The List

[Gunnar]

Thank you, canpakes, for keeping us up-to-date on what is going on!

[canpakes]

.
From - https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-heal ... ions-Trump

Federal health agencies told to halt all external communications

JANUARY 22, 20253:25 PM ET
Gabrielle Emanuel, Selena Simmons-Duffin, Rob Stein

Employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were told to halt all public communications Tuesday.

NPR obtained a memo issued by the acting head of HHS, Dorothy Fink, to the heads of all the agency's operating divisions directing them to refrain from most external communications such as issuing documents, guidance, or notices until such documents can be approved by "a presidential appointee."

The action is "consistent with precedent," according to the memo, and applies until Feb. 1. The communications freeze was first reported by the Washington Post. It includes public speaking and social media.

"I look at what's going on as this administration coming in and getting their ducks in a row," said one federal official, who spoke to NPR on the condition that they not be named for fear their job could be at risk. "I think this will be temporary. How temporary? That remains to be seen. There are a lot of discussions going on right now."

One HHS employee who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity out of fear for their job said it was unclear if their team would receive permission to post information they had planned to release this week.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, president of the American Public Health Association, said he was giving the HHS team that issued this memo "the benefit of the doubt that they're simply trying to get their hands around the administration — this is a big government." He did find the memo surprising and said that it could create confusion.

He also asserted the pause could have been avoided if there had been a smoother transition between the Biden and Trump administrations.

The head of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Dr. Joseph Kanter, wrote to NPR in a statement that his group's assumption is that "the new Administration is taking time to assess the current public health landscape." He added that he understands the communication pause "will be short-lived, and that an expedited pathway exists to ensure that critical information reaches clinicians and health officials in a timely manner."

There are 13 operating divisions at HHS, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and the National Institutes of Health, among other lesser known health agencies. Overall, HHS has one of the biggest budgets in the federal government — $1.7 trillion annually — and employs about 90,000 people across these agencies.

Fink wrote in Tuesday's memo that some exceptions would be made for communications affecting "critical health, safety, environmental, financial or nation security functions," but that those would be subject to review. It also warned that any items or actions inconsistent with the request for review should be immediately withdrawn.

The media relations team at HHS did not reply to a request for comment about the communications pause. When NPR tried to reach media contacts at CDC, CMS and FDA, they referred inquiries to HHS. Media contacts at HRSA and NIH did not reply to requests for comment.

Stefanie Spear, a longtime ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is President Trump's nominee to lead HHS, is currently working as senior counselor to the health secretary and principal deputy chief of staff. Spear did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Kennedy's confirmation hearing has not been scheduled and his prospects for confirmation by the Senate are unclear.

Will Stone and Carmel Wroth contributed reporting.

[I Have Questions]

Secrecy and suppression of real information, how very 1930's Germany and current day North Korea.

[msnobody]

Already working toward retuning federal workers back to the workplace versus working from home.

[Gadianton]

oh boy, really making America great there. Sure, he can pull executive orders on federal employees, pardon criminals, and all kinds of other nonsense but none of that is why he got voted in. He hasn't said crap about inflation. I get it that none of you really care now that he's won. Sure, you don't want inflation, but you won't hold it against him either.

He's got a major vested interest against lowering inflation now (not that he can, but in right-wing pretend world), since meme coins are a liquidity sponge and will crash hard as interest rates go up.

[canpakes]

Today sees a fairly mundane day with only a few proclamations and executive order’s issued, including notice of intent to establish a ‘cryptocurrency czar’, and to restrict regulations on crypto as much as is necessary to allow the President to continue to grift off of memecoin scams.

The executive order for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a routine re-chartering (typically every few years) of this council, but it will be interesting to see who ends up being appointed to it.

Releasing more documents on JFK and RFK will help some MAGA members move beyond their conspiratorial belief that either will suddenly return and become Trump’s running mate, especially since the election is now over.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Takes Action to Enhance America’s A.I. Leadership
Briefings & Statements January 23, 2025

Fact Sheet: Executive Order to Establish United States Leadership in Digital Financial Technology
Briefings & Statements January 23, 2025

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Launches PCAST to Restore American Leadership in Science and Technology
Briefings & Statements January 23, 2025

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Orders Declassification of JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files
Briefings & Statements January 23, 2025

Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
Presidential Actions January 23, 2025

President’s Couuncil of Advisors on Science and Technology
Presidential Actions January 23, 2025
Briefings & Statements January 23, 2025

Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy
Presidential Actions January 23, 2025

Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology
Presidential Actions January 23, 2025

[canpakes]

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has now disbanded its Cyber Safety Review Board. This board included officials who had been investigating one of the biggest phone and computer hacking campaigns in U.S. history, a China-linked attack known as “Salt Typhoon.” Experts are concerned this decision could hamper efforts to fight back against similar hacks.

Trump disbands Cyber Safety Review Board, Salt Typhoon inquiry in limbo

22 Jan 2025
John Leyden - Senior Writer
Category: Advanced Persistent Threats

The administration of US President Donald Trump has dismissed all members of its Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), including those investigating the China-linked hacking group Salt Typhoon. Other groups affected by a general clear-out include the A.I. Safety and Security Board and the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

Cybersecurity experts have expressed concern about the move, arguing that US cybersecurity will suffer unless the board or something similar is re-established.

In a short statement, Benjamine Huffman, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified members on all advisory committees within the department that their services were no longer required. The move was framed as part of plan to clamp down of the “misuse of resources” in rationalising Homeland Security resources and focusing more keenly on national security issues.

“In alignment with the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security, I am directing the termination of all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately,” Huffman said in the statement.

“Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities. To outgoing advisory board members, you are welcome to reapply, thank you for your service.”

The CSRB was a creation of the Biden administration

Members of the Cyber Safety Board include an array of cybersecurity luminaries — including former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) head Chris Krebs, who was dismissed from his leadership role in the organization towards the end of the previous Trump administration. Other members included veteran cybersecurity author, investigator, and CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch and US security advisor Rob Joyce.

The CSRB was created by an executive order by the Biden administration and tasked with reviewing significant cyber incidents affecting the US federal government.

Both the CISA’s advisory panel and the Cyber Safety Review Board, which was investigating Salt Typhoon’s on US telecommunication networks, have been disbanded (at least in their current form). The CSRB previous investigated hacking group Lapsus$ and the high profile 2023 Microsoft Exchange Online breach.

Dismissing the board removes a ‘security blanket,’ experts say

“[It’s] disappointing that the CSRB was disbanded, especially given their work looking into Salt Typhoon”, Daniel Cuthbert, a security researcher and co-chair of the UK government’s Cyber Security Advisory Board, said in a post on X ( formerly Twitter). “That report would have been vitally important for not just the US but many others.”

Brian Fox, co-founder and chief technology officer at technology vendor Sonatype, told CSO that “any change in administration means we’re hitting reset on the national cybersecurity strategy.” Although the CSRB has been disbanded, “it is absolutely critical that work continues to progress at the federal level,” Fox said.

Fox added that CISA has also made progress on multiple fronts with the launch of cyber advisory boards such as the CSRB, maintenance of the National Vulnerability Database, the Secure by Design initiative, the agency’s work to champion SBOM (software bill of materials) adoption, and more.

“CISA’s work, in particular, is a security blanket that we cannot afford to lose,” Fox said. “Though CISA primarily serves to protect federal systems, the agency operates as a guiding voice for the private sector’s cybersecurity workforce.” He expressed concern that without this protection and guidance, “sophisticated state-backed threat actors have a much easier path into the networks of American organizations”.

“Incidents like the Salt Typhoon hacks which is still ongoing and being investigated by the CSRB, or the Ascension ransomware attack, which resulted in hospitals relying on handwritten notes and unable to provide care, will only become more frequent,” Fox said.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/38078 ... hacks.html

[canpakes]

Today, Trump has rescinded two earlier Executive Orders regarding reproductive/women’s health:

The following Executive Orders are hereby revoked:
(a) Executive Order 14076 of July 8, 2022; and
(b) Executive Order 14079 of August 3, 2022.

The now-rescinded executive order 14076 addressed, in part, the following:

- … identifying steps to ensure that all patients—including pregnant women and those experiencing pregnancy loss, such as miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies—receive the full protections for emergency medical care afforded under the law, including by considering updates to current guidance on obligations specific to emergency conditions and stabilizing care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, 42 U.S.C. 1395dd, and providing data from the Department of Health and Human Services concerning implementation of these efforts.

- … address potential heightened safety and security risks related to the provision of reproductive healthcare services, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consider actions, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure the safety of patients, providers, and third parties, and to protect the security of clinics (including mobile clinics), pharmacies, and other entities providing, dispensing, or delivering reproductive and related healthcare services.

- … address the potential threat to patient privacy caused by the transfer and sale of sensitive health-related data and by digital surveillance related to reproductive healthcare services, and to protect people seeking reproductive health services from fraudulent schemes or deceptive practices:

- …protect(ing) consumers' privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive healthcare services.

Well, we can’t allow that sort of data protection for women any longer, apparently. .

[canpakes]

More lawbreaking by the new Trump Administration:

Trump fires multiple agency Inspectors General
Sen. Grassley and a top watchdog said Trump did not adhere to congressional notification requirements about such removals.

SEAN MICHAEL NEWHOUSE | JANUARY 25, 2025 10:27 AM ET

President Donald Trump late Friday fired multiple inspectors general for federal agencies.

The Washington Post, which first reported the news, said at least a dozen watchdogs were removed. The New York Times and Reuters reported that the number could be up to 17.

Under federal law, Congress is supposed to receive a 30-day notice before an IG is dismissed. But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that did not happen. “There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so. I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30 day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress,” he said in a statement to Government Executive.

Grassley in November told Politico that Trump should not pursue a mass firing of IGs.

“I guess it’s the case of whether he believes in congressional oversight, because I work closely with all the inspector generals and I think I’ve got a good reputation for defending them," Grassley said. "And I intend to defend them."

In a letter obtained by Politico, Hannibal “Mike” Ware, the chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, informed the White House on Friday that he does not believe the removals of him and others are legal because of the ignored notice period.

“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action. At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General,” Ware wrote. He is the IG for the Small Business Administration and acting IG for the Social Security Administration.

During Trump’s first term, he fired five IGs over a span of six weeks in 2020.

“Trump’s Friday night coup to overthrow legally protected independent inspectors general is an attack on transparency and accountability, essential ingredients in our democratic form of government,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement.

“Replacing independent inspectors general with political hacks will harm every American who relies on social security, veterans benefits and a fair hearing at IRS on refunds and audits.”

James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of that committee, said at a Dec. 10 hearing that he was trying to work with the new administration on identifying poor-performing IGs.

“This committee has jurisdiction over the inspector general. I have found there are good inspector generals, there are average IGs and there are poor IGs,” he said. “We're trying to work with the new administration on identifying which is which, so we need the IGs to work with us because finally this town is fixing to get serious about being more efficient.”

Comer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prior to Friday’s mass firing, there were 15 IG vacancies.

The IGs for the Intelligence Community and CIA recently left their positions before the start of Trump’s second term.

https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2025/ ... al/402504/


Just prior to this action, multiple Congressfolks reached out to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, sharing their concern for this possible action:








The CIGIE Chairperson - aptly named Hannibal Ware - has responded:



Shots fired.

[Doctor Steuss]

So far, from Trump's J-6 pardons, three have been arrested for child porn, one is on the run from soliciting a minor, one is dead after a confrontation with police, and one arrested for gun charges.

When Trump sends his supporters, he's not sending his best. They're bringing child porn. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists...

Making America Great Again.