Podcasts about General Services Administration

The General Services Administration, the landlord for much of the federal government, says none of the owned or leased buildings it has data on meet the minimum occupancy standard set by law last year. But GSA is reexamining the data it's collected so far. Among its concerns, the data doesn't differentiate office space from rooms where employees aren't working. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

DOCKET ALERTS:   The Supreme Court rebuffed the Trump Administration's "emergency" request to revoke temporary protected status for half a million Haitian and Syrian nationals. It granted cert before judgment and set oral argument for April.   The DOJ dropped charges against Jay Carey, a veteran who burned a flag in Lafayette Park to protest Trump's executive order purporting to ban flag-burning.   In Massachusetts, Judge Brian Murphy blocked HHS Secretary Kennedy's attempt to rewrite the child and adult vaccine schedules.   And the Justice Department keeps lowering the bar in an effort to get lawyers willing to sign on to burn down their reputations in service of the Trump agenda.   MAIN SHOW:   We discuss US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro's crashout over the implosion of her retaliatory investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Judge Boasberg quashed the subpoenas, saying that there was no reason at all to think Powell committed a crime.   The Judicial Conference is making it slightly easier for criminal defendants to secure representation. They're also going to war with the General Services Administration, the world's worst landlord.   The Live Nation trial continues, without the government. Andrew's got a deep dive into the Tunney Act and a similar antitrust case blown up by the Trump DOJ under pressure from well-connected lobbyists. These people made us agree with Laura Loomer — RUDE! TPS Cert Before Judgment https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/031626zr1_5h25.pdf   US v. Carey [Flag burning] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71223464/united-states-v-carey   American Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy [Vaccines] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70722326/american-academy-of-pediatrics-v-kennedy/   Judiciary Says Courthouses Are in Crisis, Seeks Real Property Authority https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2026/02/24/judiciary-says-courthouses-are-crisis-seeks-real-property-authority   US judiciary approves new public defender office focused on US Supreme Court advocacy https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judiciary-approves-new-public-defender-office-focused-us-supreme-court-2026-03-10   DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law School https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-to-allow-hiring-of-us-prosecutors-straight-out-of-law-school   Law School Tells Students, 'You MUST Be Aligned Politically With President Trump,' For Summer Job https://abovethelaw.com/2026/03/law-school-tells-students-you-must-be-aligned-politically-with-president-trump-for-summer-job/   Jeanine Pirro Crashes Out https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/jeanine-pirro-crashes-out   In re Grand Jury Subpoenas [Jerome Powell] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72490330/in-re-grand-jury-subpoenas   The Rule of Law Versus the Rule of Lobbyists [Roger Alford] https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rqWZHzWNbqZc/v0   Proposal to Give Judiciary Real Property Authority https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/judiciary-real-property-authority-legislative-package.pdf   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

The General Services Administration is positioning itself as the federal government's central hub for technology acquisition (GSA to Extend OneGov Software Deals in Next Phases ), helping agencies operate as one government through shared services and enterprisewide procurement strategies. At GovCIO Media & Research's 2026 Federal IT Efficiency Summit, Jonathan Plante, senior strategist for cloud hardware and software at GSA, discussed the key trends shaping federal cloud acquisition over the next six to 12 months. He outlined efforts to consolidate procurement vehicles under GSA, increase transparency into software and subscription spending, and leverage the federal government's collective buying power to drive greater efficiency and value. Plante also highlighted the growing importance of cybersecurity, asset management and interoperability as agencies modernize their IT environments. Looking ahead, he encouraged agency leaders to align cloud investments with mission outcomes, advance zero trust security strategies and prepare for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and post-quantum cryptography.  

Washington Watch Reporter Mary Stackhouse reports on the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) involvement in the anti-fraud task force, the former CIA officer accused of stealing over $40 million in gold bars from the federal government, and

The Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program is making a simple word change that will hopefully put to rest some long-standing confusion about the cloud security program. Under the new rules, cloud services the program has approved will be dubbed “FedRAMP certified” instead of “FedRAMP authorized.” Nicole Thompson is the security director for FedRAMP at the General Services Administration. She talked about the latest changes with Federal News Network's Jason Miller. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service updated its organizational structure to better reflect how agencies buy and vendors sell. The new setup features five new portfolios called: Assist, Centralize, Create, Deliver and Optimize. Each is bringing together sometimes disparate services and moving FAS out of its previous organizational structure that centered on category management. For more on what drove this reorganization, Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller caught up with Laura Stanton, the acting commissioner of GSA's FAS.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Artificial intelligence and cloud-based data products through Snowflake will now be available to all federal agencies, the General Services Administration announced Thursday. The GSA has struck a OneGov deal with the cloud-based data warehousing and analytics company in order to “empower federal workers to break down data silos, enhance mission effectiveness, and accelerate their IT modernization initiatives,” it said in a press release. Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy said in a statement: “Federal agencies are seeking efficiency in cost, enterprise scaled performance, intuitive design driven tools for the workforce and simplicity in contracting — we are the only multi-cloud data platform that can meet this charge on day one.” Just over a year old, OneGov is a government contracting framework allowing for cross-agency use of commercial products at a discounted price. For Snowflake users across the federal government, this means 20% off compute services, which could go up to 50% as usage increases, as well as nearly a 27% discount on storage, the release said. The Small Business Administration's information security program is largely ineffective after falling below the federal baseline for controls in nine of 10 domains, according to a new watchdog report. Under Office of Management and Budget guidance on ratings for security effective controls, the SBA “has defined policies but it has not consistently implemented them,” the agency's Office of Inspector General wrote, relaying findings from an independent auditor's review of SBA's fiscal 2025 performance under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act.The SBA surpassed OMB's baseline for incident response, earning an “optimized” rating under federal FISMA guidelines. But the OIG said that six domains — cybersecurity supply chain risk management, risk and asset management, configuration management, identity and access management, contingency planning, and information security continuous monitoring — were considered “defined” (a rating of 2 on the 5-level maturity model scale). Another three domains — cybersecurity governance, data protection and privacy, and security training — were slightly better, per the watchdog, with ratings of “consistently implemented” (3 out of 5).

After a company couldn’t meet the specifications for ink pens use in some US government offices in the 1960s, the General Services Administration asked National Industries for the Blind (NIB) to make 70 million pens—despite NIB having never made pens before. They accepted the challenge and met all the specifications. Since 1967 blind factory workers have assembled these writing instruments used extensively by military personnel. The pens can be used to write upside down, make a mile-long line, and withstand extreme temperatures. Genesis 1:27 reminds us that each human being has been made to God’s perfect specifications: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” How we’re created reflects God’s character and nature. Being created in His image means everyone has inherent dignity and worth. God said that each person’s story begins with being made “in [His] image, in [His] likeness” (v. 26). This truth provides the foundation for understanding human dignity, identity, and relationships with others. Just as those pens serve a vital role, so do we! Though we might feel unimpressive, each of us holds intrinsic value and purpose crafted by God. Today, may we embrace our story, knowing our Creator treasures us and calls us “very good” (v. 31).

The General Services Administration announced 17 new Presidential Innovation Fellows, refreshing the technologist-focused program. A release shared with FedScoop ahead of the announcement described the 2026 cohort as “experts from top tech companies, startups, and organizations around the country.” Per that announcement, the fellows will serve their yearlong tours of duty at 10 federal agencies. The PIF program is located under GSA's Technology Transformation Services and has been around since 2012. The Treasury Department's loss of “confidence” in Booz Allen Hamilton led to the agency's decision to cancel its contracts with the consulting firm earlier this year, Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week, a surprise move that came years after a former employee leaked tax returns to media outlets. Booz's response to Bessent's new comments was that Charles Edward Littlejohn's conduct more than five years ago occurred on government systems, not Booz Allen systems. The firm said that it stores no taxpayer data on its systems and has no ability to monitor activity on government networks. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The grassroots group seeking to abolish Ohio's property taxes said Thursday it is about halfway to its signature-gathering goal and acknowledged the issue may need to target the 2027 ballot instead. Ax Ohio Tax said it has collected more than 300,000 signatures toward a mid-June goal of 620,000. The group faces a July 1 deadline to submit more than 400,000 valid signatures from at least half of Ohio's counties to qualify for the November ballot. Cuyahoga County's plan to build a new jail stalled this week after Prosecutor Michael O'Malley renewed his objections to the project and called on the state auditor's Public Integrity Unit to investigate its approval and spending. The county plans to build the new jail complex in Garfield Heights, with a price tag approaching $1 billion. The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has published a list of more than 300 trucking companies with at least $5,000 in unpaid tolls. The combined total owed exceeds $5 million. A historic and prime piece of lakefront property is back on the market. The General Services Administration first sought to offload the Cleveland West Pierhead Lighthouse in 2023. The lighthouse is now available at no cost, but only to government, nonprofit or educational agencies. We'll discuss these stories and other news of the week on Friday's Reporters Roundtable. Guests: - Matthew Richmond, Criminal Justice Reporter, Ideastream Public Media - Anna Huntsman, Akron-Canton Reporter, Ideastream Public Media - Karen Kasler, Bureau Chief, Ideastream Statehouse News Bureau

The federal government's landlord and its human resources office are embarking on plans to share the same headquarters. The Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration are moving together under one roof. This is the latest example of agencies in the Washington, D.C. area moving out of headquarters that aren't meeting minimum occupancy requirements recently set by law. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I never thought I'd be glued to the Supreme Court docket like this, but here we are on a crisp April morning in 2026, and Steve Bannon's legal saga just took a wild turn. Picture this: Stephen K. Bannon, the fiery former strategist to President Donald Trump, convicted back in 2022 for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. He served four months in federal prison, but now, SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court, in its Monday order list, has sent his case back to the lower court. The Department of Justice has already filed a motion to dismiss the indictment entirely. It's a massive win for Bannon, clearing the path for his conviction to vanish just as Trump gears up for another White House run. Listeners, this feels like poetic justice in the endless Trump orbit legal battles—Bannon's loyalty to Trump never wavered, and now the courts might let him walk free.But hold on, because the Trump world's legal ripples don't stop there. Just days ago, on April 7, the justices also added a new case to their 2026-27 docket challenging veterans' benefit laws, though it's not directly tied to Trump. Still, the court's moves echo broader fights over executive power that Trump champions. Fast forward to this week, and Attorney General Pam Bondi—Trump's pick, confirmed earlier this year—has been flexing muscle through the Department of Justice's AI Litigation Task Force. Established back on January 9, 2026, this squad is primed to sue states over AI laws, arguing they burden interstate commerce or clash with federal rules. Baker Botts' AI Legal Watch notes it's all part of a White House push from March 20, including a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence that urges Congress to protect voices and likenesses from AI deepfakes—think Trump's image cloned without permission—while carving out spots for satire and news.Trump's influence seeps into procurement too. The General Services Administration dropped its "Basic Safeguarding of Artificial Intelligence Systems" clause on March 6, forcing companies to ditch their own AI terms for government deals, claiming ownership of custom tech, and sticking to American-made systems. It's a Trump-era clampdown on Big Tech, overriding commercial safety nets. Meanwhile, in a nod to hiring fairness that could hit Trump's business empire, Judge Rita Lin in the Northern District of California greenlit core age-discrimination claims in Mobley v. Workday on March 6. The ruling says the Age Discrimination in Employment Act covers job seekers, not just employees—huge for AI bias suits that might one day scrutinize Trump Organization practices.These threads weave a tapestry of Trump-shaped legal shifts: from Bannon's potential exoneration to AI battles shielding his brand. As federal preemption looms over state regs like New York's LLC Transparency Act, enforced since January 1, it's clear 2026 is reshaping the game.Thanks for tuning in, listeners. Come back next week for more, and this has been a Quiet Please production. For more, check out Quiet Please Dot A I.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

The novelist, John David Bethel, is appearing for the second time on StoryBeat. David's the author of award-winning political and psychological thrillers, including Mapping the Night and Holding Back the Dark. His short fiction has been published in popular consumer magazines, and his essays and opinion editorials have been published in respected political journals.   David spent 35 years in politics and government. He served in the Federal Senior Executive Service as Senior Adviser/Director of Speechwriting for the Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, and Education; Editorial Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration; and Assistant Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Communications and Citizen Services. David also worked as a press secretary/speechwriter to Members of Congress. During our first conversation, we discussed Mapping Night. Recently, I read 2 of David's newest books, Squinting at Shadows and Thy Brother's Keeper, both of which are in the thriller mold of David's earlier novels They are intense, page-turning mysteries that kept me wondering what would happen next.  If you like reading thrillers, I highly urge you to check out David's books.

The General Services Administration, a former hub of activity for the Department of Government Efficiency is looking to hire hundreds of employees after facing deep workforce cuts last year. The agency's top leader is also taking on a second job as the acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration. And for its current workforce, GSA is asking employees to provide a daily check-in on where they're working. For a look at all of this, we're joined by Federal News Network's Jory Heckman. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After slashing IT spending across civilian federal agencies last year, the White House's fiscal 2027 budget calls for a return to pre-Trump levels and then some. Though the proposal from President Donald Trump is just a starting point for haggling in Congress over what will ultimately be spent, the summary document released Friday projects $75.7 billion in federal civilian IT spending, up from $67.9 billion in fiscal 2026 and $75.1 billion in fiscal 2025. It doesn't include the Department of Defense's IT budget request, which in fiscal 2026 was a whopping $66.1 billion on its own. Despite the upward trend for overall spending on tech, OMB's budget request calls for a small decrease in funding for cybersecurity across all civilian agencies — falling from about $12.5 billion this year to $12.2 billion for 2027. This trend tracks with the Trump administration's decision to cut the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's budget by $707 million. The largest IT investments are slated for the Department of Veterans Affairs ($12.2 billion), the Department of Homeland Security ($11.7 billion) and the Department of Health and Human Services ($9.5 billion). The General Services Administration is lobbying once again to rely on the transfer of unobligated appropriations from other agencies to support projects under the Technology Modernization Fund.The Trump administration included a provision in its fiscal 2027 budget justification for GSA “to collect up to $100 million in funding that would otherwise be unavailable for obligation from other agencies and bring that funding into the TMF.” The proposed funding mechanism comes after GSA included similar but broader language in its fiscal 2026 justification, calling for “both currently available funding and unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds from other agencies [to] be transferred into the TMF.” Ultimately, the appropriations laws passed by Congress for 2026 included a pair of statutes that allowed for those transfers to happen with limits — though it's unclear how or if GSA has used the authority. It also gave the TMF a $5 million plus-up and extended the fund's authorization through the end of fiscal 2026. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Office of Management and Budget is asking federal IT leaders to provide more information about what they buy and collect more data about those purchases from the private sector. A Tuesday memo mandates certain agency chief information officers both provide OMB with monthly updates on contracts that they or their subordinates approve, as well as require vendors to provide details about pricing and agency use of those services. “It's time to put all the cards on the table,” Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia said in a video about the memo posted to LinkedIn. “At the end of the day, this is about using taxpayer's dollars responsibly, buying smarter, and making sure the government is actually getting value from the technology it depends on.” The Trump administration has already made moves to consolidate IT contracting under the General Services Administration and, more broadly, collect and share better data about federal acquisitions. The new memo appears to bring specific actions to achieve those policies directly to CIOs. The policy, which was signed by OMB Director Russell Vought, points to a statutory requirement that CIOs in Chief Financial Officers Act agencies — a cohort of roughly two dozen larger government departments and entities — must sign off on IT contracts and agreements. One of the House's top voices on artificial intelligence wants to put an independent federal agency in charge of ensuring the data and algorithms behind foundation models are made public. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., co-chair of the Congressional AI Caucus, is part of a bipartisan trio behind a bill introduced last week that would require the Federal Trade Commission to establish requirements for foundation model transparency. The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., calls on the FTC to work with the Commerce secretary, the Office of Science and Technology Policy director and the head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology on those requirements. The federal leaders would also seek input from standards bodies, academics, tech experts, civil rights advocates and consumers. Beyer, who has pursued graduate work in machine learning, said in a press release that consumers deserve more information about AI foundation models that are “commonly described as a ‘black box'” — meaning users aren't privy to why a model may provide a particular response. Giving users more information, such as what the model bases it results on and how it was built, would go a long way toward changing that element of the unknown, the Virginia Democrat said. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Accenture Federal Services and Booz Allen Hamilton will take the lead on contracts to help the National Weather Service replace a legacy IT system and transition its weather data and resources to cloud-based technology. The two contracts, announced last week, are aimed at transferring the functions of the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) to two new tools in a move the agency says will improve availability of that data to forecasters across the nation. Among the anticipated benefits: access to the systems away from home offices and ability for forecasters to provide remote backup. As it stands, the AWIPS is an on-premises system and deployed at roughly 170 sites across the country, per a request for information the agency posted on the modernization effort last year. But that structure has drawbacks, Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, told FedScoop via email, pointing to the fact that the current operational system is physically installed and tied to each NWS office separately, limiting employees' ability to easily work alongside decision-makers, like local emergency operational centers.The two new cloud-based systems will change that, allowing forecasters to conduct their work — including creating and distributing forecasts and warnings — “without being tied to a specific location,” Graham said. Three years after launching a dashboard to provide agencies with a governmentwide view of the federal cybersecurity workforce, the Office of Personnel Management has stopped using the tool for its own planning, a new report found. According to the Government Accountability Office, OPM and five of the six other agencies examined by the congressional watchdog are no longer using the Cyber Workforce Dashboard, which went live in April 2023. The agencies cited “limitations” with the product, “including communications with OPM, access, functionality, and use of data,” per a GAO press release. The dashboard, which came out of a working group co-chaired by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the National Cyber Director, was created to support agencies in cyber workforce planning, helping them make data-driven decisions for current and future requirements. Overseen by the Strategic Workforce Planning and Forecasting Methods team under OPM's Workforce Policy and Innovation group, the dashboard tracked cyber workforce data for all 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies, as well as OMB, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives and Records Administration, according to the GAO. In conducting its audit from January 2025 to March 2026, the watchdog was told by OPM officials that the human capital agency was not using the dashboard for its own cyber workforce planning purposes. The other agencies audited by the GAO were the Small Business Administration, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration, and the departments of Justice, State and Treasury. The GSA is the only one that still uses the tool. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The General Services Administration has proposed draft contract language that would define the government's relationship with AI service providers in a major federal acquisition program in the aftermath of the fallout between the Defense Department and Anthropic. The proposed language includes terms and conditions for government data use, defines what it means for AI to be unbiased, creates a requirement to use only “American AI,” and establishes a responsibility for contractors to enforce terms and conditions on the AI they deploy. Notably, it also includes language that echoes the very policy at issue in Anthropic's ongoing battle with the Pentagon that led to the company's governmentwide ban and designation as a “supply chain risk.” Under the draft, the government would be granted a “contract for any lawful Government purpose.” According to Anthropic's legal challenge, its dispute with the Defense Department hinged on a policy that the military could make “all lawful use” of the technology. That change, Anthropic says, would have eliminated the company's restrictions on use of its products for “lethal autonomous warfare” and mass-scale surveillance of Americans. A nonprofit advocacy group is suing the Social Security Administration to release records on an agreement DOGE made to share voter data with a non-government source, and other documents regarding the improper use of Americans' data. In a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Democracy Forward seeks to compel the SSA to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests linked to a “voter data agreement” revealed in a January court filing. That filing from the Department of Justice, which is part of a lawsuit by several labor groups over DOGE's handling and exposure of personally identifiable information, detailed coordination between two members of Elon Musk's tech collective embedded at SSA and an advocacy group seeking “evidence of voter fraud.” The DOJ said in that filing that in March 2025, a political advocacy group asked those DOGE representatives for Social Security data to analyze state voter rolls. Per the filing, the group's “stated aim was to find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States.” One of those DOGE members signed a “Voter Data Agreement” in his capacity as an SSA employee and sent the document back to the group on March 24, 2025. Democracy Forward, which represents the federal unions at the center of that lawsuit, immediately filed a FOIA seeking a copy of the voter data agreement, plus all emails between the parties. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The General Services Administration is rolling out the government's first acquisition regulation clause written specifically for artificial intelligence systems. It sets sweeping new rules on data ownership, licensing, disclosure and who's on the hook when AI is used in contract performance—raising red flags across the contracting community. We'll break down what's in the clause, who it applies to, and why industry groups are pushing back, with Dan Ramish, Partner with Haynes Boone.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Supreme Court rebuffed the Trump Administration's “emergency” request to revoke temporary protected status for half a million Haitian and Syrian nationals. It granted cert before judgment and set oral argument for April.The DOJ dropped charges against Jay Carey, a veteran who burned a flag in Lafayette Park to protest Trump's executive order purporting to ban flag-burning.In Massachusetts, Judge Brian Murphy blocked HHS Secretary Kennedy's attempt to rewrite the child and adult vaccine schedules.And the Justice Department keeps lowering the bar in an effort to get lawyers willing to sign on to burn down their reputations in service of the Trump agenda.MAIN SHOW:We discuss US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro's crashout over the implosion of her retaliatory investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Judge Boasberg quashed the subpoenas, saying that there was no reason at all to think Powell committed a crime.The Judicial Conference is making it slightly easier for criminal defendants to secure representation. They're also going to war with the General Services Administration, the world's worst landlord.The Live Nation trial continues, without the government. Andrew's got a deep dive into the Tunney Act and a similar antitrust case blown up by the Trump DOJ under pressure from well-connected lobbyists. These people made us agree with Laura Loomer — RUDE!TPS Cert Before Judgmenthttps://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/031626zr1_5h25.pdfUS v. Carey [Flag burning]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71223464/united-states-v-careyAmerican Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy [Vaccines]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70722326/american-academy-of-pediatrics-v-kennedy/Judiciary Says Courthouses Are in Crisis, Seeks Real Property Authorityhttps://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2026/02/24/judiciary-says-courthouses-are-crisis-seeks-real-property-authorityUS judiciary approves new public defender office focused on US Supreme Court advocacyhttps://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judiciary-approves-new-public-defender-office-focused-us-supreme-court-2026-03-10DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law Schoolhttps://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-to-allow-hiring-of-us-prosecutors-straight-out-of-law-schoolLaw School Tells Students, ‘You MUST Be Aligned Politically With President Trump,' For Summer Jobhttps://abovethelaw.com/2026/03/law-school-tells-students-you-must-be-aligned-politically-with-president-trump-for-summer-job/Jeanine Pirro Crashes Outhttps://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/jeanine-pirro-crashes-outIn re Grand Jury Subpoenas [Jerome Powell]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72490330/in-re-grand-jury-subpoenasThe Rule of Law Versus the Rule of Lobbyists [Roger Alford]https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rqWZHzWNbqZc/v0Proposal to Give Judiciary Real Property Authorityhttps://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/judiciary-real-property-authority-legislative-package.pdfShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Trump administration is escalating efforts to eliminate “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” programs. Last Monday, Politico reported that the administration is proposing to change requirements within the General Services Administration so that any entity hoping to receive federal dollars via things like grants, loans, or insurance, would need to fall in line with federal standards that ban DEI based policies and programs. According to the notice, over 220,000 entities would be impacted by this change. It’s the latest in a long line of actions by the Trump Administration to remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming and policies from both public organizations and private companies. For many, the moves have been a retreat from the goal of creating more inclusive education and work spaces. Some argue that DEI programs were flawed to begin with. Guest: Dr. Ralina L. Joseph is Vice Provost of Inclusive Excellence and Professor of African American Studies at UCLA. Her newest book is “Racial Exhaustion: how to move through racism in the wake of DEI”. Related stories: Trump’s under-the-radar plan to crack down on DEI - Politico The University of Michigan Doubled Down on D.E.I. What Went Wrong? - NYT Former Goldman Sachs CEO says DEI programs are ‘counterproductive,’ arguing ‘you’re branding the people in that program’ - Fortune Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The General Services Administration is set to lead an acquisition system consolidation across government. That's because GSA will be designated a “quality service management office” for acquisition. For more on what that means and what comes next, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

U.S. government agencies continued to have low compliance with a statute designed to ensure that federal websites, software, and other products are accessible for people with disabilities, according to a recent federal review. In a new report, the General Services Administration found that alignment with the accessibility statute known as Section 508 was a 1.96 on a 5-point scale, continuing a trend of lacking compliance. GSA reported that roughly half of agencies didn't review accessibility for their most-used information and communication technology tools, and the majority of agencies don't conduct usability testing with people who have disabilities before resources are deployed or published. The poor compliance showing follows similar findings from past GSA reviews and indicates that more work is needed to help agencies comply. As a result, GSA concluded its report with recommendations that Congress both update the statute to clarify requirements and strengthen enforcement and oversight of agency compliance. The annual report is required by statute and was prepared in consultation with the White House Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Access Board, an independent agency that establishes Section 508 standards. The report includes responses from 212 agencies, parent agencies, and other components. Its publication follows changes to the review process aimed at reducing the reporting burden on agencies. The top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is demanding a full, independent investigation into new reports of DOGE representatives improperly accessing and transferring Social Security Administration data. In a press release sent Tuesday, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said “new disclosures revealed DOGE personnel may have broken federal law and exposed Americans' most sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers.” The release came shortly after the Washington Post reported that an SSA whistleblower said a former DOGE engineer put sensitive information from two agency databases — Numident and the Master Death File — on a thumb drive and planned to share that data with his private-sector employer. Democracy Forward, which represents several labor groups in a lawsuit against SSA over DOGE's “unprecedented data grab,” filed a notice of factual development Tuesday in response to the Post's reporting. The new court filing said the revelations in the article “are consistent with the substantial issues … of disclosures beyond SSA and the federal government as a whole and the ongoing risk of further disclosures of such uncontrolled data.” Peters' press release references the Post's story, but also highlights a January court filing from the Department of Justice that disclosed the use of an unapproved third-party server and communication between DOGE and an advocacy group seeking “evidence of voter fraud.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

On this episode, we break down two recent GAO decisions concerning the General Services Administration's (GSA) "OneGov" initiative. We examine the protests filed by Ask Sage, Inc. regarding GSA's $1-a-year modification deals with OpenAI and Anthropic. Join us as we discuss why the GAO dismissed these challenges and what it means for the future of AI procurement in the federal government. Cases discussed: Matter of: Ask Sage, Inc., B-423826 (December 18, 2025); Matter of: Ask Sage, Inc., B-423827 (December 18, 2025); Matter of: Team Wendy, LLC, B-417700.2 (October 16, 2019); Matter of: MCI Telecommunications Corporation, B-276659.2 (September 19, 1997); Matter of: Chase Supply, Inc., B-411528.2, B-411529.2 (September 3, 2015). Learn more about The Quill & Sword series of podcasts by visiting our podcast page at https://tjaglcs.army.mil/thequillandsword. The Quill & Sword show includes featured episodes from across the JAGC, plus all episodes from our four separate shows: “Criminal Law Department Presents” (Criminal Law Department), “NSL Unscripted” (National Security Law Department), “The FAR and Beyond” (Contract & Fiscal Law Department) and “Hold My Reg” (Administrative & Civil Law Department). Connect with The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School by visiting our website at https://tjaglcs.army.mil/.

A multibillion-dollar backlog of building maintenance projects has grown too large for the federal government's landlord to effectively manage. That's according to a board that advises the General Services Administration on buildings it should sell or dispose of. The board recommends a “radical reduction” of buildings GSA owns. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman join us with more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anthropic's relationships with other federal contractors face irreparable harm following the Trump administration's governmentwide ban on the company and determination that it's a “supply-chain risk,” the Claude maker said in a lawsuit filed in a federal district court Monday. The legal challenge against the Pentagon, as well as multiple federal agencies and officials, seeks immediate and injunctive relief from President Donald Trump's directive banning the company from government use and the Department of Defense's designation of the company as a supply-chain risk. Among its arguments, Anthropic alleges the actions violate federal administrative procedure law, the company's right to free speech, and are beyond existing legal authority. The lawsuit also provides new details about the ramifications for Anthropic's work with other companies contracting with the federal government. At least one federal contractor that Anthropic has worked with to build custom applications has already “indicated that it may suspend that work or even remove Claude from existing deployments,” and others the company has worked with “are raising concerns, pausing collaborations, and considering terminating contracts,” according to the lawsuit. “Anthropic has no way to obtain redress from the government for those economic harms,” the company said. It estimated the actions by the Trump administration could jeopardize “hundreds of millions of dollars in the near term.” This one's also related to the government's ban of Anthropic, and the Secret Service can be added to the list of federal agencies or offices that said they won't use the company's Claude tool. The Department of Homeland Security component had used Anthropic's Claude models for code generation, a focus area for many organizations, according to Secret Service CIO and Chief AI Officer Chris Kraft. “That application does have the ability to leverage Claude models … but they're easy to change out,” Kraft said. “There's a whole list of a bunch of different models that you can choose from, and we will follow the guidance and leverage other models.” The Secret Service joins a growing group of agencies that are phasing out Anthropic's technology following the company's clash with the Department of Defense in late February. Software developers at the Treasury Department had been using Claude Code, though Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the agency is terminating use. The Office of Personnel Management, NASA, the Commerce Department, the General Services Administration and Department of Health and Human Services are untangling Anthropic from AI use cases, if they haven't stopped using Claude already. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

A range of AI use cases — from coding assistance to workflow automation — face alteration or retirement as federal agencies work to comply with a Trump administration directive to remove Anthropic tools from their systems within the next six months. The recent clash between the Claude maker and President Donald Trump comes after federal officials have spent years building up AI capabilities in government, including tools from Anthropic. Now, a growing list of agencies are immediately dropping use of those services, and in some cases, replacing it with other providers. In recent days, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management, NASA, and the International Trade Administration all indicated to FedScoop they have stopped or plan to stop using Anthropic technologies in the wake of the ban announced via Truth Social. That adds to previous statements and internal communications at the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and the General Services Administration. Trump's directive is the result of an escalated disagreement between Anthropic and the Department of Defense over how the technology should be used. While Trump accused Anthropic in his social media statement of attempting to “strong-arm” the DOD with its terms of service, CEO Dario Amodei said the company simply wanted to maintain safeguards to ensure that its technology would not be used in mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Secret Service is gearing up to launch what CIO and Chief AI Officer Chris Kraft is calling a new AI Program, which will act as a working group that comes in and helps IT teams. Kraft told FedScoop at Secret Service headquarters Wednesday in Washington, D.C., that the group will consist of 10 members initially and will also be tasked with identifying areas of opportunity to implement AI and other emerging technologies. Kraft said that “having that internal expertise, I believe, will be really transformational for us.” The Secret Service already uses AI technologies for license plate identification, facial recognition and other threat analysis. The AI group will focus on iterating existing use cases, as well as others like expanding counterfeit currency identification. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The General Services Administration has updated its contractor cybersecurity requirements. The standards are similar to the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. But there are also some key differences in GSA's standards that are causing consternation in industry. For more, Federal Network's Justin Doubleday joins me.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The high-stakes dispute between Anthropic and the U.S. military led to a sweeping decision Friday by President Donald Trump to remove the AI startup's technology from all federal agencies. Already, several agencies are taking action. The General Services Administration, Department of State, and Department of Health and Human Services immediately indicated in public statements, comments, or internal emails that they were moving to boot Anthropic. The fallout is sure to continue as agencies untangle the Claude maker from their workflows. The clash centered on the Defense Department wanting Anthropic to remove stipulations that limited the military's use of the startup's technology in real-world operations, DefenseScoop previously reported. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement Thursday that the company could not accede to the request “in good conscience. Madhu Gottumukkala is out as acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with current agency executive director for cybersecurity Nick Andersen replacing him as the interim leader. News of Gottumukkala's departure breaks one day after CyberScoop reported on widespread dismay with the agency's performance during the first year of the Trump administration, with significant criticism aimed at Gottumukkala's leadership on both sides of the aisle after a number of unflattering stories about his stewardship. “Madhu Gottumukkala has done a remarkable job in a thankless task of helping reform CISA back to its core statutory mission,” a Department of Homeland Security official told CyberScoop Thursday. “He tackled the woke, weaponized, and bloated bureaucracy that existed at CISA, wrangling contracts to save American taxpayer dollars.” Gottumukkala, served as chief information officer under then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, now secretary of DHS, before he was picked as deputy director of the agency. Sean Plankey's nomination to serve as full-time director of CISA has stalled, leaving Gottumukkala as the acting director in his place. Gottumukkala will take on a new role at DHS, as director of strategic implementation. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Agriculture Department is selling one of its headquarters buildings, as part of an ongoing agency reorganization. USDA is putting its South Building near the National Mall over to the General Services Administration, which plans to put it on the market. Senior officials say the building is underutilized and faces a billion-dollar maintenance backlog. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After a series of protests that led to a protracted evaluation period, the General Services Administration is moving forward with the Alliant 3 procurement, announcing Friday the first round of awards for the governmentwide IT services contract. GSA said in an online award notice that it received 133 proposals for the Alliant 3 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) solicitation and selected 43 winners for the first phase. Those not chosen are still eligible for future award phases until the agency has selected all 76 recipients, per the notice. The announcement comes more than a year after the GSA issued the request for proposals for the next iteration of the GWAC award, which has no maximum dollar ceiling, due to unsuccessful bid protests from multiple vendors. The latest iteration of the vehicle is a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for a variety of IT-based services that builds upon the GSA's Alliant and Alliant 2 GWACs. With these awards, agencies can issue task orders for services including cybersecurity, data solutions, systems engineering and cloud services, the GSA said. Longtime government contractors like Maximus, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics Information Technology, and Leidos were among the 43 phase one winners. Democratic lawmakers are once again pushing back on the Department of Homeland Security's expansive use of surveillance technology, with more than a dozen members of a House Oversight subcommittee expressing concern in a letter to Secretary Kristi Noem over the agency's processes for collection and analysis of cellphone data.The representatives pointed to recent reports of the agency procuring tools from Penlink, which is said to collect cellphone location data and allow customers to search for devices, and Paragon, a vendor known to enable access to a mobile device without the owner's knowledge or consent. Without guardrails, these tools introduce risks to data privacy and civil liberties, according to the signatories of the letter, which was led by Rep. Shontel Brown of Ohio, ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. “Location data can reveal intimate details of a person's life, including where they live, work, worship, go to school, or seek medical care,” the lawmakers said. “DHS could use these tools to identify individuals for targeting based solely on their presence in certain locations, without a warrant or probable cause and regardless of their citizenship or residency status.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Federal Chief Information Officer Greg Barbaccia will be adding two new titles — at least temporarily — to his work in government. The General Services Administration announced Thursday that Barbaccia will join the agency as the acting director of Technology Transformation Services. He'll be replacing Thomas Shedd, one of the few officials left at the agency who helped carry out the so-called Department of Government Efficiency's cost-cutting initiative last year. Shedd will remain at the agency as its senior advisor for fraud prevention, which the GSA said is “an area of increasing importance for the agency and the administration.” The federal CIO was also tapped as senior advisor to the GSA administrator, the agency said. In this role, advising former privacy equity executive Edward Forst, Barbaccia will focus on “emerging technologies, best practices in digital delivery, and cross-government collaboration.” The Pentagon will adhere to existing laws and regulations associated with surveillance, security and democratic processes as it fast-tracks the military's frontier AI adoption, but it won't permit companies supplying the technology to determine its rules for operation, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told DefenseScoop. His comments come as the Defense Department is locked in a high-stakes dispute with Anthropic about the U.S. military's use of the startup's Claude AI model in real-world operations. During a meeting with a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the annual Microelectronics Commons summit Thursday, Michael provided updates on the department's GenAI.mil rollout and pushed for the ethics-related rift between the Pentagon and Anthropic to be resolved. “I believe and hope that they will ‘cross the Rubicon' and say, ‘This is common sense. The military has certain use cases. There are laws and regulations that govern how those use cases can be done. We're willing to comply with them,'” he said. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, an in-depth investigatory show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (2/12/26). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth is, or claiming they have the answer, is likely leading you astray, for one reason or another. Stay Vigilant. !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");   Rumble("play", {"video":"v73hj0e","div":"rumble_v73hj0e"}); Video Source Links (In Chronological Order): (21) United States of ZOG on X: "Nice semantic manipulation by @IanCarrollShow to call his Epstein AI program "WEBB", when it was @_whitneywebb that has the most voluminous and most thorough research on the Epstein crime syndicate. Other fun factoids about this historical negationism include the fact that Ian" / X From Leaks to Files: The Undeniable Proof Jeffrey Epstein Served Israeli Interests – And Why the Press Blames Everyone Else Can the MAHA Movement Overcome the Influence of Big Wireless? (21) Brian Allen on X: "

Consolidation and “common goods and services” dominate the discussion around how the federal government wants to revamp its contracting functions, including moves to put the General Services Administration at the center of it all.Leo Alvarez and Dylan Schreiner, respectively principal and GovCon senior manager at Baker Tilly, are fielding many questions from industry clients on what this landscape looks like and how to map their business strategies to it.In this episode, Leo and Dylan walk our Ross Wilkers through some of the big-ticket vehicles to watch in 2026 and how they help illustrate the government's push to make contracting more straight-forward for every stakeholder.Navigating a world of fewer contracting officers and other key acquisition pros inside government also features in the discussion, plus what this all means for small businesses.GSA quietly rolls out CMMC-like cybersecurity framework for contractorsNew OMB memo lays out GSA's plan to consolidate contractsNITAAC finally pulls the plug on CIO-SP4GSA re-opens OASIS+ to new bids, shifts to continuous approachGSA to take over SEWP VI contract ‘sooner rather than later'Alliant 3's final solicitation hits the streetsArmy gets moving again on bundled recompete of professional services, IT vehiclesAir Force Research Lab opens proposal window for $10B vehiclePentagon halts $15B Advana recompete draft solicitation

The U.S. government has backed out of an organization it helped found that's aimed at improving how governments can better serve their citizens. The Open Government Partnership announced Wednesday that the U.S. had formally withdrawn its membership, adding to a growing list of organizations the administration has departed. Despite the U.S. being one of the founding nations of the organization in 2011, the General Services Administration's head, Edward Forst, wrote to the group's leadership this month to notify them of the decision. Per a copy of that letter published by OGP, Forst said the country's participation in the organization “has become at best ineffective and at worst detrimental to advancing” principles outlined in the nation's founding documents, though he didn't cite specific documents. Forst implied that the body “seeks to erode U.S. national sovereignty” and went on to blame its “embrace of divisive ideological agendas” as a reason the nation dropped its membership. Forst wrote: “Racial identity politics, anti-police bias, LGBTQ+ advocacy, feminism, and climate alarmism have increasingly dominated OGP's policy agenda. These divisive agendas, driven by extreme ideological cliques, have destroyed the ability of OGP to credibly operate as a voice for transparency.” That rhetoric echoes the Trump administration's controversial efforts to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, from the federal government — whether through the termination of grants, positions, organizations, or data points. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia are asking the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general to look into the agency's broad data collection and analysis processes, according to a letter sent to the DHS IG on Thursday. The duo tasked Inspector General Joseph Cuffari with investigating the methods of data storage and use for personally identifying information, whether DHS immigration enforcement activities are based on data coming from other agencies or third parties, and where DHS collects data from, among other topics. The senators wrote in the letter: “We write to you to express our concern that the Department of Homeland Security is collecting sensitive personal data that can be used to circumvent civil liberty protections, including those guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment. This matter deserves your office's immediate attention, and we request that your office audit DHS' immigration procurement activities to determine whether they have led to violations of federal law and other regulations that maintain privacy and defend against unlawful searches.” Lawmakers have kept their eyes on the use of technology within the department, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in particular. In recent months, DHS has aimed to broaden its authorities by amending rules around data use and collections. Lawmakers have warned of eroding privacy protections and public trust if safeguards aren't established. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Trump administration's effort to cap the fees charged by value‑added resellers appears to be slowing down. The General Services Administration has put out a new request for information, and that pause is giving some vendors relief that the agency is taking more time to understand the market. For more on what the RFI signals and how industry is reacting, Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller joins me now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The General Services Administration has leaned into its role as a central, shared services provider for the rest of the federal government during the second Trump administration. In particular, it has taken a leadership position centralizing most federal procurement under one roof and serving as a sort of clearinghouse for federal AI efforts. With so much transformation underway, the GSA during Trump 2.0 has taken on an even brighter spotlight, fueling federal operations. Miranda Nazzaro is the FedScoop reporter covering GSA during this pivotal time, and she joins the podcast to discuss some of the agency's top priorities, from OneGov and the TMF to eliminating woke AI, among others. The Treasury Department said Monday that it would cancel all of its contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, linking the decision to a former employee now serving prison time for leaking tax returns. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a three-paragraph press release that the agency's 31 contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton — worth $21 million in total obligations and $4.8 million in annual spending — would be scrapped as part of President Donald Trump's push to “root out waste, fraud and abuse.” “Canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans' trust in government,” Bessent said. “Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.” A Booz spokesperson said in an email to FedScoop that the firm was “surprised by this announcement” — especially given Treasury's reasoning regarding Charles Edward Littlejohn, who between 2018 and 2020 leaked the confidential tax returns and information of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. “Booz Allen fully supported the U.S. government in its investigation, and the government expressed gratitude for our assistance, which led to Littlejohn's prosecution,” the Booz spokesperson said. “We were surprised by this announcement and look forward to discussing this matter with Treasury.” Per the Treasury release, the IRS determined that the data breach affected roughly 406,000 taxpayers. Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison last January after pleading guilty to one count of disclosing tax return information without authorization, leaked the returns of Trump, Elon Musk and other wealthy individuals to a pair of news organizations. NASA has a new top official for artificial intelligence and data. Kevin Murphy began serving in an acting capacity in both roles Nov. 30, 2025, NASA spokesperson Jennifer Dooren confirmed to FedScoop in an email. He replaces David Salvagnini, who was the agency's CDO for roughly two-and-a-half years, and CAIO for just over a year-and-a-half. Salvagnini was the agency's first-ever CAIO. According to Murphy's LinkedIn, he has been at NASA for over 17 years. He first served as a system architect at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has held a series of data-related roles, including chief science data officer. As the agency's lead for data science, Murphy has already worked to advance technologies — such as cloud computing, machine learning, and data platforms — for use with NASA's scientific data, per an agency bio. He also oversees the agency's high-end computing capability (HECC) portfolio, which deploys computing technologies to support large-scale modeling, simulation and analysis at the agency. Murphy's designation as acting CAIO and CDO comes after Salvagnini announced his plans to leave the agency in a LinkedIn post roughly two months ago. In that post, Salvagnini said he opted into the Trump administration's deferred resignation program. He said he began his transition Oct. 31 and would retire from federal service in the spring of 2026.

The General Services Administration is seeking input from the technology reseller community on how the agency can improve the federal procurement process, particularly regarding value-added resellers (VARs). The GSA issued a request for information Thursday, stating that it hopes to receive cost-reduction strategies for products resold to the government rather than those purchased directly from vendors. VARs, a type of government reseller, purchase infrastructure or software from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and enhance them with certain features or services before reselling to the government. An analysis of major VARs found significant differences in the services offered and markup percentages applied to the vendor pricing, according to the RFI. The market research will help determine whether the agency needs additional controls to ensure the government receives fair and reasonable pricing when markups exceed a specified percentage threshold, per the document. “The RFI seeks to gain a clearer understanding of the value added by resellers, and the resulting impact of these services on pricing and the ability to meet the government's requirements,” GSA wrote in a press release Thursday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “trying to automate as many of our business functions as possible,” the Department of Homeland Security component's top IT official said at an event Thursday in Washington, D.C. Dustin Goetz, ICE's chief information officer, said onstage during a Homeland Security and Defense Forum event that the agency is already tapping its automation toolset for compliance checks on applications, code review and identification of issues in infrastructure — but it's now looking to beef up capabilities. Goetz pointed to lower-level roles in cybersecurity, the service desk and administrative functions as prime areas for automation, saying those things can be automated with the data the agency currently has, it just needs to train models. Additionally, ICE has started using an internal AI chatbot called Stella, a project led by the DHS division's chief innovation and AI officer. The agency is open to bringing on industry partners to sharpen the tool and help ICE reach its automation goals. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Stephanie Leedom is CannonDesign's Executive Director for the Great Lakes Region. In this role, she provides strategic leadership across offices in Chicago, Buffalo, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and the firm's newest office in Minneapolis.For 20 years, Stephanie worked in public service; serving with the Peace Corps in Honduras and working as an Architect at the General Services Administration; Architect/ Division Chief at the US State Department managing teams and projects in Latin America, Africa, and East Asia; and Director of Planning and Development at the Fairfax County Park Authority.Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech, a Master's in Urban Design from the University of Michigan, is a licensed architect in Virginia, and serves on the AIA Strategic Council as an At-Large-Representative. We talk about:- Stephanie's decision to leave the public sector after 20 years and her tips for architects considering a values-based career pivot, including how to leverage your professional network and strategies to assess if a new team is a good fit.- We discuss the recent shifts in CannonDesign's leadership structure and how the firm is strategically building their teams and market expertise to leverage growth opportunities in the Great Lakes region.- Stephanie talks about leading the Great Lakes region remotely from Washington, DC and how she applies lessons from her GSA workplace strategy experience to build trust and collaboration in hybrid teams. She also shares more about onboarding as a leader and how she developed her 30/60/90 day plans.- While reflecting on her portfolio of work, highlighting projects in Honduras and Namibia, Stephanie elaborates on architecture's role in diplomacy and community development and how these projects have elevated women's roles in construction.>>>Connect with Stephanie: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-leedom-aia-b801348Cannon Design: https://www.cannondesign.com/>>>Thank you to our Sponsor:Arcol is a collaborative building design tool built for modern teams. Arcol streamlines your design process by keeping your model, data, and presentations in sync- enabling your team to work together seamlessly. Learn more about Arcol on their Website, Instagram, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn.>>>Connect with Architectette:- Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.architectette.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Learn more)- Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @architectette⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (See more)- Newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.architectette.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Behind the Scenes Content)- LinkedIn:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Architectette Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Page and/or⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Caitlin Brady⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>>> Support Architectette:- Leave us a rating and review!>>>Music by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AlexGrohl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The Department of Homeland Security is launching a new office focused on unmanned aircraft systems that will oversee strategic investments in drone and counter-drone technologies. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in the Monday press release: “We are entering a new era to defend our air superiority to protect our borders and the interior of the United States. This will help us continue to secure the border and cripple the cartels, protect our infrastructure, and keep Americans safe as they attend festivities and events during a historic year of America's 250th birthday and FIFA 2026.” The creation of the dedicated office builds on preceding efforts to beef up drone and counter-drone technologies. In December, FEMA awarded $250 million in grants for counter-drone capabilities to the 11 states hosting FIFA World Cup 2026 matches and Washington, D.C. DHS also expanded authorization the same month to allow state and local law enforcement to combat drone threats, according to the announcement. The department is also fielding proposals from industry partners for a $1.5 billion contract that will facilitate the procurement of these technologies for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The new Program Executive Office has “already begun its work,” according to DHS. The drone-focused entity is finalizing a $115 million investment in counter technologies that will support the two upcoming celebrations. The funding and focus come amid heightened risks regarding threat actors' use of unmanned aircraft systems. DHS said Monday that the agency has conducted 1,500-plus missions to address illicit drone activities since 2018. Unauthorized drones have impeded sporting events, disrupted public gatherings and sparked concern among residents. Calls on Congress to put money into the Technology Modernization Fund may have been answered — albeit at much lower levels than what the General Services Administration-run funding vehicle for agency IT projects has been accustomed to. Senate and House Appropriations Committee lawmakers released a package of conferenced bills Sunday to fund several federal agencies through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including GSA. Tucked into the 488-page agreement was a note that $5 million would be provided to the TMF, “to remain available until expended.” The appropriations bills must still be passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president before the funding can take effect. The potential funding comes as the TMF expired last month for the first time since it was created in 2017, freezing nearly $200 million in funding for agency technology projects. The program has enjoyed bipartisan support since its launch nearly a decade ago: former Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., was a staunch advocate for the program until his death from cancer last year, while Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has led a sustained push for TMF's reauthorization. The fund has similarly strong backing from civic technologists and industry groups, and a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told FedScoop last month that its reauthorization was a “high priority” that the Office of Management and Budget also supported. Nevertheless, efforts to get TMF reauthorization through the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act didn't pan out, leaving the program out in the cold. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Small Business Administration is enlisting Palantir's help in its nationwide probe of suspected loan fraud, as yearslong fraud allegations in Minnesota draw national attention. According to federal spending records, the SBA signed a $300,000 contract with the data analytics and software giant last week. The contract's description read “SBA Fraud Prevention Pilot and Bootcamp,” and has a projected end date of April 4. The contract, signed through the General Services Administration's Multiple Award Schedule, was made public just days after SBA Secretary Kelly Loeffler announced that the agency had suspended 6,900 Minnesota borrowers for alleged fraud following its review of thousands of pandemic-era loans administered to the state. Loeffler said the borrowers were approved for 7,900 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loans totaling about $400 million. When asked about the Palantir contract, SBA spokesperson Maggie Clemmons pointed to the agency's Minnesota probe, writing: “We're now expanding our investigations nationwide as part of a broader zero-tolerance policy on fraud.” Clemmons added: “The agency has multiple audits underway, from pandemic-era programs to federal contracting, and will work with law enforcement to hold fraudsters accountable and put the criminals who have cheated American taxpayers behind bars.” The Office of Personnel Management launched a new workforce data website last week, replacing an antiquated interface and aiming to bring more transparency to federal employment figures. OPM officially announced the new Federal Workforce Data site last Thursday, with data up to November for most categories. That site includes accessible statistics of interest — such as a reduction of 220,000 workers under President Donald Trump — as well as multiple interactive charts that users can filter by agency, timeframe, or other factors. In a written statement, OPM Director Scott Kupor called the website “a major step forward for accountability and data-driven decision-making across government.” While federal workforce data has long been made publicly available online, the old interface, FedScope, was cumbersome and offered data updates on a quarterly basis that lagged by months. In addition to a more modern interface, the new website adds datasets for payroll and recruitment, and promises updates on a faster monthly interval. Per a note on the website, FedScope will no longer be available as of Jan. 28. Despite controversy over the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the workforce, publication of the website was immediately well received by federal data users and advocates. In comments to FedScoop, several sources both applauded the new website and noted that interest in improving the publication of federal workforce data began before the current administration. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Trump administration reshaped many agencies this year. But the General Services Administration became the focus point of many governmentwide changes. The Department of Government Efficiency set high cost-cutting goals for GSA. Next year, an agency watchdog take a closer look at whether it met those targets. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman has more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Early in the Trump administration the Department of Government Efficiency directed the General Services Administration to take major cuts to leased office space. GSA officials say they successfully terminated hundreds of leases this year, but far fewer than goals set by DOGE. These updated figures come at a time when government officials are taking stock of DOGE's impact, and whether agencies came close to achieving the Trump administration's government efficiency goals. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman joins me with more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The House on Monday passed a bill that would revamp how agencies purchase software, putting the legislation in the same place it was a year ago: waiting for the Senate to follow suit as the clock ticks down on the congressional calendar. The Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act would require agencies to examine their software licensing practices, with the aim of streamlining IT buying practices to avoid duplicative purchases. The bill is identical to legislation that passed the House last December but did not move forward in the Senate. The House bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, Pat Fallon, R-Texas, and April McClain Delaney, D-Md., would press agencies to better manage their software without limiting procurement options. They would be required to submit IT assessments to the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration and Congress, so better oversight could be conducted. On the House floor Monday, Brown credited her three co-sponsors as well as former Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who died of cancer in May after taking the lead on this bill in addition to his myriad other government IT efforts. Brown, ranking member of the House Oversight Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation subcommittee, said the SAMOSA Act is a “straightforward good government bill that has strong bipartisan support from members of the Oversight Committee.” A new bill from Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., would establish a national network of cloud laboratories led by the National Science Foundation and supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with the goal of enhancing collaboration between institutions while improving research efficiency with AI. If passed, NSF will select up to six programmable cloud laboratories from a range of applicants, including academic institutions and private-sector research groups. NIST would be tasked with setting standards and reporting to Congress about the feasibility for expansion. The bill, introduced last week, aligns with provisions laid out by the Trump administration's AI Action Plan and aims to codify existing NSF proposals, according to the sponsors. NSF earmarked $100 million for a similar AI-powered cloud network in August as it looked to expand access to emerging technologies. Researchers in the co-sponsors' home states have developed methods to ease automated discoveries, which will serve as a blueprint for the national effort. NSF will judge applicants on the level of existing data integration and automated capability infrastructure and capacity to support multi-user cloud workflows, among other criteria. In addition to bipartisan backing, the legislation garnered support from officials at Carnegie Mellon University, the Accelerate Science Now coalition and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Trump administration is aiming to release its six-part national cybersecurity strategy in January, according to multiple sources familiar with the document. The document, which is a mere five pages long, will possibly be followed by an executive order to implement the new strategy. The administration has been soliciting feedback in recent days, which one source considered more of a “messaging” document than anything, with more important work to follow. According to sources familiar with the strategy, the six “pillars” focus on cyber offense and deterrence; aligning regulations to make them more uniform; bolstering the cyber workforce; federal procurement; critical infrastructure protection; and emerging technologies. An opening section of the draft offers a Trumpian call for a more muscular approach to cyberspace. Despite its short length — the Biden administration's cybersecurity strategy was 35 pages long — it touches on a significant number of topics. Those subjects include cybercrime, China, artificial intelligence, post-quantum cryptography and more. A source told CyberScoop the administration appeared genuinely interested in soliciting feedback on the strategy to incorporate or change. The release date of the strategy is fluid. While the administration is targeting January, its publication might follow the broader national security strategy. In other news: Anthropic's Claude for Government is now available across the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal announcement obtained by FedScoop. The launch was announced in an email to staff Wednesday from HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill, and comes two months after the department made ChatGPT available to all of its workers. O'Neill encouraged workers to use either ChatGPT or Claude for their queries or “ask both and compare the responses.” He said in his email: “HHS users can work confidently and securely, with minimal restrictions on the types of information entered, while maintaining full compliance with federal cybersecurity and privacy standards. With this release, we are ensuring that all divisions, programs, and employees have access to two secure cutting-edge AI capabilities.” The email doesn't mention specific contracting details of how HHS is providing access to the tool, but ChatGPT at least was provided through the company's nearly free OneGov deal with the General Services Administration. Anthropic similarly has such a deal with GSA to offer its services to government customers for a nominal fee of $1. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Department of Heath and Human Services has been leaning into the use of artificial intelligence to drive better health outcomes for the American public, highlighted by the rollout of ChatGPT across the agency early this fall. In particular, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been a leader in generative AI adoption since 2023. And Travis Hoppe, CDC's chief AI officer, believes AI innovation can continue to move the needle on public health operations. Hoppe joined me recently onstage at FedTalks to share the latest on CDC's AI journey, how the Trump administration's AI Action Plan is guiding the agency's implementation and what's next. The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking for information on potential AI uses for its mission, following an executive order to establish an integrated AI platform that will fuel scientific discovery. In a request for information posted to SAM.gov on Monday, the Department of Energy subcomponent that oversees the nation's nuclear stockpile said it's exploring the use of the budding technology, and specifically requested information about its use in classified environments, best practices for data curation, and how to approach developing and enhancing AI models, among other things. The request comes just a week after the Trump administration launched the “Genesis Mission,” aimed at scientific discovery through AI. That effort will not only create an AI platform for such discovery, but it will also depend on the country's existing research and development infrastructure, including DOE and its national labs. To further the Genesis program, NNSA said it's proactively exploring the use of AI for its “critical operations to accelerate nuclear weapons development timelines, ensuring our deterrent remains responsive, effective, and state-of-the-art against evolving global threats.” Software company SAP inked a new agreement with the General Services Administration to offer federal agencies access to its services at significantly discounted rates, deepening its longstanding partnership with the federal government. The GSA announced the OneGov deal Tuesday, stating that the agreement offers up to 80 percent discounts on SAP's database, cloud, and analytics services. The agency estimated this will lead to $165 million in savings for federal agencies. Specifically, agencies will be able to access products related to SAP's database and data management services with an 80 percent discount. SAP's cloud services, including SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud and HR Payroll, will be offered at a 35 percent discount, GSA said. Also in this episode: Databricks VP of Public Sector Todd Schroeder joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on why agencies are prioritizing the use of AI that works across existing data environments, saving time and infrastructure costs. This segment was sponsored by Databricks. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, is ramping up its push for government use, inking a new deal with the General Services Administration to offer its product for just 25 cents per agency. GSA announced the deal with Perplexity on Wednesday, emphasizing that the product will be offered directly through the agency's Multiple Award Schedule rather than through a government reseller, a first-of-its-kind agreement. The move aligns with GSA's OneGov initiative, which aims to work directly with technology vendors to cut prices and streamline contracting. Under the deal, Perplexity's Enterprise Pro for Government will be available on GSA's MAS for a quarter to agencies over an 18-month term. In doing so, Perplexity also received prioritized authorization under FedRAMP, the government's primary security review program that approves cloud-based technologies for federal use. Perplexity is only the second company to do so, joining OpenAI, which received prioritized authorization in September. According to GSA, Perplexity's Enterprise platform was also streamlined through the FedRAMP 20x pilot, which is focused on simplifying the cloud services approval process and reducing the timeline from months to weeks. Perplexity's platform uses large language models from other companies, such as Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's ChatGPT, to conduct real-time internet searches and generate summaries for users. GSA noted Perplexity's platform has optional connections to common agency systems like Microsoft's OneDrive, Outlook or SharePoint. The Department of Health and Human Services is exploring how artificial intelligence can support caregivers with the launch of a new $2 million prize competition for AI caregiver tools. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the “Caregiver Artificial Intelligence Prize Competition” at an event Tuesday for National Family Caregivers Month, stating the agency is calling on engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs to use AI to “make caregiving smarter, simpler and more humane.” Kennedy said: “Many caregivers work around the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking care of their loved ones with lifelong disabilities, dementia or chronic illness. Too many lose their income, their job, their aspirations and ambitions for themselves and even their own health in the process.” The HHS's Administration for Community Living (ACL) emphasized that the direct care workforce is facing increased shortages, leaving family caregivers to fill the void. According to an AARP report published in July, nearly 1 in 4 adults provided ongoing care for an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability. These caregivers spend, on average, about $7,200 a year in out-of-pocket caregiving expenses, the report found. The competition will seek tools that benefit the professional care workforce or personal caregivers. Developers could be awarded up to $2 million for the products. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Nearly two months after calling on the Office of Management and Budget to bar use of xAI's Grok chatbot in government, a coalition of advocacy groups is pressing its case further after the General Services Administration struck a deal with Elon Musk's AI company to deploy Grok across the federal government. In a letter sent Wednesday to OMB Director Russell Vought, the advocacy groups reiterated their concerns in the wake of the GSA OneGov deal, along with recent comments from Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “OMB is entrusted with ensuring that AI systems procured by the federal government meet the highest standards of truth-seeking, accuracy and neutrality,” the letter, led by Public Citizen, stated. “Grok has repeatedly demonstrated failures in these areas and Director Kratsios himself has confirmed that such behavior is the precise type that Executive Order 14319 was designed to prevent.” The letter refers to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in July that seeks to prevent “woke AI,” or ideological biases in models that are used by the federal government. The groups argued in their August letter to Vought that the use of Grok contradicts this order, given its past controversies with spewing antisemitic and pro-Hitler content. Weeks after the letter was sent, GSA inked a deal with xAI to offer Grok models to the government for a nominal cost. Under the deal, federal agencies can buy Grok 4 and Grok 4 Fast for 42 cents until March 2027. The White House appears to be moving forward with plans to redesign federal government websites, registering a new government domain — techforce.gov — this week. The new URL, which was first discovered Thursday by a bot tracking new government domains, leads to a sign-in page that states “National Design Studio” and “Tech Force” at the top. It includes a form for users to submit their email and receive a code to access the website. Records maintained by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency show the domain was registered Oct. 24 and last changed Wednesday. The domain registration comes more than two months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order launching an “America by Design” initiative focused on both digital and physical spaces. A new National Design Studio and chief design officer will lead the initiative and coordinate agency actions. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Ralph answers some of your recent questions about the genocide in Gaza, how to jumpstart civic engagement, and more!Your feedback is very important. And the more detailed and factual it is, the better off the impact will be by your initiative and getting back to us. You have to be active in a program like this. Because we're not just talking to the choir here. We want the choir to sing back—in affirmation or dissent.Ralph NaderI was astonished…how disinterested the American people are in empowering themselves. That's the problem we have. The lack of civic motivation, the lack of saying, “Look, we've given our power to only 535 people in the Congress, and they've turned it against us on behalf of some 1,500 corporations. We're going to turn it around. We're the sovereign power.” As I've said a hundred times, the Constitution starts with “We the people,” not “We the Congress” or “We the corporations.” And the people don't seem to want to focus on that. If they had anyone in their neighborhood and community who were treating them the way Congress is treating them—as voters, as workers, as consumers, as parents, as children, as taxpayers—they would never allow it.Ralph NaderYou get more and more voters vulnerable to just what comes out of a politician's mouth. Remember, everything Trump has achieved politically has come out of his mouth—not out of his deeds, just out of his mouth. Repeatedly, unrebutted largely over the mass media, and faithfully relayed to the American people by a supine media which points out his mistakes once in a while, but it was too little, too late.Ralph NaderNews 9/26/25* This week, the campaign for Palestinian statehood notched major victories. According to the BBC, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia and Portugal all announced on Sunday that they would recognize the state of Palestine. They are expected to be joined by a number of smaller states, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra and San Marino. These countries, all traditionally close allies of the United States and Israel, join the 140 countries that already recognize the State of Palestine. A statement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explains that this move is “part of a co-ordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.” These heads of state are pursuing this policy despite a thinly veiled threat from Congressional Republicans, a group of whom – including Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Elise Stefanik – sent a letter to President Macron and Prime Ministers Starmer, Carney and Albanese warning them of possible “punitive measures in response,” and urging them to “reconsider,” per the Guardian.* In more Palestine news, as the Global Sumud Flotilla draws near to the coast of Gaza, they are apparently under low-level attack. Al Jazeera reports the flotilla, “has reported explosions and communications jamming as drones hovered overhead.” In response, the United Nations has called for a probe, with UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan stating, “There must be an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the reported attacks and harassment by drones and other objects.” In response to this harassment, Reuters reports Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto expressed the “strongest condemnation” and ordered the “Italian multi-purpose frigate Fasan, previously sailing north of Crete, to head towards the flotilla ‘for possible rescue operations', focusing primarily on Italian citizens.” The strong response by the Italian government is likely related to the labor unrest the targeting of the flotilla has engendered within the country. ANSA, a leading Italian news outlet, reports the Unione Sindacale di Base or USB “would proclaim a wildcat general strike and protests in 100 Italian cities for Gaza after the success of Monday's stoppage and protests involving an estimated 500,000 people in 80 cities.” The union has organized these massive protests under the slogan “let's block everything.”* In more foreign policy news, following on the heels of the protests in Nepal, anti-corruption protestors took to the streets in the Philippines this week, Time reports. The acute cause of these protests was a recent audit which found widespread corruption in the country's flood control projects. The Philippines has invested around $9.5 billion on such projects since 2022, but these have been plagued by kickback schemes, resulting in shoddy work and even deaths. Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., aka “Bongbong,” sympathized with the protestors, saying “Do you blame them for going out into the streets? If I wasn't President, I might be out in the streets with them…Of course, they are enraged. Of course, they are angry. I'm angry. We should all be angry. Because what's happening is not right.” The potency of these protests is likely to grow as the Philippines was hit this week by Typhoon Ragasa, which is reported to have killed three Filipinos this week, per NBC.* For our final foreign policy update, just days after the dubiously-legal strikes that killed 11 Venezuelans on a boat the U.S. claims was being used to transport drugs, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sent a letter to American special envoy Richard Grenell, per CNN. In this letter, Maduro denies any involvement with narco-trafficking, calling the allegations “fake news, propagated through various media channels,” and calling for Trump to “promote peace through constructive dialogue and mutual understanding throughout the hemisphere.” Trump brushed off Maduro, saying “We'll see what happens with Venezuela,” perhaps implying a renewed attempt to remove the Venezuelan president. Since then, the U.S. has conducted more of these lethal strikes, with no conclusive proof of the victims' criminality. The U.S. government is offering a $50 million bounty for Maduro's arrest.* Moving northward, a disturbing story comes to us from Florida. The Miami Herald reports, “As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined.” Speaking to the paper, attorneys characterized entering the facility as entering “an alternate [immigration] system where the normal rules don't apply.” This story cites one case of a man “accidentally deported to Guatemala before a scheduled bond hearing,” similar to the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, and a Cuban man supposedly transferred to a facility in California but who could not be located there. This kind of disappearing of migrants adds fuel to the fire of the worst suspicions about the administration's immigration policies. The Florida facility was forced to halt operations after a court ruling in August, but an appeals court has now overruled that ruling. The future of the site and its detainees remains uncertain.* In another instance of what appears to be a cover-up by the Trump administration, NPR reports the Department of Agriculture will “end a longstanding annual food insecurity survey.” In a statement, the USDA called the report “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous.” This removes another crucial data tool, following the discontinuation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' jobs report Trump ended just weeks ago. The signature legislation of Trump's second term thus far, the One Big Beautiful Bill, expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is estimated to cut food aid to 2.4 million Americans. That will surely add to the 47.4 million food insecure households recorded in 2023. Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), told NPR “The national food insecurity survey is a critical, reliable data source that shows how many families in America struggle to put food on the table…Without that data, we are flying blind.”* And in another assault on the regulatory state, the Supreme Court this week allowed Trump to keep Rebecca Slaughter – the last remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission – out of her post for another three months. POLITICO reports the high court is reviewing a 90-year-old law which “limit[s] the president's power to fire…officials for political reasons.” According to this report, many expect the conservative majority on the court will rule that that law “unconstitutionally interferes with the president's ability to control the executive branch.” If so, Trump will be able to remove Slaughter permanently – along with any other remaining Democrats within the regulatory apparatus.* On the media front, ABC – and its parent company, Disney – have balked, reinstating Jimmy Kimmel's late night television program after abruptly suspending the show last week. Kimmel, in his return, clarified that “it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” but excoriated the ABC affiliates who took his show off the air, calling the move “un-American.” This from AP. Theories abound as to why exactly ABC and/or Disney walked back what seemed like a cancellation; these include a potential costly lawsuit due to wrongful termination of Kimmel's contract, as well as a coordinated boycott campaign targeting Disney's streaming service, Disney+. For his part, President Trump washed his hands of the fiasco, writing that Kimmel can “rot in his bad Ratings,” per New York Magazine.* In tech news, Axios reports the Trump administration has approved Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, for official use by every government agency. This news comes via a press release from the General Services Administration. This release quotes Musk, who says “We look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and his team to rapidly deploy AI throughout the government for the benefit of the country.” This comes after an August 25th letter in which a coalition of over 30 consumer groups – such as Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America, and the Center for AI and DigitalPolicy – urged the Office of Management and Budget, led by Russell Vought, to “take immediate action to block the deployment or procurement of Grok.” Among the concerns cited in this letter are Grok's penchant for generating “conspiratorial and inflammatory content, including accusations that South Africans were committing a ‘white genocide'...Expressing ‘skepticism' about historical consensus of the Holocaust death toll and espousing Holocaust denial talking points…[and] Referring to itself as ‘MechaHitler'.” It remains to be seen what, if any, next steps opponents can take to halt the incorporation of Grok into the daily functions of the federal government.* Finally, Adelita Grijalva has won the Arizona 7th congressional district special election in a landslide. According to preliminary reports, she swamped her Republican opponent Daniel Butierez by nearly 40 points, according to Newsweek. This is a substantially larger margin than that won by Kamala Harris in 2024, who won the district by 23 points, which itself was a 10-point decline from Joe Biden, who won the district by 33 points in 2020. Grijalva's ascension to the House will further winnow away the Republicans' razor-thin majority in that chamber, bringing the margin to 219-214. She could also prove to be the critical 218th vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files. Adelita is the daughter of Raúl Grijalva, who passed away earlier this year. The elder Grijalva was widely considered one of the most progressive House Democrats, being the first member of Congress to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2016 campaign and the second to call for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. Hopefully, the new Representative Grijalva will fill those big shoes.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

OpenAI is now going after .... Apple?