Tag: Homeland Security

Russia Poses Greater Election Threat Than Iran, Many U.S. Officials Say

New York Times logo

Russia’s hackers appeared to be preparing to sow chaos amid any uncertainty around election results, officials said.

WASHINGTON — While senior Trump administration officials said this week that Iran has been actively interfering in the presidential election, many intelligence officials said they remained far more concerned about Russia, which in recent days has hacked into state and local computer networks in breaches that could allow Moscow broader access to American voting infrastructure.

The discovery of the hacks came as American intelligence agencies, infiltrating Russian networks themselves, have pieced together details of what they believe are Russia’s plans to interfere in the presidential race in its final days or immediately after the election on Nov. 3. Officials did not make clear what Russia planned to do, but they said its operations would be intended to help President Trump, potentially by exacerbating disputes around the results, especially if the race is too close to call.

F.B.I. and Homeland Security officials also announced on Thursday that Russia’s state hackers had targeted dozens of state and local governments and aviation networks starting in September. They stole data from the computer servers of at least two unidentified targets and continued to crawl through some of the affected networks, the agencies said. Other officials said that the targets included some voting-related systems, and that they may have been collateral damage in the attacks. Continue reading.

U.S. Government Plans to Collect DNA From Detained Immigrants

New York Times logoThe Department of Homeland Security said it would begin testing on hundreds of thousands of immigrants in federal detention facilities.

The Trump administration is moving to collect DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people booked into federal immigration custody each year and to enter the results into a national criminal database, an immense expansion of the use of technology to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that the Justice Department was developing a federal regulation that would give immigration officers the authority to collect DNA in detention facilities across the country that are currently holding more than 40,000 people.

The move would funnel thousands of new records to the F.B.I., whose extensive DNA database has been limited mainly to genetic markers collected from people who have been arrested, charged or convicted in connection with serious crimes.

View the complete October 2 article by Caitlin Dickerson on The New York Times website here.

Homeland Security Dept. Affirms Threat of White Supremacy After Years of Prodding

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is beginning to address white supremacist terrorism as a primary security threat, breaking with a decade of flagging attention after bigoted mass shooters from New Zealand to Texas took the lives of nearly 100 people in the last six months.

In a little-noticed strategy document published last month to guide law enforcement on emerging threats and in recent public appearances by Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, the department is trying to project a new vigilance about violent white nationalism, beating back criticism that the agency has spent a decade playing down the issue.

“I would like to take this opportunity to be direct and unambiguous in addressing a major issue of our time. In our modern age, the continuation of racially based violent extremism, particularly violent white supremacy, is an abhorrent affront to the nation,” Mr. McAleenan said during an address last month, describing white nationalism as one of the most dangerous threats to the United States.

View the complete October 1 article by Zolan Kanno-Youngs on The New York Times website here.

Federal agency ordered to investigate Homeland Security nominee

What happens next may rest with McConnell

The Department of Energy has been told to investigate allegations of corruption by William N. Bryan, the White House’s nominee for a senior post at the Department of Homeland Security, CQ Roll Call has learned.

Bryan joins a long line of Trump administration nominees who’ve faced controversy. Just this week, the White House withdrew the nomination of Jeffrey Byard to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel told the Energy Department in a letter last month to investigate a whistleblower’s allegations that Bryan used his former position at DOE to funnel business to a private energy company.

View the complete September 19 article by Joshua Eaton on The Roll Call website here.

Trump admin pulling millions from FEMA disaster relief to send to southern border

Combined with existing space, the funding would allow ICE to detain nearly 50,000 immigrants at one time.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is pulling $271 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico, according to department officials and a letter sent to the agency by a California congresswoman.

To fund temporary locations for court hearings for asylum-seekers along the southern border, ICE would gain $155 million, all from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, according to the letter from Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., which was seen by NBC News.

The allocations were sent to Congress as a notification rather than a request, because the administration believes it has the authority to repurpose these funds after Congress did not pass more funding for ICE detention beds as part of an emergency funding bill for the southwest border in June.

View the complete August 27 article by Julia Ainsley and Frank Thorp V on the NBS News website here.

Nielsen claims asylum seekers are not being turned away at ports of entry

Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee on border security on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 6, 2019. Credit: Jim WATSON, AFP, Getty Images

“Madam Secretary, either you’re lying to this committee or you don’t know what’s happening at the border.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen faced brutal questioning about the rights of asylum seekers from Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA), during a hearing Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee.

Seeking asylum in the United States is not a crime. However, under the Trump administration, asylum seekers from several Central American countries have been turned away at ports of entry. In some cases, they are forced to remain in Mexico while they await their cases in U.S. immigration court.

Barragan challenged Nielsen about that practice, and questioned whether she was even aware of its existence.

View the complete March 6 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

Liar Lies

The following article by Paul Blest was posted on the Splinter website June 17, 2018:

Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, possibly in response to a calloutfrom GOP senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins today, tweeted out a demonstrably false statement about the Trump administration’s family separation policy this evening: that it does not exist.

Continue reading “Liar Lies”

Kirstjen Nielsen, Chief of Homeland Security, Almost Resigned After Trump Tirade

The following article by Michael D. Shear and Nicole Perforth was posted on the New York Times website May 10, 2018:

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Credit: Erin Schaff, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, told colleagues she was close to resigning after President Trump berated her on Wednesday in front of the entire cabinet for what he said was her failure to adequately secure the nation’s borders, according to several current and former officials familiar with the episode.

Ms. Nielsen, who is a protégée of John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has drafted a resignation letter but has not submitted it, according to two of the people. As the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Ms. Nielsen is in charge of the 20,000 employees who work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Continue reading “Kirstjen Nielsen, Chief of Homeland Security, Almost Resigned After Trump Tirade”

Homeland Security official resigns after comments linking blacks to ‘laziness’ and ‘promiscuity’ come to light

The following article by Eli Rosenberg was posted on the Washington Post website November 17, 2017:

Rev. Jamie Johnson was director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships. (FEMA/Department of Homeland Security)

A political appointee in the Department of Homeland Security abruptly resigned after the disclosure Thursday he previously made derogatory remarks about black people and Muslims on conservative talk radio.

Rev. Jamie Johnson, who was appointed the head of the DHS’s Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships in April, appeared on the program in 2008. The comments resurfaced Thursday after CNN published a report about them with audio snippets.

Johnson’s incendiary comments about black people came on the show “The Right Balance,” on Accent Radio Network, CNN reported. An unidentified speaker on the show said “a lot of blacks are anti-Semitic” and asked Johnson why.

Johnson extolled the economic successes of American Jews and said “it’s an indictment of America’s black community that has turned America’s major cities into slums because of laziness, drug use and sexual promiscuity,” according to a recording posted by CNN. Continue reading “Homeland Security official resigns after comments linking blacks to ‘laziness’ and ‘promiscuity’ come to light”

Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website February 18, 2o17:

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly has signed sweeping new guidelines that empower federal authorities to more aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants inside the United States and at the border.

In a pair of memos, Kelly offered more detail on plans for the agency to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for removal, speed up deportation hearings and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests. Continue reading “Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants”