After Trump’s #DOGE action, 300 million people’s Social Security data is at risk, whistleblower says.


WASHINGTON — More than 300 million Americans’ Social Security data was put at risk after Department of Government Efficiency officials uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight, according to a whistleblower disclosure submitted to the special counsel’s office Tuesday.

Whistleblower Charles Borges, who worked as the chief data officer at the Social Security Administration since January, said the potential sensitive information that risks being released includes health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships and personal biographic data.

“Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital healthcare and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for re-issuing every American a new Social Security Number at great cost,” said the complaint.

The complaint was submitted by the Government Accountability Project and addressed to House and Senate oversight lawmakers. It requests that authorities “take appropriate oversight action.”

The whistleblower report is just the latest complaint against President Donald Trump’s DOGE and the unprecedented access it was given by the Republican administration to the vast troves of personal data across the government under the mandate of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Labor and retiree groups sued SSA earlier this year for allowing DOGE to access Americans’ sensitive agency data, though a divided appeals panel decided this month that DOGE could access the information.

SSA said in a statement that it takes whistleblower complaints seriously but seemed to downplay Borges’ accusations.

“SSA stores all personal data in secure environments that have robust safeguards in place to protect vital information. The data referenced in the complaint is stored in a long-standing environment used by SSA and walled off from the internet. High-level career SSA officials have administrative access to this system with oversight by SSA’s Information Security team. We are not aware of any compromise to this environment and remain dedicated to protecting sensitive personal data,” the agency wrote.

Borges’ complaint says he disclosed to his superiors that he believed the upload was an abuse of authority and poses a substantial threat to public health and safety, and potentially violates the law.

Andrea Meza, a lawyer representing Borges, said her client released the information “out of a sense of urgency and duty to the American public.”

Fatima Hussein, The Associated Press

Mass evacuations in eastern #Pakistan as India releases water from swollen rivers

#Trump fires Fed Governor Lisa Cook, opening new front in fight for control over central bank.
Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform that he is removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week.

Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences -- in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta -- in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.

Trump’s move is likely to touch off an extensive legal battle that will probably go to the Supreme Court and could disrupt financial markets, potentially pushing interest rates higher.

The independence of the Fed is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables it to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. If bond investors start to lose faith that the Fed will be able to control inflation, they will demand higher rates to own bonds, pushing up borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans and business loans.

Legal scholars noted that the allegations are likely a pretext for the president to open up another seat on the seven-member board so he can appoint a loyalist to push for his long-stated goal of lower interest rates.

Fed governors vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions and on issues of financial regulation. While they are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, they are not like cabinet secretaries, who serve at the pleasure of the president. They serve 14-year terms that are staggered in an effort to insulate the Fed from political influence.

No president has sought to fire a Fed governor before. In recent decades, presidents of both parties have largely respected Fed independence, though Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson put heavy pressure on the Fed during their presidencies -- mostly behind closed doors.

Still, that behind-the-scenes pressure to keep interest rates low, the same goal sought by Trump, has widely been blamed for touching off rampant inflation in the late 1960s and ’70s.

The announcement came days after Cook said she wouldn’t leave despite Trump previously calling for her to resign. Senate Democrats had expressed support for Cook, who has not been charged with wrongdoing.

“The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve member banks. The American people must have the full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook, a copy of which he posted online. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”

Trump argued that firing Cook was constitutional, even if doing so will raise questions about control of the Fed as an independent entity.

“The executive power of the United States is vested to me as President and, as President, I have a solemn duty that the laws of the United States are faithfully enacted,” the president wrote in the letter to Cook. “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office.”

Among the unresolved legal questions are if Cook could be allowed to remain in her seat while the case plays out. She may have to fight the legal battle herself, as the injured party, rather than the Fed.

In the meantime, Trump’s announcement drew swift rebuke from advocates and former Fed officials who worry that Trump is trying to exert too much power and control over the nation’s central bank.

“The President’s effort to fire a sitting Federal Reserve Governor is part of a concerted effort to transform the financial regulators from independent watchdogs into obedient lapdogs that do as they’re told. This could have real consequences for Americans feeling the squeeze from higher prices,” Rohit Chopra, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.

It is the latest effort by the administration to take control over one of the few remaining independent agencies in Washington. Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting its short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him.

Forcing Cook off the Fed’s governing board would provide Trump an opportunity to appoint a loyalist. Trump has said he would only appoint officials who would support cutting rates.

Powell signaled last week that the Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain moderate. Meanwhile, Trump will be able to replace Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. However, 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the chair might not guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.

Chris Rugaber, The Associated Press

Trump envoy says officials working ‘very, very hard’ on ending Russia-Ukraine war

#Ottawa slams Israel after official finding of famine, urges halt to escalating war. The global standard for measuring hunger is the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which found Friday that famine is occurring in parts of Gaza and likely to spread.

Israel rejects these claims and notes it has allowed an uptick in aid trucks reaching the territory after massive global pressure.

Aid groups however say what’s being allowed in is still insufficient.

Canada’s Secretary of State for International Development Randeep Sarai says Ottawa is “deeply alarmed by the horrific deteriorating conditions in Gaza” and says Israel is “failing” to live up to its obligations under international law.

The Conservatives have not directly responded to the finding of famine, but its MPs have repeatedly said that Hamas is responsible for the plight of Palestinians.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2025.

#Iran’s #Khamenei says will not bow down to U.S. The remarks, delivered at a mosque in the capital Tehran and published on Khamenei’s official website, come two months since fighting halted between Iran and its sworn enemy Israel in a war that the United States had briefly joined, and as Tehran is engaged in talks with world powers about its nuclear programme.

The rare Israeli and U.S. attacks in June, which targeted key nuclear sites and prompted Iranian retaliation, were designed to destabilise the Islamic republic, Khamenei argued.

He said that a day after “Iran was attacked” by Israel at the start of the war, “American agents” met in Europe “to discuss what government should rule Iran after the Islamic republic”.

Khamenei claimed that the United States was ultimately seeking to make Iran “obedient to it”.

To the leader, the country has emerged strong from the 12-day war in June, the most intense direct confrontation in its history with arch foes Israel and the United States.

“The Iranian nation, by standing firm alongside the armed forces, the government and the system, delivered a strong blow” to its enemies, Khamenei said.

The supreme leader, who has the final say on state affairs, also warned against internal divisions he said foreign powers were fomenting.

“The way forward for the enemy is to create discord” in Iran, he said, blaming “agents of America and the Zionist regime” -- a reference to Israel -- for seeking to sow division.

“Today, thanks to God, the country is united. There are differences of opinion, but when it comes to defending the system, defending the country, and standing up against the enemy, the people are united,” Khamenei added.

Relations between Tehran and Washington were severed after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy.

Washington has since imposed successive waves of sanctions on Tehran, most recently over its nuclear programme.

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The June war broke out as Tehran and Washington were due to hold their sixth round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, but the negotiations that had begun weeks earlier were derailed by the conflict.

Iran is due to meet on Tuesday with Britain, France and Germany for nuclear talks, as the European powers have threatened to reimpose sanctions if no agreement is reached.

U.K. vows to speed up asylum claims as hotel protests spread. The U.K. government vowed Sunday to overhaul its asylum system after weekend protests broke out across the country at hotels housing migrants.

The government said it will establish a new independent body to hear appeals by failed applicants more quickly as it attempts to end the costly use of asylum hotels, which have become the target of protests.

The protests began outside a hotel in Epping, southeast England, after one resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

The Labour government said on Friday it would appeal a court ruling blocking it from housing asylum seekers at the hotel.

The ruling triggered the announcement of protests and counter-protests outside hotels accommodating asylum seekers around the country.

A group gathered outside a Holiday Inn in Birmingham, central England, on Sunday, while police stood guard outside the Britannia Hotel in central London, the site of ongoing protests, as around 20 people demonstrated.

Other events were planned in Manchester, northwest England, and Dudley in the Midlands.

Protests under the “Abolish Asylum System” slogan were held on Saturday in cities and towns including Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Perth and in central London.

Police separated rival groups in Bristol, with officers scuffling with protesters.

“Our officers have dealt admirably with a really challenging situation,” said Keith Smith, a senior officer with Avon and Somerset Police.

“While there were moments of disturbance, we’re pleased to say the two protests have passed without significant incident,” he added.

Eleven people were arrested for various offences including being drunk and disorderly, and assault in Liverpool.

The protests began outside a hotel in Epping, southeast England, after one resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
‘Complete chaos’

The policy of housing migrants in hotels was introduced by the last Conservative government, which was ousted in 2024 elections.

The latest official data showed that 32,345 asylum seekers were temporarily housed in UK hotels at the end of March.

The government is battling to reduce the backlog of initial asylum claims and court delays over appeals, which it says is the biggest cause of pressure in the asylum accommodation system.

A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the year to June 2025 -- the highest number ever.

There are currently 106,000 cases waiting to be heard, including at least 51,000 appeals. The average wait time for an appeal is 53 weeks.

The government said that “lessons are also being learned from other European countries”, including nations where appeals are decided by an independent panel rather than absorbed into the slow-moving main judiciary system.

“We inherited an asylum system in complete chaos with a soaring backlog of asylum cases and a broken appeals system,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper in a press release.

“We are determined to substantially reduce the number of people in the asylum system as part of our plan to end asylum hotels... we cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals,” she added.

The government is under pressure to find a solution, particularly from the hard-right Reform UK party, which is riding high in the polls.

Its leader Nigel Farage told The Times newspaper that he will conduct mass deportations and organise five removal flights a day if he became prime minister.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises test of new antiair missiles.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test-firing of two types of new antiair missiles, state media said Sunday, displaying his expanding military capabilities as the South Korean and U.S. militaries carry out joint drills.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the test Saturday proved the missiles effective in countering aerial threats such as drones and cruise missiles, and that Kim assigned unspecified “important” tasks to defense scientists ahead of a major political conference expected early next year.

The report did not specify the missiles that were tested or where the event took place. It did not mention any remarks by Kim directed at Washington or Seoul.

The test coincided with new South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ’s trip to Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, where they vowed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and their trilateral partnership with the United States to address common challenges, including North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Lee was to depart for Washington on Sunday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim’s government has repeatedly dismissed calls by Seoul and Washington to restart long-stalled negotiations aimed at winding down his nuclear weapons and missiles programs, as he continues to prioritize Russia as part of a foreign policy aimed at expanding ties with nations confronting the United States.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kim has sent thousands of troops and large shipments of weapons, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to help fuel President Vladimir Putin’s warfighting.

That has raised concerns Moscow could provide technology that strengthens Kim’s nuclear-armed military, with experts pointing to North Korea’s aging antiair and radar systems as a likely area of cooperation.

South Korea’s previous conservative government said in November that Russia supplied missiles and other equipment to help strengthen air defenses of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, but did not specify which systems were provided.

Kim held a ceremony in Pyongyang last week to honor North Korean soldiers who fought in Ukraine, awarding state “hero” titles to those who returned and placing medals beside 101 portraits of the fallen, praising them as “great men, great heroes and great patriots,” state media reported.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall and about 600 of them have died in combat.

Kim has also agreed to send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to #Russia’s Kursk region, a deployment South #Korean intelligence believes could happen soon.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press

Pope affirms right of people to return home after unjust exile in meeting with Chagos #refugees.


#ROME — Pope Leo XIV strongly affirmed the right of people to return to their homes after an unjust exile, issuing the message during an audience Saturday with refugees from Chagos, the Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to the strategic U.S.-U.K. military base.

“No one can force them into exile,” history’s first American pope said.

Leo met with a delegation of about 15 refugees from Chagos, some 2,000 of whom who were evicted from their homes by Britain in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.

Displaced islanders fought for years in U.K. courts for the right to go home. In May, Britain and Mauritius signed a treaty to hand sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius that allows resettlement, while still ensuring the future of the base.
‘A grave injustice’

Leo told the refugees he was “delighted” the treaty had been reached, saying it represented a “significant victory” in their long battle to “repair a grave injustice. He praised in particular the role of the Chagossian women in peacefully asserting their rights to go home.

“The renewed prospect of your return to your native archipelago is an encouraging sign and a powerful symbol on the international stage,” Leo said in French. ”All peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and rights, in particular the right to live on their land; and no one can force them into exile.”

Leo said he hoped that Mauritian authorities will commit to ensuring their return, and pledged the help of the local Catholic Church.

One of the last remnants of the British Empire, the Chagos Islands have been under U.K. control since 1814. Britain split the islands away from Mauritius, a former British colony, in 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence.

Under the May agreement, the U.K. will pay Mauritius an average of 101 million pounds (US$136 million) a year to lease back the base for at least 99 years. It establishes a trust fund to benefit the Chagossians and says “Mauritius is free to implement a program of resettlement” on the islands other than Diego Garcia.

However, the deal does not require the residents to be resettled, and some displaced islanders fear it will be even harder to return to their place of birth after Mauritius takes control.
Plans to go home

Philippe Sands, the international lawyer who represented Mauritius in the dispute and long championed the Chagossians’ right to go home, said the pope’s words were enormously important. He noted the intimate private audience, originally expected to be part of a general audience, was apparently instigated by Leo himself.

“The words spoken by His Holiness offered clear support for the urgent return of Chagossians to the islands from which they were deported and sent the clearest possible signal to the governments of Britain, United States and Mauritius that the Vatican expects the Chagossians to be able to return and remake their lives,” he told The Associated Press after the audience.

Louis Olivier Bancoult, the head of the Chagossian delegation who has fought for more than four decades for the right to go home, said the meeting had come together very much at the last minute thanks to the bishop in Port Louis, Mauritius.

Speaking to the AP at a cafe near the Vatican, he marveled that ever since the treaty had been signed, he had met for the first time with officials from the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis. He also received representatives of the British high commission in the capital.

“For me its a miracle,” he said. “After the U.S., the U.K. and now the pope. Who will be next?”

Preparations, including the building of infrastructure on the islands, now must begin to allow the forcibly deported Chagossians, like himself, to go home.

Bancoult was four when his family was forcibly evicted from their home on the island of Peros Banhos, with the British designating him a “contract laborer” with no right of permanent residence, Sands said.

“Now we have the blessing of God,” Bancoult said, displaying a statute of the Madonna that he brought to Leo to be blessed and will be taken to Chagos.

Pope Francis visited Mauritius in 2019 and met briefly with a group of Chagossians during a general audience at the #Vatican in 2023. Francis told reporters en route home from Mauritius in 2019 that Britain should obey the United Nations and return the islands to Mauritius.

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

A growing number of phones, computers and other devices are being searched by American customs officials this year, in a trend that the U.S. government says only affects a small fraction of travellers.

The latest data show that between April and July 2025, officers working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (#CBP) conducted searches of 14,899 electronic devices, including 1,075 “advanced” searches.

That total is higher than in any single quarter in the available data since late 2018, and nearly double the 8,000 searches conducted during the same time in that fiscal year, CBP data show.

The agency’s website describes device searches as “rare,” impacting just 0.01 per cent of the more than 400 million passengers who arrived at ports of entry last fiscal year. Non-U.S. citizens made up roughly 78 per cent of those subjected to device searches during that time.

“Despite the fact that all merchandise and persons crossing the border, both inbound and outbound, are subject to inspection by CBP, the number of travelers crossing the border whose electronic devices are actually searched is small,” it reads.
‘Judiciously and responsibly’

Searches typically involve an officer manually perusing the contents of a device, not including any information that is stored remotely. Mobile data, WiFi and other connections are disabled before a search begins, CBP notes.

In cases where there is “reasonable suspicion of a violation of law … or a national security concern,” border agents may conduct an advanced search, which uses external equipment to “review, copy, and/or analyze” a device’s contents.

In the past two fiscal years, between nine and 10 per cent of all searches have been advanced, on average.

CBP says that all travellers are obligated to “present their electronic devices and the information resident on the device in a condition that allows for the examination,” if asked. Failure to comply, such as by withholding a passcode or fingerprint, does not automatically disqualify a foreign national from entry to the United States, though the agency says the device may be taken into custody anyway, and noncompliance may factor into the final decision to allow or deny entry.

“CBP has established strict guidelines, above and beyond prevailing legal requirements, to ensure that these searches are exercised judiciously and responsibly and are consistent with the public trust,” its FAQ reads. “Admissibility determinations are made based on the totality of the circumstances.”
Traveller concerns

Phone searches and other additional screening at U.S. borders have sparked concerns in recent months amid the Trump administration’s renewed scrutiny on immigration.

In April, Canada updated its travel advisory for the United States, warning that visitors should “expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices.”

“Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities,” the advisory reads. “If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation.”

According to CBP, searching devices helps to uncover a variety of criminal activity, including terrorism, child exploitation, human and drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal immigration, as well as “additional information relevant to admissibility of foreign nationals under U.S. immigration laws.”

But some have raised fears that criminality isn’t the only factor to cause issues at the border.

In March, a French scientist on his way to Houston was turned away following a search of his smartphone and laptop. The issue, according to one French cabinet minister, arose out of messages found on the phone that referenced “his political opinion on the policies of the Trump administration.”

In an interview with CTV News earlier this year, Vancouver immigration lawyer Cindy Switzer warned of the power that border agents wield.

“The issue is that border officers have full discretion in order to grant somebody admission,” she said. “They can deny somebody admission for any reason.”

With flies from CTV News Vancouver’s Ben Miljure and AFP

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics-fy2023