DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

House Democrats have unified as they fight to retain their fragile majority in next month’s midterms. But given Biden’s unpopularity and the GOP lead on the generic congressional ballot (which asks only which party people would support), the more likely scenario is a bad election night for House Democrats. If Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn head for the exits, the leadership matchups become pretty clear. Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Sept. 20. The Massachusetts Democrat has significant support from fellow female members and has stayed close to the Black, Hispanic and Asian caucuses — big voting blocs in the diverse 220-member Democratic Caucus.

☆ Factbox: Key ministers in new Italian Meloni government
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

ROME, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government was sworn into office on Saturday. Here the profiles of some of the key figures:ECONOMY MINISTERGiancarlo Giorgetti, 55, is a veteran political wheeler-dealer viewed as a moderate and relatively pro-European member of his right-wing League party. He was not Prime Minister Meloni's first choice for the job. He held posts in centre-right governments led by Berlusconi and recently served as president of the influential parliamentary intelligence committee. Meloni insisted on him for the job, overcoming resistance from Berlusconi who wanted a Forza Italia member in the ministry.

☆ University of Florida students protest against Ben Sasse’s anti-LGBTQ past
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Zachary Schermele | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Hundreds of University of Florida students held protests this week criticizing the anticipated appointment of Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to lead the school. Sasse has said that as university president, he would do his best to represent the views of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. But for some, his candidacy has called to mind the university’s anti-LGBTQ history and the extent to which many of them feel it continues to sideline their needs and experiences, four LGBTQ students told NBC News. The university’s LGBTQ+ Affairs office, for example, has a high staff turnover rate, he said. He said a “silver lining” of the protests was that many LGBTQ students made their concerns more widely known.

☆ Putin's military lacks 'manpower' but that's just one of 'a lot of other problems,' CIA director says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CIA Director William Burns said Russia's military mobilization won't be enough to help them win the war. Putin ordered a "partial military mobilization" to bring in an extra 300,000 troops as the war persists. His military has a lot of other problems, "manpower is only one of them," Burns told CBS News. "His military has a lot of other problems, manpower is only one of them," Burns said to CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on Tuesday. Putin since ordered a "partial military mobilization," attempting to bring in an additional 300,000 troops to the conflict in Ukraine.

☆ Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler clashed over Trump's first impeachment with Nadler saying Democrats' plans were 'unfair' and 'unconstitutional'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Jerry Nadler also reportedly pushed Democrats to have Trump's lawyers more involved. "It's unfair, and it's unprecedented, and it's unconstitutional," Nadler reportedly told Schiff, according to an excerpt from "Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress's Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump." In the end, Schiff's House Intelligence Committee took the lead role in handling Trump's impeachment, a break from the historic tradition of the Judiciary Committee handling such proceedings. "I write the rules of my committee, not you," Nadler reportedly told his colleague once. Schiff, according to the book, retorted, "I don't really care about your resentment.

☆ A small war in Central Asia is a big problem for Joe Biden's narrative about taking on Russia and China
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Chris Mccallion | Defense Priorities | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is only one part of a broader geopolitical contest, however. Resul Rehimov/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesWhile Armenia and Azerbaijan both have warm relations with Russia, Armenia has a security agreement with Russia as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), an alliance of six post-Soviet states in Central Asia. More recently, Erdogan has acted as a diplomatic broker in the Ukraine war and has bucked Western sanctions by purchasing Russian military hardware. KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty ImagesIt is probable that the timing of the most recent flare-up between Armenia and Azerbaijan was not coincidental. Azerbaijan was likely emboldened to launch the recent attack on Armenia by the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive around Kharkiv and Russia's generally poor performance during the Ukraine war.

☆ U.S. Spy Agencies Haven’t Kept Pace With Threats, Senate Report Says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Warren P. Strobel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and other top U.S. officials appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year. WASHINGTON—U.S. spy agencies are poorly equipped to combat an expanding array of adversaries trying to steal vital secrets from institutions and businesses across American society, according to a Senate report released on Tuesday. The bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee says that U.S. counterintelligence efforts haven’t kept pace with espionage, hacking and disinformation threats from major powers such as China, transnational criminal organizations and ideologically motivated groups.

☆ US lawmakers want to probe whether online advertising poses a national security threat
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-10 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Director of National Intelligence has been asked to assess the "foreign weaponization" of adtech data. US lawmakers have asked the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to investigate whether "foreign weaponization" of widely available adtech data poses a national security risk, a move that has the potential to deal a major blow to the online ad industry. The ODNI and the office of Chairman of the National Intelligence Committee Rep. Adam Schiff, who filed the amendment, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. US government agencies themselves have used data from advertising auctions to track mobile phones. "Furthermore, brands — especially those with government contracts — may face a moral dilemma in funding an ecosystem that is deemed to be a threat to national security."

☆ The January 6 committee did not finish the job
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-06 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The legislation establishing it directed the committee to report on the entire set of "facts, circumstances, and causes" surrounding the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The January 6 committee report contains extensive documentation of forewarnings of violence that were percolating up from confidential sources, open-source analysts, and senior officials. On January 4, Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate intelligence committee, called the FBI's deputy director with his concerns. As the committee notes, a threat analyst noted a "tenfold uptick in violent online rhetoric targeting Congress and law enforcement." Looming over the January 6 committee's report is the report by the 9/11 Commission, which was far from perfect, but much more comprehensive and unsparing.

☆ Joe Biden and the 51 Spies of 2020
▼ + stars: | 2020-10-19 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Hunter Biden Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated PressWhy is public trust in American institutions, including the press, in free fall? One reason is the revelation last week that the Biden for President campaign helped to organize the open letter that spread disinformation about Hunter Biden ’s famous laptop computer on Oct. 19, 2020. The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees released portions of a deposition transcript exposing the origins of the statement from 51 former U.S. spies declaring that Hunter’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The admission came from Mike Morell , former deputy CIA director under Barack Obama . The letter served its political purpose of giving the media and Joe Biden the opening to dismiss the New York Post’s laptop scoop as Russian disinformation. (The letter and the names of the 51 signers can be read nearby.)

With the term “personal taxes,” however, Mr. Garten appears to be conflating income taxes with other federal taxes Mr. Trump has paid — Social Security, Medicare and taxes for his household employees. Fragments of Mr. Trump’s tax returns have leaked out before. Mr. Agalarov’s father, Aras, a billionaire who boasts of close ties to Mr. Putin, was Mr. Trump’s partner in the event. Mr. Trump’s avoidance of income taxes is one of the most striking discoveries in his tax returns, especially given the vast wash of income itemized elsewhere in those filings. When they got to line 56, the one for income taxes due, the amount was the same each year: $750.

Search resuls for: "Intelligence Committee"

11 mentions found