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Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco journeyed to San Francisco this week to attend the 2024 RSA Cybersecurity Conference. The trip was part of her effort to highlight the Justice Department's initiatives in combating cybercrime and other persistent and emerging threats to national security, including the misuse of disruptive technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

In the midst of widespread accusations against new technologies and the tech companies that produce them, a recently published book seeks to debunk these allegations. "Technology Fears and Scapegoats," authored by Robert D. Atkinson and David Moschella, leading experts on technology and innovation, presents an argument that many of these charges are myths, falsehoods, and exaggerations.

"Privacy advocates, however, have been far from satisfied with the new amendments to FISA. For instance, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Brennan Center for Justice and FreedomWorks issued a paper stating: 'Making 56 ineffective tweaks to a fundamentally broken law is not reforming it.'"

With the recent implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, Illinois has made history by becoming the first state to abolish cash bail in all cases. The Act shifts the focus from wealth to safety in pretrial decision-making, ensuring that individuals accused of a crime are not held in jail for extended periods while awaiting trial simply because they lack financial resources. A new issue brief from the Center for American Progress delves into how this act could improve both safety and justice throughout Illinois' pretrial system and potentially serve as a blueprint for...

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® and AdvaMed convened a policy briefing on remote patient monitoring (RPM) today, led by Congressional Digital Health Caucus Chairs Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) and Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has acknowledged a cyber incident involving Ascension Health. The department is currently in communication with Ascension Leadership to understand their efforts aimed at minimizing any disruptions to patient care caused by the incident.

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) is currently facing a federal indictment for allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank and an oil company controlled by the Azerbaijani government. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Cuellar of using his congressional position and committee assignments to manipulate U.S. policy in favor of these entities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement in an administrative penalty case with Professional Contract Sterilization, Inc. (PCS). The case was related to alleged violations of Clean Air Act reporting requirements at PCS's Ethylene Oxide sterilization facility in Taunton, Massachusetts.

Maryland has enacted a privacy law that has been met with opposition from the advertising industry. The Electronic Privacy Information Center lauded the new statute, declaring it "sets a new standard for state privacy laws."

The Department of Labor has taken an important step in addressing the dangers of workplace heat and moved closer to publishing a proposed rule to reducing the significant health risks of heat exposure for U.S. workers in outdoor and indoor settings.

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) will hold an in-person public meeting with online access from 12:30 p.m. until 1:45 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, 2024.  A panel of experts will review and discuss the Commission’s most recent special report, The Global Engagement Center: A Historical Overview 2001-2021.

An indictment was unsealed today in the Eastern District of Virginia, charging seven men with racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The charges are related to their alleged involvement in a large-scale gas pump skimming device organization.

Today, a bicameral and bipartisan group in Congress issued their guidance for a National Maritime Strategy focused on reversing the decline of America’s maritime power. Their report highlights the maritime power of China compared to where the United States is today. China has 35 times as many ocean vessels than the United States. It has nearly four times as many workers in its shipbuilding workforce. China is building 1,700 more ships a year than the United States.

The Department of Defense (DoD) released its annual Freedom of Navigation (FON) Report for Fiscal Year 2023 on May 8, 2024. During the period from October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2023, U.S. forces operationally challenged 29 different excessive maritime claims advanced by 17 different claimants throughout the world.

The Department of Labor today announced strategic changes to the structure of its Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional operations designed to direct its resources effectively and make the agency more resilient. The changes include the creation of a new OSHA regional office in Birmingham, Alabama, overseeing agency operations in the state, and those in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee as well as the Florida Panhandle. The Birmingham Region will address the area’s growing worker population and the hazardous work done by people...

"The former owner of contractor companies that provided fuel truck services to the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire fighters pleaded guilty today to conspiring to monopolize, rigging bids and allocating territories in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The plea follows a judicially authorized wiretap investigation that led to the indictment of two executives in December 2023.According to a plea agreement and superseding information filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, Ike Tomlinson, 60, conspired with co-defendant Kris Bird, 61,...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 is hosting a virtual Environmental Justice Community Stakeholder Meeting on May 16, 2024, to engage with the public. The event aims to inform attendees about the agency's environmental justice initiatives.

On May 7, CDT joined 50 other civil society organizations in a letter to Meta executives urging them to maintain the full functionality of CrowdTangle beyond Inauguration Day through at least January 31, 2025, to ensure this vital tool can be used to ensure the integrity of this important election cycle. CDT previously signed a coalition letter in March immediately after Meta’s announcement that it would shut down this service. CrowdTangle is a critical tool employed by a vast network of journalists, researchers, and election observers to scrutinize the flow of information...

The U.S. government is taking steps to regulate the use of data purchased from commercial brokers by intelligence agencies. The principles were released by a top spy official, aiming to provide a framework for the appropriate utilization of such information.

Microsoft and LinkedIn released the 2024 Work Trend Index on the state of AI at work on May 8, 2024. The report, titled "AI at work is here. Now comes the hard part," is based on a survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, labor and hiring trends on LinkedIn, and trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, among other research sources. The study reveals the significant impact of AI on the global workforce and the challenges faced by leaders in harnessing its potential for business success.

On May 8, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a joint plan to update their regulations and oversight mechanisms for biotechnology products. This move comes in response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14081, “Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy.”

The House Committee on Natural Resources is continuing its investigation into the use of 30x30 initiative funds allocated by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Committee members have expressed their frustration with CEQ's lack of response to previous oversight requests. A letter addressed to CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory highlights the committee's determination to ensure transparency in the use of public funds for the 30x30 initiative:

"The United States, as Chair of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), and MSP partners welcome the new deal finalized between STL, a subsidiary of La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Belgian company Umicore that advances cooperation on germanium offtake and processing. This collaboration among MSP partners and the private sector is a powerful demonstration of the MSP’s capacity to secure and diversify critical mineral supply chains, which bring economic benefits to local communities and source countries like...

Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero has been confirmed as a speaker at the World Economic Forum’s Industry Strategy Meeting 2024. The event is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from 8:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. (EDT) at the Deutsche Bank Center in New York, NY. The announcement of Commissioner Goldsmith Romero's participation in the prestigious event was made recently, generating anticipation and interest among attendees and industry professionals. The Industry Strategy Meeting organized by the World Economic Forum is known for bringing together key figures...

The corporate provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, colloquially known as the “Trump tax cuts,” were largely permanent; however, the individual and estate tax provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025. A new Center for American Progress analysis based on a new set of Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates finds that permanently extending the expiring provisions of the Trump tax cuts would, in 2024 dollars, cost $10.3 trillion over 30 years.