Category: Natural Disasters

MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – The rising cost of gas-fired power generation: a threat to affordability in the EU – E-000301/2025(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
The Commission is fully aware of the recent rise of global gas prices and the challenge this imposes on EU businesses and citizens. It has already taken action to tackle this issue, such as emergency measures[1] adopted during the crisis and the revision of the Electricity Market Design[2] adopted in 2024.

High gas prices impact electricity costs, whose increase is primarily driven by Europe’s reliance on imported fossil fuels. While rolling out clean energy can help provide cheaper, homegrown power, remaining regulatory and market bottlenecks prevent industries and households from fully capturing the benefits of clean energy in their bills.

Within the frame of the Competitiveness Compass, the Commission presented the Clean Industrial Deal[3]. Under the Clean Industrial Deal, the action plan for Affordable Energy[4] sets out the measures to address the challenges of energy prices for both households and businesses.

These measures aim at fostering energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment, accelerating permitting, grids, boosting storage and reducing systems costs. These efforts will help bring down energy costs and so support industry and households.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/1854/oj/eng

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1747/oj/eng; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1760/oj/eng

[3] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/clean-industrial-deal_en

[4] https://energy.ec.europa.eu/strategy/affordable-energy_en
Last updated: 25 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Support for viniculture in Greece – E-000471/2025(ASW)

Source: European Parliament

Under the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support through the CAP Strategic Plans is granted in response to needs identified for various sectors and areas including the wine sector.

Possible support schemes also include dedicated sectoral interventions for wine. In its Strategic Plan 2023-2027, Greece has chosen to implement five interventions: restructuring and reconversion of vineyards, investment, green harvesting, promotion carried out in third countries, and information actions. The total budget allocated is slightly over EUR 23 million per year.

In September 2024, a High-Level Group (HLG) on wine policy was established to explore possible solutions that could enhance the sector’s long-term competitiveness and sustainability.

The HLG endorsed a set of recommendations addressing the production potential, increasing resilience to market and climate challenges, and adapting to new market opportunities.

The most urgent and sector-specific recommendations will be implemented swiftly through a specific legislative proposal (‘wine package’) that will be adopted in the coming weeks.

The CAP Strategic Plans also include support to help generational renewal, including in the wine sector. Additionally, young winemakers are strongly encouraged to form producer organisations allowing them to strengthen their position in the supply chain.

Although Greece has never planned ‘firebreak vineyards’ in the CAP Strategic Plan, it could by amending the plan, for example, under the sectoral intervention ‘Investments’.

Last updated: 25 March 2025

MIL OSI Europe News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Undermining EU interests: the Lipa reception centre on the Balkan migration route – E-003043/2024(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
Bosnia and Herzegovina has significantly strengthened its migration management, border management and asylum, with EU support of more than EUR 140 million since 2018.

Bosnia and Herzegovina also benefits from regional EU programmes supporting border management and anti-smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings.

Thanks to EU support, four temporary reception centres provide shelter for approximately 4 500 persons across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They play a key role for the identification and assessment of the status of migrants, including access to asylum for persons in need, and possible return of persons not in need of international protection, as well as for statistical data collection.

EU support has helped the country avoid a repetition of the tragic events witnessed in the winter of 2020-21, following the fire at the former centre in Lipa.

At the current multi-purpose reception and identification centre in Lipa, which is operational since 2021, migrants are registered, their status is assessed to establish if they intend to seek asylum in the country and their identity is checked when entering and leaving the centre.

The centre is built in accordance with EU standards[1] and is managed by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities with EU support. The EU-funded operation of the Lipa centre is subject to regular monitoring visits, detailed reporting and independent audits as per usual practice.

[1] Commission Implementing Decision on the financing of the individual measure to strengthen the response capacity to manage migration flows in favour of the Western Balkans for 2022, C(2022) 2561 final.
Last updated: 25 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Bridgeport Man Pleads Guilty to Drug and Firearm Offenses

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that ERIC HERMAN, 32, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to drug distribution and firearm possession offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, following two fatal overdoses involving fentanyl in 2021, both of which were believed to be connected to Herman, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force and Stratford Police Department began investigating Herman’s drug trafficking activities. In May and June 2022, investigators made two controlled purchases of fentanyl, heroin, and crack cocaine from Herman.

Herman was arrested on September 15, 2022. At the time of his arrest, he possessed a distribution quantity of cocaine, a loaded 9mm “ghost gun” with a laser sight attached, and additional rounds of ammunition.

Herman’s criminal history includes state felony convictions for drug and firearm offenses. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

Herman pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, cocaine base (“crack”), fentanyl, and heroin, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count; one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition by a felon, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years.

Herman has been detained since his arrest. He has also pleaded guilty in state court to narcotics and manslaughter charges stemming from an overdose death investigation.

The DEA’s HIDTA Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Bridgeport Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford, and Stratford Police Departments. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Peck.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Sudan’s civil war: What military advances mean, and where the country could be heading next

Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Christopher Tounsel, Associate Professor of History, University of Washington

A Sudanese man celebrates as the military enters the central city of Wad Madani, pushing out the Rapid Support Forces in January 2025. AP Photo/Marwan Ali

A series of advances by the Sudanese military has led some observers to posit that the African nation’s yearslong civil war could be at a crucial turning point.

Even if it were to end tomorrow, the bloody conflict would have left the Sudanese people scarred by violence that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people. But the recent victories by the military do not spell the end of its adversary, a rebel paramilitary group that still holds large areas in Sudan.

The Conversation turned to Christopher Tounsel, a historian of modern Sudan at the University of Washington, to explain what the war has cost and where it could turn now.

Can you give a summary of the civil war to date?

On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF – led by de facto head of state Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known colloquially as “Hemedti.” The RSF emerged out of the feared Janjaweed militia that had terrorized the Darfur region of Sudan.

While the SAF and RSF previously worked together to forcibly remove longtime President Omar al-Bashir from power in 2019, they later split amid a power struggle that turned deadly.

The major point of contention was the disputed timeline for RSF integration into the national military, with the RSF preferring a 10-year process to the SAF’s preferred two-year plan.

By early April 2023, the government deployed SAF troops along the streets of the capital, Khartoum, while RSF forces took up locations throughout the country. Matters came to a head when explosions and gunfire rocked Khartoum on April 15 of that year. The two forces have been in conflict ever since.

To human toll of the civil war has been staggering. As of February 2025, estimates of those killed from the conflict and its related causes, including lack of sufficient medical facilities and hunger, have ranged from 20,000 to 150,000 – a wide gulf that, according to Humanitarian Research Lab executive director Nathaniel Raymond, is partially due to the fact that the dead or displaced are still being counted.

The conflict has displaced more than 14 million people, a number that demographically makes the Sudan situation the world’s worst displacement crisis. Nearly half of Sudan’s population is “acutely food insecure,” according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme. Another 638,000 face “catastrophic levels of hunger” – the world’s highest number.

How have recent developments changed the war?

The SAF has recently scored a slew of victories. At time of writing, the Sudanese military controls much of the country’s southeastern border with Ethiopia, the Red Sea coast – and, with it, Sudan’s strategically important Port Sudan – and parts of the country’s metropolitan center located at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers.

Further, the SAF has reclaimed much of the White Nile and Gezira provinces and broken an RSF siege of North Kordofan’s provincial capital of el-Obeid. In perhaps the most important development, the army in late March recaptured the RSF’s last major stronghold in Khartoum, the Presidential Palace.

A fighter loyal to the Sudanese army patrols a market area in Khartoum on March 24, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images

Each of these actions indicates that the SAF is taking an increasingly proactive approach in the war. Such positive momentum could not only serve to reassure the Sudanese populace that the SAF is the country’s strongest force but also signal to foreign powers that it is, and will continue to be, the country’s legitimate authority moving forward.

And yet, there are other indications that the RSF is in no rush to concede defeat. Despite the SAF’s advances, the RSF has strengthened its control over nearly all of Darfur, Sudan’s massive western region that shares a lengthy border with neighboring Chad.

It is here that the RSF has been accused of committing genocide against non-Arab communities, and only the besieged capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, stands in the way of total RSF hegemony in the region. The RSF also controls territory to the south, along Sudan’s borders with the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

The fact that the SAF and RSF are entrenched in their respective regional strongholds casts doubt on the significance of the military’s recent victories.

Could Sudan be heading to partition?

As a historian who spent years writing about South Sudanese separatism, I find it somewhat unfathomable to imagine that Sudan would further splinter into different countries. Given the current state of affairs, however, partition is not outside the realm of possibility. In February, during a summit in Kenya, the RSF and its allies officially commenced plans to create a rival government.

The African Union’s 55 member states are said to be split on the issue of Sudanese partition and the question of whether any entity linked with the RSF should be accepted. In January, during the waning days of U.S. President Joe Biden’s presidency, Washington determined that the RSF and its allies had committed genocide and sanctioned Hemedti, the RSF leader, prohibiting him and his family from traveling to the U.S. and freezing any American assets he may hold.

Any attempt to entertain partition could be read as an acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the RSF and would also create a dangerous precedent for other leaders who have been accused of human rights violations.

In addition to the RSF’s perceived lack of moral legitimacy, there is also the recent precedent of South Sudan’s secession. South Sudan, since seceding from Sudan in 2011, has experienced enormous difficulties. Roughly 2½ years into independence, the nation erupted into a civil war waged largely along ethnic lines. Since the conclusion of that war in 2018, the world’s youngest nation continues to struggle with intergroup violence, food insecurity and sanctions resulting from human rights violations.

Simply put, recent Sudanese history has shown that partition is not a risk-free solution to civil war.

How has shifting geopolitics affected the conflict?

It is important to understand that the conflict’s ripples extend far beyond Sudan’s borders. Similarly, the actions of countries such as the U.S., Russia and China have an impact on the war.

Sudanese people line up to collect a charity ‘iftar’ fast-breaking meal in Omdourman on March 19, 2025.
Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing contributions from the U.S. government’s development organization, USAID, has shuttered approximately 80% of the emergency food kitchens established to help those impacted by the conflict. An estimated 2 million people have been affected by this development.

Russian financial and military contributions have been credited with helping the SAF achieve its gains in recent months. Russia has long desired a Red Sea naval base near Port Sudan, and the expulsion of Russia’s fleet from Syria following the fall of President Bashar Assad increased the importance of such a base.

And then there is China. A major importer of Sudanese crude oil, China engaged in conversations to renegotiate oil cooperation agreements with Sudan in October 2024 with the hopes of increasing oil production amid the war. An end to the war – and, with it, protecting the flow of oil through pipelines vulnerable to attack – would benefit both members of this bilateral relationship.

As the war enters its third year, the outlook remains frustratingly difficult to discern.

Christopher Tounsel has previously received funding from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

– ref. Sudan’s civil war: What military advances mean, and where the country could be heading next – https://theconversation.com/sudans-civil-war-what-military-advances-mean-and-where-the-country-could-be-heading-next-253007

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Warner Speaks at Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner

BROADCAST-QUALITY VIDEO OF SEN. WARNER’S OPENING REMARKS IS AVAILABLE HERE

WASHINGTON – Today, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) delivered opening remarks at the Intelligence Committee’s annual Worldwide Threats Assessment hearing.

Sen. Warner’s opening remarks as delivered are below:

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, everybody, and I want to thank all the witnesses for being here.

I got to say, I’ve been on the committee now for 14 years, and this year’s assessment is clearly one of the most complicated and challenging in my tenure on the committee.

And I want to get into that in a moment, but I want to, first of all, address the recent story that broke in the news.

Yesterday, we stunningly learned that senior members of this administration and according to reports, two of our witnesses here today, were members of a group chat that discussed highly sensitive and likely classified information that supposedly even included ‘weapons packages, targets and timing,’ and included the name of an active CIA agent.

Putting aside for a moment that classified information should never be discussed over an unclassified system, it’s also just mind boggling to me that all these senior folks were on this line and nobody bothered to even check, security hygiene 101…

Who are all the names? Who are they?

Well, it apparently includes a journalist.

And no matter how much the Secretary of Defense or others want to disparage him, this journalist had at least the ethics to not report everything he heard.

The question I raise is: everybody on this committee gets briefed on security protocols. They’re told you don’t make calls outside of SCIFs of this kind of classified nature.

Director Gabbard is the executive in charge of all keeping our secrets safe. Were these government devices? Or were they personal devices? Have the devices been collected to make sure there’s no malware?

There’s plenty of declassified information that shows that our adversaries, China and Russia, are trying to break in to encrypted systems like Signal.

I can just say this. If this was the case of a military officer, or an intelligence officer, and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired. I think this is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that this is not a one off or a first time error.

Let me take a couple of minutes and review some of the other reckless choices that this administration has made regarding our national security. We all recall it seems like it wasn’t that long ago, but less than two months ago, in the first two weeks, the administration canceled all U.S. foreign assistance.

Now, some may say, how can that how bad can that be, its foreign assistance?

Well, U.S. foreign assistance paid for the units in Ukraine to provide air defense to civilian cities being attacked by Russia.

Foreign assistance paid for guarding camps in Syria, where ISIS fighters are to be detained.

Foreign assistance paid for programs abroad that ensure that diseases like Ebola don’t come home.

And until recently, it paid for the construction of a railway in Africa that would have help given the United States much needed access to critical minerals in Congo.

Now that project… China is going to try to finance it as well.

In the first two weeks, the administration fired several of our most experienced FBI agents, including the head of the criminal Investigative submission, the head of the intelligence division, the head of the Counterterrorism division, the heads of the New York, Washington and Miami field office, all individuals who were distinctly and directly responsible for helping to keep America safe.

The irony a little bit, was the recently dismissed head of the counterterrorism division was involved in disrupting the ISIS attacks planned for Oklahoma City and Philadelphia and helped lead the effort to bring to justice the key planner of the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan, who killed 13 U.S. servicemen and 150 civilians.

That very Abbey Gate effort was actually praised by the president in his state of the Union address.

The administration’s response to these agents’ good works and years of service was to force these folks out.

It’s hard to imagine how that makes our country safer.

Nor can I understand how Americans are made more secure by firing more than 300 staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration, including those responsible for overseeing the security and safety of the nuclear stockpile, or by ousting 130 employees at CSA.

The agency directly responsible for trying to take on China’s salt typhoon attack again. After Salt Typhoon, I would have thought folks on that group chat might have thought twice.

Or how are we made safer by sacking a thousand employees at the CDC and NIH. We’re actually directly working on trying to keep our country safe from disease by pushing out hundreds of intelligence officers.

The amazing thing is our intelligence officers, they’re not interchangeable like a Twitter coder. Our country makes $20,000 to $40,000 of an investment just in getting a security clearance.

It literally goes into six figures when you take the training involved. Can anyone tell how firing probationary individuals without any consideration for merit or expertise is an efficient use of taxpayer dollars?

And just to make clear that yesterday’s story in the Atlantic was not this rookie one-off, it’s a pattern.

I want to acknowledge Director Ratcliffe was not here in his position with this took place.

But again, earlier in the administration, when a new unclassified network was used, thereby exposing literally hundreds of CIA officers’ identities.

Those folks can’t go into the field now.

How does that make our government more efficient?

You know, again, this pattern of an amazing, cavalier attitude towards classified information is reckless and sloppy.

And perhaps what troubles me most is the way the administration has decided that we can take on all of our problems by ourselves without any need for friends or allies.

I agree that we’ve got to put America’s priorities first, but American first cannot mean America alone.

The intelligence we gather to keep Americans safe depends on a lot of allies around the world who have access to sources that we don’t have.

That’s sharing of information saves lives. And it’s not hypothetical.

We all remember (because it was declassified) last year when Austria worked with our community to make sure to expose a plot against Taylor Swift in Vienna that could have killed literally hundreds of individuals.

However, these relationships are not built in stone. They’re not dictated by law. Things like the Five Eyes are based on trust built on decades, but so often that trust is now breaking literally overnight.

Yet suddenly, for no reason that I can understand, the United States is starting to act like our adversaries are our friends. Voting in the UN with Russia, Belarus and North Korea. It’s a rogues gallery if ever heard one.

Treating our allies like adversaries, whether it’s threats to take over Greenland or over the Panama Canal, a destructive trade war with Canada, or literally threatening to kick Canada out of the Five Eyes, I feel our credibility is being enormously undermined with our allies, who I believe, and I think most of us on this committee, regardless of party believes, makes our country safer and stronger.

But how can our allies ever trust us as the kind of partner we used to be when we, without consultation or notice, for example, stop sharing information to Ukraine in its war for survival against Russia. Or how can our allies not only not trust our government, but potentially not our businesses with such arbitrary political decision?

Let me give you a few examples. You know, as a result of a lot of work from this committee and others in Congress, we made sure America’s commercial space industry is second to none from space to launch to commercial sensing and communications.

The United States has taken a lead. Yet overnight, this administration called into question the reliability of American commercial tech industry.

When maps are and other commercial space companies were directed to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine.

I’m going to tell you… I’m a business guy. Can’t say longer than being an elected official, but pretty close. That shockwave across all of commercial space and frankly, not just commercial space. I’ve heard it from some of our hyperscalers, in the tech community, has sent an enormous chill.

Who’s going to hire an American commercial space company, government or foreign business with the ability to have that taken down so arbitrarily?

It’s not just in the case of commercial space.

We’ve seen that Canada, Germany, Portugal have all been saying they’re rethinking buying F-35s.

I’ve heard from Microsoft and Google directly, and Amazon that they’re having questions about whether they can still sell their services.

We’ve also seen foreign adversaries and friends take advantage of this RIF in our national security areas, and our scientists.

Germany has already put out ads trying to attract some of our best scientists who’ve been RIFed and the Chinese intelligence agencies are posting on social media sites in the hopes of luring individuals with that national security clearance who’ve been pushed out, perhaps arbitrarily, to come into their service.

So, no, the signal fiasco is not a one off. It is, unfortunately, a pattern we’re seeing too often repeated.

I fear that we feel the erosion of trust from our workplace, from our companies, and from our allies and partners can’t be put back in the bottle overnight. Make no mistake, these actions make America less safe.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Principals of Fire Alarm Repair Company Plead Guilty to Decade-Long Scheme to Defraud New York City Agencies
Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Defendants Overbilled City Agencies Using Fabricated Invoices with Fraudulently Inflated Prices and Shell Companies
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Walter Stanzione and William Neogra, the principals of a fire alarm maintenance company, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Both defendants were charged with a decade-long scheme to defraud the City of New York by seeking payment on millions of dollars of grossly inflated fraudulent bills. The proceedings were held before United States Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo. When sentenced, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.

John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Leslie R. Backschies, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI New York) announced the charges.

“For over a decade, the City of New York relied on the defendants to ensure that the fire safety systems in hundreds of city buildings were in safe, working order,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “The defendants abused this position of trust so that they could scheme and steal, defrauding New York City out of millions of dollars. The guilty pleas announced today make clear that reprehensible conduct like this will be uncovered and prosecuted.”

“Millions of dollars went up in smoke as Walter Stanzione and William Neogra fraudulently inflated the cost of their company’s products to finance personal luxurious purchases,” stated Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Backschies. “For more than ten years, the defendants charged various New York City clients exaggerated pricing for fire alarm systems and obfuscated this misconduct through doctored invoices. The FBI remains determined to protect our city’s citizens and infrastructure from criminals seeking to unlawfully profit with little concern for safety.”

“Stanzione and Neogra orchestrated a scheme to defraud the City of New York. They created shell companies to pass-through supplies sold to NYC agencies at inflated prices with false invoices. Millions of dollars were billed over a decade, and the excessive profit left these fraudsters living large. Today’s plea means the defendants’ lifestyle will go from extravagant in size to a reduction in square feet,” stated IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.

“These defendants systematically inflated costs billed to multiple City agencies—including the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Department of Sanitation, for more than a decade,” stated DOI Commissioner Strauber. “When vendors exploit their contractual relationship with the City by overbilling, they steal public funds from City taxpayers. I thank our federal law enforcement partners for their commitment to protect the City’s resources and to ensure vendors who commit fraud are held responsible.”

As set forth in various public court filings and in today’s proceedings, the defendants exercised control over Fire Alarm Electrical Corp., a company that held numerous contracts with New York City agencies to repair and maintain fire alarm systems. For more than a decade, the defendants overbilled those agencies by submitting fraudulent invoices with dramatically inflated prices. They accomplished this scheme in several ways:
- The defendants created numerous shell companies that were secretly owned by defendant Stanzione. After purchasing supplies from legitimate retailers, the defendants would re-invoice the parts through the shell companies for roughly three to five times the real purchase price, ultimately passing along those “costs” to the City.
- The defendants took advantage of pre-existing shell companies that were being used in other ongoing frauds. For example, the defendants used shell companies created by convicted EDNY defendant David Motovich, which Motovich had used in an entirely separate fraud scheme that was also investigated and prosecuted by EDNY, FBI, DOI and IRS (21-CR-497).
- When city auditors became suspicious of the shell companies, the defendants fraudulently modified the documents of legitimate retailers, passing off the altered invoices from these companies as if they were genuine.
These methods enabled the defendants to submit millions of dollars of fictitious payment requests to four separate city agencies over an eleven-year period. Defendant Stanzione, the leader of the fraud, then siphoned off much of the ill-gotten gains and used the stolen money to fund his family’s lavish spending habits.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Erik Paulsen, Michael Gibaldi and Eric Silverberg are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Kavya Kannan.

The Defendants:

WALTER STANZIONE
Age: 66
East Meadow, Long Island

WILLIAM NEOGRA
Age: 65
Millsboro, Delaware

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-482 (RPK)
MIL Security OSI –
March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Sioux City Felon Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison for Illegal Possession of a Firearm

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Burton used a loaded handgun to intimidate and frighten a female bartender for over an hour.

Jamiah Burton, age 30, from Sioux City, was sentenced March 21, 2025, to five years in federal prison, after an August 8, 2024, guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a felon.

Evidence in the case revealed on January 19, 2024, Burton entered a Sioux City, Iowa bar with a female companion. The couple argued, the female left, and Burton turned his attention to the sole remaining person in the bar: the female bartender. For the next hour and half or so, Burton who had been drinking, refused to leave, repeatedly came behind the bar, simulated a sex act on his victim, manhandled her, at various points become emotional, brandished a loaded handgun — claiming he had a bullet for his victim and one for himself — and stole a bottle of alcohol all before being tricked out of the bar by his victim’s promise to leave with him. A video of the event shows the victim’s attempts to navigate an impossible situation: she laughs and drinks and plays along with Burton all while secretly texting for help and trying to escape. The moment she tricks him out of the bar, she locked the doors, hid in the bathroom, and called 911.

Approximately 16 minutes after Burton left the bar, law enforcement in South Sioux City, Nebraska located the vehicle he was using which was high centered and stranded in the snow. Law enforcement located several open containers and a bottle of tequila (consistent with the one he stole from the bar) in the vehicle.

Burton has a serious criminal history. Among numerous convictions, Burton has twice committed violent home invasions, and driven drunk while attempting to elude police.

Burton was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand to 60 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Burton is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was investigated by the South Sioux City, Nebraska and the Sioux City, Iowa Police Departments and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 24-4015.

Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Southville — Digby RCMP investigates break-in and theft from fire station

Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Digby RCMP is seeking the public’s assistance in relation to a break-in that occurred in Southville.

On March 14, at approximately 9 a.m., RCMP officers responded to a report of a break and enter at the Southville Fire Department on Langford Rd. RCMP officers learned that the person(s) involved broke windows of the fire station and stole firefighter uniforms (bunker gear) and a hydraulic motor used for the jaws of life.

At this time, investigators believe that the person(s) fled the area in a side-by-side.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Digby RCMP at 902-245-2579. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

File #: 2025-332134

Note: The stolen Hurst brand hydraulic pump is white in colour. (Photo used as reference only.)

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Ramsey County Carjacker Sentenced to Over Five Years in Prison

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

MINNEAPOLIS – A Ramsey County man has been sentenced to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a string of carjackings and illegal possession of a firearm, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.

According to court documents, on June 30, 2022, Ricardo Rydell Walker, Jr., 22, approached the owner of a black 2021 Toyota Highlander as they exited the car, demanded everything in the driver’s pockets, and hit them on the left side of the head with a handgun. Walker also participated in three additional armed carjackings between February 2021 and June 2022, one in Minneapolis and two in Saint Paul. In each case, Walker and others used the threat of violence and intimidated the victims with firearms.

On July 6, 2022, Walker was arrested in Maplewood, MN, in a stolen car, while in possession of a Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol.

On November 26, 2024, Walker pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of receipt of a firearm while under felony indictment. He was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Katherine M. Menendez.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the St. Paul Police Department, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the FBI.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys William C. Mattessich and Mary Riverso prosecuted the case.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett was an early work of climate fiction

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Davina Quinlivan, Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, University of Exeter

I grew up in a mixed-heritage family. Both of my parents’ childhoods were deeply affected by colonialism in India and they often told me stories about this period in their lives. As a result, I inherited a sense of place and a feeling for a country which was never my home.

It’s a strange feeling, which I still struggle to put into words, though I tried in my memoir, Shalimar: A Story of Place and Migration, which holds at its heart the sensation and imagery of India’s climate and its wildlife. India, for me, will always coexist with English weather and the roses my father tended to in our modest, suburban home in Hayes, west London.

While we now have beautifully written, tender children’s books which address colonial history, from Nazneen Ahmed Pathak’s City of Stolen Magic (2023) to Jasbinder Bilan’s Nush and the Stolen Emerald (2024), The Secret Garden still holds a powerful spell over me. That’s because of its representation of nature and its use of fiction to tell a story about England and India, two countries brought together through the healing space of the garden.

I believe that re-contextualising A Secret Garden as an early work of climate fiction – a type of storytelling that imagines how climate change could shape our world – is an apt way to rethink this classic tale.

This article is part of Rethinking the Classics. The stories in this series offer insightful new ways to think about and interpret classic books and artworks. This is the canon – with a twist.

Published in 1911, The Secret Garden unfolds against the backdrop of the fictional Misselthwaite Manor and its walled garden on the Yorkshire Moors.

While Yorkshire and its thick sheets of rain, enveloped in mist and fog, is portrayed vividly by Hodgeson Burnett, the ghostly heat and skies of India are also woven throughout the book’s micro-climates. Hodgeson Burnett’s attention to nature is masterful and magical:

One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands out and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing … And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries.

The climates of India and Yorkshire blur into a new reality when seen through the eyes of the book’s central protagonist, the recently orphaned Mary Lennox. She is sent to live with her uncle after her parents die of cholera in colonial Calcutta.

Wilful and fiery, Mary’s grief and rootlessness seems to be unending until she follows a twitching robin into a walled garden. There she befriends other children including her cousin Colin, who uses a wheelchair, and the gardener, Weatherstaff.

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The hidden sanctuary and wonder of the garden is intertwined with Mary’s inner world and her search for solace after the loss of her parents. Her resilience thrives and blooms, particularly when she becomes a storyteller and draws the other children into this secret place through her tales of adventure.

Here, the telling of the “story” of the garden is as important as the experience of the garden itself. This is where fiction does its work – we need stories like this to recover a sense of care in times of ecological crisis.

Last year saw the launch of the Climate Fiction Prize, a vital endeavour to specifically support literary fiction as a cultural form which permits writers the freedom to imagine alternative paths for human existence. The Secret Garden is a work of such imagination, of transformation from otherwise impossible states of crisis and inertia.

Beyond the Canon

As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t (yet) considered a classic itself. Here is Davina Quinlivan’s suggestion:

Shaun Tan’s Tales From the Inner City (2018) is a beautiful and extremely moving collection of illustrated, eco-centric stories exploring the relationship between humans and animals in urban environments.

Tan is well known for his elegiac and often uncanny, playful storytelling and Tales From the Inner City skilfully braids these aesthetic values with a powerful message of hope and compassion for the wild and domestic creatures we share our world with. While there is no explicit reference to the climate crisis, Tan’s exquisite images illustrate stories of kinship between humans and dogs, snails, whales, pigeons, cats and tigers – all bound to each other as intertwined species.

Set within cities, the wild beauty of each animal seems enlarged, as does the poignancy of each story, reminding us of what we have to lose. Some of the creatures literally morph into giant versions of themselves, eerie against Tan’s various backdrops of urban space. In one story, two tiny humans are seen being carried through stormy waters, perched between the ears of an enormous cat. It’s an indelible image of hope and survival in the wake of environmental devastation. Tan’s imaginative power is utterly extraordinary.

Davina Quinlivan is an AHRC-funded StoryArcs Fellow based in the Department of English and Creative Writing at The University of Exeter. She is also an Artistic Lead with Emblaze, an imprint of Paper Nations. Paper Nations is an award-winning creative writing incubator illuminating stories of colour in the South West, funded by Arts Council England and produced by The Story Society, Bath Spa University.

– ref. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett was an early work of climate fiction – https://theconversation.com/the-secret-garden-by-frances-hodgeson-burnett-was-an-early-work-of-climate-fiction-250338

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s job cuts are causing Republican angst as all parties face backlash

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Thomas Gift, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL

A spate of town hall meetings held across the US has revealed palpable anger among both Democratic and Republican voters. At some events, voters have spoken to “empty chairs” in lieu of Congress members who refused to show their faces. At others, lawmakers have been booed, heckled and faced raucous audiences.

What’s striking isn’t just the outrage, but where it’s coming from. Much of the backlash is from parties’ own voters.

Things have become particularly bad for Republicans. So much so that party leaders have urged lawmakers to host live-streamed or call-in events rather than in-person town halls. President Donald Trump has baselessly blamed “paid agitators” for the fallout. But some backlash doubtlessly comes from Trump supporters.

Republican angst might suggest a discrepancy between their abstract support for federal spending cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and their actual response to its practical consequences.

Republicans doubtlessly like the optics of Musk taking out his chainsaw to slice government. A March 2025 CNN poll, for example, revealed that 75% of Republicans approve of Musk, compared to just 6% of Democrats. Additionally, 73% of Republicans even think Doge cuts won’t go far enough in rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse” in government.

However, that enthusiasm seems to fade when specific programmes are on the chopping block. As Republican strategist Brian Seitchik puts it: “There is certainly a disconnect right now between the theory of Doge, the cutting of fat in government … and what is seemingly a blowtorch as opposed to a scalpel approach to solving these problems.”

Cuts to the federal workforce are emerging as perhaps the most contentious issue. These jobs are disproportionately concentrated in Washington DC. But in terms of total numbers, most are scattered across the country. That includes Republican states that Trump carried in last November’s election.

Eliminating these jobs is having an impact that many Trump voters didn’t anticipate. Some may soon be showing buyer’s remorse with Trump. It is worth noting that around 81% of Republicans rated jobs and the economy as a very important issue, compared to 73% of Democrats, in a March poll from the Economist/YouGov.

The political downside of job cuts has been made worse by an administration that can often seem numb to their impact. Recently, new video footage was unearthed of current Office of Management and Budget head Russ Vought saying in 2023 that he wanted civil servants to be “traumatically affected”.

Despite all of Doge’s relentless efforts, US federal spending still hit a new high last month – US$603 billion (£467 billion). Without touching health service and senior citizen entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, it will be hard for the White House to significantly reduce national debt.

High prices also continue to anger Trumpland. Trump vowed in the campaign: “You just watch – they’ll come down, and they’ll come down fast.” With inflation, Trump can scapegoat former president Joe Biden for a period. But that only lasts so long.

Job cuts don’t just affect Democratic states.

The problem for the White House is that it’s hard to imagine two more inflationary policies than those offered by Trump: tariffs, which pass higher prices onto consumers; and mass deportations, which constrict the labour supply and drive up the price of goods.

Trump’s base is notoriously loyal. But swing voters who backed Trump could be in for a rude awakening if they expected Trump to revitalise American manufacturing and slash the price of eggs and Big Macs. If Trump’s approval ratings start to slide, some Republicans in Congress may also give him less than their full-throated support.

Discontented Democrats

Republicans aren’t the only ones with a problem from their own flank. According to polling by CNN, the Democratic party’s approval rating is just 29%, an all-time low. Among Democrats, some frustration stems from the direction in which Trump is taking the country, but much of it is about the Democratic party’s inability to counter him.

Consider Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress a couple weeks ago, where Democrats looked clumsy (and shrill) in their response. Representative Al Green was even censured for disrupting Trump’s address, including by 10 of his Democratic colleagues.

Consider also the recent spending bill, when Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer broke with his party to keep the federal government open. Fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the move a “huge slap in the face,” while even Schumer’s longtime political partner and former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him out for caving.

Many Democratic voters view Democratic party leadership as feckless, as weak, and, in short, as losing. That’s hard to dispute that when Republicans have control of the White House, Congress, and for all intents and purposes, the Supreme Court.

Calls for “fighting harder” ring hollow unless they’re backed with concrete action. Some pushback can come from states and localities. But what Democratic voters may be looking for is a common message. Half the party wants full-on resistance to Trump. Half doesn’t.

What Democrats do next

Coming out of November’s election, the autopsy reports haven’t moved the party in a consistent, constructive direction. For example, Democratic strategist James Carville says that his party should simply “roll over and play dead,” letting Republicans self-combust and making the American people long for Democratic governance. Others, like Ocasio-Cortez, are spoiling for a fight with Trump.

Past patterns in election cycles would suggest that Democrats will take back at least one chamber of Congress in the 2026 midterms. But before they can, Democrats must heal splits between moderates and progressives, and address the backlash against “wokeism”, which is fading even faster than it emerged.

Things look dire for Democrats now. Still, some historical context is instructive. 2004 was also a devastating loss for Democrats, when presidential candidate John Kerry lost to incumbent George W. Bush. Yet in 2008, Barack Obama ushered in a new era of Democratic governance. Politics has a way of self-correcting when the party in power over-interprets its mandate.

Thomas Gift does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Trump’s job cuts are causing Republican angst as all parties face backlash – https://theconversation.com/trumps-job-cuts-are-causing-republican-angst-as-all-parties-face-backlash-252940

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: After months of Trump’s shock tactics, whistleblower groups are pushing back against attacks on workers’ rights

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Kate Kenny, Professor of Business and Society, University of Galway

Julio Javier Vargas/Shutterstock

In the US, under president Donald Trump, rapid assaults on civil servants’ rights, including their rights to speak out about wrongdoing, are increasingly part of the administration’s play for power. Shock tactics tend to work when the speed leaves observers too stunned to act.

But countering the paralysis, whistleblower supporters are organising. Civil society groups are collaborating to shore up workers’ rights, challenge threats in the courts, and inform the public why it’s important to protect whistleblowers. Their cool-headed approach shows what it takes to work together to preserve democratic freedoms.

Since January 2025, the Trump administration has assaulted federal workers’ rights including whistleblowing protections. Key personnel are being fired, with thousands of other civil servants under threat of being reclassified as “at-will” workers who can be sacked at any time for any reason.

But the US needs whistleblower rights. In the past ten years alone, US government workers speaking out have protected citizens from a long list of ills. This includes food contamination, health risks, airline dangers and climate censorship. And they have called out managers for fraud and corruption.

Recent UK research demonstrates how listening to whistleblowers in some cases – including the Post Office scandal and the collapse of contractor Carillion – would have saved taxpayers nearly £400 million.

Functioning government bureaucracies, staffed by well-qualified, professional and independent civil servants, curtail attempts by politicians to control the state.

In the US, long-standing structures like the Pendleton Act of 1883 and the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, were put in place to ensure this. These laws insist government workers are hired and fired on the basis of skill and ability, not their political views. New employees take an oath of loyalty to the US constitution, not to the president.

Whistleblower protection is a critical part of ensuring this independence, because it enables civil servants to challenge abuses of power. But whistleblowers can only call out wrongdoing if they are protected from reprisal. Right now, these protections are under threat.

Shock and awe

Critics of the new US administration know all this. But the speed of change seems overwhelming. And the will to resist depletes, as people struggle to make sense of the constant disruption.

What to do with widely reported shows of anti-democratic aggression, like the recent appearance of senior Trump adviser Elon Musk on stage with a red chainsaw, shouting about a “chainsaw for bureaucracy”?

This is exactly the kind of chaotic, performative scene that stokes fascist passions, but leaves critics frozen.

Elon Musk’s chainsaw stunt was made famous by Argentinian president Javier Milei, who was looking on as Musk played to the gallery.
Joshua Sukoff/Shutterstock

Connecting such moves with Trump’s aggression against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes and trans citizens, US philosopher Judith Butler has warned that people can be stunned into inaction by increasingly shocking events. They stop seeing how they are connected.

What links these events, fundamentally, is contempt for ordinary US citizens’ rights and for constitutional democracy. As Butler also says, it’s important that citizens are not left immobilised by the outrage.

To counter the chaos, cool heads are needed. Supporters of whistleblower rights are pushing back. With partners, the nonprofit whistleblower organisation Government Accountability Project is suing Trump over the unconstitutional roll-back of federal worker protections. And civil society groups successfully challenged February’s firing of the chief of the federal whistleblowing agency.

This kind of whistleblower activism has happened before in other parts of the world. In Europe, NGOs monitor countries’ adoption of the new EU whistleblower protection law.

Organisations like the Whistleblowing International Network and the UNCAC coalition support civil society groups in countries around the world with new but fragile whistleblower protection systems introduced to support public trust and democratic accountability. These partnerships harness public opinion through the media and lobby for change. They come together in regular online events and forums to sustain momentum.

These coalitions of whistleblower activists have a history of working together, celebrating small wins and publicising each other’s work.

As my recent book details, this collective activism is not easy. These organisations operate on limited funding. And in the face of disinformation on social media, defending truth and facts can be challenging. Yet as I found, strategising and collaborating can help counter aggressive opposition.

A shared commitment to democratic rights is what keeps coalitions of whistleblower activists going – they demonstrate passions for equality and the right to live without fear.

Trump is working to remake the federal government in the service of his political agenda. It is a classic move made by “strongman” leaders. They seize control of government bureaucracy in order to reward elite supporters, give favours and jobs to insiders, and weaken oversight on corruption.

Attacking government bureaucracy has been a first step in the power grab by authoritarian leaders worldwide, from Hungary to Benin, Turkey and Venezuela.

Working with his largest election donor Elon Musk, who already owns businesses benefiting from government contracts, Trump’s aggressive overhaul of the federal government radically dilutes the potential for dissenting workers to speak out in protest.

It is tempting to remain paralysed in the face of daily attempts to roll back workers’ rights. But through their dedication, mutual support and celebration of even small wins, international collectives of whistleblower activists remind us that there is a way forward and why it’s vital to keep going.

Kate Kenny has in the past and at different times engaged in research funded by organizations including: the EU Commission, ESRC UK, the British Academy, Harvard University, Science Foundation Ireland and Leverhulme Trust.

– ref. After months of Trump’s shock tactics, whistleblower groups are pushing back against attacks on workers’ rights – https://theconversation.com/after-months-of-trumps-shock-tactics-whistleblower-groups-are-pushing-back-against-attacks-on-workers-rights-252861

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: King, Colleagues Urge Administration to Maintain Focus on Election Security

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), is joining a number of his colleagues to push for the continuation of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Election Threats Task Force. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the senators stressed the importance of the Task Force, which is charged with identifying efforts to protect election officials amid the rising threats and acts of violence.

“Given the recent disturbing personnel and policy decisions at the Department and the lack of transparency about the future of the Task Force, we request an immediate update on the status and activities of the Task Force, as well as what resources will be provided to ensure its important work continues so that election officials of both parties can safely administer our elections,” wrote the Senators.

“Recent surveys have found that one in three election officials reported facing threats, harassment, and abuse. Similarly, 48 percent of local election officials know of someone who has left their job because of fear for their safety—a troubling loss of institutional knowledge needed for the smooth running of elections. Election workers continue to fear for their safety, so it is critical that the work of the Task Force continues to deter and counter these threats. In this challenging environment for election officials, it is essential to our democracy that they can continue to rely on the Department to uphold the law,” continued the Senators.

The senators’ letter comes as the Trump Administration has significantly rolled back the federal government’s capacity to fight against foreign and domestic election security threats. On Attorney General Bondi’s first day in office, she disbanded the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Foreign Influence Task Force, hindering efforts to address secret influence campaigns waged by China, Russia and other foreign adversaries. Additionally, the Administration has fired or put on leave dozens of officials responsible for combating foreign election interference at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and has reportedly frozen all of CISA’s ongoing election security work. The Administration has also defunded CISA’s nationwide program to train local officials and monitor threats through the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

In addition to King, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Mark Kelly (D-AZ.), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

In addition to serving on the Intelligence Committee, King is the Co-Chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC). He is recognized as one of Congress’ leading experts on cyber defense and as a strong advocate for a forward-thinking cyber strategy that emphasizes layered cyber deterrence. Previously, King has cosponsored legislation to shield American elections from threats by improving election cybersecurity and combatting foreign interference in U.S. democracy. He also urged the Biden Administration ahead of the 2022 midterm elections to fund selection security efforts by allocating federal funds to modernize voting equipment and strengthen cybersecurity for election systems.

Full text of the letter is available here and below.

+++

Dear Attorney General Bondi:

We write to strongly urge you to continue the critical law enforcement work of the Department of Justice’s Election Threats Task Force, which protects election officials from ongoing threats and acts of violence. Given the recent disturbing personnel and policy decisions at the Department and the lack of transparency about the future of the Task Force, we request an immediate update on the status and activities of the Task Force, as well as what resources will be provided to ensure its important work continues so that election officials of both parties can safely administer our elections.

The Task Force was established in the wake of the 2020 election cycle when election officials across the political spectrum began facing unprecedented threats of violence intended to thwart the peaceful transfer of power that is the hallmark of our democracy. In close collaboration with state and local law enforcement, the Task Force has assessed thousands of complaints of suspected threats of violence and investigated and prosecuted violent offenders. Over the years, these threats have not only continued but escalated. The Task Force has investigated fentanyl-laced letters, bomb threats, and swatting incidents—serving as a legacy of the 2020 election and impacting the ways election officials interact with voters in their communities.

Recent surveys have found that one in three election officials reported facing threats, harassment, and abuse. Similarly, 48 percent of local election officials know of someone who has left their job because of fear for their safety—a troubling loss of institutional knowledge needed for the smooth running of elections. Election workers continue to fear for their safety, so it is critical that the work of the Task Force continues to deter and counter these threats. In this challenging environment for election officials, it is essential to our democracy that they can continue to rely on the Department to uphold the law.

Moreover, the federal government’s ability to fight election interference has been greatly hampered in the early weeks of this Administration. Dozens of officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), who are responsible for combatting foreign election interference, have been fired or put on leave. CISA has also reportedly frozen all of its ongoing election security work, including defunding its nationwide program to train local officials and monitor threats through the “Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center.” Additionally, on your first day in office, you signed a directive disbanding the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which was aimed at responding to secret influence campaigns waged by China, Russia, and other foreign adversaries.

We request a response on the status and future plans of the Election Threats Task Force, the extent of resources and personnel dedicated to its work, and how it plans to incorporate related work previously led by CISA and the Foreign Influence Task Force by March 31, 2025.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Hydroponic farming system overall winner of Global Cleantech Innovation Programme Awards

Source: South Africa News Agency

A groundbreaking hydroponic farming system has won first prize at the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme – South Africa (GCIP-SA) Awards.

This innovative system allows farmers to grow crops using up to 90% less water and requires only 10% of the land compared to traditional farming methods.

AB Farms, founded by Mogale Maleka, beat seven other competitors for the coveted sustainable development prize.

Hosted by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) entity, the Technology Agency (TIA), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Global Environment Facility, the recently held awards acknowledged the outstanding achievements of entrepreneurs and innovators, who are driving sustainable solutions for a greener future.

According to the department, the GCIP is instrumental in South Africa’s response to the challenge of climate change by nurturing and accelerating cleantech startups and small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

The programme aligns with the Paris Agreement objectives and also supports South Africa in achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution targets to reduce carbon emissions from 350 to 420 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

Maleka’s farm was recognised for its commitment to clean energy solutions.

“His innovation also reduces electricity consumption by 50% and fertiliser use by 40%, making it a game-changer for resource-scarce regions. Designed for resilience, the system ensures consistent irrigation, even during power or water disruptions,” the statement read.

Congratulating the finalists and winners, DSTI Minister Professor Blade Nzimande stressed the urgent need for sustainable solutions in South Africa, where environmental challenges such as water scarcity, air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather events are deepening socio-economic disparities.

“Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production have led to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” Nzimande said.

According to the Minister, this crisis has resulted in severe environmental problems, including extreme weather events like droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms, which cause widespread damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and human lives.

“South Africa, like many other parts of the world, is grappling with these challenges, making the need for climate-resilient infrastructure even more urgent,” Nzimande said.

The 2025 GCIP-SA Awards also recognised other outstanding innovators in sustainable solutions.
Runner-up, Econova Solutions, led by Sanele Mabizela, was honoured for its impactful work in clean energy and environmental sustainability.

Econova converts organic waste into biogas and organic fertilisers.

Meanwhile, the second runner-up spot went to the Graduated Man of Steel, represented by Lunga Calvin Mahlangu, for an innovation that produces affordable electric micro-mobility solutions for urban and industrial transport.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of the TIA, Ismail Abdoola, commended the entrepreneurs for driving clean technology innovations and reaffirmed the TIA’s commitment to strengthening the programme’s impact.

“We recognise the remarkable achievements of the GCIP-SA and the entrepreneurs shaping the future of our country’s cleantech ecosystem. This… is not just about celebrating accomplishments but about reaffirming our shared vision for innovation, sustainability and progress,” said Abdoola at the awards ceremony.

He also acknowledged the long-standing partnership between TIA and UNIDO, which has been instrumental in driving the success of GCIP-SA, and supporting local entrepreneurs in refining their solutions and positioning them for market success.

“The GCIP is more than a programme, it is a movement, a movement that brings together innovation, collaboration, and purpose-driven action in support of a sustainable future. As we look ahead, let us be inspired by the work done so far and remain committed to building a greener and more resilient South Africa,” Abdoola added.

The winner and runners-up will represent South Africa, in the global installment of the Cleantech Awards in Turkey in September 2025. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: Two to appear in court in connection with Marry Me attack

Source: South Africa News Agency

Two suspects are expected to appear before the Pretoria North Magistrates Court on Wednesday in connection with the attack of community-based patrollers at the Marry Me informal settlement in Soshanguve.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) said the pair, aged 27 and 50, will appear on charges of murder, attempted murder, and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.

“The firearms will be subjected to ballistic testing to ascertain whether they had been involved in other serious crimes in Gauteng,” said the Hawks.

The two were arrested on Monday by members of the Hawks’ Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS) in Pretoria, together with the Tshwane K9 Unit, Akasia Crime Prevention, Tshwane Akasia Crime Intelligence, Public Order Policing (POP) Pretoria, Tshwane district Serious Violent Crime (SVC) and the Pretoria North Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC).

READ | Attack on community-based patrollers condemned

“On 24 March 2025, information was received by members of TOMS regarding a group of suspects that have allegedly committed multiple murders and attempted murder in Soshanguve (Marry Me), which occurred on 22 March 2025. The police followed up on the information and traced the first suspect to Soshanguve Extension 20,” said the Hawks.

Upon arrival, police recovered one firearm, a 9MM Girsan with ammunition. The serial number had been filed off the firearm.

The police proceed to the second address in Soshanguve Extension 6, where the second suspect was arrested.

During the arrest, the suspect was found in possession of a 9MM CZ with ammunition, and its serial number was also filed off.

“… The suspects are allegedly linked to murders and house robberies that occurred on 21 February 2025,” said the Hawks. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Crapo Upholds Idahoans’ Second Amendment Rights

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo

Washington, D.C.–In keeping with his longstanding support of the Second Amendment, U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) announced his efforts so far in the 119th Congress to protect Idahoans’ access to the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
“Those seeking to strip away Second Amendment rights have sought every creative way possible to advance their agenda through legislation, regulation and litigation,” said Crapo. “The majority of Americans are law-abiding citizens who own, possess, carry and use firearms in a lawful and peaceful fashion. Their right to do so is enshrined in our Constitution. That right must not be abridged while we seek to prevent violence perpetrated by criminals.”
Senator Crapo’s efforts to protect the Second Amendment in the 119th Congress so far include:
Leading reintroduction of the Hearing Protection Act, which would reclassify suppressors to regulate them like a regular firearm;
Co-sponsoring the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would allow any person legally authorized to carry a concealed firearm in their home state to exercise that right in any other state that allows the practice;
Co-sponsoring Senator Jim Risch’s (R-Idaho) Sporting Firearms Access Act, which would limit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives’ (ATF) ability to restrict firearm models from importation into the United States;
Backing the Fair Access to Banking Act, which would prevent discrimination by banks and financial services providers against constitutionally-protected industries and law-abiding businesses, such as firearms manufacturers;
Co-sponsoring the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act, which would remove “reputational risk” as a component of federal supervision, which has become a way to weaponize power against politically disfavored groups;
Joining legislation to prohibit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service from banning the use of lead ammunition or tackle on public lands unless such action is supported by the best available science;
Co-sponsoring Senator Risch’s No REGISTRY Act, which would require the ATF to delete all existing records of firearms transactions and allow federal firearms licensees to destroy firearm transaction records when they go out of business.
Backing the ATF Transparency Act, which would require a transparent and speedy National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) process and create an appeals process for erroneous NICS denials;
Co-sponsoring the FIND Act, which would prohibit companies with policies that discriminate against the firearm and ammunition industries from receiving federal contracts;
Supporting the Traveler’s Gun Rights Act to allow military spouses and those without a fixed address (such as those who live full time in a recreational vehicle) to purchase handguns in the state where they are permanently stationed for duty or consistent with the P.O. Box listed on their driver’s license;
Sending a letter to the ATF demanding it comply with President Trump’s Executive Order, Protecting Second Amendment Rights, in order to align the ATF’s rules and polities with the President’s strong support for the Second Amendment; and
Signing a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce highlighting concerns with the Department’s Interim Final Rule finalized under the previous Administration that restricted firearms exports to certain countries.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Vibrant Visuals: Upgrade will transform how players experience Minecraft

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Vibrant Visuals: Upgrade will transform how players experience Minecraft

At Minecraft Live, we got a glimpse of the future of Minecraft in the form of Vibrant Visuals – an upgrade that will transform the way players experience the game. Coming later this year to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on selected platforms, Vibrant Visuals will give the game a huge visual boost, adding improved graphical elements such as directional lighting, volumetric fog, and much more – and will be available as a simple menu toggle, letting you switch between old and new looks at will.

The team at Mojang has a perfect way of summing up their intentions – Vibrant Visuals is designed to evoke how Minecraft looks in your head. This isn’t a total conversion, or a handbrake turn into a new visual style, but a deepening of Minecraft’s iconic look.

Art Director Jasper Boerstra spearheaded the project, and explained that it all began by seeing how the community approached Minecraft: “Vibrant Visuals was inspired by the streamers. When I was thinking about this project, I watched streamers build to see how people play with shaders and how they react to them. One thing I noticed is that players often turn off shaders when doing specific tasks, like building, because they want to see things more clearly. That inspired me to think about how we could create graphics that you don’t have to turn off—graphics that are comfortable to build with. That’s exactly what we aimed for: simple and impactful for players.”

I was lucky enough to visit Mojang Studios in Stockholm to see Vibrant Visuals in action, and that overriding philosophy is clear from the moment I drop into one of two maps created specially to show off the huge amount of work that’s gone into creating Vibrant Visuals. It’s one thing to see it in screenshots or trailers, but you truly can’t understand the effect of Vibrant Visuals without playing the game yourself.

On the first of these maps, I load into a cave, looking up a flight of stairs to a sunset sky. Light pours in from the outside, pooling down the edges of the stone walls, vines cutting twisting shadows through it, as hovering fireflies cast lazily dancing pools of light over water blocks around me. As I leave the cave, I’m presented with a mountainous desert, the low sun casting long shadows across the landscape. It’s an atmosphere that vanilla Minecraft has never had before.

Switching to the second map, I’m suddenly in a verdant valley at the height of the afternoon. Sunshine plays through the gaps in cherry blossom trees, and falling petals (added as part of the Spring to Life game drop) cast their own fluttering shadows around me. I dive into a nearby pool, and realize that light even plays a part down here, gold rays of sunshine spearing their way through the water. Every single block is touched by the change – you can see how light interacts on everything, even across the backs of scuttling wildlife living here.

Boerstra explained more about how Vibrant Visuals isn’t just a graphical overhaul, but a distinctly Minecraft-themed take on a modern look: “When you play, you’ll notice that the shadows in the game are pixelated. All the reflections are pixelated, too. When you drop an item and the sun casts a shadow on it, it’s also pixelated. We wanted to keep it Minecraft-y, and Vibrant Visuals is a great way to bridge familiar elements with new features. It’s about adding something to the world that feels immersive while staying true to the essence of the game.”

But perhaps the biggest testament to how successfully these enhanced visuals have been implemented is that, very quickly, I forget all about them. It’s not such an overwhelming shift that I’m constantly reminded that this is an all-new look – it feels perfectly pitched, retaining everything you know of Minecraft. In fact, the most incredible part of the demonstration was when I started using a single hotkey to shift back and forth between the old look and the new – I’d continuously find amazing looking vistas, then toggle back to the original visuals, and realise, all over again, quite how much has changed.

In the original look, mountain ranges surrounded me like the enormous chunks of blocks they are – but with Vibrant Visuals, volumetric fog effects mean that they disappear into a haze, offering a sense of depth to the map. It’s not just that it looks better, it feels bigger, adding a newfound sense of scale and mystery to the world around you.

And this is only the beginning for Vibrant Visuals. This isn’t a one-and-done moment for Mojang, but the beginning of an ongoing effort to improve what Minecraft can look like, without abandoning its signature vibe.

“Vibrant Visuals is not the end; it’s the beginning of our journey,” explains Executive Producer Ingela Garneij. “We want to keep working to add more visual updates, as our goal is to reach players across platforms with approachable graphics. We’ll continue to build on these features while staying true to what makes Minecraft’s art style so special and beloved by our community.” –

It’s also presented as an option for players – and not just in the fact that you can switch back to the original look at any time. Vibrant Visuals is planned for Minecraft: Java Edition in the future, but this doesn’t spell an end to community-created visual mods, or RTX-enabled maps. Vibrant Visuals is presented as a new way for a whole new swathe of players to upgrade the look of the game, without the more in-depth work that can take.

The benefit to us, the players, is clear – for longtime fans, this represents Minecraft evolving to match their imaginations. For new players, it helps modernize the game without ever losing what made it special in the first place. And for all of those players, accessing Vibrant Visuals is as simple as downloading the update.

We’re so used to Minecraft increasing its scope through content – new blocks, new mobs, new mechanics – that it’s fascinating to see the team take a totally different approach here. Vibrant Visuals doesn’t just feel like a new look for the game – it feels like a new dawn.

Vibrant Visuals will arrive for free in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition later this year.

Minecraft

Microsoft Studios

☆☆☆☆☆ 2004

★★★★★

$19.99 $15.99

Xbox One X Enhanced

Xbox Game Pass

CREATE Build whatever you can imagine in your own infinite world that’s unique in every playthrough. EXPLORE Discover biomes, resources and mobs, and craft your way through a world filled with surprises in the ultimate sandbox game. SURVIVE Experience unforgettable adventures as you face mysterious foes, traverse exciting landscapes, and travel to perilous dimensions. PLAY TOGETHER Have a blast with friends, whether you’re sitting on the same couch in split screen or miles apart in cross-platform play for console, mobile and PC. Connect with millions of players on community servers or subscribe to Realms Plus to play with up to 10 friends on your own private server. EXPERIENCE MORE Get creator-made add-ons, thrilling worlds, and stylish cosmetics on Minecraft Marketplace. Subscribe to Marketplace Pass (or Realms Plus) to access 150+ worlds, skin & textures packs, and more – refreshed monthly.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Illegal alien cartel member sent to prison for possessing nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

LAREDO, Texas – A 20-year-old Mexican national affiliated with Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) unlawfully residing in Laredo has been sentenced for illegally possessing ammunition, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Charbel Garza Macias pleaded guilty Oct. 8, 2024.

U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo has now ordered Macias to serve 63 months in federal prison. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence that described Macias as member of the CDN. In handing down the sentence, the court noted that Macias was providing tools of war to a brutal criminal organization.

“This defendant’s goal was to get this ammunition to Mexico and, if he had succeeded, would have contributed to the cartels’ ongoing campaign of brutality,” said Ganjei. “Those who work to arm, supply, fund, or otherwise aid these organizations take notice; you are going to be found and prosecuted.”

“The conviction and sentence of this individual highlights the serious consequences of smuggling ammunition across international borders,” said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI). ICE-HSI remains committed to disrupting cross-border criminal operations and ensuring that individuals who engage in these illegal activities face the full weight of the law.”

Macias had made several bulk purchases of ammunition in Laredo with the intention of transporting them to Mexico for profit.

On July 16, 2024, authorities were conducting surveillance when they observed a vehicle previously suspected of transporting large amounts of high caliber ammunition. Macias was driving and had loaded ammunition into the trunk of the vehicle.

Macias attempted to elude law enforcement as they followed him after departing the parking lot.

Following a traffic stop, a search resulted in the discovery of approximately 4,800 rounds of .223/5.56 caliber ammunition in the vehicle. At the time of his arrest, Macias admitted he was hired to purchase approximately 20,000 rounds of ammunition to be smuggled into Mexico. He claimed the ammunition was for the CDN operating in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Macias did not have a license to export ammunition or firearms and knew it was illegal to smuggle ammunition into Mexico.

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

ICE-HSI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan L. Oliver prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Ernst Names Small Business of the Week, Mulholland Grocery

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Published: March 25, 2025
Throughout this Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties.
RED OAK, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, today announced her Small Business of the Week: Mulholland Grocery of Mills County. Throughout the 119th Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties.
“For nearly 150 years, Mulholland Grocery has been a cornerstone of the Malvern community, offering fresh grocery products and beloved local favorites like ham salad and smoked meats,” said Chair Ernst. “After a devasting fire destroyed the business in 2021, Tom Mulholland worked to rebuild and expand his family’s legacy, demonstrating the importance of small businesses and their community network.”
In 1875, Fred E. Mulholland opened Mulholland Grocery as a dry goods store in the heart of Malvern, Iowa. Fred expanded the store in 1903 to include a small cash-and-carry grocery section, which eventually grew to be the family business. In 1945, Fred passed away, leaving the business to his son, Fred A. Mulholland, who managed it for almost 30 years until 1972. The business changed hands several times before returning to the Mulholland family ownership in 2008 when Tom Mulholland purchased it.
Mulholland Grocery is well known for its iconic ham salad, breakfast bratwurst, smoked meats, and warm customer service. In December 2021, tragedy struck when a massive fire devastated the Main Street location. Tom and his team transformed and modernized it, reopening the store in December 2024. This April, Mulholland Grocery plans to officially commemorate its grand reopening and its 150th anniversary in Iowa.
Stay tuned as Chair Ernst recognizes more Iowa small businesses across the state with her Small Business of the Week award.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI: VERB Publishes Management’s Prepared Remarks During Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Earnings Call

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

LAS VEGAS and LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., March 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB) (“VERB” or the “Company”), Transforming the Landscape of Social Commerce, Social Telehealth and Social Crowdfunding with MARKET.live; VANITYPrescribed; GoodGirlRx; and the GO FUND YOURSELF TV Show, today filed its Form 10-K reporting financial and operating results for the full year and the quarter ending December 31, 2024 and held an earnings conference call at 1 p.m. ET to discuss these results. Prepared remarks during the conference call of Rory J. Cutaia, the Company’s Chairman & CEO, are provided below.

Company Participant
Rory J. Cutaia, CEO

Operator:
Good afternoon and welcome to the full-year and fourth quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call for Verb Technology Company, Inc. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised, the call is being recorded at the Company’s request.

On our call today is Rory J. Cutaia, Verb’s Founder, Chairman and CEO

Before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that statements made during this conference call will include forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, except as required by law, as the underlying facts and circumstances may change. Verb Technology Company disclaims any obligations to update these forward-looking statements, as well as those contained in the Company’s current and subsequent filings with the SEC.

I would now like to turn the call over to Rory J. Cutaia, CEO. Rory?

Rory:
Thank you moderator, and thanks to everyone for joining us today for our fourth quarter and full-year 2024 financial results and business update conference call.

Well it sure feels good being back before you, speaking directly to you about our company, our business, our performance, and sharing our direct, transparent, honest thoughts and strategies for how we intend to drive shareholder value in this business now and into the future.

I’d like to begin with a brief discussion about our history and the challenging market conditions that influenced the formulation of the strategies we undertook to insulate ourselves from those conditions. I’m referring to insulating ourselves from those market conditions that became impediments to value creation in our former direct sales Software as a Service line of business, as well as those market conditions, particularly capital markets conditions, that affected, and are affecting many, many small and micro-cap exchange-listed companies even today.

Then I’d like to discuss the strategies that we employed and the changes we’ve made that underlie the impressive results we’re now seeing in the business. I’ll also touch on the strategies we employed that resulted in what I’m proud to state is a well cash-infused, extremely healthy debt-free balance sheet and a super clean cap table, the combination of which provide the all-important foundation for the impressive revenue growth we’re now enjoying.

Ok – let’s jump in. Historically, we were an R&D driven technology business, built around a SaaS platform, with a customer base that was comprised of, for the most part, direct sales companies, or as they are sometimes referred to: multi-level marketing companies. When we entered the market with our interactive video-based sales software, we set out to become the dominant player in this sector. What we saw at that time was the opportunity to address a market that included the large-scale sales teams, including tens of thousands of independent sales reps that these companies managed, all of whom needed a simple and effective, mobile-based sales tool.

Over time we learned valuable lessons. First, while we onboarded large numbers of new sales reps every month, the attrition rate among sales reps at these companies was extraordinarily high, making it difficult and costly to generate meaningful revenue growth. In addition, while we developed what we believe were extremely effective tools to help sales reps, even inexperienced sales reps generate and convert sales leads, outdated internal communications policies at these companies prohibited us from communicating these tools and how to use them directly to the fields of sales reps which may have curtailed much of the sales rep attrition, as the companies that managed these reps were often ineffective at doing so themselves. Finally, the ever-changing nature of the customer base we served, as well as the give-it-away below cost pricing models adopted by competitors who found themselves marginalized by our superior product offering, required continued, costly R&D expenditures, and continued returns to the capital markets.

These factors, coupled with what we perceived to be declining market multiples for SaaS businesses generally, drove our decision to sell that business unit and focus instead on our new, though not yet revenue-generating – Market.live, livestream shopping business. A bold move indeed, but one that has certainly proven now to have been in the best interests of our shareholders. This was the first prong of our multi-pronged strategy to restructure, reconstitute, and re-invent VERB.

The next prong of our strategy was to insulate ourselves from the predatory financing terms imposed universally on companies like ours who relied on access to the capital markets to fund continued R&D and other growth capital requirements. Almost every financing initiative we undertook was fraught with last minute re-trading of material deal terms, ridiculous warrant coverage terms and conditions, post-deal financing exclusivity arrangements, tying the Company to bad financings into the future when additional capital was needed – all of which made us – and so many other companies in the same situation – perfect targets for short-selling – and for companies with any kind of trading volume, greed-driven illegal naked short-selling.

It wasn’t hard to target companies that announced an upcoming financing as short-sellers could be confident that deal terms and corresponding share prices would be below whatever the then current trading price was. This capital markets environment eroded share prices across the board resulting in reverse splits required to maintain exchange listing requirements, and destroyed cap tables and balance sheets causing an unprecedented level of exchange de-listings. Ultimately, it was the individual retail investors, left without sufficiently aggressive regulatory intervention, who bore the brunt of this market activity and still do.

To avoid this awful outcome, we developed a unique strategy to utilize Reg A to structure our capitalize raise initiatives and avoid the predatory hedge-fund investors, allowing us to issue straight common shares, priced at-the-market, with no warrant coverage, and no investment banking fees. This financing vehicle, unique for publicly-traded companies, among other financing strategies, allowed us to pay-off all of our debt, redeem all of the previously issued preferred shares, completely restructure our balance sheet, padding it with cash, taking shareholder equity from almost $2 million negative in June 2023 to more than $16 million positive in December 2024, and giving us a cash runway, conservatively assuming zero revenue growth, well into 2028 and beyond.

The shareholder approved reverse split we did last year resulted in an extremely tight – less than 1 million share float – and essentially eliminated all of the warrant overhang from years-ago predatory financings. We’re very proud of how well that series of initiatives was executed, completing that important second prong of our multi-pronged strategy to restructure, reconstitute, and re-invent VERB.

The next prong of our strategy was to diversify our revenue streams to insulate ourselves from changes in the market, including economic and regulatory changes, as well as changes within our own customer base and demand for our products and services. The challenge was to identify and develop independent, yet complementary revenue producing business units that could leverage the cost savings produced by a unified internal finance, sales, marketing, and technology department structure utilized by and across all business units.

Recognizing that the core of our business was our interactive social video commerce technology and know-how, our strategy was to exploit those capabilities by entering the exploding telehealth industry, leading to the development and launch of VANITY Prescribed, followed by GoodGirlRX in partnership with TV and social media celebrity Savannah Chrisley, and then the development and launch of GO FUND YOURSELF, our very exciting, fast-growing crowd funding marketing platform. To give a sense of the revenue potential for Go Fund Yourself, we launched it in Q3 with little to no marketing and recognized $25 thousand in revenue – and then in Q4 we recognized $233 thousand in revenue. And if any of the more recent developments come to fruition for the Show – 2025 may be an extraordinary year for Go Fund Yourself and VERB stockholders.

VANITY Prescribed was in development during Q3 and Q4, identifying suppliers, onboarding suppliers, then replacing suppliers, developing our online patient screening and prescription approval process, and shoring up our supply chain in anticipation of participating in the extraordinary growth of the telehealth space following the introduction and rapid adoption of the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Revenue, though now growing, was modest through that period and we’re excited for a broad-based launch and marketing campaign that is about to get under way.

As to MARKET.live, at the end of Q3, we changed our focus and product offering by providing what we believe is an industry-leading end-to-end solution for brands seeking to adopt a social commerce strategy that they cannot manage in-house on a cost effective basis. That strategy has proven to be enormously successful producing exponential revenue growth. As reflected in our 2024 Form 10-K filed today, in Q1 we generated revenue of $7 thousand, in Q2 we generated revenue of $37 thousand, in Q3 we generated revenue of $103 thousand, and in Q4 we generated revenue of $490 thousand. An impressive and most welcomed trend by anyone’s standards.

Combined 2024 revenue was $895 thousand, an increase of $832 thousand over 2023, representing revenue growth of 1,321% over that period. This performance is the greatest amount of revenue generated since the strategic sale of the Company’s direct sales SaaS business unit in June 2023.

Looking at Q4 alone, we generated $723 thousand, an increase of $694 thousand over the same period last year, representing revenue growth of almost 2,400% over that period. And as compared to Q3 2024, revenue in Q4 increased by $595 thousand, representing growth of almost 465% quarter-over-quarter.

While we historically do not provide going-forward guidance, we are comfortable sharing our expectation that Q1 2025 will surpass Q4 2024.

Finally, as to the last prong of our multi-pronged strategy to restructure, reconstitute, and re-invent VERB, we recognized that any business that fails to identify and develop an artificial intelligence strategy will be marginalized. With that in mind, we explored a number of different strategies, including developing our own A.I. capabilities in-house, which we smartly rejected. Instead, we scoured the market for a company with a developed, tested, proprietary A.I. solution uniquely tailored to video-based social commerce. Upon testing the A.I. and social commerce capabilities of LyveCom, a bleeding-edge, video-based social commerce start-up, we entered into a licensing agreement to incorporate their technology into our MARKET.live platform.

To our great surprise, we found that the integration of LyveCom’s tech resulted in a massive operational cost reduction. In fact, we anticipate a direct operational cost reduction of approximately $1 million per year. However, perhaps more importantly, we also recognized that the addition of LyveCom’s technology created an entirely new, updated platform, feature rich with capabilities far beyond our current platform and certainly beyond that of many other social commerce platforms. So rather than simply license the technology and risk LyveCom being acquired by a competitor, limiting our access to the technology and future iterations of it, we decided to acquire it ourselves. It is our expectation that the acquisition will be highly accretive and produce meaningful value for VERB stockholders.

With the closing of the LyveCom acquisition, which remains on track and is expected to occur in the coming weeks, we will have effectively completed the transition of VERB from an unprofitable, cash-hungry business in a challenging market, to an extremely well-capitalized, well diversified business, with proven, strong, fast-growing revenue generation capabilities, A.I.-ready, with a tight float, clean cap table and debt-free balance sheet, poised for meaningful continued growth.

In closing, I refer you to our Form 10-K filed today for greater details concerning our 2024 financial results as well as the press release distributed today summarizing those results for additional information I’ve not covered in my conference call today. I’ve chosen instead to use this time to provide context for those results and share our strategies and ongoing initiatives for continued growth and value-creation for VERB stockholders.

Finally, and as anyone who can read a balance can see, with under 1 million shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2024, and debt-free with more than $13 million in cash and highly liquid securities – and assuming ZERO value given for our three revenue generating business units – I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that our net cash value per common share is at least $13.50, which we believe represents a very compelling opportunity, very compelling indeed.

I thank you for allowing me to address you all today and share with you our excitement and optimism for VERB shareholders now and into the future.

Operator: This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect.

About VERB
Verb Technology Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERB), is the innovative force behind interactive video-based social commerce. The Company operates three business units, each of which leverages its social commerce technology and video marketing expertise. The Company’s MARKET.live platform is a multi-vendor, livestream social shopping destination at the forefront of the convergence of e-commerce and entertainment, where brands, retailers, creators, and influencers engage their customers, clients, fans, and followers across multiple social media channels simultaneously. GO FUND YOURSELF is a revolutionary interactive social crowd funding platform and TV show for public and private companies seeking broad-based exposure across social media channels for their crowd-funded Regulation CF and Regulation A offerings. The platform combines a ground-breaking interactive TV show with MARKET.live’s back-end capabilities allowing viewers to tap, scan or click on their screen to facilitate an investment, in real time, as they watch companies presenting before the show’s panel of “Titans”. Presenting companies that sell consumer products are able to offer their products directly to viewers during the show in real time through shoppable onscreen icons. VANITYPrescribed.com and GoodGirlRx.com are telehealth portals, intended to redefine telehealth by offering a seamless, digital-first experience that empowers individuals to take control of their healthcare needs. They were designed and developed to disrupt the traditional healthcare model by providing tailored healthcare solutions at affordable, fixed prices – without hidden fees, membership costs, or inflated pharmaceutical markups. GoodGirlRx.com, a partnership with Savannah Chrisley, a well-known lifestyle personality and advocate for health and wellness, offers customers access to convenient, no-hassle telehealth services and pharmaceuticals, including the new weight-loss drugs, with fixed pricing regardless of dosage, breaking away from the industry’s traditional model of excessive pricing and pharmaceutical gatekeeping.

The Company is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV and operates full-service production and creator studios in Los Alamitos, California.

For more information, please visit: www.verb.tech

Follow VERB and MARKET.live here:
VERB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VerbTechCo
VERB on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerbTech_Co
VERB on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verb-tech
VERB on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0eCb_fwQlwEG3ywHDJ4_KQ

Sign up for E-mail Alerts here: https://ir.verb.tech/news-events/email-alerts

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance, or achievements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, those identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our annual, quarterly and current reports filed with the SEC and the risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC today. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contact: investors@verb.tech

Media Contact: info@verb.tech

The MIL Network –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Leicester’s newest free festival brings Romans, St George, dragons and a giant forum to the city

Source: City of Leicester

MEET a fire-breathing dragon, learn to march like a Centurion and help to recreate the entrance to a Roman Forum by taking part in Leicester’s newest free festival next month!

The Old Town Festival on 26 & 27 April will incorporate traditional festivities for St George’s Day and a celebration of the city’s fascinating Roman heritage.

Centring on Jubilee Square and the Old Town area of the city centre, the free festival will also feature an urban mosaic workshop at the Guildhall, a living history Roman camp, an artisan craft market and themed storytelling aboard the children’s bookbus.

Hands-on archaeology, Roman theatre, craft activities and Morris dancing will also be on offer, along with face-painting and a dress-up booth so that young festival-goers can become gallant knights, fearsome dragons or magical maidens!

A fire-breathing dragon will be on the loose in Cathedral Gardens, alongside stilt-walking jesters, magical wizards and a trio of clumsy knights taking on daring quests. Over at Jubilee Square, you can take part in Roman warrior training, where you can learn to march like a legionnaire, wield a sword like a true centurion, or raise a shield to victory.

Assistant city mayor for leisure and culture Cllr Vi Demspter said: “The Old Town Festival is a new event for 2025, bringing together our traditional St George’s Day celebrations and Leicester’s rich 2,000-year history and Roman heritage.

“There are lots of great free activities to take part in, and it’s all taking place in our historic Old Town.

“As well as activities for kids and families, there is also a fantastic programme of trails, talks and debates about the Roman world, meaning that this promises to be a really inclusive and exciting festival with something for everyone.”

There’s the chance to get involved in the week running up to the festival, too. The Haymarket shopping centre will be hosting a day of free fun on Thursday 24 April, with a dragon on the loose, mosaic and toga making, and fun arts and craft activities.

And there will be something never before seen in Leicester! At Highcross from 21-25 April, renowned French artist Olivier Grossetête will recreate a huge life-size construction of a lost piece of the city’s history using just cardboard and tape.

St George and the dragon

Image: A. Lyleire

Image: Tynesight media

Graham Callister, head of festivals and events at Leicester City Council said: “With your help, we’ll rebuild the grand entrance to the Roman Forum as it may have looked in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. This monumental and unique project combines history, art, and community spirit.

“Over five days, there will be 10 hands-on workshops at the Highcross Shopping Centre. Then, on Saturday 26 April, participants and passers-by will come together to assemble the structure at Jubilee Square, the site of the original Roman Forum. The following day, Sunday, 27 April, festival-goers will help bring the project to a dramatic close by dismantling it. We’re inviting everyone to participate in the workshops, build and demolition!”

Support for the Old Town festival has come from the council’s partners BID Leicester, Global Streets, Arts Council England, Highcross Leicester, Haymarket Shopping Centre and Hidden Histories.

Simon Jenner from BID Leicester said: “The Old Town Festival is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Leicester’s rich history while bringing exciting, free experiences to the city centre. Events like this create a real buzz, attracting visitors and benefiting local businesses. The festival will shine a spotlight on the city’s Roman past, with an incredible recreation of Leicester’s historic Roman Forum by renowned artist Olivier Grossetête, built entirely from cardboard with the help of the public. We’re proud to support a festival that brings our heritage to life in such an engaging and interactive way.”

The workshops are suitable for anyone aged 9+. To reserve a place, email festivals@leicester.gov.uk

To find out more, see www.visitleicester.info

Festival brochures will also be available soon from the Visit Leicester information centre, within the KRIII Visitor Centre at 4A St Martins, Leicester, LE1 5DB.

ENDS

Main image: Artist Olivier Grossetête’s creation at NOVUM Newcastle Summer Festival 2023, photo by Tynesite Media

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 26, 2025

MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New world-leading nature finance standards launched to encourage green investment

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

New world-leading nature finance standards launched to encourage green investment

New standards will set the bar for nature investments, prevent greenwashing and helping business invest in restoring nature

Aerial shot of river

The Overarching Principles Standard is the first of its kind, supporting investment in high-quality projects which restore rich habitats.
The move marks the UK out as a world leader in the development of nature markets and will drive economic growth as part of our Plan for Change.

New government-backed pioneering green finance standards have been introduced today (Tuesday 25 March) to boost investment into nature and support economic growth, as well as helping to clamp down on “greenwashing”.

This landmark standard – launched by British Standards Institution (BSI) – will help nature-friendly investments across the UK to grow, by building confidence among businesses that these investments are making a real difference for our natural environment.

These new standards will bring a variety of benefits for the environment. Projects that could be supported include restoring wetlands, improving water quality, building flood resilience, and creating new habitats.

Through the Plan for Change this Government is working to deliver economic growth across the country, and to support this, we will make the UK the green finance capital of the world.

A healthy natural environment is crucial to economic growth. Without a healthy environment, there is no food, no business, and no economy. The Green Finance Institute found that nature-related risks including water shortages and soil health reduction could lead to a 6% reduction to GDP in the years ahead. That is why economic growth and nature restoration must go hand in hand.

This is the first standard for collective nature markets of its kind in the UK, and one of the first in the world, marking the UK out as a global leader and marks our ambition to pioneer nature markets which guard against greenwashing and lead to lasting environmental change.

Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed said:

“We need urgent action from across society to address the nature crisis, and businesses have a crucial role to play in that effort. By having clear standards, we can strike a blow to greenwashing and give businesses confidence that their investment is truly helping our natural world recover.

“Through the Plan for Change, this Government is working relentlessly to grow the economy and this move gets us one step closer to fulfilling our ambition to make the UK the green finance capital of the world.”

Scott Steedman, Director – General, Standards at BSI said:

“Today marks a key milestone for the Nature Investment Standards (NIS) Programme with the launch of updated overarching principles ready for adoption across the UK.

“The principles are designed to provide consistency and rigour for high-integrity UK nature markets that trade in real, measurable environmental benefits. This supports the goal of increasing investment into nature, helping to create new revenue streams for farmers, land managers and other suppliers of nature-based solutions.

“BSI, in its role as the UK National Standards Body, looks forward to working closely with Defra to enable the take up of the revised standard and its implementation in the market.”

The new Overarching Principles Standard was created following an established BSI market led process for standards development which included extensive consultation with businesses and land managers.

BSI is also launching a consultation on a first version of a Natural Carbon Standard, as part of a wider framework of standards. This will gather market views specifically on high integrity principles for projects selling nature-based carbon credits in UK markets. These credits will consist of habitats which store carbon, such as woodlands or peatlands, helping us to reach Net Zero while providing benefits for landscapes and wildlife.

The Overarching Principles Standard (BSI Flex 701) is immediately available for use by market participants and will support investment in high quality nature and sustainable farming projects in the UK.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

More information on the Overarching Principles Standard can be found here: [BSI Flex 701 v2.0 Nature Markets – Overarching Principles

BSI](https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsigroup.com%2Fen-GB%2Finsights-and-media%2Finsights%2Fbrochures%2Fbsi-flex-701-nature-markets-overarching-principles-and-framework%2F&data=05%7C02%7CAlex.Walsh%40defra.gov.uk%7C36f86aa99f89489ac9a808dd6b9546c8%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638785011065753774%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3zYbDOEaWTOIbHmYRo41Re%2BKFETlrYC%2F0YiDLaRJdVo%3D&reserved=0)

The Overarching Principles and Natural Carbon standards are part of a family of standards which will apply to nature markets. Other standards are in development and will cover Biodiversity markets, Nutrients projects and schemes and guidance on how projects should engage with local communities. There is a new BSI navigation tool available on the BSI Nature Markets online Hub – to help stakeholders navigate the suite of BSI nature investment standards.
Further details of a formal assurance framework to verify compliance will be set out in due course.
The BSI have published research on assurance which sets out options for Government to ensure compliance with the new standards.

Published 25 March 2025

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

March 26, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Transcript: Governor Hochul On “Mornings With Zerlina”

Source: US State of New York

arlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on SiriusXM’s “Mornings with Zerlina” with Zerlina Miller. The Governor spoke on her proposal for universal free school meals, the ongoing Budget negotiations and which challenges she is prioritizing from the Trump administration.

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: Welcome back to “Mornings with Zerlina.” Joining us on the phone is the first woman to ever be Governor of the great State of New York. Governor Kathy Hochul is all on the line. Good morning, Governor.

Governor Hochul: Good morning.

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: It is quite a time. There is so much going on and I’m so grateful that you were able to join us this morning.

One of the things we’ve been focused on since January 20 is the role and the importance of Democratic Governors in being the bulwark against some of the authoritarian moves of the Trump administration. How do you see yourself and your role as the Governor of New York in holding the line for democracy?

Governor Hochul: That’s an excellent question, and I appreciate the role that Congress plays. I’m a former member of Congress and I would’ve stayed if I had not voted to support the Affordable Care Act representing a very Republican district. So, I have been there. But also — now serving as Governor for the last three-and-a-half years — there is enormous power in being able to speak up with one voice to represent an entire state, a large state like New York, and to call out what is happening to not just the people of our state, but the people all across America. And if we abrogate that responsibility at this moment in history, then we’re not fulfilling our obligations to our citizens or to this nation, and that’s what I feel so strongly about — the role I can play now.

There are pathways to have a relationship that’s workable on infrastructure and other areas where there’s common interest with the Trump administration, but what I’ve said from the very beginning, and say it all the time: If you cross the line and you come after policies and programs that help New Yorkers and take them away, or you challenge our very values — the ideals that we hold dear in the State of New York — then you have a fight with me.

So, that’s our position.

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: What are some of the things that you’re speaking up about?

Governor Hochul: Well, first of all, women’s rights — and this is an issue we have, actually with a judge right now in Louisiana who’s trying to force us to extradite a medical doctor, an abortion provider who prescribed telemedicine abortion pills to a family, a woman and her mother in Louisiana.

They want me to extradite this person and send her there to face criminal charges. This is, again, a fallout from administration stacking the Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade and the fallout continues all these years later. So, standing up for women’s rights, but also, Medicaid. I was out the very first days they talked about undoing the Medicaid promise that we’ve made to our citizens since the 1960s that we will take care of them. They think it’s just people in poverty who aren’t working — they are wrong. These are our senior citizens in nursing homes and these are programs for children. So, I’ve been out there speaking out strongly on those issues.

Now we have cuts to FEMA. Are you kidding me? Have they watched the news? Did they see the weather? They see the devastation all across America and at this time of great crisis, you are now talking about eliminating FEMA assistance for states. So, I will tell you this — on education, school lunches, I was in a school just a couple days ago saying, “Don’t touch this essential program that the Department of Education provides,” and there’s almost too much and, in that sense, you have to be a little bit selective or your voice becomes just one of many and you really have to pick your fights.

But I have to say this, there are plenty of fights to choose from.

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: There are plenty of fights to choose from. Just the ones you just listed off — the Medicaid cuts, FEMA cuts, Department of Education. I feel like cutting the department — I mean they’re really cutting everywhere. You have Elon Musk and his unelected crew of “tech bros,” I guess is the way to describe them. Running from agency to agency and cutting staff and funding. I mean, talk a bit about the impact specifically of the Department of Education cuts in addition to the free school lunches, because I think that that is still very much new, right? It just happened and so the impact has not necessarily been felt by everyone yet.

Governor Hochul: Right. Before I get to that, let me just quickly say that when we first started seeing these cuts from Elon Musk, we took an exact opposite approach here. We actually have advertising in Union Station in Washington and here in New York at Penn Station. People going on a train see the message, which Elon Musk may say, “You are fired,” but in New York, we say, “You’re hired.” We are trying to hire these individuals because they’re enormously talented. We value public servants. We know the critical role they have in keeping the plane safe, and protecting our nuclear codes, and making sure social security checks are received by our grandparents and parents.

But on education, New York State receives about $5 billion in assistance, whether it’s $2 billion for Pell Grants — creating that pathway to a higher education, which changes everything, including my own family’s trajectory — $2 billion for school lunches. I mean, you have to go to some of these school lunch rooms and know that there are children whose stomach should be growling throughout the day because their parents, their mom, most likely, did not have the ability to pack that lunch, send them along with money to buy lunch and these are the kids that are the collateral damage of this war on government.

And if we as moms and parents — first Mom Governor of New York — if I don’t use my voice to stand up for those children across my state in this nation, then what am I doing here? And that’s how strongly I feel about these fights when it comes to the education cuts. There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos, and we’re trying to do our Budget here in the State of New York, not knowing whether or not the $93 billion we receive from the federal government is going to be affected, so it’s complicating things. But, if our voices don’t rise up at this moment, then why are we sitting in these seats?

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: In the last few minutes here, I want to ask about tariffs because one of the things that is true about New York, it is quite large and it goes up right on the line of Canada and some of the folks who live in New York — the farmers and the folks who benefit from being able to have small businesses in that area will be impacted by Trump’s tariffs. Talk a bit about, number one, the impact and what you can do as Governor to protect their interests.

Governor Hochul: That is something that has been top of mind, particularly in our farm community. Literally on Saturday morning, I was out celebrating Maple Syrup Weekends. New York is the number two producer of maple syrup in the nation, so I was out there with farmers.

They said, “What will the tariffs do to you out in this rural area?” Probably a red county. I’m pretty sure that the father who ran the farm was a Republican supervisor, and they are so frightened about tariffs for their farms. Everything from the steel that goes into how they process the maple syrup all the way to the fertilizer.

I mean, how many people think about fertilizer? There’s something called potash — most of it from our country, in New York, particularly — comes from Canada and it’s only manufactured in Canada, Ukraine, and Russia. So I’d rather get it from Canada any day of the week. But this is what’s jeopardized. So it’s the farm community that is really, really, really anxious at a time when they don’t need this extra stress.

But also, I’m from Buffalo. I’m from Western New York. The synergy between Ontario and Western New York. It is just one large committee. Everybody supports the Buffalo Bills, everybody watches the hockey games, and so there’s a lot of cross pollination. This is not a foreign country to us. These are our friends to the north, so there’s a lot of business exchange, a lot of trade back-and-forth.

We have a $50 billion trade balance, which is pretty much in balance with our largest trading partner, which is Canada. That being jeopardized sends chills down the spines of our business leaders who don’t know whether all their costs, all the materials they need. We get so much lumber, we build housing with lumber from Canada, and what is that going to do to our ability to be able to build the housing that I am pushing for — to make up for years of people not having the ambition to do it.

So, I have to say this: The ripple effect touches every sector of our economy here in New York. And what that means, contrary to what Donald Trump promised, which is lower prices on Election Day. Remember he said that countless times on the campaign trail? The opposite is true.

Prices are going up and will be going up. And lastly, Canada, because they’re frustrated with these policies — threatened to raise our energy costs that we get from Canada by 25 percent. Now, that is the last thing New Yorkers need right now is a higher energy bill because of the Trump tariffs. So it’s wide ranging and my fear is only just beginning.

Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: In the last few minutes here, I wanted to ask you about being somebody who has to stand up for the people in the State of New York against the administration that is trying to grab all the power that they can in such a short amount of time. Do you ever feel afraid or nervous about becoming a target by this administration? They obviously are targeting and attacking people who stand up against them.

Governor Hochul: No, fear is never an option for someone in my position. Fear is paralyzing at this moment in history when we’re called to stand up to basically the disintegration, the destruction of our democracy and our nation as we know it.

I do not want to be, as Theodore Roosevelt described as “The Man in the Arena,” which I changed to “The Woman in the Arena.” I will never be the timid soul on the sidelines, questioning what others do. I will be in that arena. I will stand up. I will cooperate and have a partnership with the Trump administration on areas of mutual interest.

And I will do that because it’s important to my state to get Penn Station redone and focus on infrastructure. But I said this in my first call with the president, after he was elected, I said, “But I will stand up to you. You go after women’s rights, you have to get through me. You’re going to challenge my citizens on issues. And my immigrant community, we are going to have a fight.” So I cannot let fear dictate how I respond. I must govern with strength at this moment. And then that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Zerlina Miller, Sirius XM: New York Governor Kathy Hochul, thank you so much for being with us. It’s Women’s History Month, it’s the perfect time to have this conversation. Thank you, again. Come back anytime.

Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you. Bye-bye.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Lynchburg Man Sentenced to 106 Months on Gun and Drug Charges

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A local man who trafficked pressed fentanyl pills and oxycodone while possessing a firearm was sentenced last week to 106 months in federal prison.

Shytrez Robey, 25, pled guilty in November 2024 to one count of possessing with the intent to distribute fentanyl, one count of possessing with the intent to distribute oxycodone, and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, after repeatedly making controlled purchases of pressed fentanyl pills from Robey’s roommate, Elijah Pollard, police obtained and executed a search warrant for the two-bedroom apartment Robey and Pollard shared in Lynchburg. Pollard pled guilty to separate federal charges and was sentenced to 12 years in July 2024.

In Robey’s bedroom, police found pressed blue fentanyl pills and two loaded handguns – a Glock 19 9 mm and a Smith & Wesson 9 mm. Police also found a money counter, medical gloves, and empty vacuum-sealed bags. Robey was not home at the time the search warrant was executed.

Approximately two months later, law enforcement arrested Robey at his girlfriend’s apartment in Lynchburg. Police subsequently obtained and executed a search warrant for that apartment, and, in the bedroom occupied by Robey, his girlfriend, and a toddler, they found a large quantity of marijuana, 60-70 pills of assorted colors, which were predominantly oxycodone, and a loaded Romarm Micro Draco AK-pattern pistol. Police also seized Robey’s cell phone which contained text messages related to the sale of pills.

Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee and Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the announcement.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Lynchburg Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Brett prosecuted the case.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Colombian Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison For Conspiring To Send More Than A Ton Of Cocaine To The United States

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

Oscar Henao-Montoya and His Co-Conspirators Touted Henao-Montoya’s Ability to Produce Cocaine, Control of Colombian Airstrips and Ports, and Relationships with Corrupt Members of the Colombian Air Force in Effort to Import Cocaine to the United States

Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Louis A. D’Ambrosio, the Special Agent in Charge of the Special Operations Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), announced that OSCAR HENAO-MONTOYA, a Colombian national, was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. HENAO-MONTOYA was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni, before whom he previously pled guilty to one count of cocaine importation conspiracy. Two of HENAO-MONTOYA’s charged co-conspirators, REHINNER MONTOYA-GARCIA and JUAN FELIPE SANTIBANEZ-CARDONA, also previously pled guilty to one count of cocaine importation conspiracy and were sentenced by Judge Caproni to 20 years and 15 years in prison, respectively.

Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “Oscar Henao-Montoya and his co-conspirators sought to send a staggering quantity of cocaine from Colombia to the United States. Today’s sentence, and those previously imposed in this case, send a clear message that those who seek to traffic cocaine into the United States will pay a steep price for their actions. This Office, through its longstanding partnership with the DEA’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit, will hold accountable those who seek to break our narcotics laws and harm our communities, regardless of where in the world they may hide.”

As reflected in the Indictment, other filings in Manhattan federal court, and statements made in open court:

HENAO-MONTOYA is a Colombian drug trafficker with longstanding familial connections to international cocaine distribution. HENAO-MONTOYA is the younger brother of Orlando Henao-Montoya, a/k/a “El Hombre Overol,” the former leader of the Norte del Valle Cartel, the notorious drug cartel which operated principally in the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia and rose to prominence in the late 1990s after the Cali and Medellin cartels fragmented. HENAO-MONTOYA’s siblings also include Arcángel Henao Montoya, a/k/a “El Mocho,” Fernando Henao-Montoya, and Lorena Henao-Montoya, a/k/a “La Viuda De La Mafia.” Together, the Henao-Montoya siblings ran the Norte del Valle Cartel, until Orlando and Lorena were murdered, and Arcángel Henao Montoya was deported from Panama to the U.S.

Between October 2020 and August 2021, HENAO-MONTOYA and co-conspirators who worked for HENAO-MONTOYA, including MONTOYA-GARCIA and SANTIBANEZ-CARDONA, participated in a series of meetings in Colombia with DEA confidential sources (the “CSes”), who were acting at the direction of the DEA, to discuss their plans to import tons of cocaine into the U.S. During those meetings, many of which were recorded, HENAO-MONTOYA discussed, among other things, his ability to export large quantities of cocaine from Colombia via control of airstrips (clandestine and overt) and ports in Colombia, as well as his relationships with corrupt members of the Colombian Air Force. HENAO-MONTOYA and his co-conspirators also discussed various shipping routes to transport cocaine out of Colombia to the U.S. and, specifically, New York. During certain of the meetings described above, HENAO-MONTOYA and individuals working for HENAO-MONTOYA were armed with firearms.

During meetings with the CSes, HENAO-MONTOYA also discussed his access to and control of cocaine laboratories that could produce over one ton of cocaine, including a laboratory that HENAO-MONTOYA said could produce 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine at a time. On one occasion, MONTOYA-GARCIA brought one of the CSes to territory controlled by the Revolution Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”), which MONTOYA-GARCIA said was where HENAO-MONTOYA had drug laboratories, and that these laboratories were guarded by FARC members.

To ensure that their plan to import cocaine into the U.S. would be successful, HENAO-MONTOYA and his co-conspirators tested and provided cocaine samples for the CSes. For example, in October 2020, MONTOYA-GARCIA and SANTIBANEZ-CARDONA provided a one-kilogram sample of cocaine to one of the CSes to test its quality. After expressing satisfaction with the quality of the cocaine, the CS told MONTOYA-GARCIA and SANTIBANEZ-CARDONA that “the Americans will go crazy in the United States” for the cocaine. In addition, in April 2021, at HENAO-MONTOYA’s direction, MONTOYA-GARCIA provided an eight-kilogram sample of cocaine to undercover agents working for the Colombian National Police in exchange for approximately $16,000, which was intended to serve as a sample for the contemplated ton-quantity cocaine shipments that HENAO-MONTOYA and his co-conspirators sought to send to the U.S.

* * *

In addition to the prison term, HENAO-MONTOYA, 58, of Colombia, was sentenced to four years of supervised release.

Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota and the Colombian National Police for their assistance.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg, Matthew J.C. Hellman, David J. Robles, and Chelsea L. Scism are in charge of the prosecution.

MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI: Delinea Earns 5-Star Rating in the 2025 CRN® Partner Program Guide

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Delinea, a pioneering provider of solutions for securing human and machine identities through centralized authorization, has been honored by CRN^®, a brand of The Channel Company, with a 5-Star Award in the 2025 CRN Partner Program Guide. This annual guide is an essential resource for solution providers seeking vendor partner programs that match their business goals and deliver high partner value.

Delinea was recognized for several enhancements made to its partner program in 2024, including the launch of a new partner portal. This portal provides a centralized hub for partners to drive revenue growth and deliver more value to customers through resources like comprehensive training materials, sales tools, and marketing collateral. Delinea has also expanded its partner ecosystem and driven greater collaboration by embracing cloud marketplaces as a key sales channel, supporting multi-cloud strategies, co-marketing, and joint promotions.

“Earning a 5-star rating is a testament to our long-term commitment to partners, ensuring they are armed with the right tools and educational materials to support their customers’ identity security needs, no matter where they are in their journey,” said Kara Trovato, vice president of Channel Sales and one of CRN’s 2025 Channel Chiefs. “This is especially important at a time when the cybersecurity landscape is rapidly evolving in the age of AI as businesses are grappling with the explosion of human and machine identities. We have lots in store for our partners in 2025 as we supercharge our training and enablement offerings even more so they can support their customers with seamless, intelligent identity security.”

For the 2025 Partner Program Guide, the CRN research team evaluated vendors based on program requirements and offerings such as partner training and education, pre- and post-sales support, marketing programs and resources, technical support, and communication. The 5-Star Award is an elite recognition given to companies that have built their partner programs on the key elements needed to nurture lasting, profitable, and successful channel partnerships.

“Being featured on the 2025 CRN Partner Program Guide highlights the dedication these technology vendors have to evolving with solution providers, driving innovation, and supporting mutual success,” said Jennifer Follett, VP, U.S. Content and Executive Editor, CRN, at The Channel Company. “This critical annual project empowers solution providers to identify vendors that are committed to enhancing their partner programs and meeting the always-changing business needs of the channel and end customers. The guide provides deep insight into the distinctive value of each partner program so solution providers can make strategic partnership decisions with confidence.”

The 2025 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April 2025 issue of CRN and published online at www.CRN.com/PPG.

To learn more about Delinea’s partner program and become a partner, visit www.delinea.com/partners.

About Delinea
Delinea is a pioneer in securing human and machine identities through intelligent, centralized authorization, empowering organizations to seamlessly govern their interactions across the modern enterprise. Leveraging AI-powered intelligence, Delinea’s leading cloud-native Identity Security Platform applies context throughout the entire identity lifecycle across cloud and traditional infrastructure, data, SaaS applications, and AI. It is the only platform that enables you to discover all identities – including workforce, IT administrator, developers, and machines – assign appropriate access levels, detect irregularities, and respond to threats in real-time. With deployment in weeks, not months, 90% fewer resources to manage than the nearest competitor, and a guaranteed 99.99% uptime, Delinea delivers robust security and operational efficiency without complexity. Learn more about Delinea on delinea.com, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

About The Channel Company:
The Channel Company (TCC) is the global leader in channel growth for the world’s top technology brands. We accelerate success across strategic channels for tech vendors, solution providers, and end users with premier media brands, integrated marketing and event services, strategic consulting, and exclusive market and audience insights. TCC is a portfolio company of investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm. For more information, visit thechannelco.com.

Follow The Channel Company: X, LinkedIn and Facebook.

© 2025 The Channel Company, Inc. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

The MIL Network –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Asks Court to Enforce Order Against Trump Administration Over Continued Disruptions to FEMA Funding

Source: US State of California

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a coalition of 23 state attorneys general, asked the District Court for the District of Rhode Island to enforce its preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration as states continue to face obstacles in accessing obligated Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding. Despite the coalition’s success in unlocking billions in wrongfully frozen funds through a preliminary injunction and earlier motion to enforce, the Trump Administration has continued to freeze millions of dollars in FEMA funding for critical emergency preparedness and recovery programs, including disaster relief for communities affected by the Maui wildfires.

“The Trump Administration must follow the law and release vital, previously awarded FEMA funding to the states,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Without this funding, Hawaii and other states may be forced to wind down disaster relief programs, including those actively helping victims of the Maui wildfires rebuild. We cannot let the Trump Administration duck its legal obligation here as it attempts to seize the power of the purse at the expense of Congress and the U.S. Constitution.”

In January, a coalition of 23 attorneys general, led by the attorneys general of California, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Massachusetts, sued the Trump Administration over its attempt to freeze up to $3 trillion in federal funding. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island quickly granted the attorneys general’s request for a temporary restraining order, blocking the freeze’s implementation until further order from the court. Soon after, the attorneys general filed motions for enforcement and a preliminary injunction to stop the illegal freeze and preserve federal funding that Congress appropriated and that families, communities, and states rely on. The court granted the motion for enforcement, ordering the Administration to immediately comply with its temporary restraining order, and later, the motion for a preliminary injunction.

Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin in filing the motion to enforce.

A copy of the motion to enforce is available here.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Honduras Man Charged with Multiple Firearms Charges Following Burglary of a Federal Firearms Licensee in Dickson, Tennessee

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

NASHVILLE – Manuel De Jesus Guirola-Amaya, 20, a citizen of Honduras without legal status in the United States, has been indicted by a federal grand jury with possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, possession of a stolen firearm, and stealing firearms from a federal firearms licensee, announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee.

According to court documents, on December 5, 2024, a burglary occurred at Golden Eagle Pawn, a Federal Firearms Licensee, in Dickson, Tennessee. Surveillance video showed two stolen cars arrive at the shop, one of which rammed the front door. Four people got out of the cars and went into the store, targeting several firearms displays. About two minutes after crashing into the store, the four subjects left in one of the stolen cars. More than 40 firearms were stolen during the burglary.

Later that day, a La Vergne Police Department officer stopped a car with an expired registration. The sole occupant of the car was Guirola-Amaya. Inside the trunk of the car, officers discovered a backpack containing five pistols that had been stolen in the Golden Eagle Pawn burglary and still had the price tags attached. Officers also found another backpack in the backseat with two pistols which were also reported stolen from Golden Eagle Pawn, one of which still had a price tag attached. The backpack also held suspected marijuana, and a set of digital scales.

Agents later executed a federal search warrant at a residence tied to Guirola-Amaya. They discovered, among other things, a high-capacity magazine, ammunition, and price tags consistent with the Golden Eagle Pawn price tags. Agents also executed several search warrants on cell phones found on Guirola-Amaya or in the car the day of his arrest. The data extraction results from the phones provided further ties to the burglary including photographs and videos of firearms, location data, and search queries.

Guirola-Amaya entered the United States illegally in March 2022, and has no lawful status.

If convicted, Guirola-Amaya faces a maximum of 15 years in federal prison on Count One, which charges possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, and 10 years each on the other two counts. Guirola-Amaya also faces a $250,000 fine on each count.

This case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the La Vergne Police Department and the Dickson Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Hinkle is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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MIL Security OSI –

March 26, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: RELEASE: Senator Mullin Reaches Thousands of Oklahomans with Telephone Town Hall

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator MarkWayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)
Washington, D.C. – Monday evening, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) hosted a live telephone town hall event with thousands of Oklahomans across the state. During the call, Senator Mullin addressed the recent devastating wildfires and took questions on DOGE cuts, border security, returning education to the states, and tariffs, among other topics. Click here to listen and see below for highlights.

On the devastating wildfires impacting Oklahoma:
“First, as we start this tele town hall meeting, we want to keep in mind that there’s a lot of families that are still hurting from the wildfires that took place and that are actually still taking place across Oklahoma. Christie’s, my wife, aunt and uncle who live in Stillwater, they lost their house and everything in it. And I know our family’s not any different than anybody else. All of us were impacted in some way. Our family is here to help personally, plus our office is here to help too. So, if there’s anything that comes up from the federal assistance side, we’ve been coordinating closely with Governor Stitt. Of course, you know, he lost his house out on the ranch, and had issues there too. But I can tell you him and I have talked on a regular basis. He is working with us on the federal side, in the coordination, making sure that it takes place. But if there’s a question that you have, someone that you that you know, or you may have been personally impacted, don’t hesitate to reach out to our office.”
On waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government:
“The President was very clear. I mean, promises made, promises kept. I can’t repeat that enough. Promises made, promises kept by the President. When he came out there and he said he was going to hold the government accountable for the people again, and make the government work for the people again, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. And you see the left losing their loving mind over it, because he’s actually doing something that, truthfully, you can go back and find the video that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi talked about it in a forum in 2010… where they literally talked about exactly what DOGE is doing, except the Democrats never did it, and President Trump is doing it.”
On returning education to the states:
“Keep in mind, there was 4,200 employees that worked for the Department of Education, and they set policy for teachers to teach, and none of them were teaching. They were never designed to be educators… They weren’t teaching the students, but yet, they were trying to tell our teachers in Bixby, Oklahoma, or in Choctaw, Oklahoma, or Chickasa… how to teach their students in their classroom. And what President Trump is saying is, let’s put it back in the hands of the teachers. Let’s take the money, let the school board, and allow the superintendent and allow the principal and allow the teachers to be involved in how to educate their kids.”
“Where we went wrong was, we took the Department of Education and started thinking a lot of people from Washington, DC knew best how to teach our kids… You’re just going to see a lot more involvement out of your local school boards and a lot more responsibility going to your superintendent, your principal and your teachers in the classrooms.”
On deporting criminal illegal aliens:
“The President’s well within his authority to do it, he should be able to do it. I mean, why is it bad to be deporting illegals that are here illegally? Obviously, they’re here illegally. These same judges didn’t do one single thing to stop the previous administration from allowing these criminals to come into our country, and now when we’re trying to deport them out of our country, now all of a sudden, these judges are speaking up? That’s a problem… They don’t want them in their neighborhood.”
On false rumors about cuts to benefits:
“The President has made it very clear, we’re not cutting benefits to anybody, not anyone on Social Security, not anybody on Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits. That’s absolutely not happening. Now are we looking at making cuts because they’re bloated? Yes. Are we looking at shrinking the workforce in some of these places? Absolutely. The critical ones, no. But the government has absolutely impregnated itself since COVID… We’ve just seen a lot more employees coming in than we should have.”
On tariffs:
“That’s why you see a huge boost in manufacturing coming back to the United States. You’re seeing foreign companies that have been shipping their products into the United States, now they are saying that they’re going to invest in our manufacturing, which is exactly what the President wants. And at the same time, we’re not looking for a trade war for anybody. We’re just looking to be treated fairly, and fairly means the same. We want you to be treated just like we’re being treated.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 26, 2025

Category: Natural Disasters

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

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