NewzIntel.com

Category: Transport

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: INDIAN AND FRENCH NAVIES SET FOR THE 23rd EDITION OF BILATERAL NAVAL EXERCISE – VARUNA 2025

    Source: Government of India

    Posted On: 18 MAR 2025 6:36PM by PIB Delhi

    The 23rd edition of the bilateral naval exercise VARUNA, a testament to the enduring maritime partnership between India and France, is set to take place from 19 to 22 Mar 25. Since its inception in 2001, VARUNA has evolved into a cornerstone of cooperation, showcasing the two nations’ commitment to enhancing naval interoperability and operational synergy. This year’s edition promises an exhilarating array of maritime exercises and complex manoeuvres across the sub-surface, surface, and air domains. The joint participation of the aircraft carriers Vikrant and Charles de Gaulle, alongside their fighter aircraft, destroyers, frigates, and an Indian Scorpene-class submarine, highlights the collaborative strength of both Navies.

    VARUNA 2025 will feature advanced air defence drills and fighter exercises, including mock air-to-air combat between the French Rafale-M and Indian MiG-29K, designed to refine tactical and operational capabilities. Anti-submarine warfare exercises will provide rigorous training in underwater domain awareness, while surface warfare operations will demonstrate synchronised manoeuvres and engagements by the Indian and French fleets. Maritime patrol aircraft will enhance situational awareness, and replenishment-at-sea exercises will fortify logistical cooperation. This collaboration underscores the shared vision of safeguarding a free, open, and secure maritime environment.

    By fostering the exchange of best practices and mutual understanding, the exercise reaffirms the ability of both nations to operate seamlessly in even the most complex maritime scenarios. VARUNA 2025 stands as a powerful reminder of the deep bonds uniting the Indian and French Navies in their pursuit of maritime peace and security.

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    VM/SPS    

    (Release ID: 2112430) Visitor Counter : 12

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Violation of European legislation due to discrimination in maternity leave for substitute teachers in Greece – E-001020/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001020/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Elena Kountoura (The Left)

    In Greece, there is a serious issue of discrimination regarding maternity leave for substitute teachers, who are only entitled to 119 days of parental leave[1]. Because of this, many women are forced to return to work early or even resign[2], with multiple negative consequences for their family as well as for their financial and professional situation. The Greek Government’s refusal to equalise maternity leave for this category of workers raises a serious problem, both for the protection of women’s rights and for the country’s compliance with European law.

    Taking into account: a) the Commission’s letter of formal notice to Greece for the incorrect transposition of Directive 1999/70/EC[3] into national law, setting a two-month deadline for Greece to eliminate discrimination between workers, b) Article 5(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance, which stipulates that every worker is individually entitled to four months of parental leave[4], c) the deadline for equalising leave for substitute and permanent staff by the end of September 2024[5], d) the fact that substitute teachers are not entitled to leave in the event of threatened miscarriage, and e) the fact that the Greek Government has ignored all of the above:

    • 1.What actions does the Commission intend to take to ensure the protection of female workers and the country’s full compliance with European law?
    • 2.How does the Commission intend to support Member States in protecting gender equality in the workplace?

    Submitted: 10.3.2025

    • [1] In contrast to the nine months provided for permanent teachers, see Article 142 of Law 3655/2008, as amended by Article 43 of Law 4997/2022 (https://www.kepea.gr/uplds/file/2022/n4997%202022.pdf) and Article 33 of Law 4808/2021 (https://www.minedu.gov.gr/publications/docs2021/adeies_anaplirotwn_ekpaideutikwn.pdf).
    • [2] It is noted that resignation is accompanied by a two-year exclusion from recruitment competitions, https://www.minedu.gov.gr/publications/docs2018/N4589FEK13.pdf.
    • [3] The directive prohibits discrimination against workers with fixed-term contracts.
    • [4] Member States shall put in place the necessary measures to ensure that each worker is individually entitled to four months of parental leave to be taken before the child reaches a certain age, up to the age of eight, to be determined by the Member State or by collective agreements, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EL/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02019L1158-20190712.
    • [5] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/el/inf_24_3228.
    Last updated: 18 March 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: CEB and EIB sign agreement to facilitate co-financing and boost investment impact

    Source: European Investment Bank

    The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) deepened their long-standing partnership by signing a Mutual Reliance Agreement today to strengthen co-operation, facilitate co-financing and enhance the impact of public sector projects in countries of operation outside of the European Union.

    A key element of this approach is the mutual recognition of each institution’s procurement policies and procedures, thus reducing transaction costs and administrative burden. By streamlining project preparation and implementation, the agreement will allow both the CEB and the EIB to focus on delivering tangible benefits for their member countries.

    The agreement also aligns with the recommendations of the G20 Roadmap for Better, Bigger, and More Effective Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), which calls on MDBs to enhance country-level coordination and co-financing, including through mutual reliance agreements for greater development financing efficiency.

    “As Chair of the Heads of MDBs Group this year, the CEB is committed to fostering stronger collaboration among multilateral development banks to increase our collective impact. This CEB-EIB agreement is a concrete example of how MDBs are working together more effectively as a system, to deliver financing where it is most needed. By tightening our cooperation, we can accelerate support for sustainable development, social cohesion and economic resilience in our countries of operation to benefit the communities we serve,” said CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli.  

    EIB Group President Nadia Calviño said: “ It is more important than ever that we join forces in mobilising investment and supporting a strong European voice in the world. The agreement we signed today with the Council of Europe Development Bank reflects our strong partnership, financing projects that build stronger communities and improve lives across the European Union and beyond.”

    The CEB and EIB have a strong track record of co-financing projects that drive social and economic development across Europe. Recent examples of collaboration include financing vital water irrigation investments in Greece; jointly supporting a landmark cultural, social and educational hub in Cyprus; and investing in water and wastewater facilities in Serbia. Projects in the healthcare sector are also being jointly appraised in the Western Balkans region.  

    The agreement will enable both institutions to co-finance larger and more complex projects that no single lender could undertake alone, leveraging their collective financial strength and expertise to maximise the impact of strategic investments.

    Background information

    EIB   

    The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world.  

    About the CEB

    The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) is a multilateral development bank, whose unique mission is to promote social cohesion in its 43 member states across Europe. The CEB finances investment in social sectors, including education, health and affordable housing, with a focus on the needs of vulnerable people. Borrowers include governments, local and regional authorities, public and private banks, non-profit organisations and others. As a multilateral bank with an excellent credit rating, the CEB funds itself on the international capital markets. It approves projects according to strict social, environmental and governance criteria, and provides technical assistance. In addition, the CEB receives funds from donors to complement its activities.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Other events – Exchange with European Chief Prosecutor on the EPPO Annual Report for 2024 – 19-03-2025 – Committee on Budgetary Control – Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

    Source: European Parliament

    On 19 March, MEPs of the LIBE and CONT committees will discuss with Laura Codruța Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor, the Annual activity report of the Office of European Public Prosecutor for the year 2024.

    Last year has been important for the development of the EPPO activities. The Office recorded sizeable increases in terms of ongoing investigations it has carried, new opened cases and indictments it has handled. By the end of 2024, the Office had 2 666 active investigations, for a total estimated damage over €24.8 billion.

    The report highlights the overall trend where EU fraud has become highly attractive to very dangerous criminals, in particular organised crime groups and presents a major security issue for the EU. 2024 has also been an important year from the institutional perspective, as it saw Poland and Sweden to join the enhanced cooperation on the EPPO. Therefore as of the end of 2024, the EPPO was able to investigate and prosecute fraud affecting Union funds in 24 EU countries.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Member of Violent Gang Sentenced to Over Eight Years in Prison for Racketeering Involving Drugs and Firearms Trafficking

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    BOSTON – A Boston area man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for his role in Cameron Street, a violent Boston gang.

    Jose Afonseca, 32, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 100 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. In October 2024, Afonseca pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise, conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and dealing in firearms without a license.

    According to court documents, Afonseca was identified as member of Cameron Street, a violent gang based largely in the Dorchester section of Boston that uses violence and threats of violence to preserve, protect, and expand its territory, promote a climate of fear, and enhance its reputation. During the investigation, Afonseca worked with other Cameron Street members to distribute hundreds of grams of cocaine and cocaine base, more commonly referred to as “crack” cocaine, from a stash house in Somerville. Afonseca was also recorded discussing his ability to acquire illegal firearms and was recorded selling two firearms and over 30 rounds of ammunition to a cooperating witness.

    On Aril 15, 2022, 398 grams of cocaine, along with packaging materials, two hydraulic presses, a digital scale, a cell phone, and $14,986 in U.S. currency were seized during a search of a stash house.

    This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

    United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police; Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office; Suffolk, Plymouth, Norfolk and Bristol County District Attorney’s Offices; and the Canton, Quincy, Randolph, Somerville, Brockton, Malden, Stoughton, Rehoboth and Pawtucket (R.I.) Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Pohl and Charles Dell’Anno of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

    The remaining defendants named in the indictment are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
     

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: New Haven Gang Member Sentenced to 22 Years in Federal Prison for Murders, Additional Shootings

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    TYJON PRESTON, also known as “TJ,” 22, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 264 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for his involvement in a violent New Haven street gang, including two murders and additional shootings.

    Today’s announcement was made by Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; John P. Doyle, Jr., State’s Attorney for the New Haven Judicial District; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Boston Field Division; Anish Shukla, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England; and New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson.

    According to court documents and statements made in court, in an effort to address violence in New Haven, the ATF, FBI, DEA and New Haven Police Department, working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, have been investigating a gang war between members and associates of the Exit 8 street gang and rival gangs in the Hill section and other areas of the city.  The Exit 8 gang is named after the geographic area accessed by exiting Interstate 91 at Exit 8 in New Haven.  Recently, younger members of Exit 8 are identifying themselves with the word “Honcho,” which is derived from the street name of an Exit 8 member who was murdered on Quinnipiac Avenue in February 2020.

    The investigation revealed that Preston and other members of the Exit 8 gang engaged in drug trafficking, used and shared firearms, and, since June 2018, have committed at least three murders and 16 attempted murders.  Exit 8 members and associates also stole vehicles, at times from outside of the state, and used those stolen vehicles when committing acts of violence.  Gang members also promoted, coordinated, facilitated, and celebrated their narcotics distribution and acts of violence through text messaging and the use of social media applications and websites including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

    On April 24, 2024, Preston pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, and specifically admitted that on April 27, 2021, he and other Exit 8 members attempted to kill a rival gang member and shot him in the leg; on May 19, 2021, he and other Exit 8 members conspired to kill rival gang members, and shot and killed an associate of a rival gang; on May 20, 2021, he and other Exit 8 members shot and attempted to kill rival gang members; and on July 5, 2021, he and another Exit 8 member shot and killed a 22-year-old woman after she made a rap song containing derogatory comments about Exit 8.

    Preston has been detained since September 9, 2021.

    This investigation has been conducted by the ATF, the FBI, the DEA, the New Haven Police Department, the Hamden Police Department, and the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the Connecticut State Police and the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis.

    This prosecution is a part of the Justice’s Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Project Longevity and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) programs.

    PSN is a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/psn.

    Project Longevity is a comprehensive initiative to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities.  Through Project Longevity, community members and law enforcement directly engage with members of groups that are prone to commit violence and deliver a community message against violence, a law enforcement message about the consequences of further violence and an offer of help for those who want it.

    OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Shapiro Administration Highlights Multimillion Dollar Investments Improving Care for Older Pennsylvanians

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    March 18, 2025 – York, PA

    Shapiro Administration Highlights Multimillion Dollar Investments Improving Care for Older Pennsylvanians

    Shapiro Administration officials from the Departments of Health (DOH), and Aging (PDA) visited Country Meadows of York-West to highlight the success of investments that helped optimize its workforce and improve resident safety.

    Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2025-2026 budget proposal includes $7.5 million to invest in more quality investment projects (QIP) for long-term care facilities.

    “Residents at nearly 100 long-term care facilities across the Commonwealth positively benefitted from participating in quality investment pilot projects over the past two years,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen. “Continuing to invest in these efforts benefit both the residents living in the facilities and the health care professionals who are dedicated to delivering the care older adults rightfully deserve.”

    Speakers Include:
    Amy Wagaman, Senior Vice President of Operations for Country Meadows
    Dr. Debra Bogen, DOH Secretary
    Gabrielle Szymanski, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Aging

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Honduran National Indicted for Re-entry of Deported Alien

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – ActingUnited States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that NELSON ALEXANDER OCHOA-VEGA (“OCHOA-VEGA”), age 32, a native of Honduras, was indicted on March 13, 2025, in a recently unsealed indictment, for reentry of removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a).

    According to court documents, OCHOA-VEGA, an illegal alien, was found in Jefferson Parish on or around March 10, 2025.  He had previously been deported to Honduras on November 6, 2019.

    If convicted, OCHOA-VEGAfaces a maximum penalty of two years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, up to one year of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

    U.S. Attorney Simpson reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

    U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorney Spiro G. Latsis of the General Crimes Unit oversees the prosecution.

    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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Rhode Island Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Trafficking Kilos of Cocaine

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    PROVIDENCE – A Rhode Island man who provided kilos of cocaine that made its way to mid-level distributors and street-level drug dealers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts has been sentenced to five years in federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

    Jonathan Masa-Gonzalez, 29, is among more than a dozen individuals charged in federal court in September 2021 during a multi-agency Project Safe Neighborhoods investigation into a wide-ranging street-level drug trafficking conspiracy. Many of the individuals charged had previously been convicted of violent crimes such as firearm, robbery, assault, and domestic violence charges.

    According to court documents and information presented to the court, Masa-Gonzalez was responsible for brokering the sale of multiple kilograms of cocaine to a leader of the conspiracy.

    Masa-Gonzalez pleaded guilty on June 5, 2024, to a charge of conspiracy to distribute and to possesses with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to 60 months of incarceration to be followed by four years of federal supervise release.

    The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacey A. Erickson.

    This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

    The matter was investigated by the FBI Rhode Island Safe Street Task Force, DEA, and the Providence Police Department’s Narcotics Bureau.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hoeven: BlueHalo Partnerships Link Area’s Counter-Drone, Hypersonic Missile Testing & Space Operations

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven

    03.18.25

    Senator Outlines Efforts to Build Project ULTRA, Grand Forks into Proving Ground for Counter-UAS Tech

    EMERADO, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven and representatives from BlueHalo today announced that the company is expanding its operations to the Grand Forks region, tying into a range of operations critical to the future of the nation’s defense, like counter-drone, while laying the groundwork to also connect with the region’s growing space operations. Specifically, BlueHalo:

    • Has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GrandSKY to install its VigilantHalo system in support of Project ULTRA at the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) technology park.
      • Project ULTRA is an effort to make Grand Forks the proving ground for developing the technology needed to protect U.S. military installations and service members against the malicious use of UAS.
      • VigilantHalo will significantly enhance Project ULTRA’s ability to track unmanned aircraft by providing a seamless link between the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) unfiltered radar data feed, the state’s Vantis network and other sensor systems.
    • Will provide on-site support for the Sky Range program, which is operated by the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) at GrandSKY.
      • BlueHalo will be supporting the use of its PANTHER phased array antenna, which is the technology used to convert Grand Forks’ Global Hawks into Range Hawks, enabling them to track hypersonic missiles and other airborne and space-based threats, while communicating with satellites.
      • The company will also partner with the University of North Dakota (UND) on further development of phased array technology.
    • Continues working to adapt its phased array antenna for spaced-based platforms, including the low-Earth orbit mission at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
      • The STAPS Project is funded under the $8.3 million Hoeven secured in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 to partner BlueHalo with Bismarck State College.
      • This effort seeks to miniaturize and enhance the phase array antenna so it can be packaged and launched on satellites.
      • This would allow for additional tracking data in hypersonic missile testing, with the potential for future applications such as tracking adversary missiles.

    “Partnerships are the foundation on which North Dakota’s UAS ecosystem is built, and these initiatives being undertaken by BlueHalo are adding new capabilities and opportunities to link the many exciting operations going on in the Grand Forks region,” said Senator Hoeven. “Importantly, BlueHalo is bringing the VigilantHalo system to GrandSKY at the same time as we are establishing access to the unfiltered FAA radar data feed, giving private companies a unique advantage as they work to develop counter-UAS technologies under Project ULTRA. Combined with the company’s support for the Sky Range hypersonic missile testing and the potential to bring their phased array technology to our satellite mission, today’s announcement ties together North Dakota’s role in some of the most critical missions for the future of our nation’s defense.”

    “North Dakota is a hub for national security research, development, and operations–from drones to hypersonic missiles to total airspace command and control,” said Trip Ferguson, BlueHalo Chief Operating Officer. “The state’s unique blend of leaders like Senator Hoeven who understand these urgent priorities with organizations like GrandSKY who are leaning forward to bring solutions to the table is creating an environment of rapid innovation. BlueHalo is already hard at work here to develop and transition solutions to the frontlines. We’re excited to expand these efforts alongside partners who share the same focus and commitment to the mission.”

    “This agreement with BlueHalo allows GrandSKY to further expand its capabilities in BVLOS operations, and the integration of VigilantHalo as a ground-based sense-and-avoid system strengthens the safety and efficiency of uncrewed flights,” GrandSKY President Tom Swoyer Jr. said. “This collaboration addresses the critical challenges of integrating UAS into the national airspace system while also integrating counter-UAS capabilities which are becoming increasingly critical to national security.”

    Installing VigilantHalo at GrandSKY

    VigilantHalo is an advanced command and control system capable of combining multiple feeds from radars and sensors, enabling:

    • More robust UAS traffic management, detect and avoid capabilities and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) unmanned flights.
    • Companies that partner with GrandSKY under Project ULTRA a unique set of capabilities as they develop UAS and counter-UAS technologies.

    The new system supports Hoeven’s efforts to increase the size and scope of Project ULTRA to develop new tools and methods for the U.S. to counter the malicious use of drone technology. To this end, the senator continues working to secured an increase contract ceiling for Project ULTRA, which would enable it to serve as a bridge between an existing Department of Defense contracting vehicle and new counter-UAS capabilities being developed in the private sector.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján, Senate Democrats Demand USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Purchases for Schools, Farmers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
    Lujan, Schiff, Klobuchar, and Shaheen spearhead effort to stop “further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets”
    Anthony, N.M. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a group of 31 Senators demanding a reversal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cancelation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers. 
    In a letter led with U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the lawmakers said the reported $1 billion in canceled purchases by the USDA adds further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets. U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) also signed onto the letter.
    “We ask that you reverse the cancellation,” the Senators wrote. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation…poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.” 
    The purchases from American farmers fund food for food banks, schools, and child care centers in all 50 states, territories, tribal governments, and the District of Columbia.  
    The letter was also signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeffrey Merkley (D-Ore.),  Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 
    The full letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins can be found here and below: 
    Dear Secretary Rollins:  
    We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need. These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.  
    At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical. Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments. Through LFPA and LFS, USDA has prioritized the procurement and distribution of healthy, nutritious, domestic food. It has also taken an important step towards igniting rural prosperity by expanding and strengthening markets among farmers and rural economies. As of December 2024, the programs had supported over 8,000 producers, providing increased marketing opportunities.  
    Most importantly, we ask that you reverse the cancellation of LFPA and LFS. We also ask that you provide a thorough and complete update on USDA’s implementation of LFPA and LFS, including answers to the following questions:  
    1.        What is the status of reimbursements for entities that have agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS? What is the last date for which states, territories, and Tribes received reimbursements for food purchases under LFPA and LFS?  
    2.        Has the Administration conducted any assessments of how these program cancellations will impact producers and recipient organizations (e.g., food banks, schools, child care centers)? If so, please provide a copy of any such assessments.  
    We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.  
    Please provide responses to the information requested in our questions no later than Friday, April 4. Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: US Department of Labor announces confirmation of Keith E. Sonderling as Deputy Secretary

    Source: US Department of Labor

    WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced Keith E. Sonderling as the 38th Deputy Secretary of Labor.

    Sonderling returns to the department, where he served as Acting and Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. He most recently served as the Commissioner of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity from 2020-2024. 

    During his first stint at the Department of Labor from 2017-2020, the Wage and Hour Division set records for enforcement collections and educational outreach events. Sonderling also oversaw the development and publication of large-scale deregulatory rules and authored numerous Opinion Letters, Field Assistance Bulletins, and All-Agency Memorandums. In addition, Sonderling was instrumental in developing the division’s first comprehensive self-audit program, which collected more than $7 million for nearly 11,000 workers.

    “Keith’s institutional knowledge and policy expertise will continue to be invaluable in our fight to put the American Worker First,” Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said. “I’m thrilled to have him on the team and look forward to working alongside him to renew the American Dream.”

    “Returning to the U.S. Department of Labor, where I began my career in government, is truly an honor,” said Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling. “In my new role, I am committed to helping Secretary Chavez-DeRemer in advancing President Trump’s labor agenda and most importantly putting American Workers first!” 

    Before entering government service, Sonderling was a partner at Gunster, one of Florida’s oldest and largest law firms. There, he counseled employers and litigated labor and employment disputes. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor at Nova Southeastern University. He has also been a Professional Lecturer in the Law at the George Washington University Law School, teaching employment discrimination.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Wagoner County Resident Sentenced for Two Counts of Second-Degree Murder

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Nicholas Lapez Scarborough, age 32, of Redbird, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 405 months in prison for two counts of Second Degree Murder in Indian Country.

    The charges arose from an investigation by the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    On May 6, 2024, Scarborough pleaded guilty to two counts of Murder in Indian Country—Second Degree.  According to investigators, on October 24, 2023, Scarborough intentionally stabbed two individuals with a steak knife.  One victim died after completing an emergency call for help.  A second victim died two weeks later from injuries sustained in the attack.  The crimes occurred in Wagoner County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

    The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Scarborough will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael E. Robinson represented the United States.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Washington State Resident Sentenced for Receiving Child Sexual Exploitation Material

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Christopher Dean Robinson-Holm, age 26, of Lynnwood, Washington, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for one count of Receipt of Certain Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.  This term of imprisonment will be followed by 10 years of supervised release.

    The charge arose from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations.

    On August 26, 2024, Robinson-Holm pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, in June 2022, Robinson-Holm knowingly received a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.  The subject of that image resided in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

    We encourage anyone who suspects or has information regarding child sexual exploitation, trafficking of minors, sextortion, child pornography, or any other means of child exploitation to immediately contact law enforcement.  You can file a report through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-843-5678 or online at www.cybertipline.com, through the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or through Homeland Security Investigations at 1-877-4-HSI TIP.

    The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Robinson-Holm will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Caila M. Cleary represented the United States.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Long Island Business Owner Charged with Orchestrating $22 Million Health Care Fraud, Kickback and Money Laundering Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Defendant Took Advantage of Elderly Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union to Solicit Bribes from Health Care Providers and Defraud Medicare of Millions of Dollars

    Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, an indictment was unsealed charging Oleg Beretsky with conspiring to commit health care fraud, violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and money laundering conspiracy.  Beretsky was arrested this morning in Naples, Florida.  He will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.

    John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York,  Naomi Gruchacz, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York), and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the arrest and charges.

    “As alleged, elderly individuals trusted the defendant to help them with their health care decisions.  Rather than look out for the interests of some of the most vulnerable members of our community, he sold access to those who trusted him to the highest bidder,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “The defendant compounded his crimes by encouraging doctors and health care providers who became part of his scheme to cheat Medicare by billing for work that was not needed or never performed. My Office is committed to protecting both patients and taxpayers from this terrible form of greed.”

    Mr. Durham expressed his appreciation to HSI’s Fort Myers, Florida, office and the New York City Police Department for their assistance on the case.

    “Violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute can divert much-needed federal health care program funds and corrupt the medical decision-making process,” stated HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Gruchacz.  “HHS-OIG works diligently with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations that owners and other providers engage in fraud schemes that prioritize greed over the provision of appropriate health care services to patients.”

    “The defendant and his co-conspirators are accused of pocketing more than $12 million while exploiting the unknowing, innocent public, including victims from immigrant communities,” stated HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Alfonso.  “As alleged, he took advantage of people with whom he had forged relationships — only to manipulate them into using certain doctors and services for his lucrative benefit.  HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force is unmatched in its ability to draw from the strengths and equities of all partners involved, with one unified goal being the safety and security of Americans. I commend our partners, including HHS-OIG, IRS-CI, NYPD and HSI’s Fort Meyer’s personnel, for placing the wellbeing of the public above all else.”

    “Millions of dollars were stolen from the American benefits system, and Oleg Beretsky is charged with the crime.  He’s accused of taking advantage of a vulnerable population and funneling stolen Medicare money into his and his co-conspirators’ pockets. IRS-CI is charged with securing trust in the American financial system and actively investigates anyone looking to make a quick buck by stealing from the American public,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Chavis.

    As alleged in court filings, from January 2017 to April 2024, Beretsky and co-conspirators engaged in a health care fraud, kickback and money laundering scheme.  Beretsky was the owner of Obest, Inc., a company in Plainview, New York, that purported to provide health care professionals with billing, consulting and support services.  In reality, Obest’s principal business consisted of referring elderly Medicare patients to doctors and other health care professionals in exchange for kickbacks and bribes.  Many of these patients were immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who Beretsky identified through an employee of a nonprofit social service agency that provided housing and other services to senior citizens in Brooklyn and Queens. Beretsky cultivated relationships with many of these patients, which he used to gain control over decisions regarding their health care providers.  Beretsky then used that control to ensure that only doctors and other providers—including social workers, pain specialists and diagnostic companies—who were willing to pay him would have access to the patients.  On at least one occasion, Beretsky threatened a patient who wanted to continue seeing a provider who had stopped paying illegal kickbacks to the defendant.

    The fee charged by Beretsky was typically based either on how many patients Beretsky referred to the provider or how much Medicare reimbursed the provider for services purportedly rendered to the patients.  To generate more fees for himself and his co-conspirators, Beretsky often encouraged or directed providers to bill Medicare for patients who did not need the services those providers rendered, and in some cases, services that were not rendered at all.  In total, doctors and providers who participated in Beretsky’s scheme billed more than $22 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.  Of that more than $22 million, Medicare paid more than $12.4 million in claims, which was distributed to Beretsky and his co-conspirators.  To hide the illegal source of funds Beretsky received from the conspiracy, Beretsky frequently directed co-conspirators to pay his relatives in cash and transferred money to multiple accounts held in the names of his family members.

    The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of the charges, Beretsky faces up to up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering conspiracy count; up to 10 years each on the health care fraud conspiracy and kickback counts; and up to five years on the kickback conspiracy count.

    The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section.  Assistant United States  Attorney Joshua B. Dugan is in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Liam McNett and Timothy Migliaro.

    The Defendant:

    OLEG BERETSKY
    Age:  67
    Naples, Florida

    E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-91 (RPK)

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Undercover operation sends drug dealing sex offender to prison

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A 27-year-old Corpus Christi resident has been sentenced for possession with intent to distribute over 11 grams of methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

    Sunny Ray Garcia pleaded guilty Nov. 21, 2024.

    U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has now ordered Gonzalez to serve 60 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by four years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence of Garcia’s extensive criminal history that includes convictions for aggravated sexual assault of a child, burglary and possession of a controlled substance.

    In January 2023, authorities had identified Garcia as a target involved in drug distribution. On Jan. 25, they conducted an operation and purchased drugs from Garcia. The narcotics were later tested and confirmed to be methamphetamine. 

    When authorities arrested Garcia in February 2023, they also discovered a stolen firearm in his vehicle.

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

    The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation with the assistance of Corpus Christi Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Izaak Bruce prosecuted the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Illegal alien indicted in multi-year smuggling conspiracy

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    LAREDO, Texas – A 26-year-old Mexican national illegally residing in Laredo has been charged with conspiracy to smuggle and harbor illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

    Originally charged by criminal complaint, Giovana Lozano Hernandez is expected to appear for her arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge in the near future.

    The charges allege she was an alien smuggler in an ongoing conspiracy. Law enforcement took her into custody Feb. 19.

    Hernandez allegedly used multiple cellular devices to facilitate the smuggling conspiracy. One such failed event allegedly occurred Oct. 28, 2024. Authorities identified numerous digital images of paper ledgers and illegal aliens in relation to that event on the devices, according to the charges. There were also numerous voice messages allegedly exchanged between Hernandez and coconspirators detailing the human smuggling activity including numerous illegal aliens who had already been transported and housed for whom there needed to be financial accountability. Law enforcement also found video messages depicting the transportation of illegal aliens, according to the allegations.

    If convicted, Hernandez faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 maximum possible fine on each of the two counts in the indictment.  

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Border Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Laredo Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling 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 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.

    An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA, Alphabet and Google Collaborate on the Future of Agentic and Physical AI

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Building on their longstanding partnership, NVIDIA, Alphabet and Google today announced new initiatives to advance AI, democratize access to AI tools, speed the development of physical AI and transform industries including healthcare, manufacturing and energy.

    Engineers and researchers throughout Alphabet are working closely with technical teams at NVIDIA to use AI and simulation to develop robots with grasping skills, reimagine drug discovery, optimize energy grids and more. Employing the NVIDIA Omniverse™, NVIDIA Cosmos™ and NVIDIA Isaac™ platforms, teams from Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, Intrinsic and X’s moonshot Tapestry will discuss milestones from their respective collaborations at the NVIDIA GTC global AI conference.

    To power research and AI production efforts for its customers, Alphabet’s Google Cloud will be among the first to adopt the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 rack-scale solution and NVIDIA RTX PRO™ 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPU, also announced today at GTC.

    NVIDIA will be the first to adopt SynthID, a Google DeepMind AI watermarking technology for protecting intellectual property by identifying AI-generated content.

    “I’m proud of our ongoing and deep partnership with NVIDIA, which spans the early days of Android and our cutting-edge AI collaborations across Alphabet,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “I’m really excited about the next phase of our partnership as we work together on agentic AI, robotics and bringing the benefits of AI to more people around the world.”

    “Alphabet and NVIDIA have a longstanding partnership that extends from building AI infrastructure and software to advancing the use of AI in the largest industries,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “It’s a great joy to see Google and NVIDIA researchers and engineers collaborate to solve incredible challenges, from drug discovery to robotics.”

    Developing Responsible AI and Open Models
    Google DeepMind and NVIDIA are working to build trust in generative AI through content transparency.

    NVIDIA will be the first external user of Google DeepMind’s SynthID, which embeds digital watermarks directly into AI-generated images, audio, text and video. SynthID helps preserve the integrity of outputs from NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models, available on build.nvidia.com, helping to safeguard against misinformation and misattribution — all without compromising video quality.

    Google DeepMind and NVIDIA also partnered to optimize Gemma, Google’s family of lightweight, open models, to run on NVIDIA GPUs. The recent launch of Gemma 3 marks a significant leap forward for open innovation.

    NVIDIA has played a key role in making Gemma even more accessible for developers. Supercharged by the NVIDIA AI platform, Gemma is available as a highly optimized NVIDIA NIM™ microservice, harnessing the power of the open-source NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM library for exceptional inference performance.

    In addition, this deep engineering collaboration will extend to optimizing Gemini-based workloads on NVIDIA accelerated computing via Vertex AI.

    The Age of Intelligent Robots
    Intrinsic is an Alphabet company focused on making intelligently adaptive AI for robotics usable and valuable for manufacturers across industries. Today, the majority of the world’s installed industrial robots are manually programmed, with every movement hard-coded in a complex, expensive process.

    Partnering with NVIDIA, the teams have built deeper and more intuitive developer workflows for Intrinsic Flowstate to support NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator foundation models for a universal robot grasping capability. Using foundation models for robotics will significantly reduce application development time and improve flexibility, with AI that can adapt effortlessly. At GTC, Intrinsic will also share an early OpenUSD framework streaming connection between Intrinsic Flowstate and NVIDIA Omniverse — enabling real-time visualization of robot workcells across platforms.

    Concurrently, NVIDIA and Google DeepMind are announcing a collaboration with Disney Research to develop Newton, an open-source physics engine accelerated by the NVIDIA Warp framework that is compatible with MuJoCo. Powered by Newton, MuJoCo will accelerate robotics machine learning workloads by more than 70x compared with MuJoCo’s existing GPU-accelerated simulator, MJX.

    Applying Innovation to Real-World Challenges
    Isomorphic Labs, founded by Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, is reimagining drug discovery with AI. It has built a state-of-the-art drug design engine housed on Google Cloud with NVIDIA GPUs to enable the scale and performance needed to continue developing groundbreaking AI models that can help advance human health.

    Tapestry, X’s moonshot for the electric grid, is building AI-powered products for a greener and more reliable future grid. Tapestry and NVIDIA are exploring methods for increasing the speed and accuracy of electric grid simulations.

    This joint effort will focus on the challenges of integrating new energy sources and expanding grid capacity to meet the growing demands of data centers and AI, while helping ensure grid stability. The companies will evaluate potential solutions, including using AI to optimize the interconnection process, with the goal of enhancing the planning and modernization of energy infrastructure for a more sustainable future.

    The Next Generation of AI-Optimized Infrastructure
    Building on its commitment to provide customers with the most advanced AI infrastructure, Google Cloud will be one of the first companies to offer the latest instances of NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs — NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition.

    Built on the groundbreaking Blackwell architecture introduced a year ago, Blackwell Ultra includes the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 rack-scale solution and the NVIDIA HGX™ B300 NVL16 system. The GB300 NVL72 delivers 1.5x more AI performance than the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72, as well as increases Blackwell’s revenue opportunity by 50x for AI factories, compared with those built with NVIDIA Hopper™. NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the ultimate universal GPU for both AI and visual computing workloads across healthcare, manufacturing, retail, live broadcast and other industries.

    With last month’s preview launches of its A4 and A4X virtual machines, Google Cloud became the first cloud provider to offer both NVIDIA B200- and GB200-based instances. Now, A4 is generally available — with A4X coming soon — so customers can take advantage of Blackwell’s powerful performance with the added benefits of Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer.

    Google Cloud and NVIDIA have worked together to optimize popular open-source frameworks like JAX, a popular Python library for machine learning, and MaxText to run efficiently on NVIDIA GPUs at scale. MaxText, an advanced framework for scaling large models across massive GPU clusters, uses optimizations codeveloped with NVIDIA to enable efficient training on tens of thousands of GPUs.

    GTC attendees interested in learning more about Alphabet and NVIDIA’s work can visit the Google Cloud booth 914.

    About Alphabet Inc.
    Alphabet is a collection of companies, the largest of which is Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998 and the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. Billions of people use its wide range of popular products and platforms each day, like Search, Ads, Chrome, Cloud, YouTube and Android.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Cliff Edwards
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-415-699-2755
    cliffe@nvidia.com

    press@google.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; and the collaboration between NVIDIA and Alphabet and the benefits and impact thereof are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Cosmos, NVIDIA HGX, NVIDIA Hopper, NVIDIA Isaac, NVIDIA Omniverse, and NVIDIA RTX PRO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/611ce8d4-bb5c-47ff-85d5-591363b25467

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA and GE HealthCare Collaborate to Advance the Development of Autonomous Diagnostic Imaging With Physical AI

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today announced a collaboration with GE HealthCare to advance innovation in autonomous imaging, focused on developing autonomous X-ray technologies and ultrasound applications.

    Building autonomy into systems like X-ray and ultrasound requires medical imaging systems to understand and operate in the physical world. This enables the automation of complex workflows such as patient placement, image scanning and quality checking.

    To accomplish this, GE HealthCare, a pioneering partner, is using the new NVIDIA Isaac™ for Healthcare medical device simulation platform, which includes pretrained models and physics-based simulations of sensors, anatomy and environments. The platform accelerates research and development workflows, enabling GE HealthCare to train, test and validate autonomous imaging system capabilities in a virtual environment before deployment in the physical world.

    “The healthcare industry is one of the most important applications of AI, as the demand for healthcare services far exceeds the supply,” said Kimberly Powell, vice president of healthcare at NVIDIA. “We are working with an industry leader, GE HealthCare, to deliver Isaac for Healthcare, three computers to give lifesaving medical devices the ability to act autonomously and extend access to healthcare globally.”

    Expanding Access to Imaging With Physical AI
    Ultrasounds and X-ray are the most common and widely used diagnostic imaging systems, yet nearly two-thirds of the global population lack access. Enhancing imaging systems with robotic capabilities will help expand access to care.

    NVIDIA and GE HealthCare have been working together for nearly two decades, building innovative image-reconstruction techniques across CT and MRI, image-guided therapy and mammography.

    “GE HealthCare is committed to developing innovative technologies that redefine and enhance patient care,” said Roland Rott, president and CEO of Imaging at GE HealthCare. “We look forward to taking advantage of physical AI for autonomous imaging systems with NVIDIA technology to improve patient access and address the challenges of growing workloads and staffing shortages in healthcare.”

    Isaac for Healthcare Closes Gap Between Simulation and Reality
    NVIDIA will also support other customers with Isaac for Healthcare for use cases including simulation environments. Simulation environments enable robotic systems to safely learn skills in a physically accurate virtual environment for real-world situations, such as surgery, that would otherwise be impossible to replicate.

    Isaac for Healthcare is a physical AI platform built on NVIDIA’s three computers for robotics: NVIDIA DGX™, NVIDIA Omniverse™ and NVIDIA Holoscan. It includes AI models fine-tuned for healthcare robotics that can understand, act and see using enhanced vision and language processing. It also has a simulation framework for developers to accurately simulate medical environments and provides seamless deployment on NVIDIA Holoscan, an edge AI computing platform, to power robotic decision-making in the real world, in real time.

    Simulation options for medical sensors are often limited. With Isaac for Healthcare, developers can now access physics-based digital twins of medical environments, allowing them to import custom sensors, instruments and even anatomies to teach robots how to respond to various scenarios. These virtual environments help close the gap between simulation and real-world implementation, and enable rapid digital prototyping.

    Isaac for Healthcare allows for multi-scale simulation ranging from microscopic structures and surgery suites to full hospital facilities. Easy policy training in simulation allows robotic systems to learn how to respond in various medical scenarios in the operating room, and how to best support physician decision-making and patient care.

    Healthcare Robotics Ecosystem Rapidly Expands
    Isaac for Healthcare can help speed the development of robotic healthcare solutions by simulating complex medical scenarios, training AI models and optimizing robotic applications like surgery, endoscopy and cardiovascular interventions. Early adopters include Moon Surgical, Neptune Medical and Xcath.

    Isaac for Healthcare is enabling ecosystem partners to seamlessly integrate their simulation tools, sensors, robot systems and medical probes into a domain-specific simulation environment. Among early ecosystem partners are Ansys, Franka, ImFusion, Kinova and Kuka.

    Issac for Healthcare is now available in early access.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Janette Ciborowski
    Enterprise Communications
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-734-330-8817
    jciborowski@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; the collaboration between NVIDIA and GE HealthCare and the benefits and impact thereof; and GE HealthCare driving innovation in the diagnostic imaging industry — and these simulation tools being now in reach for the entire healthcare ecosystem are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA DGX, NVIDIA Isaac and NVIDIA Omniverse are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f47cd0c2-e934-44d5-aac5-ce681eced9d4

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: ‘We Must End Evil of Racism for Good’, Secretary-General Stresses in Message Marking Day to Remember Slavery Victims

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, observed on 25 March:

    The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans was a crime against humanity that resonates through history and continues to scar societies.  Today, we remember the women, children and men torn from their loved ones, forced to work in agonizing conditions, cruelly punished and deprived of their dignity and human rights, and we recall their acts of resistance and demands for justice.

    For more than four centuries, millions of Africans were kidnapped, trafficked, abused and dehumanized.  This horrific enterprise rested on the destructive lie of white supremacy.  And it saw many colonizers, corporations and institutions amass unimaginable wealth.

    For too long, these unthinkable acts have remained unacknowledged, unspoken and unaddressed, all as their legacies continue to shape our world.  Many still benefit from the odious profits reaped from chattel slavery.  Systemic racism has been embedded into institutions, cultures and legal and other systems.  Deeply rooted exclusion, racial discrimination and violence continue to undermine the ability of many people of African descent to thrive and prosper.

    As the theme of this year’s International Day reminds us, acknowledging the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade is an essential step towards addressing the past, repairing the present and building a future of dignity and justice for all.  It is imperative to put in place reparatory justice frameworks that address this terrible history and its legacies.  And we must end the evil of racism for good.

    The human dignity of every person stands at the heart of the United Nations.  We will always stand with everyone, everywhere to combat racial discrimination and hate, and to defend the human rights and dignity of all.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Announces Major Release of Cosmos World Foundation Models and Physical AI Data Tools

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • New Models Enable Prediction, Controllable World Generation and Reasoning for Physical AI
    • Two New Blueprints Deliver Massive Physical AI Synthetic Data Generation for Robot and Autonomous Vehicle Post-Training
    • 1X, Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Skild AI Among Early Adopters

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC—NVIDIA today announced a major release of new NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models (WFMs), introducing an open and fully customizable reasoning model for physical AI development and giving developers unprecedented control over world generation.

    NVIDIA is also launching two new blueprints — powered by the NVIDIA Omniverse™ and Cosmos platforms — that provide developers with massive, controllable synthetic data generation engines for post-training robots and autonomous vehicles.

    Industry leaders including 1X, Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Foretellix, Skild AI and Uber are among the first to adopt Cosmos to generate richer training data for physical AI faster and at scale.

    “Just as large language models revolutionized generative and agentic AI, Cosmos world foundation models are a breakthrough for physical AI,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Cosmos introduces an open and fully customizable reasoning model for physical AI and unlocks opportunities for step-function advances in robotics and the physical industries.”

    Cosmos Transfer for Synthetic Data Generation
    Cosmos Transfer WFMs ingest structured video inputs such as segmentation maps, depth maps, lidar scans, pose estimation maps and trajectory maps to generate controllable photoreal video outputs.

    Cosmos Transfer streamlines perception AI training, transforming 3D simulations or ground truth created in Omniverse into photorealistic videos for large-scale, controllable synthetic data generation.

    Agility Robotics will be an early adopter of Cosmos Transfer and Omniverse for large-scale synthetic data generation to train its robot models.

    “Cosmos offers us an opportunity to scale our photorealistic training data beyond what we can feasibly collect in the real world,” said Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer of Agility Robotics. “We’re excited to see what new performance we can unlock with the platform, while making the most use of the physics-based simulation data we already have.”

    The NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint for autonomous vehicle simulation uses Cosmos Transfer to amplify variations of physically based sensor data. With the blueprint, Foretellix can enhance behavioral scenarios by varying conditions like weather and lighting for diverse driving datasets. Parallel Domain is also using the blueprint to apply similar variation to its sensor simulation.

    The NVIDIA GR00T Blueprint for synthetic manipulation motion generation combines Omniverse and Cosmos Transfer to generate diverse datasets at scale, benefiting from OpenUSD-powered simulations and reducing data collection and augmentation time from days to hours.

    Cosmos Predict for Intelligent World Generation
    Announced at the CES trade show in January, Cosmos Predict WFMs generate virtual world states from multimodal inputs like text, images and video. New Cosmos Predict models will enable multi-frame generation, predicting intermediate actions or motion trajectories when given start and end input images. Purpose-built for post-training, these models can be customized using NVIDIA’s openly available physical AI dataset.

    With the inference compute power of NVIDIA Grace Blackwell NVL72 systems and their large NVIDIA NVLink™ domain, developers can achieve real-time world generation.

    1X is using Cosmos Predict and Cosmos Transfer to train its new humanoid robot NEO Gamma. Robot brain developer Skild AI is tapping into Cosmos Transfer to augment synthetic datasets for its robots. Plus, Nexar and Oxa are using Cosmos Predict to advance their autonomous driving systems.

    Multimodal Reasoning for Physical AI
    Cosmos Reason is an open, fully customizable WFM with spatiotemporal awareness that uses chain-of-thought reasoning to understand video data and predict the outcomes of interactions — such as a person stepping into a crosswalk or a box falling from a shelf — in natural language.

    Developers can use Cosmos Reason to improve physical AI data annotation and curation, enhance existing world foundation models or create new vision language action models. They can also post-train it to build high-level planners to tell the physical AI what it needs to do to complete a task.

    Accelerating Data Curation and Post-Training for Physical AI
    Based on their downstream task, developers can post-train Cosmos WFMs using native PyTorch scripts or the NVIDIA NeMo™ framework on NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud.

    Cosmos developers can also use NVIDIA NeMo Curator on DGX Cloud for accelerated data processing and curation. Linker Vision and Milestone Systems are using it for curating large amounts of video data to train large vision language models for visual agents built on the NVIDIA AI Blueprint for video search and summarization. Virtual Incision is exploring it to be deployed in future surgical robots, while Uber and Waabi are advancing autonomous vehicles development.

    Driving Responsible AI and Content Transparency
    In line with NVIDIA’s trustworthy AI principles, NVIDIA enforces open guardrails across all Cosmos WFMs. In addition, NVIDIA is collaborating with Google DeepMind to integrate SynthID to watermark and help identify AI-generated outputs from the Cosmos WFM NVIDIA NIM™ microservice featured on build.nvidia.com.

    Availability
    Cosmos WFMs are available for preview in the NVIDIA API catalog and now listed in the Vertex AI Model Garden on Google Cloud. Cosmos Predict and Cosmos Transfer are openly available on Hugging Face and GitHub. Cosmos Reason is available in early access.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and by registering for Cosmos sessions and training from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, including “An Introduction to Cosmos World Foundation Models” with Ming-Yu Liu, vice president of generative AI research at NVIDIA.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Paris Fox
    Corporate Communications
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-408-242-0035
    pfox@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting NVIDIA’s products and technologies and the benefits and impact thereof; and Cosmos opening opportunities for step-function advances in robotics and the physical industries are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Cosmos, NVIDIA DGX, NVIDIA NeMo, NVIDIA NIM, NVIDIA Omniverse and NVLink are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c781321-9544-4bbf-bb47-8bab73fe2f63

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Omniverse Physical AI Operating System Expands to More Industries and Partners

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Accenture, Ansys, Cadence, Databricks, Dematic, Hexagon, Omron, SAP, Schneider Electric With ETAP, Siemens Connect Omniverse to Leading Software Tools
    • Four New Blueprints Enable Robot-Ready Factories and Large-Scale Synthetic Data Generation
    • Foxconn, General Motors, Hyundai Motor Group, KION Group, Mercedes-Benz, Pegatron and Schaeffler Adopt Omniverse for Industrial AI Transformation

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today unveiled that leading industrial software and service providers Ansys, Databricks, Dematic, Omron, SAP, Schneider Electric with ETAP, Siemens and more are integrating the NVIDIA Omniverse™ platform into their solutions to accelerate industrial digitalization with physical AI.

    New NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprints connected to NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models are now available to enable robot-ready facilities and large-scale synthetic data generation for physical AI development.

    “Omniverse is an operating system that connects the world’s physical data to the realm of physical AI,” said Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA. “With Omniverse, global industrial software, data and professional services leaders are uniting industrial ecosystems and building new applications that will advance the next generation of AI for industries at unprecedented speed.”

    New Blueprints Enable Robot-Ready Facilities and Large-Scale Synthetic Data Generation
    Mega, an Omniverse Blueprint for testing multi-robot fleets at scale in industrial digital twins, is now available in preview on build.nvidia.com. Also available is the NVIDIA AI Blueprint for video search and summarization, powered by the NVIDIA Metropolis platform, for building AI agents that monitor activity across entire facilities.

    Manufacturing leaders are using the blueprints to optimize their industrial operations with physical AI.

    In automotive manufacturing, Schaeffler and Accenture are starting to adopt Mega to test and simulate fleets of Agility Robotics Digit for material-handling automation. Hyundai Motor Group is using the blueprint to simulate Boston Dynamics Atlas robots on its assembly lines, and Mercedes-Benz is using it to simulate Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid robots to optimize vehicle assembly operations.

    In electronics manufacturing, Pegatron is using Mega to develop physical AI-based NVIDIA Metropolis video analytics agents to improve factory operations and worker safety. Foxconn is using the blueprint to simulate industrial manipulators, humanoids and mobile robots in its manufacturing facilities for the NVIDIA Blackwell platform.

    “Foxconn is constantly exploring ways to transform our operations as we continue our journey toward building the factories of the future,” said Brand Cheng, CEO of Fii, a core subsidiary of Foxconn. “Using NVIDIA Omniverse and Mega, we’re testing and training humanoids to operate in our leading factories as we advance to the next wave of physical AI.”

    For warehouses and supply chain solutions, KION Group, Dematic and Accenture announced they are integrating Mega to advance next-generation AI-powered automation. idealworks is integrating Mega into its fleet management software to simulate, test and optimize robotic fleets. SAP customers and partners can use Omniverse to develop their own virtual environments for warehouse management scenarios.

    A new Omniverse Blueprint for AI factory digital twins lets data center engineers design and simulate AI factory layouts, cooling and electrical to maximize utilization and efficiency. Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform and Schneider Electric with ETAP are the first to integrate their simulation software into the blueprint, while Vertiv and Schneider Electric are providing Omniverse SimReady 3D models of their power and cooling units to accelerate the development of AI factory digital twins.

    The NVIDIA Isaac GR00T Blueprint for synthetic manipulation motion generation is also now available for robotics developers, enabling large-scale synthetic data generation from Omniverse and Cosmos. The blueprint helps humanoid developers reduce data collection time from hours to minutes, fast-tracking robot development. 

    Omniverse Physical AI Operating System Expands Across Industries
    Digitalization is challenging for industries grounded in the physical world. Massive amounts of digital and physical world data from legacy systems create silos. Omniverse is an operating system built on the OpenUSD framework that enables developers to unify physical-world data and applications.

    Ansys, Cadence, Hexagon, Omron, Rockwell Automation and Siemens are integrating Omniverse data interoperability and visualization technologies into their leading industrial software, simulation and automation solutions to accelerate product development and optimize manufacturing processes.

    For physical AI, Intrinsic, an Alphabet company, is enabling Omniverse workflows and NVIDIA robotics foundation models to transition from digital twins to hardware deployments using Flowstate. Databricks is integrating NVIDIA Omniverse with the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, which will enable large-scale synthetic data generation for physical AI.

    General Motors, America’s largest auto manufacturer, announced its adoption of Omniverse to enhance its factories and train platforms for operations such as material handling, transportation and precision welding. At the other end of the manufacturing life cycle, Unilever announced its adoption of Omniverse and physically accurate digital twins to streamline and optimize marketing content creation for its products.

    Omniverse in Every Cloud
    To simplify development, deployment and scale-out of OpenUSD-based applications, NVIDIA Omniverse is now available as virtual desktop images on EC2 G6e instances with NVIDIA L40S GPUs in AWS Marketplace. The Microsoft Azure Marketplace now features preconfigured Omniverse instances and Omniverse Kit App Streaming on NVIDIA A10 GPUs, allowing developers to easily develop and stream their custom Omniverse applications.

    These cloud-based NVIDIA Omniverse developer tools and services are expected to be available later this year on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure compute bare-metal instances with NVIDIA L40S GPUs, as well as the newly announced NVIDIA RTX PRO™ 6000 Blackwell Server Edition on Google Cloud.

    OpenUSD Unifies Robotics Workflows
    At GTC, NVIDIA introduced the OpenUSD Asset Structure Pipeline for Robotics with Disney Research and Intrinsic. This new structure and data pipeline uses today’s best practices within OpenUSD to work toward unifying robotic workflows, providing a common language for all data sources.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and registering for OpenUSD, physical AI and industrial AI sessions, as well as trainings featuring NVIDIA experts and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

    About NVIDIA
     NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Quentin Nolibois
    Corporate Communications
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-415-741-8356
    qnolibois@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting NVIDIA’s products and technologies, the benefits and impact thereof, and the availability of their offerings; with Omniverse, global industrial software, data and professional services leaders uniting industrial ecosystems and building new applications that will advance the next generation of AI for industries at unprecedented speed; and digitalization challenging for industries grounded in the physical world  are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Cosmos, NVIDIA Omniverse and NVIDIA RTX PRO are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4d263d7d-238c-46b1-a11c-424703a906ab

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Blackwell Accelerates Computer-Aided Engineering Software by Orders of Magnitude for Real-Time Digital Twins

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today announced that leading computer-aided engineering (CAE) software vendors, including Ansys, Altair, Cadence, Siemens and Synopsys, are accelerating their simulation tools by up to 50x with the NVIDIA Blackwell platform.

    With such accelerated software, along with NVIDIA CUDA-X™ libraries and blueprints to further optimize performance, industries such as automotive, aerospace, energy, manufacturing and life sciences can significantly reduce product development time, cut costs and increase design accuracy while maintaining energy efficiency.

    “CUDA-accelerated physical simulation on NVIDIA Blackwell has enhanced real-time digital twins and is reimagining the entire engineering process,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “The day is coming when virtually all products will be created and brought to life as a digital twin long before it is realized physically.”

    Ecosystem Support for NVIDIA Blackwell
    Software providers can help their customers develop digital twins with real-time interactivity and now accelerate them with NVIDIA Blackwell technologies.

    The growing ecosystem integrating Blackwell into its software includes Altair, Ansys, BeyondMath, Cadence, COMSOL, ENGYS, Flexcompute, Hexagon, Luminary Cloud, M-Star, NAVASTO, an Autodesk company, Neural Concept, nTop, Rescale, Siemens, Simscale, Synopsys and Volcano Platforms.

    Cadence is using NVIDIA Grace Blackwell-accelerated systems to help solve one of computational fluid dynamics’ biggest challenges — the simulation of an entire aircraft during takeoff and landing. Using the Cadence Fidelity CFD solver, Cadence successfully ran multibillion cell simulations on a single NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 server in under 24 hours, which would have previously required a CPU cluster with hundreds of thousands of cores and several days to complete.

    This breakthrough will help the aerospace industry move toward designing safer, more efficient aircrafts while reducing the amount of expensive wind-tunnel testing required, speeding time to market.

    Anirudh Devgan, president and CEO of Cadence, said, “NVIDIA Blackwell’s acceleration of the Cadence.AI portfolio delivers increased productivity and quality of results for intelligent system design — reducing engineering tasks that took hours to minutes and unlocking simulations not possible before. Our collaboration with NVIDIA drives innovation across semiconductors, data centers, physical AI and sciences.”

    Sassine Ghazi, president and CEO of Synopsys, said, “At GTC, we’re unveiling the latest performance results observed across our leading portfolio when optimizing Synopsys solutions for NVIDIA Blackwell to accelerate computationally intensive chip design workflows. Synopsys technology is mission-critical to the productivity and capabilities of engineering teams, from silicon to systems. By harnessing the power of NVIDIA accelerated computing, we can help customers unlock new levels of performance and deliver their innovations even faster.”

    Ajei Gopal, president and CEO of Ansys, said, “The close collaboration between Ansys and NVIDIA is accelerating innovation at an unprecedented pace. By harnessing the computational performance of NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, we at Ansys are empowering engineers at Volvo Cars to tackle the most complex computational fluid dynamics challenges with exceptional speed and accuracy — enabling more optimization studies and delivering more performant vehicles.”

    James Scapa, founder and CEO of Altair, said, “The NVIDIA Blackwell platform’s computing power, combined with Altair’s cutting-edge simulation tools, gives users transformative capabilities. This combination makes GPU-based simulations up to 1.6x faster compared with the previous generation, helping engineers rapidly solve design challenges and giving industries the power to create safer, more sustainable products through real-time digital twins and physics-informed AI.”

    Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens, said, “The combination of NVIDIA’s groundbreaking Blackwell architecture with Siemens’ physics-based digital twins will enable engineers to drastically reduce development times and costs through using photo-realistic, interactive digital twins. This collaboration will allow us to help customers like BMW innovate faster, optimize processes and achieve remarkable levels of efficiency in design and manufacturing.”

    Rescale CAE Hub With NVIDIA Blackwell
    Rescale’s newly launched CAE Hub enables customers to streamline their access to NVIDIA technologies and CUDA®-accelerated software developed by leading independent software vendors. Rescale CAE Hub provides flexible, high-performance computing and AI technologies in the cloud powered by NVIDIA GPUs and NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud.

    Boom Supersonic, the company building the world’s fastest airliner, will use the NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint for real-time digital twins and Blackwell-accelerated CFD solvers on Rescale CAE Hub to design and optimize its new supersonic passenger jet.

    The company’s product development cycle, which is almost entirely simulation-driven, will use the Rescale platform accelerated by Blackwell GPUs to test different flight conditions and refine requirements in a continuous loop with simulation.

    The adoption of the Rescale CAE Hub powered by Blackwell GPUs expands Boom Supersonic’s collaboration with NVIDIA. Through the NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo™ framework and the Rescale AI Physics platform, Boom Supersonic can unlock 4x more design explorations for its supersonic airliner, speeding iteration to improve performance and time to market.

    NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint Now Broadly Accessible for Enterprises
    The NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint for real-time digital twins, now generally available, is also part of the Rescale CAE Hub. The blueprint brings together NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries, NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo AI and the NVIDIA Omniverse™ platform — and is also adding the first NVIDIA NIM™ microservice for external aerodynamics, the study of how air moves around objects.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and register for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Steve Gartner
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-513-479-4060
    sgartner@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting or offering NVIDIA’s products and technologies and the benefits and impact thereof; the day coming when products will be created and brought to life as a digital twin long before it is realized physically; and real-time digital twins revolutionizing the physical industries are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, CUDA, CUDA-X, DGX, NVIDIA NIM, PhysicsNeMo, and NVIDIA Omniverse are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d8b1936-99e9-4170-9a34-5f1f25a1e88e

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA and Storage Industry Leaders Unveil New Class of Enterprise Infrastructure for the Age of AI

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NVIDIA today announced the NVIDIA AI Data Platform, a customizable reference design that leading providers are using to build a new class of AI infrastructure for demanding AI inference workloads: enterprise storage platforms with AI query agents fueled by NVIDIA accelerated computing, networking and software.

    Using the NVIDIA AI Data Platform, NVIDIA-Certified Storage providers can build infrastructure to speed AI reasoning workloads with specialized AI query agents. These agents help businesses generate insights from data in near real time, using NVIDIA AI Enterprise software — including NVIDIA NIM™ microservices for the new NVIDIA Llama Nemotron models with reasoning capabilities — as well as the new NVIDIA AI-Q Blueprint.

    Storage providers can optimize their infrastructure to power these agents with NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, NVIDIA BlueField®DPUs, NVIDIA Spectrum-X™ networking and the NVIDIA Dynamo open-source inference library.

    Leading data platform and storage providers — including DDN, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara, IBM, NetApp, Nutanix, Pure Storage, VAST Data and WEKA — are collaborating with NVIDIA to create customized AI data platforms that can harness enterprise data to reason and respond to complex queries.

    “Data is the raw material powering industries in the age of AI,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With the world’s storage leaders, we’re building a new class of enterprise infrastructure that companies need to deploy and scale agentic AI across hybrid data centers.”

    NVIDIA AI Data Platform Adds Accelerated Computing and AI to Storage
    The NVIDIA AI Data Platform brings accelerated computing and AI to the millions of businesses using enterprise storage for the data that drives their company.

    NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, BlueField DPUs and Spectrum-X networking provide an accelerated engine to speed AI query agent access to data stored on enterprise systems. BlueField DPUs deliver up to 1.6x higher performance than CPU-based storage while reducing power consumption by up to 50%, providing more than 3x higher performance per watt. Spectrum-X accelerates AI storage traffic up to 48% compared with traditional Ethernet by applying adaptive routing and congestion control.

    AI Data Platform storage infrastructure uses the NVIDIA AI-Q Blueprint for developing agentic systems that can reason and connect to enterprise data. AI-Q taps into NVIDIA NeMo Retriever™ microservices to accelerate data extraction and retrieval by up to 15x on NVIDIA GPUs.

    AI query agents built with the AI-Q Blueprint connect to data during inference to provide more accurate, context-aware responses. They can access large-scale data quickly and process various data types, including structured, semi-structured and unstructured data from multiple sources, including text, PDF, images and video.

    Storage Industry Leaders Building AI Data Platforms With NVIDIA
    NVIDIA-Certified Storage partners are collaborating with NVIDIA to build custom AI data platforms.

    • DDN is architecting AI Data Platform capabilities into its DDN Infinia AI platform.
    • Dell is creating AI data platforms for its family of Dell PowerScale and Project Lightning solutions.
    • Hewlett Packard Enterprise is infusing AI Data Platform capabilities into HPE Private Cloud for AI, HPE Data Fabric, HPE Alletra Storage MP and HPE GreenLake for File Storage.
    • Hitachi Vantara is bringing AI Data Platform into the Hitachi IQ ecosystem, helping customers innovate with storage systems and data offerings that drive tangible AI outcomes.
    • IBM is integrating AI Data Platform as part of its content-aware storage capability with IBM Fusion and IBM Storage Scale technology to accelerate retrieval-augmented generation applications.
    • NetApp is advancing enterprise storage for agentic AI with the NetApp AIPod solution built with AI Data Platform.
    • Nutanix Cloud Platform with Nutanix Unified Storage will integrate with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform and enable inferencing and agentic workflows deployed across edge, data center and public cloud.
    • Pure Storage will deliver AI Data Platform capabilities with Pure Storage FlashBlade.
    • VAST Data is working with AI Data Platform to curate real-time insights with VAST InsightEngine.
    • WEKA Data Platform software integrates with NVIDIA GPUs, DPUs and networking to optimize data access for agentic AI reasoning and insights and deliver a high-performance storage foundation that accelerates AI inference and token processing workloads.

    NVIDIA-Certified Storage providers are planning to offer solutions created with the NVIDIA AI Data platform starting this month.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and register for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.
    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Alex Shapiro
    Enterprise Networking
    1-415-608-5044
    ashapiro@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; NVIDIA’s collaboration with third parties; third parties adopting or offering NVIDIA’s products and technologies; and with the world’s storage leaders, NVIDIA building a new class of enterprise infrastructure that companies need to deploy and scale agentic AI across hybrid data centers are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, BlueField, NVIDIA NeMo, NVIDIA NIM and NVIDIA Spectrum-X are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5ecf8d79-95ab-4140-809f-bd1d6aaa111d

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Video: Secretary Rubio meets with New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Peters

    Source: United States of America – Department of State (video statements)

    Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio meets with New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the Department of State, on March 18, 2025.

    ———-
    Under the leadership of the President and Secretary of State, the U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity. On behalf of the American people we promote and demonstrate democratic values and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.

    The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department, which includes the Foreign Service, Civil Service and U.S. Agency for International Development.

    Get updates from the U.S. Department of State at www.state.gov and on social media!
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    #StateDepartment #DepartmentofState #Diplomacy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvOwvW-LetE

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rosen Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Bring More Doctors to Nevada

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

    Every County In Nevada Is Experiencing A Shortage Of Medical Professionals
    WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and John Boozman (R-AR) introduced a bipartisan bill to bring more doctors to areas currently facing severe shortages, like Nevada. The bipartisan Physicians for Underserved Areas Act would revise the graduate medical education process to increase the likelihood of areas with physician shortages getting more medical residency slots after hospital closures take place elsewhere in the country. Every county in Nevada is experiencing a shortage of medical professionals, and in 2024, Nevada was ranked 45th in the nation with regard to the availability of physicians per 100,000 residents.
    “The dire shortage of doctors in our state is hurting Nevadans’ ability to get quality medical care,” said Senator Rosen. “We know that when more doctors train in our communities, they are more likely to stay here. That’s why I’m working across the aisle to bring more doctors to Nevada by increasing medical residency slots. I’ll keep working on commonsense solutions to ensure families can access affordable, quality health care.”
    “Rural communities in Arkansas and across the country continue to face health care challenges starting with a lack of available medical providers,” said Senator Boozman. “I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan solution to ensure more medical school graduates practice in the communities that desperately need them so all Americans, no matter where they live, get the care they need.”
    “At the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, we recognize the critical need to expand Graduate Medical Education (GME) opportunities to address physician shortages in underserved areas,” said Marc J. Kahn, Dean of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The Physicians for Underserved Areas Act is a crucial step toward ensuring that residency slots are redistributed in a way that prioritizes communities with the greatest need. By streamlining the process and expediting the timeline for GME slot reallocation, this legislation will help fill gaps in healthcare access and strengthen our medical workforce. We fully support this bipartisan effort led by Senator Rosen and Senator Boozman and appreciate their commitment to improving healthcare for all.”
    “Nevada continues to struggle with expanding residency positions to address enduring physician workforce shortages,” said Dr. John Packham, Associate Dean of the University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine. “This important legislation will support efforts by medical schools and teaching hospitals across the state to expand graduate medical education opportunities to prepare and retain tomorrow’s doctors in Nevada.”
    “It is critically important for a clear and immediate pathway to exist from medical school to residency in areas with physician shortages or that are otherwise underserved,” said Dr. Renee Coffman, Co-Founder and President of Roseman University. “Without adequate GME spots, future doctors have no practical ability to stay in communities that need them most. Roseman University thanks Senators Rosen and Boozman for the Physicians for Underserved Areas Act and for their continued efforts in supporting the growth of the health care workforce.”
    “The Nevada Primary Care Association, representing the state’s Community Health Centers, is grateful to Senator Rosen for re-introducing this important legislation,” said Nancy Bowen, CEO of the Nevada Primary Care Association. “Nevada has been blessed with rapid population growth throughout its modern history, but this has come at a cost of persistent and profound health provider shortages. The Physicians for Underserved Areas Act is an important step to increasing the number of providers who are trained in the state and stay to deliver health care to our residents.”
    “The National Rural Health Association strongly supports the Physicians for Underserved Areas Act as a critical step in addressing physician shortages in rural communities,” said Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association. “By ensuring that unused residency slots are swiftly redistributed to hospitals that need them most, this bill will help strengthen the rural health workforce and expand access to care in underserved areas. We applaud Senators Rosen and Boozman for their leadership in advancing policies that prioritize rural patients and providers, and we urge Congress to move quickly on this important legislation.”
    Senator Rosen is working to address Nevada’s health care professional shortage and improve medical care access in the state. Last week, she introduced the  bipartisan REDI Act to increase the number of doctors and dentists in underserved areas by allowing them to defer student loan payments without interest until the completion of their residency or internship programs. Last month, she introduced the bipartisan Train More Nurses Act to address the nursing shortage affecting communities across the nation. Rosen’s bipartisan Maximizing Health Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act was signed into law in 2022 to allow community health centers to use federal funds to establish new mobile health care units to increase access to health care services in rural and underserved communities.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rosen, Cortez Masto Joins Colleagues in Demanding Trump Administration Reverse Major Cuts to Food Assistance for Schools

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

    WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) joined Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and 29 of their colleagues in demanding the Department of Agriculture reverse its cancellation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers. Nevada utilizes these federal funds to support the state’s food bank network and school nutrition programs by purchasing local foods from farmers and producers in Nevada, benefiting students, families, and the local economy.
    “We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need,” wrote the Senators. “These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.”
    “At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they continued. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country.”
    The full letter can be found HERE.
    Senators Rosen and Cortez Masto have been vocal opponents of the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut critical programs Nevadans rely on all while trying to give further tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. The Senators have pushed multiple Departments under the Trump Administration for detailed, public information regarding the impacts of President Trump’s federal funding freeze, hiring freeze, and terminations on Nevada – including to the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the General Services Administration. Earlier this year, Rosen and Cortez Masto urged the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding for the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Reverend Warnock Rebukes Deputy Treasury Secretary Nominee’s Perception of Georgians on Medicaid, Opposes Nomination

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Senator Reverend Warnock Rebukes Deputy Treasury Secretary Nominee’s Perception of Georgians on Medicaid, Opposes Nomination

    Following Dr. Michael Faulkender’s previous statements that Georgians on Medicaid need to be “self-sufficient,” Senator Reverend Warnock highlighted the range of Georgians who rely on Medicaid, including children, working people, seniors in nursing homes, and one in 10 veterans 

    Faulkender is nominated by the Trump Administration to be the Deputy Treasury Secretary

    Senator Reverend Warnock highlighted how Medicaid recipients receive more scrutiny than Elon Musk, who has received $38 billion in government grants, loans, and subsidies

    Earlier this year, Senator Reverend Warnock also opposed Scott Bessent’s nomination to become Treasury Secretary, due to Bessent’s steadfast commitment to protecting tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest

    Senator Reverend Warnock during the hearing: “Who does he [Dr. Michael Faulkender] think should be self-sufficient? Should children and seniors in nursing homes, veterans? One in 10 veterans are enrolled in Medicaid. People with mental illness or substance [use] Who is he talking about?” 

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) pushed back against the misperception of Medicaid recipients during a Senate Finance Executive Session before opposing Dr. Michael Faulkender’s nomination to become the Deputy Treasury Secretary in the Trump Administration. Senator Warnock cited several issues with Faulkender’s nomination, most notably Faulkender’s perception of Americans that are on Medicaid. Last week, Faulkender suggested Georgia Medicaid recipients, including children, veterans, seniors in nursing homes, people struggling with addiction, and people working full time simply needed to become “self-sufficient.” 

    “I am disappointed that Dr. Faulkender does not seem understand or care about the concerns of hard-working Georgia families, the people I know,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “When we talked about Washington Republicans plans to cut Medicaid, and I asked the nominee his thoughts, he suggested that people just need to “Be self-sufficient” and just get better jobs with better benefits.”

    After defending the many Georgians and millions of hardworking Americans on Medicaid, Senator Warnock highlighted that Elon Musk, the leader in slashing government spending, accepted over $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits.

    “These folks have jobs and responsibilities, they are construction workers, restaurant workers, home caregivers, farmhands, and they are doing exactly want the nominee wants them to do, but he and Washington Republicans want to kick them off of Medicaid anyway,” continued Senator Warnock. “Who else does this nominee think should be self-sufficient? I wonder if he thinks Elon Musk should be self-sufficient? He has received $38 billion in government contracts, government loans, government subsidies and tax credits.”

    Earlier this year, Senator Warnock also opposed now Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s nomination. During the hearing Senator Warnock grilled Bessent on his glaring commitment to tax cuts for exclusively the nation’s wealthiest. Bessent indicated there wasn’t any high level of income which he wouldn’t continue to provide tax cuts for, including Americans making upwards to $1 billion.

    Senator Warnock has always been a champion for tax cuts, credits, and programs that support working families and fought to make sure the nation’s wealthiest pay their fair share. Senator Warnock fought to secure the Expanded Child Tax Credit as part of the American Rescue Plan and has advocated to make the Expanded CTC permanent in the effort to slash child poverty in Georgia and across America.

    Watch the Senator’s full remarks HERE.

    See below a transcript of Senator Warnock’s remarks on his vote opposing Michael Faulkender’s nomination: 

    Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “A week like this in Washington a reminds me of why I return every week to my pulpit. Spending time with people in my church and all across my community. They are the folks who keep me grounded. These are the folk who are seeing their paychecks buy less and less, while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. These are ordinary people who I am thinking about when I consider whether Congress should spend trillions of dollars on a huge tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits millionaires and billionaires while the entire half of working families pick up the tab through cuts to their health care. In addition to that, blow a $4.5 trillion hole in the debt.”

    “I am disappointed that Dr. Faulkender does not seem understand or care about the concerns of hard-working Georgia families, the people I know. When we talked about Washington Republicans plans to cut Medicaid, and I asked the nominee his thoughts, he suggested that people just need to “Be self-sufficient” and just get better jobs with better benefits.”

    “I was raised by a dad who poured into me a serious work ethic, so I believe in self-sufficiency. Almost all of the adults on Medicaid are either working, or in school, or they are caregivers. If they can work, they do work. These folks have jobs and responsibilities, they are construction workers, restaurant servers, home caregivers, farmhands, and they are doing exactly want this nominee wants them to do, but he and Washington Republicans want to kick them off of Medicaid anyway. Who else does this nominee think should be self-sufficient? I wonder if he thinks Elon Musk should be self-sufficient?”

    “He has received $38 billion in government contracts, government loans, government subsidies and tax credits. Who does he think should be self-sufficient? Should children? And seniors in nursing homes, veterans? One in 10 veterans are enrolled in Medicaid. People with mental illness or substance [use]? Who is he talking about?”

    “Let’s be clear. If folks want to have a serious, bipartisan conversation about reducing our debt, I am all in on the conversation. I am deeply worried about the debt that we will leave our children and our grandchildren, as the father of two young children myself. If you want to have a conversation about that, I am ready. If you want to have a conversation about lowering health care costs, I am ready to do it in a bipartisan way. But, I am unwilling to give a hand out to the wealthiest people in our country while blowing a huge hole in the debt.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Reverend Warnock, Colleagues Push Back on Proposed Cuts to Disaster Programs Helping Georgians Recover From Helene

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Senator Reverend Warnock, Colleagues Push Back on Proposed Cuts to Disaster Programs Helping Georgians Recover From Helene

    In a new letter, Senator Reverend Warnock led 42 of his colleagues in an effort to push back against U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to disaster recovery programs

    HUD disaster recovery programs help rebuild houses and small businesses, repair roads and bridges, restore clean drinking water service, and invest in workforce development for Georgians who’ve lost jobs

    Georgia is scheduled to receive $256 million under the HUD program for Helene and Milton recovery

    The cuts would reduce the number of employees at the HUD office responsible for getting disaster relief directly to Georgians and Americans from 936 to 150 – an 84% reduction

    The proposed cuts come as Georgia and several other states throughout the Southeast are in the midst of the recovery process following Hurricanes Helene and Milton

    Senator Reverend Warnock recently called for the Trump Administration to distribute federal disaster assistance for Georgia farmers that Congress secured after Hurricane Helene

    Senator Reverend Warnock has been outspoken on aimless cuts to key government agencies, departments, and federal programs that hardworking Americans rely on

    Senator Reverend Warnock, lawmakers: “The CDBG-DR [disaster recovery] program is critical to our states’ ability to recover from natural disasters, and it is essential that HUD distributes funding as quickly and efficiently as possible”

    Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) led an effort with 42 of his Senate colleagues pushing back on U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to crucial disaster recovery programs that are under the umbrella of HUD.

    The cuts would reduce employees at HUD’s office of Community Planning and Development, which administers the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, a crucial pot of funding that helps impacted communities with disaster recovery following extreme weather events like hurricanes. Under this program, Georgia is scheduled to receive $256 million for Helene and Milton recovery, which would likely be in jeopardy due to the cuts.

    This disaster relief work includes rebuilding houses and small businesses, repairing roads and bridges, restoring water services, and investing in workforce development for Georgians who’ve lost jobs. The proposed employee reduction at HUD is roughly 84%, a massive drop from 936 to 150, and would likely impede the hurricane recovery process in Georgia.

    “Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. States across the South—including Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—were devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene,” wrote the Senators. “CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters.”

    The news of the proposed cuts comes as Georgia is still in the midst of the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene. Senators Warnock and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) recently called for the Trump Administration to distribute federal disaster assistance for Georgia farmers that Congress secured after Hurricane Helene.

    “Specifically, you [Secretary Turner] stated that “one of [your] top priorities” as HUD Secretary would “be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly” and “into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.”  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment,” the Senators continued.

    “We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff,” the lawmakers concluded.

    In November of last year, Senator Reverend Warnock, Congressional Appropriators, and Governor Brian Kemp requested $3 billion in CDBG-DR funding for Georgia’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. Additionally, Senator Warnock has pushed back on several efforts, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency, to aimlessly cut key government agencies, departments, and federal programs that hardworking Americans rely on. Senator Warnock fought back against cuts to Medicaid in the tax bill proposed by Washington Republicans, spoke out when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was effectively closed, and most recently warned Georgians of the impact when the announcement of five Georgia Social Security Administration offices would be closed.

    Read the letter HERE and below.

    Dear Secretary Turner:

    We write today regarding our concerns that recent actions taken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are hampering our states’ ability to access Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds, and could degrade the ability to recover from both current and future disasters. The CDBG-DR program is critical to our states’ ability to recover from natural disasters, and it is essential that HUD distributes funding as quickly and efficiently as possible. We request additional information on your plans to ensure that communities continue to receive the resources they need to rebuild.

    Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. States across the South—including Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—were devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene, while Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois experienced severe storms. States in the Northeast— including Vermont and Massachusetts —faced life-threatening floods, while states in the West —including California, Washington State, and Hawaii—saw catastrophic wildfires.

    CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters. In December 2024, Congress appropriated $12 billion in emergency supplemental CDBG-DR funding. During your confirmation process, you made clear that, if confirmed, you would prioritize getting our constituents CDBG-DR funding as quickly as possible. Specifically, you stated that “one of [your] top priorities” as HUD Secretary would “be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly” and “into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.”  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment.

    For years, the HUD Office of Inspector General listed disaster recovery oversight as a top management challenge at HUD, noting the need for systems and staff to keep pace with increases in CDBG-DR funding, as well as the need to build the capacity of CDBG-DR grantees. The latest Top Management Challenges report highlighted multiple ways in which HUD has made “meaningful progress,” largely due to the investment Congress has made over the years to support staff, systems, and capacity building. Over the last week, however more than one thousand HUD employees (13% of HUD’s workforce) were fired or accepted the Administration’s deferred resignation offer – including staff supporting the CDBG-DR program. Furthermore, according to recent reports, HUD “plans to discharge 50% of its overall workforce”, and the Office of Community Planning and Development, which is responsible for supporting disaster recovery efforts, is targeted for a staggering 84% cut.  Should such cuts move forward, it is unclear how the Department will continue to ensure the efficient delivery of CDBG-DR funds so our states and communities can continue to rebuild after devastating disasters. 

    HUD has also postponed previously scheduled trainings designed to help grantees understand CDBG-DR program requirements, and it is not clear when those trainings will resume.  Moreover, continued uncertainty on whether and the extent to which HUD may change the current Universal Notice governing the latest allocations from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025 (Public Law 118-158) could cause additional delays. At least one grantee has already started accepting public comments on their draft action plan. Any major deviations from current requirements could be a huge setback for communities, adding months to recovery efforts. 

    We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff.

    To help us better understand the current status of the CDBG-DR program and your plans to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of CDBG-DR funds for our states and others across the country, we request information to the following questions no later than Monday, March 24, 2025:

    1. All grantees who received allocations from Public Law 118-158 have been using the CDBG-DR Universal Notice to develop their action plans.
      1. Do you intend to make changes to the Universal Notice?
      2. If so, how will HUD do that in a way that is minimally disruptive to the grantees whose actions plans are underway and to avoid delaying assistance?
      3. What is HUD’s timeline for reissuing the second allocation notice for Public Law 118-158 funding that was posted to the Federal Register for public inspection on January 21, 2025 but withdrawn on January 22, 2025?
    1. How many HUD employees were responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on January 20, 2025? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
    1. How many HUD employees are responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on[March 17, 2025]? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
    1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to further reduce the number of HUD employees responsible for implementing the CDBG-DR program?
    1. What analyses, if any, has HUD conducted to assess the impact of any proposed or implemented workforce reductions on the Department’s ability to implement CDBG-DR funding? Please provide copies of any written communications, analyses, and other documentation on how workforce reductions could impact the CDBG-DR program produced between January 21, 2025, and [March 17, 2025].
    1. What services, such as trainings and the provision of technical assistance, was HUD providing to CDBG-DR grantees on January 20, 2025?
    1. What services, if any, is HUD currently providing to CDBG-DR grantees? What changes, if any, have occurred to the services provided to CDBG-DR grantees since January 20, 2025?
    1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to alter the available services provided to CDBG-DR grantees? 
    1. Have any contracts related to the CDBG-DR program been terminated since January 20, 2025, as a result of the ongoing review of the ongoing reviews of HUD programs?  If so, please detail which contracts, the reason for termination, and the plan for addressing the contracted work, if applicable.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murray, DeLauro, Baldwin Demand Detailed Answers on Trump Admin’s Sweeping Mass Firings at Department of Education

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

    Top appropriators press McMahon on how the Department will carry out requirements of federal law and its critical responsibilities despite far-reaching, illegal firings of approximately 50% of staff

    Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, sent a letter to the Department of Education (ED) demanding detailed answers about the mass firings it has conducted and how it is carrying out requirements of federal law and its critical responsibilities despite the sweeping reductions in force.

    “We write to request your immediate response to questions we have raised about actions taken by the Department of Education and additional questions related to the massive reduction in force announced on March 11,” write the lawmakers. Citing the wide scope of responsibilities the Department is required by bipartisan laws to undertake to help students learn and thrive, the top appropriators in the Senate and House add: “Recent actions of the Department appear to undermine the Department’s obligation under these laws.”

    “The staff at the Department provide real services that impact the daily lives of students and their families from enforcing students’ civil rights and providing transparent information on how our schools are doing to processing critical aid such as Pell Grants to helping low-income students all over our nation attend college and further their careers,” Murray, DeLauro, and Baldwin write. “Firing the people that ensure states, school districts, and institutions of higher education live up to their legal obligations is neither efficient nor accountable.”

    In the letter, the lawmakers note that the Department’s staffing levels have largely remained flat in recent years despite significant growth in the programs it administers and the responsibilities it carries out. They write that the mass layoffs and other detrimental actions risk major reductions in support for and oversight of our nation’s K-12 schools and institutions of higher education and threaten vital support for students with disabilities, access to Pell Grants and other financial aid, oversight of student loan servicers, scrutiny of for-profit colleges, and more.

    The letter follows an earlier March 6 letter the lawmakers sent alongside colleagues demanding answers about the chaotic, harmful actions taken by ED since January—which the Department has yet to respond to.

    “Given the profound change to staff, budgets, and agency operations promised by this administration, it is critical that we receive additional information on these staffing reductions and changes to agency operations,” conclude Murray, DeLauro, and Baldwin before posing a series of detailed questions. “The President’s disregard for appropriations and other laws and the need for stability and productivity in government creates an imperative for the Department to provide accurate, timely responses on its use and planned use of taxpayer resources provided by the laws passed by Congress.”

    Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:

    The Honorable Linda McMahon Secretary U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC  20202 Dr. Matthew Soldner Acting Director Institute of Education Sciences 550 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20024

    Dear Secretary McMahon and Acting Director Soldner:

    We write to request your immediate response to questions we have raised about actions taken by the Department of Education (“the Department”) and additional questions related to the massive reduction in force announced on March 11, 2025.  We believe the Department plays a critical role in fulfilling the purpose of our Constitution to “promote the general welfare of the United States” and strongly support the purposes Congress established for the Department to ensure equal access to educational opportunity, including by administering education programs and carrying out important functions established in law and funded each year by Congress.  However, recent actions of the Department appear to undermine the Department’s obligation under these laws, despite your statement on March 11th that “Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to ensuring efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: students, parents and teachers.”[1]

    According to the Department’s most recent Congressional justifications and prior to this administration’s personnel actions, staffing levels at the Department were largely unchanged from 2016 despite the fact that the discretionary budget for the Department’s programs increased by 16.5 percent and the federal student loan portfolio grew by more than 30 percent between 2016 and 2024.[2] Further, the Department has the smallest staff of the 15 cabinet agencies despite representing the government’s third largest discretionary budget after the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services.[3] The Department also said that it had been tasked with “addressing some of the greatest challenges facing public education today: academic acceleration, students’ well-being and mental health, chronic absenteeism, school safety, and emerging and changing pathways from high school to college and career,” and, “modernizing and improving the entire student aid process to better help students and families, as well as implementing major legislation, including the FAFSA Simplification Act and FUTURE Act.”[4] The staff at the Department provide real services that impact the daily lives of students and their families from enforcing students’ civil rights and providing transparent information on how our schools are doing to processing critical aid such as Pell Grants to helping low-income students all over our nation attend college and further their careers. Firing the people that ensure states, school districts, and institutions of higher education live up to their legal obligations is neither efficient nor accountable.

    We are very concerned that the Department’s staffing reductions will result in significant reductions in the support and oversight of critical Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requirements for state and local educational agencies (SEAs/LEAs) to provide school report cards on the achievement of students, qualifications of teachers, and per-pupil spending in understandable and uniform formats. This is critical information parents, families, and communities need to have about their public schools and public school options that might be available.  The ESEA also requires states to use a portion of Title I-A for grants to implement school support and improvement activities in the lowest performing schools and in schools with historically underserved student subgroups performing significantly lower than other subgroups of students, including through evidence-based interventions.  However, the Department’s recent elimination of federally supported assistance used by SEAs and LEAs to effectively implement these requirements and limited state capacity will likely prevent effective implementation in many states and schools .[5][6][7][8] When combined with these massive staffing reductions, we are concerned that the Department’s ability to monitor or support implementation of the law will be nearly non-existent, leaving students and families with the long-term consequences for the Department’s short-sighted actions. 

    We are concerned that students with disabilities will also be harmed by the Department’s actions.  The Department is required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to monitor and support effective implementation of IDEA requirements.  This includes the evaluation of results and outcomes for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities through the State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report processes intended to improve results and outcomes for more than seven million children with disabilities.[9] It is not clear to us how effective oversight will be conducted at the significantly lower staffing levels created by the Department’s recent actions.

    The Department is also required by law to operate federal student aid programs and conduct oversight and enforcement of colleges and universities to ensure access to postsecondary education for our nation’s students and to help make college more affordable for American families.[10] Some of these responsibilities include ensuring students can apply for Pell grants and other financial aid to go to college, ensuring colleges and universities have the information and resources they need to disburse such aid to students, ensuring colleges and universities protect students’ civil rights, certifying universities compliance with administrative and fiscal rules to ensure low-quality colleges and universities cannot participate in Title IV aid programs, overseeing and approving accreditors, and protecting students and taxpayers from fraudulent universities that leave students with worthless degrees and debt. The vast reduction in force across the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), the Office of General Counsel (OGC), and other offices puts all of this work in jeopardy.

    However, your stated commitment to ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most rings hollow to us.  Our actions should absolutely start with supporting students, just as we have directed through our federal education laws. The guiding purpose is to direct federal resources so all students have access to a high-quality education and schools close achievement gaps.  For example, our laws include maintenance of effort requirements that generally prohibit SEAs and LEAs from reducing their support for education after receiving federal funds and only use federal funds to supplement, not supplant other funds.[11] It’s the Department’s statutorily required job to enforce these responsibilities.[12][13]  Moreover, ESEA requires school districts receiving Title I-A funds to reserve a sufficient amount of these funds to identify and meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness. The Department has taken important steps in recent years to increase oversight of this provision and planned additional monitoring and technical assistance in fiscal year (FY) 2025.[14]  Without the effective oversight and support of Department staff, we are concerned that students may not benefit from the additional federal resources Congress requires to be made available to identify and meet their needs.

    The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the nation’s civil rights laws in federally-funded education programs.  Disability discrimination is typically the most frequent complaint received by OCR.[15] While OCR received the highest number of complaints in its history last year—and nearly three times the level in 2009—its staffing declined from 629 to 588 during this period.[16]  Reporting also indicates that a change in priorities at OCR since January 20, 2025, has stalled work on investigations of disability complaints, preventing timely consideration of such complaints and appropriate remedies.[17]  We are greatly concerned that the Department’s personnel actions will only add to delays in remedies that would provide students with disabilities the access to free appropriate education in the least restrict environment as required by federal law.

    Given the profound change to staff, budgets, and agency operations promised by this administration, it is critical that we receive additional information on these staffing reductions and changes to agency operations.[18] The President’s disregard for appropriations and other laws and the need for stability and productivity in government creates an imperative for the Department to provide accurate, timely responses on its use and planned use of taxpayer resources provided by the laws passed by Congress. Finally, we expect all of the questions below are ones the Department itself would have already considered before making significant staffing reductions. We request you provide written answers to the following questions as soon as possible, but not later than, March 21, 2025:

    1. For each program office[19] and in total by appropriation, please provide the number of staff terminated as a result of the March 11, 2025 reduction in force.
      1. What are total expected savings in salaries and benefits in FY2025? 
      2. What share of the Department’s FY2024 budget do these savings represent?
      3. How many remaining staff at the Department were assigned additional duties as a result of staffing reductions since January 20, 2025?
      4. What is the average number of new duties assigned to remaining staff?
      5. Please provide a complete list of office teams terminated as a result of the March 11, 2025 staffing reductions and other staffing reductions and the specific responsibilities of those terminated teams transferred to other office teams.
    1. Please explain how the reduction in force announced on March 11, 2025 reflects a commitment to each of the following as claimed in Secretary McMahon’s statement accompanying the announcement:
      1. How will these staff reductions ensure “that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers”?  Please provide three examples and the analysis supporting the expected changes.      
      2. How do these reductions reflect the Department’s “commitment to… accountability”?  Please provide three examples and the analysis supporting the expected changes.
      3. How do these reductions reflect the Department’s “commitment to efficiency”?  Please provide three examples and the analysis supporting the expected changes.  Further, please explain how the Department’s decisions to cancel evaluation contracts that help us understand what is working and terminate Department grants and contracts that support the development and implementation of evidence-based solutions to challenges identified by state and local education leaders promotes efficiency. 
    1. For the Office for Civil Rights, please provide the number of investigative staff on board after all of the Department’s personnel actions taken since January 20, 2025, including the March 11, 2025 reduction.
      1. Please provide the number of such staff in total and for each region for the immediately preceding pay period to the date including January 20, 2025.
      2. Please provide the average caseload for such staff for the immediately preceding pay period to the date including January 20, 2025 and after all of the Department’s personnel actions taken since January 20, 2025, including the March 11, 2025 reductions.
      3. Please provide the number of complaints pending investigation as of March 11, 2025.
      4. Please provide the number of resolution agreements requiring monitoring for implementation of corrective actions as of March 11, 2025 and September 30, 2024.  What is the average caseload for such work as of September 30, 2024 and after implementation of staffing reductions?    
      5. Please describe any changes planned to OCR’s current Case Processing Manual and explain how each change would improve civil right protections for students attending federally-funded educational institutions.
      6. Please describe any organizational changes planned and explain how each change would improve civil right protections for students attending federally-funded educational institutions. 
    1. In FY2024, the Department was directed to increase its monitoring efforts in order to ensure compliance with the ESEA. However, it appears, as of today, the Department has only completed three consolidated monitoring reports conducted in FY2024 and none in FY2025.[20]
      1. How many ESEA consolidated monitoring visits did the Department complete in FY2024?  When can we expect to see those consolidated monitoring reports made public in order to understand compliance with the law?
      2. How many ESEA consolidated monitoring visits is the Department conducting in FY2025?  When can we expect to see those consolidated monitoring reports made public in order to understand compliance with the law?
      3. How many ESEA consolidated monitoring visits is the Department planning to conduct in FY2026?  When can we expect to see those consolidated monitoring reports made public in order to understand compliance with the law?
      4. How many ESEA targeted monitoring visits is the Department conducting in FY2025?  On what specific requirements of ESEA is the Department conducting this monitoring, and in how many states?  If no such monitoring is planned, please explain why the Department is not conducting targeting monitoring necessary to understand compliance with the law?
      5. How many ESEA targeted monitoring visits is the Department planning to conduct in FY2026? On what specific requirements of ESEA is the Department planning to conduct this monitoring, and in how many states?  If no such monitoring is planned, please explain why the Department is not conducting targeting monitoring necessary to understand compliance with the law?
      6. Please update the monitoring findings in the August 29, 2024 Report to Congress on school improvement[21] to include the status of implementation of each of the actions required and recommendations in the report. 
    1. For the last five years, the Department has conducted an annual review in January of each state’s website to check whether the state has posted state and local report cards, reviewed a subset of ESEA requirements, and followed up with states on noncompliance with requirements. This information is essential to help parents and families understand the resources available at each school, the quality of the school’s educator workforce, and performance of their school.
      1. Has the Department completed this review of each state’s website this year as it has for each of the past five years?  If not, why not?  If so, which subset of requirements was the focus of its review?
      2. How many states has the Department identified the need for corrective actions and engaged states on its findings and plans to remedy noncompliance?   If none, please explain why.
      3. What is the expected timeline for redress of each instance of noncompliance?
    1. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires states that receive ESEA Title I funding to participate in state National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments in reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8 every two years.  This is important information for parents, families, state and local education policymakers, and federal policymakers on performance of students. In fact, has been cited by this administration as it argues the low NAEP test results are a result of Democrats diverting attention from American students.[22]
    1. Please provide copies of all documents, electronic communications, records, and meeting notes of Department staff from January 20, 2025 through the date of this letter that relate to NAEP.
    2. Please provide an assurance that none of the Department’s actions since January 20, 2025 were inconsistent with the requirements of National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act.
    3. Please provide an assurance that no federal funds will be used in contravention of the requirements of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act.
    4. Please provide an assurance that none of the Department’s actions since January 20, 2025 will alter the validity or reliability of NAEP assessments on the currently approved schedule, including the national assessment required under section 303 of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act.
    5. Please explain the unprecedented decision made earlier this year to cancel the scheduled long-term trend assessment outside of a period of a national emergency.
    1. The Department has critical oversight, support, and technical assistance obligations under the IDEA.
      1. Please provide the number of staff on-board whose job includes responsibilities for Results Driven Accountability activities as of the pay period including January 1, 2025 and the number of such staff upon full implementation of the Department’s March 11, 2025 staffing reductions.
      2. Please identify the timeline for completion of the 2025 and 2026 determinations under IDEA.
    1. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 ushered in critical changes about the effective use of data and timely development and use of relevant evidence in federal policymaking.  We have consistently supported the Department’s work, which has been recognized for its progress and achievement in this area.[23]
      1. Please provide the number of staff in the Grants Policy Office of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development as of September 30, 2024 and after the staffing reductions announced on March 11, 2025.  Please describe the specific actions supported by the revised staffing level to undertake work required to advance evidence based policy making, the inclusion of priorities for evidence in discretionary grant programs, support for the use of evidence in formula grant programs, and building of staff capacity to support a culture of evidence at the Department.
      2. Please identify any changes to the staffing, policies, and work of the Evidence Leadership Group as compared to September 30, 2024.  Please share analysis, as applicable, related to the Department’s belief that these changes will better promote the development and use of evidence in the Department’s policymaking and formula and discretionary grant programs.
    1. In 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act to modernize and streamline the FAFSA to make it easier for students and their families to apply for federal financial aid to attend postsecondary education. Initial implementation of the law was flawed and led to a chaotic launch of the 2024-2025 FAFSA. Due to a lot of hard work by dedicated Department staff, the roll out of the 2025-2026 FAFSA went more smoothly, yet more remains to be done to ensure the effective implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act and the FUTURE Act. Your staff indicated that the March 11th reduction in force would not impact the ability of students to apply for financial aid,[24] but in reality, it took very little time to show how cuts to Department staff could hurt the functionality of the FAFSA. On March 12th, the FAFSA form had an unscheduled outage of approximately five hours and fired staff had limited access to their computers or phones to help get FAFSA back online.[25] The Department stated the cause of the outage was ”Planned Maintenance,” but when the entire team responsible for systems supporting the FAFSA form[26] was subject to the reduction in force, it calls into question whether that is an accurate representation of what happened to the FAFSA on March 12. Additionally, former Department staff have noted that among those fired on March 11th was a team that worked on FAFSA completion workshops, among other responsibilities, also calling into question whether critical work to boost FAFSA completion rates under the previous administration will continue.[27]
      1. Please describe how the staff reductions will impact the ability of students to apply for financial aid or limit the full functionality of the FAFSA form, including FAFSA processing, school receipt of processed FAFSAs, processing of paper FAFSAs, and FAFSA correction functionality for applicants, institutions of higher education, and states.
      2. Given the substantial cuts to Department staff who manage vendors that implement critical parts of the FAFSA, please describe how remaining Department staff will adequately manage, coordinate across, and oversee these vendors so that functionality for the FAFSA and its data center is maintained.
      3. Please describe how the Department will continue developing the 2026-2027 FAFSA and ensure an October 1st launch as required by Congress.
      4. Please describe how the Department will engage in communication efforts with students and their families to ensure they know federal financial aid is available to them and the FAFSA form is available to fill out.
      5. Please describe how you will continue to report on important FAFSA submission and completion data and maintain monthly briefings for Congress.
      6. Given the large cuts to FSA in this week’s reduction in force, please provide a staffing plan that details which staff will be reassigned to cover the work of those employees who are departing and involved in implementation of the FAFSA to ensure that student aid will continue to be disbursed without interruption.
      7. Please describe how any changes in availability of the call center, including weekend and evening hours, will be sufficient to answer questions from FAFSA applicants and students with questions about their student loans.
      8. Please describe how the Department will meet its statutory requirements to support applicants in the most common languages spoken in the United States?
    1. In FY24, FSA oversaw the disbursement of more than $120 billion in federal financial aid to more than 9 million students across the country and managed $1.6 trillion in student loans held by approximately 45 million borrowers.[28] To help implement the FAFSA and provide student loan services, the Department contracts with vendors and is responsible for ensuring the quality of the work those contractors provide.
      1. According to public reporting, many of the Department staff who oversee these contractors were terminated through the reduction in force.[29] How does the Department plan to oversee the vendors and contractors who are providing these services to student borrowers?
      2. Please describe how the Department will work to uphold strong loan servicing standards across the agency’s vendors.
      3. Reports also indicate that Department staff have met with staff from the Treasury Department to discuss moving the student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department,[30] a change that only Congress can make.[31] Please describe organizational changes being contemplated as they relate to the student loan portfolio and how they comply with current statutory requirements.
    1. Reports indicate that the Ombudsman Group, which helps resolve discrepancies with student loans, helps students identify the right loan repayment option for them, and helps settle disputes between student loan borrowers and their servicers, among other issues,[32]  was deeply affected by the March 11th reduction in force.[33] In the last year, over 130,000 complaints[34] were submitted to FSA and the Student Loan Ombudsman.
      1. What are the Department’s plans to ensure that student loan borrowers are still able to get the support they need when with the wide variety of issues the Ombudsman Group handled?
      2. Will the Department maintain the online portal for student borrowers to submit complaints regarding their student loans and if so, which office at the Department will be tasked with responding to those complaints?
    1. The Borrower Defense to Repayment unit also appears to have been severely impacted by the March 11th reduction in force.[35] As you know, these Department staff review student loan relief applications from student borrowers who were misled or defrauded by the school. Borrower Defense to Repayment is a protection that has been authorized by Congress in the Higher Education Act[36] and provides student borrowers relief from their federal student loans that were taken out under fraudulent, misleading, or illegal acts of their schools. As of 2023, approximately 770,000 student borrowers applied for Borrower Defense to Repayment.[37]
      1. What is the Department’s plan to ensure that it will carry out the statutory requirement to adjudicate the current remaining Borrower Defense to Repayment claims?
      2. With such severe cuts to the people who worked in the Borrower Defense to Repayment unit, please describe how the Department will ensure that current and future student borrowers will be able to submit claims and have them adjudicated in a timely fashion going forward.
      3. What proportion of the remaining staff will be responsible for fulfilling the Sweet settlement, and how will the Department ensure borrowers not included in the settlement are also able to file claims and have them resolved accordingly?
    1. The Higher Education Act requires the Department to carry out numerous oversight responsibilities over the thousands of institutions of higher education that seek to participate in the Title IV program, including eligibility and certification requirements, program reviews, and enforcement of program participation agreements. These requirements help ensure institutions of higher education are on sound financial footing and abide by all requirements of Title IV.
      1. Please describe how the Department will continue to carry out the work of the School Eligibility and Oversight Service Group (SEOSG), including ensuring institutions of higher education can submit initial and updated applications, recertifications, letters of credit, and documents related to program reviews.
      2. Please describe how the reductions in the SEOSG will impact the caseloads of remaining staff at the Department conducting this important oversight work and not lead to increased waste, fraud, and abuse in the Title IV program.
      3. How many program reviews does the Department estimate remaining staff will be able to conduct in FY2025, given the staffing cuts?
    1. For the Office of Institutions of Higher Education Oversight & Enforcement, please provide the number of staff on board after all of the Department’s personnel actions taken since January 20, 2025, including the March 11, 2025 reduction.
      1. Please provide the number of such staff in total and for each work unit under the Office of Enforcement and the Office of Partner Participation and Oversight for the immediately preceding pay period to the date including January 20, 2025.
      2. Please describe any changes planned to investigations and oversight responsibilities under the Investigations Group, the Administrative Actions and Appeals Service Group, and the Resolutions and Referral Management Group, and explain how each change would protect students and taxpayers from misconduct by institutions.
    1. The Office of Student Service is responsible for administering the TRIO, GEAR UP, and other discretionary grant programs. TRIO and GEAR UP implementation takes a significant amount of work due to the large number of grantees nationwide.
      1. Please provide the number of staff on board for the Office of Student Service after all of the Department’s personnel actions taken since January 20, 2025, including the March 11, 2025 reduction.  
      2. Please provide the number of such staff in total and for each work unit under the Office of Student Service for the immediately preceding pay period to the date including January 20, 2025.
    1. The Department enforces an ESEA requirement that must be met by a State, SEA, or LEA that receives ESEA funds to prevent an SEA, LEA, school, or individual acting on behalf of one of those entities from assisting an employee, contractor, or agent who has engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor or student in violation of the law in obtaining new employment. As directed in the Department’s 2024 appropriation, the Department has taken initial steps to improve compliance with this provision of law.[38]  More must be done.
      1. How many staff are actively working on the 2024 directive after all personnel actions taken through March 11, 2025? 
      2. Please provide a description of actions planned and the associated timeline for meeting this directive and assuring compliance with section 8546 of the ESEA. 
    1. The FY2025 Major Management Challenges report issued by Education’s Office of Inspector General found the Department has “established progress” in improving monitoring and oversight of its grantees.[39]  The report further noted “the Department developed plans to address this Management Challenge that included improving its training and technical assistance and broadening consolidated monitoring efforts. These activities have been substantially implemented.”
      1. Please provide the number of staff with responsibilities for implementing grantee monitoring and oversight as of September 30, 2024 and after all personnel actions taken through March 11, 2025.

    Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your prompt response.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –