Favorite As protests against Elon Musk proliferated at Tesla dealerships, law enforcement analysts quietly warned of a threat from “violent opportunists” — and from the cars themselves. In California, intelligence analysts said opportunists might exploit peaceful gatherings “to mask criminal intentions, including vandalism, arson, or other disruptive acts.” In Nevada, analysts said that electric cars…
Favorite Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency began its cost-cutting efforts by dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, which spends about $22 billion per year, about 0.3 percent of overall federal spending. DOGE has since targeted agencies focused on children’s education, protecting the natural world, and food safety. But after more than a…
Favorite Hours before Tulsi Gabbard appeared for a combative hearing on her nomination as director of national intelligence on Thursday, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave some public advice to the woman who once pushed for his pardon. “Tulsi Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today.…
Favorite Tulsi Gabbard’s support for pardoning Edward Snowden made her one of Donald Trump’s more intriguing picks when she was nominated for director of national intelligence. It has also made her one of his most vulnerable. Gabbard is set to face pointed questioning from Republican supporters of government spying powers at her confirmation hearing Thursday,…
Favorite A case that started a decade ago with a New York City man’s arrest at John F. Kennedy Airport for allegedly trying to join a Pakistani terrorist group has now dealt a setback to government spying powers. In a decision that could feed into a looming fight over government surveillance, a federal court ruled…
Favorite The two men who carried out apparent terror attacks on New Year’s Day — killing 15 people by plowing a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, and detonating a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas — both had U.S. military backgrounds, according to the Pentagon. From 1990 to…
Favorite American officials are apoplectic about alleged mystery drones flying over the United States. Last Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sent a letter to President Joe Biden, expressing “growing concern” about the drones and seeking federal help “to fully understand what is behind this activity.” Tri-state area Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Andy Kim, Chuck…
Favorite Two decades ago, Shahawar Matin Siraj started to feel uneasy about a plan to bomb a subway station in Manhattan. Osama Eldawoody, a New York City Police Department informant recruited after 9/11, had established himself as a father figure to Siraj, who was 21 when they met. Eldawoody was almost twice his age. He…
Favorite During an appearance before a military review board, an attorney for Guantánamo Bay’s “forever prisoner” revealed that negotiations are underway for his possible release after being tortured and detained without charges for 22 years. Abu Zubaydah (whose real name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Husayn) is perhaps the most egregious victim of the U.S. national…
Favorite This is a story about a story — one that I haven’t finished reporting. Federal prosecutors are so consumed by my efforts to report on a terrorism court case that they accused me in a recent filing of having “improper motives.” They said that, by doing routine reporting, I was somehow colluding with a…
