Key challenges and...

USPS added 1-2 days to some First-Class Mail times by shifting volume to ground transport and cutting end-of-day collections at certain offices.
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US government sites adopted a Chinese-developed AI search tool flagged by the FBI for security risks, even as the model remains openly modifiable.

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Does DHS’s handling of retaliation complaints provide meaningful protection for employees exposing waste or abuse?

• OIG investigations dragged...

The GAO found the Trump administration spent an estimated $6.7 billion of $9.5 billion in paid leave costs on 144,312 federal employees under the DOGE...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres directly ties Security Council inaction on global crises to geopolitical divides, noting major powers that...

The CLARITY Act fell short in a 50-49 Senate procedural vote, missing the 60-vote threshold despite House passage in July 2025. A last-minute switch...

• Core Finding: Venezuela's repressive apparatus remains intact despite limited political changes
• Documented Violations: Mission probes...

Post-9/11 intelligence expansions coincided with smartphones and social media, creating vast new data sources for authorities.

• Agencies could...

In Wilson v. Austin, filed 23 May 2022 in the Eastern District of Texas, paragraph 79 reproduces the 14 September 2021 Adirim memorandum verbatim...