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USDA scales back limits on scientists’ contacts

Rangeland scientist
Emilio Carillo, a rangeland scientist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, tests the new LandPKS mobile app on his smartphone. A report about the app was the subject of a tweet sent out after the USDA information ban was lifted. (USDA Photo / Jeffrey Herrick)

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have rescinded an order that barred its researchers from releasing “public-facing documents,” ranging from news releases and photos to social media posts.

Reports about the order, which first arose on BuzzFeed News, sparked widespread complaints on Jan. 24 about a Trump administration crackdown – particularly in light of similar limits that were placed on communications from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Late that day, the USDA issued a statement saying that the original email from ARS chief of staff Sharon Drumm “was released without Departmental direction, and prior to Departmental guidance being issued.”

“ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff,” the statement said. “ARS values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public.”

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National park goes rogue with climate tweets

170124-badlands2

Badlands National Park tweeted the inconvenient truth about climate change today, despite the Trump administration’s crackdown on environmental outreach. And the Twittersphere went wild.

The South Dakota park’s staff typically focuses its Twitter account on bighorn sheep and the like, but at least one of the account’s keepers delved into atmospheric carbon dioxide readings.

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Science policy in limbo as Trump takes office

Donald Trump met with tech industry leaders including venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Apple CEO Tim Cook last month. (Pool via YouTube)
Donald Trump met with tech industry leaders including venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Apple CEO Tim Cook last month. (Pool via YouTube)

Although President Donald Trump says he’s ready to delve into the mysteries of space, he still has to make key appointments at NASA and other agencies dealing with science and technology policy.

And some of the picks he’s already made pose challenges. For example, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency has in the past filed lawsuits against the EPA. And his nominee for energy secretary, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, once sought to have that Cabinet department eliminated (even though he couldn’t remember that during a debate).

Here’s a quick rundown on the questions surrounding seven agencies that deal with science and technology policy.

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Tech shines as bright spot in Trump’s speech

Donald Trump
Donald Trump vows to “Make America Great Again” in his inaugural address. (Pool via YouTube)

Donald Trump’s first address as president may have sounded like a “Make America Great Again” campaign speech, but he did include at least a few bright words about the promise of science and technology.

“We stand at the birth of a new millennium,” he said at the U.S. Capitol after his swearing-in, “ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow. A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights and heal our divisions.”

Trump’s references to the technologies of tomorrow provided some relief in an inaugural address that drew the same battle lines that the unconventional candidate laid out during the campaign.

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Surveys point to continuing partisan divide

Clinton and Trump
Surveys suggest the divide between Democrats and Republicans will persist. (GeekWire Graphic)

Will America come together in the wake of this week’s presidential inauguration? The prospects for that appear dim, based on a trio of surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center.

One of the surveys, released today, hits a new low for political division: Eighty-six percent of the respondents said the country is more politically divided these days than in the past, while only 12 percent say it’s not more divided. That pessimism was shared by Republicans and Democrats in nearly equal measure.

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Obama says ‘new cyber age’ needs new tools

Obama press conference
President Barack Obama takes questions at the White House. (White House via YouTube)

In the wake of a presidential campaign marred by hacking and social-media skulduggery, President Barack Obama says America’s digital architecture will have to be fine-tuned to preserve democracy.

The issue arose today during Obama’s final White House press conference – just two days before President-elect Donald Trump is due to take the reins of power.

Obama’s comments on cybersecurity came up with regard to his decision to commute the 35-year sentence of Chelsea Manning, an Army soldier who was convicted in 2013 on charges of leaking classified information via WikiLeaks.

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Questions surround Trump’s transportation plan

Elaine Chao
Elaine Chao provides testimony to senators during a hearing on her nomination to become transportation secretary. Chao’s husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is seated behind her to the left. (Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee via Video)

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, held back from a commitment to continue supporting transit projects that are already in the pipeline for the Seattle region during today’s Senate confirmation hearing.

The opportunity to do so came during questioning by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who made reference to Washington state’s rapid economic growth.

“We have growth, we have an economic engine, but we desperately, desperately, desperately, desperately need the infrastructure investment,” Cantwell told Chao.

In November, voters in King, Pierce Snohomish counties approved a $54 billion package to expand Sound Transit bus and rail service over the next 25 years. However, the Sound Transit 3 package assumes that the federal government will kick in $4.7 billion to cover some of the construction costs.

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Trump says he’ll beef up ‘hacking defense’

Donald Trump
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference. (Pool Video via ABC News)

President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll turn to the tech industry leaders he met with last month to help his administration come up with better measures to guard against hackers in Russia and elsewhere.

During today’s first formal news conference since his surprise win since the presidential election, Trump referred to the summit that he had at Trump Tower in Manhattan with such luminaries as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

He said that meeting attracted “some of the greatest computer minds” in the world.

“We’re going to get those minds together, and we’re going to form a defense” against future computer intrusions, Trump said.

Later on, Trump gave a timetable: “Within 90 days, we will be coming up with a major report on hacking defense,” he said. “How do we stop this new phenomenon, this fairly new phenomenon, because the United States is hacked by everybody. That includes Russia, and China, and everybody.”

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Next attorney general could harsh pot’s buzz

Jeff Sessions
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing (C-Span via Video)

Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions faced a wide range of questions during today’s Senate hearing on his confirmation as attorney general, including a few that point to potential pressure points in Washington state and other parts of Cascadia.

We’ll focus on three of them here: marijuana, immigration issues and cybersecurity issues.

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Cyber sleuths lay out details of Russian hacking

A diagram that accompanies a report from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI lays out the methods attributed to groups known as APT29 and APT28, a.k.a. Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear. (DHS / NCCIC / FBI Graphic)
A diagram that accompanies a report from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI lays out the methods attributed to APT29 and APT28, a.k.a. Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear. (DHS / NCCIC / FBI Graphic)

Two groups of Russian hackers used a blend of spearphishing, booby-trapped websites and remote-access malware to worm their way into the Democratic National Committee’s computers and hurt the party’s prospects in last month’s presidential election, experts from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security say in a 13-page report.

The report, released today, also says yet another cyber attack that’s linked to actors “likely associated” with Russian intelligence agencies was launched just days after the election.

“This activity by Russian intelligence services is part of a decade-long campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the U.S. government and its citizens,” the agencies said in a news release.

The report comes as a follow-up to claims of Russian involvement made in October, and as evidence in support of today’s decision by the Obama administration to slap sanctions on Russia.

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