Power & Secrets Monitor

Opposition to Flock ALPRs is building on separate fronts.

• Idaho communities packed Caldwell council meetings and filed tort claims citing Senate...

Federal agents operate in a Constitution-free zone because procedural barriers block most claims before trial.

• FTCA path against the government...

A federal appeals court blocked the Trump EPA from canceling $20 billion in congressionally appropriated climate grants, ruling that administrative...

• White House declassifies secret FBI probe into whether Trump fired Comey at Russia’s behest
• Probe finds Chinese telecoms retained US footholds...

Democratic-led states and advocacy organizations launched two distinct lawsuits to halt the Trump administration’s TANF data-sharing policy with...

New toolkit helps journalists obtain data and records from federal agencies deleting public information, aiding investigations into the sprawling system.

Law enforcement agencies purchase personal data from third-party brokers to collect information without judicial authorization. This approach exploits a clear legal gap in oversight requirements.

Rep. Tim Burchett introduced the Protection Against Mass Surveillance Act to ban federal agencies from buying or accessing Flock-style automated...

• Lawmakers introduced EFTA II after DOJ missed deadlines, released incomplete files, and exposed survivor details while shielding others
• Blanche...

• Bondi sold up to $5.5 million in Trump Media securities on April 2, 2025, hours before Trump announced tariffs that sank the stock.
• This followed...

Three linked moves show surveillance growing without oversight:

• Data access: Trump policy lets ICE receive TANF benefits records on low-income...

• Constitutional challenge: Mason Grimmett sued Wichita over its 190+ Flock cameras, alleging warrantless dragnet surveillance violates Kansas...

The Supremacy Clause grants federal agents immunity only for conduct "made in Pursuance" of the Constitution, allowing states to prosecute ICE agents...

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed the first enforcement action under SEA 76 against Merrillville Town Council for passing a resolution...

Surveillance warnings stay too vague to shape law or policy, even as the NSA builds a Utah data center to intercept global internet traffic and courts...

A witness has publicly called the Department of Homeland Security's account of a deadly ICE shooting of a Texas man a "lie."

This incident fits a...

Success of whistleblower programs hinges on post-disclosure outcomes, not just initial encouragement. Congress is weighing reforms to bolster safeguards specifically for contractor employees exposing federal wrongdoing.

Federal Judge Rita Lin expressed strong skepticism that the Trump administration's national security designation of Anthropic stemmed from the...

A DW investigation found dozens of documents with victim-identifying information still public in the DOJ's Epstein Library, despite the department's...

The Kansas Justice Institute sued Wichita over Flock license plate readers, arguing the system amounts to warrantless AI surveillance of law-abiding...