State Department

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After 3 Months, Hackers Still Plaguing State Dept.

Malware keeps getting tweaked, insiders say

(Newser) - The hackers that got into the State Department's unclassified email system three months ago are still there, and they seem to be harder to get rid of than bedbugs, insiders say. Investigators believe the hackers first got into the network through an infected link in an email that spread...

Tiny State Dept. Agency to Fight ISIS' Tweets

Obama administration expanding countermessaging against ISIS

(Newser) - The Obama administration has a plan to fight back against ISIS propaganda, and it involves what the New York Times calls a "tiny State Department agency." The Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications , created in 2011, has always been tasked with coordinating "countermessaging" against extremists, but now it...

Latest Federal Hacking Victim: State Department

Senior officials say unclassified email, public websites shut down for fixes

(Newser) - The good news: The hackers that recently accessed the State Department's computer networks got their hands on unclassified information only. The slightly more worrisome news: The State Department is the fourth federal agency to fall prey to computer security breaches over the past couple of months, joining the White...

US Paid Suspected Nazis Millions in Social Security

Benefits continue after they voluntarily leave US

(Newser) - As an incentive to get them off American soil, Nazi war criminals and suspects were in many cases allowed to keep their Social Security benefits. That left dozens of them—at least 38 of 66 suspects since 1979—to receive millions in US taxpayer dollars over the years, the AP...

US Fights ISIS Propaganda —With Propaganda

State Department has gotten into the business of posting graphic videos

(Newser) - A new YouTube video depicts ISIS in all its brutality, but this time ISIS isn’t responsible—bizarrely, the US State Department is, the Washington Post reports. Mock recruitment video "Welcome to ISIL-Land" is 69 seconds of graphic violence meant to undermine the abundance of ISIS online propaganda. The...

US: Russia Firing on Ukraine
 US: Russia Firing on Ukraine 
Jul 24, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

US: Russia Firing on Ukraine

State Department says Moscow also providing more big rocket-launchers

(Newser) - Global condemnation apparently hasn't fazed Vladimir Putin: The Obama administration today accused Russia of firing artillery from its territory into Ukraine to hit military sites and asserted that Moscow is boosting its supply of weaponry to pro-Russian separatists. "We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver...

US Says Russia Sent Tanks Into Ukraine

Rocket launchers, too

(Newser) - Russia keeps talking a good game about de-escalating the violence in Ukraine, but the US today says it has three hulking pieces of evidence that the talk isn't translating into reality. The State Department has concluded that three T-64 tanks spotted yesterday crossing over the Ukraine border were indeed...

US to Citizens: Get Out of Libya

State Department warns of 'unpredictable and unstable' situation

(Newser) - Any Americans still in Libya should get out immediately because of the "unpredictable and unstable" security situation, the State Department warns. After an attack on the country's parliament earlier this month and continued conflict between a renegade general and Islamist militias, the US is poised to evacuate its...

Environmentalists Happy as White House Delays Keystone Decision

It will likely wait until after the midterm elections

(Newser) - The White House was supposed to wrap up its review of the proposed Keystone oil pipeline in another two weeks. But in a surprise move today, the administration announced that the review would be extended indefinitely—and probably until after the November elections, reports the Wall Street Journal . The White...

US Ambassadors to Syria, Russia Both Leaving

Robert Ford, Michael McFaul will be gone by the end of the month

(Newser) - By the end of the month, the Obama administration will have lost its top diplomats in two of its most important posts. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul both announced their impending resignations today, the AP reports . Here's what you should know about each:

Keystone Alternative Will Kill 6 People a Year: Report

Oil trains would cause fatalities, says State Department analysis

(Newser) - An alternative to the Keystone XL pipeline could pose a danger of its own, according to a State Department analysis. If, instead of the pipeline, trains were used to transport 830,000 barrels of oil per day, the vehicles could cause six new railroad fatalities and 49 additional injuries per...

Keystone Oil Pipeline Clears Major US Hurdle

It passes State Department's environmental review

(Newser) - Environmentalists are going to hate this one: A State Department review of the controversial Keystone oil pipeline raises no major environmental objections, reports the New York Times . The report concludes that the proposed pipeline from Canada to Texas would not affect global greenhouse gas emissions in a significant way, reports...

15 of US' Benghazi Sources Have Been Killed

Senate report also concludes that consulate attack was 'preventable'

(Newser) - The US government didn't do enough to prevent the attack on the Benghazi consulate, a long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report concludes. The bipartisan report chastises the CIA for operating out of a different building than the State Department—a facility the military didn't even know about, the Washington ...

Americans Flown Out of War-Torn South Sudan
Americans Flee
War-Torn South Sudan
Dec 22, 2013 2:34 PM CST

Americans Flee War-Torn South Sudan

But the UN doubles down as violence spreads

(Newser) - The State Department flew 15 Americans out of South Sudan today amid rising violence that killed hundreds of people and wounded four US troops there this week, CNN reports. The Americans showed up at the UN camp in Bor, South Sudan, and evacuated in coordination with the UN and the...

US Warns Americans: Get Out of South Sudan

Violence heating up following failed coup

(Newser) - The State Department today issued a travel warning for South Sudan, recommending that all Americans "depart immediately," as violence rises in the wake of an attempted coup . That includes non-emergency US personnel, who have already been ordered to depart, forcing the US to suspend normal operations at its...

Senate OKs New Homeland Security Chief

Jeh C. Johnson confirmed with help from new filibuster rules

(Newser) - Democrats used their newly initiated lower threshold for defeating filibusters yesterday to win Senate confirmation of President Obama's nomination of former top Pentagon lawyer Jeh C. Johnson to be secretary of Homeland Security. On a 57-37 vote, Democrats broke a GOP blockade against Johnson before the Senate minutes later...

State Dept. Stocked Up on Booze Before Shutdown
State Dept. Stocked Up on Booze Before Shutdown
$180K worth
Dec 4, 2013 1:12 PM CST

State Dept. Stocked Up on Booze Before Shutdown

And very expensive art, too

(Newser) - The State Department certainly had its priorities straight in the weeks leading up to the government shutdown: In September, the last month of the fiscal year, it spent $180,000 ... on booze. That includes $11,550 on "gratuity whiskey" and "gratuity wine" at the embassy in Rio, $22,...

How Obama Outwits Spies: With a Tent
 How Obama 
 Outwits Spies: 
 With a Tent 
in case you missed it
Nov 16, 2013 8:01 AM CST

How Obama Outwits Spies: With a Tent

Top officials use anti-spy shields overseas

(Newser) - Moammar Gadhafi wasn't the only world leader who brought a tent everywhere. At the urging of security officials, President Obama and other senior American lawmakers and military officials take "security tents" with them when they travel overseas, the New York Times finds. The tents, which can be erected...

Afghan Interpreters Who Helped US Troops Denied Visas

Gov't says they're not facing 'serious threat'

(Newser) - An increasing number of Afghan interpreters who worked with US troops for years during the war are being denied US visas, because the government doesn't think their lives are in serious danger. Think again, the interpreters tell the Washington Post . "There are tons of [Taliban members] in my...

US to Hand Out Biggest Immigration Fine Ever

Infosys used visitor visas instead of work visas

(Newser) - The federal government is expected to slap a record $35 million immigration fine on Infosys tomorrow, after Homeland Security and State Department investigators found that the Indian outsourcing company had been sneaking workers into the country on cheap visitor visas (B-1), instead of more expensive and harder to get temporary...

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