In recent months, the US Navy has silently dismissed a number of prominent leaders and officials, in a move that violated its usual approach to announcing these decisions, which sparked sharp criticism within Congress.
Two Democratic members of Congress said Thursday that the Navy did not notify Congress of the dismissal of the entire command crew of a nuclear-powered attack submarine last month, following an underwater collision. In a separate incident, the Navy removed the commander of a destroyer operating in the Middle East from his position in September, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel files.
Dr. Brian Monahan, a Navy rear admiral and physician accredited to Congress and the Supreme Court, also left his position amid a Navy investigation, without any official announcement or confirmation.
These three cases represent an exception to the Navy's usual approach in announcing the dismissals of senior commanders and officials. It also coincides with the escalation of secrecy imposed on military operations, especially in the Middle East.
“As a result of the Navy’s failure to communicate, what should have been a routine information-sharing process has instead raised questions about its commitment to transparency and a productive working relationship with Congress,” Reps. Joe Courtney of Connecticut and Adam Smith of Washington state wrote in a letter to Navy leaders.
These developments may lead to a controversial hearing next week to confirm the appointment of Acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Kao, at a time when he seeks to assume the position permanently as the highest civilian official in the ministry.
Restrictions on the exchange of military information were not limited to naval forces only.
US Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, has revealed few details about recent limited strikes on Iran, and has declined to comment on or specify damage to bases or equipment, usually citing the need to maintain operational security.
Major providers of satellite images, contracted with the United States, withheld images of the region or delayed their publication at the request of American officials. As a result, it took several months to verify that Iranian missile and drone strikes had damaged or destroyed facilities at 26 military bases and other sites housing American equipment, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.
Democrat Cindy Holscher won the position of governor of the US state of Kansas, narrowly defeating her Republican rival, Ty Masterson, to keep the position in her party's control and consolidate the wide series of gains achieved by Democrats at the US level.
Democrats had secured a majority of US governorships for the first time in two decades, even before the close race in Kansas was decided.
Holscher, a state senator, has promised to halt the construction of new data centers, and has pushed back against the torrent of money pumped by Republicans to support Masterson, the president of the GOP-controlled state Senate. Hoelscher will succeed Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat whose term has expired.
“Kansans sent a clear message that they want our state to keep moving forward,” Holscher said in a video posted online Tuesday, two days before the result was announced.
She added: “The preparatory work to assume leadership has already begun.”
Masterson remains the top Republican leader in the Kansas Senate. Before the election result was announced, he promised to continue fighting for lower property taxes — his biggest campaign promise — and for safer communities and better schools.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Thursday that state-backed hackers in North Korea stole more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrencies over the past 18 months, through surreptitiously taken photos of people and then using them to target their acquaintances.
Victims are lured into video chats through fake versions of video meeting programs such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, and within a scheme that the FBI calls the “Face Stealer” or “Face Stealer,” where the targets receive invitations from real contacts with whom they have previously interacted, but their accounts on social media and other means of communication have been hacked and their photos are secretly recorded.
Once they join the call — which is also recorded — victims encounter a fake technical error that requires them to be fixed by clicking on a link, which in turn infects the victim's computer and social media accounts. The victim's contacts are then used to target other people.
The alert issued on Wednesday indicated that the FBI identified and seized more than 900 videos captured by the victims' webcams.
The FBI said that electronic hackers have begun using artificial intelligence to create fake video clips using deepfake technology of well-known and influential figures in the cryptocurrency and block chain industries.
The FBI attributed these activities to a group of North Korean hackers known as “Sapphire Slate” or “UNC1069,” which is a separate group from the North Korean hackers whom the FBI linked to the recent hack of the cryptocurrency trading platform Binance, during which $6.3 billion was stolen.
