Transcript

8.11.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: August eleventh, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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Speaker 1: is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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Speaker 1: or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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Speaker 1: printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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Speaker 1: To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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Speaker 1: Trump was on secret flight amid Iran threat. His departure
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Speaker 1: from NATO summit in Turkey included a complex ruse. Next,
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Speaker 1: path to control Congress muddied upsets and scandals inject uncertainty.
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Speaker 1: Stakes are high for Trump in November mid terms. The
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Speaker 1: next headline, plan up and schedule for children's vaccines. Trump's
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Speaker 1: order cuts number of shots, revisits decades of guidance. Next,
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Speaker 1: US water systems are especially vulnerable. Spate of intrusions believed
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Speaker 1: to be work of Iranian hackers. The next headline, Businesses
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Speaker 1: scramble to contain hacks by AI. Revelations of malicious acts
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Speaker 1: lead to renewed calls for scrutiny and regulation. And the
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Speaker 1: final headline from today's from page, Spanish migration chaos raises
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Speaker 1: questions high number of people entering on a single day
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Speaker 1: draw suspicions that the movement was orchestrated. In addition to
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Speaker 1: those headlines, there is a photo on the front page
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Speaker 1: entitled Devastation in Columbia. The caption reads, Residents and rescue
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Speaker 1: workers sift through rubble Monday. In Cali, Columbia. At least
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Speaker 1: one hundred eleven people were killed and scores of buildings
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Speaker 1: collapsed after a seven point four magnitude earthquake struck the
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Speaker 1: western part of the country. That story is on page
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Speaker 1: A twelve in today's paper. Now, let's turn to our
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Speaker 1: first item, entitled Trump was on secret flight amid her
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Speaker 1: on threat. His departure from NATO's summit in Turkey included
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Speaker 1: a complex ruse by Dan Lemouth, John Hudson, Andrew Batran
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Speaker 1: and Joyce chowen Lee. An arranging assassination threat against President
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Speaker 1: Donald Trump prompted an extraordinary operation last month in which
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Speaker 1: he flew secretly from Turkey on an alternate military aircraft,
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Speaker 1: while the White House said he was a board Air
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Speaker 1: Force one. The Washington Post has learned the clandestine mission,
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Speaker 1: which has not been reported previously, was carried out unbeknownst
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Speaker 1: to journalists and some White House staff. Members who believed
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Speaker 1: they were on the same plane as the president, according
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Speaker 1: to material reviewed by the Post, a US official familiar
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Speaker 1: with the operation, and another person with knowledge of the
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Speaker 1: president's travel. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity
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Speaker 1: because they were not authorized to talk about the matter.
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Speaker 1: The administration has claimed that Trump departed Turkey on July
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Speaker 1: eighth on the four Force one. Trump announced on social
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Speaker 1: media that he would use the former Air Force one
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Speaker 1: rather than the plane that flew him there, a newer
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Speaker 1: Boeing seven forty seven eight gifted to the United States
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Speaker 1: by Qatar. The security of the Kadar provided aircraft has
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Speaker 1: been called into question, and Trump said last month after
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Speaker 1: the trip that it would undergo additional upgrades. An anchora,
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Speaker 1: Trump ordered the old Air Force one jumbo jet in
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Speaker 1: view of television cameras. He was secretly shuttled minutes later
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Speaker 1: to a smaller plane, an Air Force C thirty two,
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Speaker 1: a via an airport catering truck typically used to load
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Speaker 1: meals and other supplies pre flight. According to the US
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Speaker 1: official and corroborating material reviewed by the Post, that made
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Speaker 1: Air Force one a decoy with media and some White
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Speaker 1: House staff aboard. The official said Trump had been an
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Speaker 1: anchor for a NATO summit with world leaders. The operation
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Speaker 1: occurred a night after US forces renewed military strikes on
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Speaker 1: Iran at Trump's direction, following a breakdown of negotiations between
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Speaker 1: Washington and Tehran to end their month's long war. The
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Speaker 1: maneuver meant that Trump's actual location was concealed from the
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Speaker 1: American public and many senior US officials for hours. Weeks later,
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Speaker 1: it remains unclear how widely the administration has disclosed the operation.
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Speaker 1: The Posts provided the White House with the details from
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Speaker 1: its reporting, along with a list of questions. In response,
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Speaker 1: White House Communications Director Stephen Chung issued his statement defending
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Speaker 1: the jet gifted by Qatar. The new Air Force One
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Speaker 1: is a state of the art aircraft that has been
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Speaker 1: fitted with high level security protocols that insure the safety
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Speaker 1: of the President and his staff. Chung's statements said, as
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Speaker 1: the President has said recently, there are many enemies of
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Speaker 1: America who have their sights on him, and we use
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Speaker 1: every tool at our disposal to address those threats. A
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Speaker 1: spokesman for the Pentagon referred questions to the White hou House.
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Speaker 1: A Secret Service booksman referred questions to the White House
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Speaker 1: and Pentagon. Publicly, the White House has repeated its account
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Speaker 1: that the President left Turkey on the Legacy Blue and
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Speaker 1: White Boeing seven forty seven that served as Air Force
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Speaker 1: one before Trump began using the former Katari jet. For decades,
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Speaker 1: it has been rare for U S presidents to travel
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Speaker 1: without members of the White House Press Corps accompanying them
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Speaker 1: in their roles as proxies for the American public. Journalists
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Speaker 1: have traveled into war zones with numerous presidents, including Trump,
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Speaker 1: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. In the
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Speaker 1: first hours after the terrorist attacks on September eleventh, two
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Speaker 1: thousand one, Bush administration officials did not immediately disclose the
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Speaker 1: president's whereabouts, saying only that he had been taken to
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Speaker 1: an undisclosed location, but they did not say he was
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Speaker 1: somewhere he was not, and within hours officials revealed that
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Speaker 1: he had been flown to a military facility in Nebraska.
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Speaker 1: The Trump operation unfolded quite differently, highlighting the depth of
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Speaker 1: concern the U. S security officials had about his safety
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Speaker 1: leaving Turkey amid hostilities with Iran. Turkey, a Key US
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Speaker 1: ally and member of the NATO military alliance shares a
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Speaker 1: border with Iran. A credible threat to Trump involving Iran
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Speaker 1: set the deception operation in motion, the U S officials said.
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Speaker 1: The New York Times and CBS News reported last month
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Speaker 1: that intelligence officials flagged a specific threat of an attack
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Speaker 1: on the President or his jet, triggering additional precautions. There
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Speaker 1: are decades old concerns in the U S Government of
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Speaker 1: Iranian terrorism plots against American officials, including Trump. Those fears
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Speaker 1: have escalated recently as a result of Washington's role in
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Speaker 1: the killing of Iranian military and political leaders. The operation
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Speaker 1: and the Iranian threat came days after the President began
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Speaker 1: using the newer Boeing's seven forty seven eight, gifted by
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Speaker 1: Qatar for use as Air Force one. Trump flew to
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Speaker 1: Turkey on that aircraft after the Red, White, and Blue
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Speaker 1: jet underwent upgrades costing hundreds of millions of dollars. It
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Speaker 1: was fielded by the Air Force in July, but lacks
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Speaker 1: some of the defensive countermeasures included in the legacy Air
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Speaker 1: Force One. To transport the President out of Turkey, US
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Speaker 1: officials relied, in part on a technique that has occasionally
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Speaker 1: become public knowledge. One such mission occurred in March two thousand,
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Speaker 1: when President Bill Clinton visited Pakistan, with television cameras recording
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Speaker 1: in Islamabad, Clinton disembarked from a plain white jet that
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Speaker 1: followed the blue and white Air Force One, clarifying where
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Speaker 1: he had been. There have been other times in the
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Speaker 1: last thirty years when Air Force One served as a
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Speaker 1: decoy for the president because of a serious threat or
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Speaker 1: because he was flying to a dangerous location, another US
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Speaker 1: official set, declining to elaborate, the Legacy jet is highly
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Speaker 1: secure but also highly visible, so putting the president on
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Speaker 1: an alternate plane instead can be considered safer that, former
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Speaker 1: officials said. Ronald L. Row Junior, a former acting director
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Speaker 1: of the Secret Service, said that the president's protection is
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Speaker 1: paramount and that the details of his movements are shielded
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Speaker 1: for good reason. We need to keep the secret in
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Speaker 1: secret service, said Roe, now with a Chertoff Group, a
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Speaker 1: security advisory firm. The public should know what the president
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Speaker 1: is doing on a daily basis, but when it comes
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Speaker 1: to the methods by which the Secret Service keeps the
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Speaker 1: president safe, that should remain out of public view. When
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Speaker 1: Trump first announced that he would leave Turkey on the
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Speaker 1: Legacy Air Force One, He tatted the decision on social
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Speaker 1: media as an opportunity for US troops stationed in Britain
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Speaker 1: to see the former Katari aircraft he would and said,
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Speaker 1: take the former Air Force one from Turkey five for
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Speaker 1: old time's sake, Trump posted, but that did not happen.
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Speaker 1: According to the material reviewed by the Post and the
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Speaker 1: US official, numerous people participated in the deception, some unwittingly,
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Speaker 1: and journalists who thought they were traveling with the President
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Speaker 1: aboard the legacy Air Force one were not notified that
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Speaker 1: he had changed to aircraft or made aware of the
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Speaker 1: extent of the threat on Air Force One. The US
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Speaker 1: official said, the new air Force one jet gifted by Katar,
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Speaker 1: departed Turkey first early in the evening of July eighth.
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Speaker 1: Trump then boarded the legacy blue and white Air Force
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Speaker 1: one at dusk, waving goodbye on camera. To exit that
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Speaker 1: plane without being seen by those uninvolved in the operation,
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Speaker 1: Trump and several aids stepped aboard an airport catering truck,
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Speaker 1: which was elevated plane side using hydraulics and positioned at
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Speaker 1: a door on the opposite side of Air Force one's entrance.
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Speaker 1: According to the US official and other corroborating material. Imagery
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Speaker 1: captured by the news media at the Twoish airport shows
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Speaker 1: a staircase on one side of the legacy air Force
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Speaker 1: one and the catering truck on the other, with its
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Speaker 1: container elevated to the level of the plane. Trump arrived
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Speaker 1: in a limousine, climbed the staircase and waved toward the
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Speaker 1: tarmac as he boarded. Video shows a few minutes later,
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Speaker 1: as members of the White House Press Corps boarded near
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Speaker 1: the back of the plane, a man in a suit
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Speaker 1: entered the catering truck's cab. According to media pool video
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Speaker 1: of the departure process, the container was lowered into the
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Speaker 1: bed of the vehicle, which then pulled away from Air
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Speaker 1: Force one and drove to the smaller C thirty two
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Speaker 1: A near by. The video appears to show the truck
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Speaker 1: is out of view for about forty seconds when the
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Speaker 1: camera pans away and is briefly hidden while behind the
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Speaker 1: C thirty two a's engines. The video shows that the
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Speaker 1: container was lifted to the level of the plane for
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Speaker 1: several minutes. After the container was lowered, a person in
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Speaker 1: a suit stepped out of the truck's cab, which remained
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Speaker 1: at ground level and ascended the stairs up to the
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Speaker 1: C thirty two A, disappearing from the camera's view. The
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Speaker 1: blue and white C thirty two A, a modified Boeing
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Speaker 1: seven five seven, used to transport US government officials, had
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Speaker 1: been flown to Turkey along with the legacy Air Force
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Speaker 1: one and the former Katari jet to support the President's visit.
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Speaker 1: The US officials said. Like Air Force one jumbo jets,
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Speaker 1: it is emblazoned with the words United States of America
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Speaker 1: and can be used to transport the president or vice president,
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Speaker 1: but it typically does so with the Air Force one
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Speaker 1: or Air Force two call sign, not a nondescript moniker.
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Speaker 1: Defense Secretary Pete hexth bordered the C thirty two A separately,
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Speaker 1: using external stairs, part of an attempt to make the
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Speaker 1: flight appear typical. According to the US official and other
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Speaker 1: materials reviewed by the Post, hexth flew with Trump to
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Speaker 1: Britain on the same plane, this person said. As journalists
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Speaker 1: boarded the legacy Air Force one, White House staff directed
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Speaker 1: them to close their window shades to media pool report.
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Speaker 1: The New York Times reported last month that the former
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Speaker 1: Katari jet lacks the defensive capabilities of legacy US presidential
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Speaker 1: transport jets. That report prompted the Trump administration to take
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Speaker 1: the unusual step of issuing subpoenas to several journalists in
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Speaker 1: a bid to learn the identities of their confidential sources.
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Speaker 1: Administration officials casts the government's actions against New York Times
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Speaker 1: as necessary to investigate a national security breach, while The
12:30
Speaker 1: Times described the move as an effort to avoid transparency,
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Speaker 1: intimidate journalists, and scare their sources. The administration later withdrew
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Speaker 1: the subpoenas, acknowledging missteps in the case. In deflecting criticism
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Speaker 1: of the new jet, the White House also released a
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Speaker 1: statement from the Air Force one the aircraft is safe, secure,
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Speaker 1: and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet
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Speaker 1: requirements of the presidential mission. The statement said those requirements
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Speaker 1: were carefully crafted to prioritize mission over esthetics, leaving much
13:03
Speaker 1: of the previous Head of State interior layout minimally changed.
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Speaker 1: No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications,
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Speaker 1: but the collective team made trades on some of the
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Speaker 1: less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to
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Speaker 1: support the next forty years. The statement added, though the
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Speaker 1: seven forty seven JEMO jets that carry the President are
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Speaker 1: commonly referred to as Air Force one. The term is
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Speaker 1: technically an air traffic control call sign for any plane
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Speaker 1: on which the president is a board. In this instance, however,
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Speaker 1: the President's whereabouts were obscured on the C thirty two
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Speaker 1: A flight to Britain using the nondescript call sign REACH
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Speaker 1: eighteen or RCCH one eight. According to a person familiar
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Speaker 1: with the mission and other material reviewed by the Post,
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Speaker 1: the aviation account the new Area fifty one noted the
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Speaker 1: C thirty two a's are rival in Britain and is
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Speaker 1: call sign reporting that night that cystems allowing for the
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Speaker 1: aircraft to be easily tracked while in the air, have
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Speaker 1: been switched off. Reach call signs are often used for
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Speaker 1: personnel transport flights and those at Hall military equipment, According
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Speaker 1: to those familiar with the mission, Publicly available flight tracking
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Speaker 1: data shows that the former Katari jet clew to Britain's
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Speaker 1: Mildenhall Air Base while bearing the call sign SA M
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Speaker 1: three three, using a common abbreviation for special Air Mission.
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Speaker 1: It landed at Milton Hall at six twenty six p
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Speaker 1: m Local time on July eighth. Data shows the Legacy
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Speaker 1: Air Force one plane carrying White House staff and journalists,
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Speaker 1: appeared on radar near Istamboul on its way to Britain,
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Speaker 1: initially with no call sign listed, despite the President not
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Speaker 1: being a board. It then took the Air Force one
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Speaker 1: call sign a F one mid flight and arrived at
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Speaker 1: Milton Hall about ten twenty nine p m Local time.
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Speaker 1: The tracking data shows a media pool report that night
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Speaker 1: said the flight was uneventful with no visitors to the
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Speaker 1: press cabin. No flight tracker data could be found for
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Speaker 1: the C thirty two A, but videos posted by the
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Speaker 1: YouTube accounts rank up Aviation and Military Aviation Channel show
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Speaker 1: the former Katari jet landing, followed by a C thirty
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Speaker 1: two A hours later at about ten twenty p m
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Speaker 1: and the Legacy Air Force one several minutes later. Videos
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Speaker 1: show the Legacy Air Force one, after landing, coming to
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Speaker 1: a stop in a place where the C thirty two
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Speaker 1: A had briefly been parked. The hobbyist videos on YouTube
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Speaker 1: do not show Trump exiting the C thirty two A
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Speaker 1: or entering the Legacy Air Force one, as the stairway
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Speaker 1: entrances faced away from the plane spotters cameras. It is
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Speaker 1: not clear how Trump moved from the C thirty two
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Speaker 1: A to the legacy Air Force one after landing, but
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Speaker 1: he appeared before television cameras and descended external stairs from
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Speaker 1: the legacy Air Force one at about ten fifty six
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Speaker 1: p m, according to a media pool report. After greeting
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Speaker 1: you as service members, the President embarked on the newly
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Speaker 1: gifted Air Force one to travel back to Washington with
16:07
Speaker 1: staff and press aboard. After transfer from the legacy Air
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Speaker 1: Force one at about eleven o one p m. A
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Speaker 1: social media post from the White House posted that night
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Speaker 1: said Trump had landed at the British base aboard the
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Speaker 1: former Air Force one, and included a picture of the
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Speaker 1: legacy plane aboard the new Air Force one. Trump spoke
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Speaker 1: to journalists for about fifteen minutes, highlighting the threat around poses,
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Speaker 1: but not acknowledging the subterfuge that had occurred earlier. Ask
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Speaker 1: why reporters had been instructed to lower the window shades
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Speaker 1: on the plane of Turkey, Trump said that it was
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Speaker 1: because you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the
16:43
Speaker 1: sleeves bags that we have to deal with. Trump said
16:46
Speaker 1: that he has a threat all the time against his
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Speaker 1: life and that he is number one on Iran's list.
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Speaker 1: But if I go, you go right, Trump suggested to reporters.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps some day you want to change professions this The
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Speaker 1: item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned President
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Speaker 1: Donald Trump disembarks from a Legacy Air Force one after
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Speaker 1: his arrival in Mildenhall, England on July eighth, saw lob
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Speaker 1: AFP getty Images. The photo shows a close up of
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Speaker 1: the Air Force one with the stairs extended. President Donald
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Speaker 1: Trump is descending the stairs and behind him two other men.
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Speaker 1: The next photo is captioned A catering truck is parked
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Speaker 1: beside the Legacy air Force One before departure from Anchora
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Speaker 1: Asimboga Airport in Turkey on July eighth, saw lob AFP
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Speaker 1: getty Images. The next photo is captioned the new VC
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Speaker 1: twenty five B Bridge aircraft that has been adopted for
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Speaker 1: use as Air Force one is seen here delivering Trump
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Speaker 1: to Turkey on July seventh. Abdullah gooklu pool andalou Ap.
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Speaker 1: Next is embedded a video titled Trump Board's Air Force One,
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Speaker 1: which also shows the airport catering truck that has been
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Speaker 1: spoken about in this article. Shows the truck pulling away
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Speaker 1: and the media boarding the plane and staircase to the
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Speaker 1: C thirty two A and the airport catering truck moving
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Speaker 1: away towards the C thirty two A. The next photo
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Speaker 1: is captioned air Force one and the C thirty two
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Speaker 1: A were parked alongside each other at Anchora Asimboga Airport
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Speaker 1: on July eighth, Planet Labs. This is an aerial shot
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Speaker 1: from a distance showing the tarmac at the airport. Next
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Speaker 1: is a video from Military Aviation Channel showing the Katari
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Speaker 1: gifted plane arriving at six twenty six pm at Mildenhall Airbase,
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Speaker 1: the C thirty two A arriving at ten twenty pm,
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Speaker 1: and Air Force one arriving at ten twenty nine pm.
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Speaker 1: Next is another video from the Associated Press showing truck
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Speaker 1: disembarking Air Force one at Royal Air Force milden Hall
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Speaker 1: in the United Kingdom. And finally, as a photo captioned,
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Speaker 1: Trump speaks with reporters in flight from Britain to Washington
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Speaker 1: on Air Force one on July eighth, Alex Brandon ap.
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Speaker 1: The next item from today's from page is entitled path
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Speaker 1: to Control Congress Muddied Upsets and Scandals inject uncertainty Stakes
19:27
Speaker 1: are high for Trump in November mid terms by Isaac Arnsdorf,
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Speaker 1: Provinus Amasundharam, and Theodoric Meyer. The final stretch of primary
19:38
Speaker 1: season has scrambled the battle for Congress, as scandals, insurgent victories,
19:43
Speaker 1: and voters rejection of party leaders preferred candidates reshape a
19:47
Speaker 1: small but critical set of races. Democrats path to a
19:51
Speaker 1: Senate majority narrowed with a triumph of progressive insurgent Abdulahl
19:55
Speaker 1: Sayad in Michigan, whom polls show faring worse against former
19:59
Speaker 1: Representative My Rogers, Republican than his primary rival. Republicans suffered
20:04
Speaker 1: their own setbacks, as a Trump endorsed congressional candidate in
20:08
Speaker 1: Michigan lost to a rival who had suspended his campaign,
20:12
Speaker 1: while misconduct allegations drove a vulnerable North Carolina incumbent from
20:16
Speaker 1: the race. Republicans are eager to face several Democrats they
20:20
Speaker 1: believe are too far left for their districts, while Democrats
20:23
Speaker 1: see new openings where GOP candidates have suffered from controversies.
20:28
Speaker 1: With control of Congress potentially turning on a handful of seats,
20:32
Speaker 1: both parties are betting individual candidates will matter as much
20:35
Speaker 1: as a political terrain, though operative's judgments about electability often
20:40
Speaker 1: prove wrong. It's really hard to tell you what the
20:44
Speaker 1: board's going to be like, said Democratic strategists and your Acosta,
20:48
Speaker 1: noting that anti establishment fervor among grass root organizers has
20:53
Speaker 1: made prognosticating harder from consultants and pollsters, and scandals are
20:57
Speaker 1: adding more volatility. For Trump, the stakes include the fate
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Speaker 1: of his policy agenda for the rest of his term,
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Speaker 1: as well as burdensome oversight and possibly a third impeachment.
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Speaker 1: But he has taken a hands off approach to the midterms,
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Speaker 1: frustrating some Republicans who want him to help mobilize his
21:15
Speaker 1: supporters and dip into his super packs four hundred million
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Speaker 1: dollar war chest. I said to somebody, wait a minute,
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Speaker 1: you don't understand I won. I'm not campaigning, Trump said
21:27
Speaker 1: in an interview with punch Bowl News release Friday. If
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Speaker 1: I don't run, will those people go out and vote,
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Speaker 1: Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans.
21:37
Speaker 1: Senate candidates scramble the usual map to win the Senate,
21:42
Speaker 1: Democrats need to defend their seats in Michigan and Georgia,
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Speaker 1: pick up North Carolina and Maine, plus win in two
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Speaker 1: more states that Trump won by more than ten points
21:52
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, a tall order, even in a
21:55
Speaker 1: year expected to favor them. The latest polls show how
21:59
Speaker 1: individual candidates can defy a state's typical partisan makeup. Democrats
22:04
Speaker 1: are currently leading in red states like Ohio, Iowa, and
22:09
Speaker 1: Texas by more than in left leaning Michigan or Maine.
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Speaker 1: Without Michigan, Democrats would have to win in a third
22:16
Speaker 1: state that Trump won by at least ten points in
22:19
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Polls show a representative, Hailey Stevens, Democrat
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Speaker 1: from Michigan, who is endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,
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Speaker 1: Democrat from New York, faring at least slightly better against
22:31
Speaker 1: Rogers than l Sied, but he edged her out in
22:35
Speaker 1: Tuesday's primary by about one percentage point. There's a serious distinction,
22:40
Speaker 1: a big difference between somebody like Hailey Stevens, who has
22:43
Speaker 1: far left positions and we would hammer her every day
22:47
Speaker 1: and litigate those positions, and somebody like Abdul, said Alex Latcham,
22:52
Speaker 1: who runs Senate Leadership Fund, the flagship Republican super Pac
22:56
Speaker 1: in Senate races. Schumer, who spoke to Elsa ed on Dsday,
23:00
Speaker 1: said in an interview that he was confident Democrats would
23:04
Speaker 1: hold Michigan. No Republican has won a Senate race there
23:07
Speaker 1: in more than three decades, and Trump is not popular there.
23:11
Speaker 1: L Siad just needs to keep talking about jobs, talking
23:15
Speaker 1: about lower costs, talking about corruption, the same things that
23:19
Speaker 1: our candidates talk about across the country, Schumer said. Texas
23:23
Speaker 1: Attorney General Ken Paxton beat incumbent Senator John Cornyan over
23:28
Speaker 1: the objection of GOP leaders and now trails Democratic state
23:32
Speaker 1: Representative James Tallerico in most polls. In Maine, establishment favorite
23:38
Speaker 1: Governor Janet Mills stalled out against Graham Plattner, who later
23:41
Speaker 1: withdrew amidst sexual assault delegations. The Democrat's new nominee, Troy Jackson,
23:47
Speaker 1: is in a tight race against five term incumbent Senator
23:51
Speaker 1: Susan Collins, a Republican. Republicans had already largely written off
23:56
Speaker 1: Georgia after no formidable challenger to Senator John Ossoff, Democrat emerged.
24:01
Speaker 1: Their nominee, Representative Mike Collins, trailed by thirteen points in
24:06
Speaker 1: a Fox News poll conducted in late June and came
24:09
Speaker 1: under further pressure after CNN reported that his live in
24:12
Speaker 1: son in law shared white supremacist and neo Nazi content online.
24:18
Speaker 1: Collins disavowed those views, but did not distance themselves from
24:21
Speaker 1: his son in law. The campaign argued the race remains
24:25
Speaker 1: competitive by pointing to sixty million dollar commitment from outside
24:29
Speaker 1: groups to help Collins. Political quote experts and the news
24:34
Speaker 1: media were laughingly wrong just this week about the competitiveness
24:38
Speaker 1: of the Senate primary in Michigan. Collins spokesman Corbyn Kaone said,
24:44
Speaker 1: Mike Collins will be John Ossoff in November and the
24:46
Speaker 1: media will once again be left wondering how they got
24:49
Speaker 1: it so wrong. The primary calendar could still reshape another
24:53
Speaker 1: Senate race. Alaska generally votes Republican, but Senator Dan Sullivan
24:58
Speaker 1: faces a competitor against former Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat,
25:04
Speaker 1: so Republicans are hoping a second candidate named Dan Sullivan
25:08
Speaker 1: does not make the top four advance to the November ballot,
25:11
Speaker 1: where he could confuse voters and siphon off votes from
25:14
Speaker 1: the incumbent. House primaries create openings for both parties. While
25:20
Speaker 1: midterms are historically tough on the sitting president's party, Republicans
25:24
Speaker 1: move the White House map in their favor by gerrymandering
25:28
Speaker 1: additional states to eliminate blue seats and narrow the competitive
25:31
Speaker 1: feel to only a couple dozen districts. Democrats are hoping
25:35
Speaker 1: Trump's unpopularity can push them deeper into red territory. The
25:41
Speaker 1: Senate result in Michigan immediately spilled into House races. Trump
25:45
Speaker 1: and other Republicans immediately moved to cast Lsiad as a
25:49
Speaker 1: new party standard bearer, seeking to make his progressive positions
25:53
Speaker 1: a drag on the entire Democratic ticket. Michigan Democrats proved
25:58
Speaker 1: that their party has been completely taken over by the
26:01
Speaker 1: radical socialists. Left. Representative Bill Hunzega, Republican from Michigan, said,
26:06
Speaker 1: in response to Tuesday's results, linking El Sayad with his
26:10
Speaker 1: own Democratic challenger, Sean McCann, the controversy around El Sayed
26:15
Speaker 1: may have also heard the Trump endorsed candidate in Michigan's
26:18
Speaker 1: eighth congressional district, Amir Hassan. Republican operatives said voters may
26:24
Speaker 1: have confused him with controversial podcaster Hassan Piker, who campaigned
26:29
Speaker 1: with El Sayed. Hassan lost two days primary to another
26:34
Speaker 1: Republican named Tom Smith, who raised almost no money and
26:38
Speaker 1: suspended his campaign last month in lieu of a campaign
26:41
Speaker 1: finance report. He sent the Federal Election Commission a handwritten letter.
26:46
Speaker 1: Smith acknowledged his race got far less attention than the
26:49
Speaker 1: Senate contest and said his win surprised him too. In
26:53
Speaker 1: a statement Friday, he echoed National GOP attacks on left
26:57
Speaker 1: leaning candidates, saying he and Trump aligned Michigan Republicans would
27:01
Speaker 1: be a foil to the failed socialist policies of progressives
27:05
Speaker 1: like LSI ed incumbent Representative Christian MacDonald. Rivett's a Democrats
27:10
Speaker 1: campaign manager, Bobby Bennett, said the campaign didn't see either
27:15
Speaker 1: Republican as harder to run against. The Cook Political report
27:19
Speaker 1: rates the race as leaning. Democratic voters also rejected Trump's
27:24
Speaker 1: endorsement in Tennessee by ousting incumbent Representative Andy Ogles. Still,
27:30
Speaker 1: National Republicans did not rue his roughly six point loss
27:33
Speaker 1: to Charlie Hatcher on Thursday, since Ogles had faced ethics
27:37
Speaker 1: investigations and raised less money than Democrat Chas Molder. Ogles
27:42
Speaker 1: lost much of his incumbency advantage when Republican led redistricting
27:46
Speaker 1: replaced about eighty percent of the district's voters as part
27:50
Speaker 1: of an effort to eliminate a Democratic hell black majority seat.
27:54
Speaker 1: Trump endorsed Hatcher on Friday, saying he had stuck with
27:58
Speaker 1: Ogles even though he had virtually no chance of winning Elsewhere.
28:02
Speaker 1: Both parties seized on primary results they argued had strengthened
28:06
Speaker 1: their prospects in competitive House races. Republicans cheered when National
28:10
Speaker 1: Democrats lost their preferred candidates in California's twenty second district,
28:15
Speaker 1: where Bernie Sanders endorsed Randy Valegas will take on incumbent
28:19
Speaker 1: Representative David V. Valadao and Arizona's first district, where failed
28:24
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four nominee Ama Shaw beat ex Republican Marlene
28:28
Speaker 1: Gallan Woods to dake on Trump endorsed Jay Feely. Democrats
28:33
Speaker 1: also acknowledged tougher road against Representative Tom Barrett, Republican from Michigan,
28:38
Speaker 1: with their nomination of William Lawrence, a progressive activist who
28:43
Speaker 1: co founded the Sunrise Movement. Even Democrats admit that socialist
28:47
Speaker 1: William Lawrence is too extreme for mid Michigan and that
28:50
Speaker 1: he will be rejected this fall. National Republican Congressional Committee
28:54
Speaker 1: booksman Zach Bannon said Thursday, a few consequential House primaries remain.
29:00
Speaker 1: In Florida's primary on August eighteenth, some House Republicans are
29:04
Speaker 1: backing a challenger to Representative Quarry Mills, a Republican whom
29:08
Speaker 1: they view as unusually vulnerable amid a House ethics investigation
29:13
Speaker 1: and assault allegation. Democrats see several Republican held seats becoming
29:18
Speaker 1: more competitive because of scandals or candidate vulnerabilities. Representative Max Miller,
29:23
Speaker 1: Republican from Ohio, faces pressure to resign over domestic abuse allegations,
29:29
Speaker 1: and Representative Chuck Edwards, Republican from North Carolina, dropped his
29:33
Speaker 1: reelection bid after the Ethics Committee found inappropriate conduct toward
29:37
Speaker 1: female staff. Representative Tom Keene, junior Republican from New Jersey,
29:42
Speaker 1: also drew criticism for missing almost four months of votes
29:46
Speaker 1: while struggling with depression. Cook rates Keynes race a toss up.
29:52
Speaker 1: Representative bomb Breshnahan, Republican from Pennsylvania running in another toss
29:57
Speaker 1: up district, is facing scrutiny over extensive stock trading after
30:01
Speaker 1: campaigning on banning the practice among lawmakers. Democrats are also
30:06
Speaker 1: bullish about flipping Texas' twenty third district after Tony Gonzalez
30:10
Speaker 1: admitted to an affair and resigned. The replacement Republican nominee,
30:15
Speaker 1: Brendan Herrera, known on YouTube as the Ak Guy, faces
30:19
Speaker 1: San Antonio attorney Katy Padilla stout the odds of Representative
30:24
Speaker 1: Marcy Coptur, Democrat from Ohio, hanging onto her seat after
30:29
Speaker 1: Republicans redrew her district to favor them improved in Democrats
30:33
Speaker 1: eyes when the GOP nomination went to former state Representative
30:37
Speaker 1: Derek Marin, whom she beat in twenty twenty four. Staffers
30:41
Speaker 1: of candidates who defeated national Democrats preferred contenders dismissed electability
30:46
Speaker 1: concerns and pointed to the quick post election support of
30:50
Speaker 1: the party's House campaign arm, a typical practice. In Maine's
30:54
Speaker 1: second congressional district, state Auditor Matthew Dunlap defeated State Senator
30:59
Speaker 1: Joe Baldacci, whom the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had included
31:04
Speaker 1: in its Red Blue program. Since the primary, Dunlop's campaign
31:08
Speaker 1: has built working relationships with the National Group. Spokesperson Matt
31:13
Speaker 1: Herdman said it's going to be a difficult race, everyone
31:17
Speaker 1: knows that, but we feel like we're on a good path,
31:20
Speaker 1: Herdman said. This article is accompanied by photos. The first
31:25
Speaker 1: is captioned Texas Republican candidate for Senate Attorney General Ken
31:30
Speaker 1: Paxton speaks at a campaign event Tuesday at a restaurant
31:33
Speaker 1: in Allen, Texas. Brandon Bell Getty Images. The next photo
31:38
Speaker 1: is captioned Michigander's cheer as election results come in Tuesday
31:43
Speaker 1: at an election night watch party for Democratic US Senate
31:46
Speaker 1: candidate Abdullah Sayed at the Majestic Theater in Detroit. Ryan
31:51
Speaker 1: Garza USA Today Network Reuters Connect. The next photo is
31:56
Speaker 1: captioned Republican US Senate candidate Mike Collins greets supporters at
32:00
Speaker 1: an election night event on May nineteenth in Jackson, Georgia.
32:04
Speaker 1: Jason Allen Getty Images. Next is a photo captioned l
32:09
Speaker 1: Siad high fives a street artist at Eastern Market in
32:12
Speaker 1: Detroit on Tuesday. Kimberly B. Mitchell, USA Today Network Reuter's Connect.
32:19
Speaker 1: The next article from today's front page is entitled plan
32:23
Speaker 1: up end schedule for children's vaccines. Trump's order cuts number
32:27
Speaker 1: of shots, revisits decades of guidance by Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun,
32:33
Speaker 1: and Rachel Rubin. President Donald Trump on Monday made his
32:38
Speaker 1: most significant attempt yet to reshape how Americans vaccinate their children,
32:43
Speaker 1: signing an executive order that called for cutting the number
32:46
Speaker 1: of recommended childhood vaccines, spacing out those shots, and making
32:50
Speaker 1: other changes that would upend decades of federal guidance. Speaking
32:55
Speaker 1: in the Oval Office, the President reiterated his long held
32:58
Speaker 1: claim that childhood vaccines have led to a rise in
33:01
Speaker 1: US autism cases, an idea that outside researchers have largely debunked.
33:07
Speaker 1: Trump also mused on the current number of childhood vaccines
33:10
Speaker 1: and said reducing their frequency was quote common sense. Large
33:14
Speaker 1: amounts like thats a vaccine are currently pumped into your
33:18
Speaker 1: child's body, Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by
33:22
Speaker 1: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior and other administration officials.
33:27
Speaker 1: In reality, the volume in most vaccines is about half
33:30
Speaker 1: a CC, roughly one tenth of a teaspoon of liquid,
33:34
Speaker 1: said Ander Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
33:38
Speaker 1: The president's plan was immediately criticized by scientists, physicians, Democrats,
33:44
Speaker 1: and some congressional Republicans, who said the order was dangerous
33:48
Speaker 1: and warned that it could lead to fewer children receiving
33:51
Speaker 1: vaccines against preventable diseases. They also said that Trump's comments
33:56
Speaker 1: were unscientific and leaned on discredited theories. The order puts
34:01
Speaker 1: new pressure on states health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical
34:06
Speaker 1: professionals to align with the president's approach to vaccines or
34:11
Speaker 1: continue a growing trend to break with federal guidance. Under
34:15
Speaker 1: Trump's plan, vaccines against eleven diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, polio,
34:22
Speaker 1: and whooping cough, would be recommended for all children, down
34:26
Speaker 1: from eighteen diseases under the current childhood vaccine schedule. Trump's
34:31
Speaker 1: order also calls for breaking up the combined measles, mumps,
34:34
Speaker 1: and rubella vaccine into three separate shots, among other changes
34:38
Speaker 1: intended to space out immunizations. Trump claimed that his administration's
34:43
Speaker 1: recommendations would cut the amount of vaccine administered to children
34:47
Speaker 1: to one fifth of the level that they currently receive
34:49
Speaker 1: at a given medical visit. He also said he adopted
34:53
Speaker 1: a similar schedule when vaccinated his own children, even though
34:56
Speaker 1: it meant more trips to medical offices, its inconven its
35:00
Speaker 1: five stops, but it's something that I think will have
35:03
Speaker 1: a huge impact on autism. The President said. The order
35:07
Speaker 1: represents Trump's latest attempt to revamp long standing vaccine recommendations,
35:12
Speaker 1: breaking with decades of White House deference to scientific experts
35:16
Speaker 1: and past presidents who celebrated how vaccines have reduced the
35:19
Speaker 1: threat of polio, measles, and other diseases at menaced children.
35:24
Speaker 1: Trump's plans have been hailed by some conservative Republicans and
35:28
Speaker 1: supporters of the Make America Healthy Again movement that helped
35:31
Speaker 1: Trump recapture the White House in twenty twenty four, but
35:35
Speaker 1: his vaccine agenda has been broadly panned by Democrats and independents.
35:40
Speaker 1: Several Senate Republicans and some of the president's own political
35:43
Speaker 1: advisers have urged Trump to abandon his efforts. Polls have
35:48
Speaker 1: also found that trust in US health agencies, which decline
35:52
Speaker 1: during the coronavirus pandemic, has fallen further under Trump. Outside
35:57
Speaker 1: medical groups have warned that Trump's changes could backfire by
36:01
Speaker 1: leaving children more exposed to diseases such as measles. Physicians
36:05
Speaker 1: and scientists have said that the single MMR shot is
36:09
Speaker 1: proved to be safe and effective, and that breaking it
36:12
Speaker 1: up could leave children vulnerable to dangerous diseases. For longer.
36:17
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that there is anything that has been
36:19
Speaker 1: as thoroughly looked at as this question about whether or
36:22
Speaker 1: not there is a link between autism and vaccines, and
36:25
Speaker 1: the answer is unequivocally no, said Racine, a pediatrician who
36:29
Speaker 1: has been treating children for more than forty years. The
36:33
Speaker 1: order's practical effect is uncertain. States, rather than the federal government,
36:38
Speaker 1: generally set vaccination requirements for children attending school. Many states
36:42
Speaker 1: have already said they no longer follow vaccine recommendations from
36:46
Speaker 1: the federal government and instead follow those from the American
36:49
Speaker 1: Academy of Pediatrics and other major medical organizations, medical experts,
36:55
Speaker 1: health care organizations. Most Democratic officials and some Republicans, however,
37:00
Speaker 1: said that at minimum, the new White House guidance would
37:03
Speaker 1: create confusion for parents and doctors. I'm a doctor. This
37:08
Speaker 1: executive order is wrong. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana,
37:13
Speaker 1: the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, wrote on x
37:16
Speaker 1: the President does not have the expertise to make these changes.
37:20
Speaker 1: Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe, vaccines are effective, Vaccines do not
37:26
Speaker 1: cause autism. Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to
37:30
Speaker 1: get more shots to get the same protection. Under the order,
37:34
Speaker 1: dubbed Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations, the White House divides
37:39
Speaker 1: vaccines into three categories and directs federal agencies to take
37:43
Speaker 1: steps to advance them. It also calls for rethinking the
37:47
Speaker 1: long standing practice of grouping vaccines to reduce the number
37:50
Speaker 1: of medical appointments. Parents of small children need to schedule
37:54
Speaker 1: vaccines against several other diseases, including hepatitis A and B,
37:59
Speaker 1: and meninjococal disease would be recommended for certain high risk groups,
38:04
Speaker 1: or through shared decision making between parents and doctors. Influenza
38:08
Speaker 1: and coronavirus vaccines would also fall into the shared decision
38:11
Speaker 1: making category. White House officials told reporters on Monday that
38:16
Speaker 1: they believed health insurers would continue to cover recommended vaccines.
38:21
Speaker 1: That push to split up the MMR vaccine would diverge
38:24
Speaker 1: from the practices of several peer nations the Administration has
38:28
Speaker 1: cited as models for US vaccine policy. Denmark, Australia, and
38:33
Speaker 1: Canada administer measles, mumps, and rubella immunizations in combination vaccines.
38:38
Speaker 1: Britain this year began replacing the MMR shot with a
38:41
Speaker 1: foreign one vaccine that also protects against chicken pox. The
38:47
Speaker 1: executive order makes a repeated argument that the U S
38:49
Speaker 1: should align with what I see as hand picked peer nations,
38:53
Speaker 1: and yet those hand picked peers that we should be
38:56
Speaker 1: following give m m R together, said David Higgins, a
38:59
Speaker 1: peer pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University
39:03
Speaker 1: of Colorado on Shoot's medical campus. There are also manufacturing
39:08
Speaker 1: and logistical challenges that would come with breaking up the
39:11
Speaker 1: combination shot into its individual components, which are not currently
39:14
Speaker 1: available in the United States. Industry experts have said there's
39:18
Speaker 1: no indication that vaccine companies have any interest in making
39:22
Speaker 1: the investment or time racing told reporters in a statement, merk,
39:27
Speaker 1: one of the manufacturers of the current MMR vaccine, said
39:31
Speaker 1: combination vaccines make children more likely to receive all the
39:34
Speaker 1: recommended shots on schedule. To date, there has been no
39:38
Speaker 1: published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the
39:42
Speaker 1: combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots. The company said
39:47
Speaker 1: use of the individual components of combination vaccines increases the
39:51
Speaker 1: number of injections for the individual and may result in
39:54
Speaker 1: delayed or missed immunizations. Breaking up the MMR vaccine could
39:59
Speaker 1: also mean moreots and more trips to the pediatrician for
40:02
Speaker 1: parents trying to keep their children fully vaccinated. Press On
40:06
Speaker 1: his claim Monday that the current MMR vaccine could be lethal,
40:10
Speaker 1: Trump admitted that he had no scientific proof for that claim.
40:14
Speaker 1: What I've heard is that there are some people that
40:16
Speaker 1: say it is that way, and I say, well, let's
40:19
Speaker 1: say there's a five percent chance of it. Let's split
40:21
Speaker 1: it up, Trump said. The call to break up the
40:24
Speaker 1: m m R vaccine comes as the United States is
40:27
Speaker 1: experiencing its worst year for measles in thirty five years.
40:31
Speaker 1: Trump has pushed officials to take additional steps to overhaul
40:34
Speaker 1: the childhood vaccine schedule, citing his concerns about a debunked
40:39
Speaker 1: link between childhood vaccines and autism. The Washington Post reported
40:43
Speaker 1: last week. Medical associations and public health advocates and experts
40:48
Speaker 1: have condemned the revisions to the childhood immunization schedule, arguing
40:53
Speaker 1: they endanger children and are built on faulty assumptions. Comparisons
40:57
Speaker 1: to other countries can be misleading because nations differ sharply
41:01
Speaker 1: in population, access to universal health care, and disease burdens,
41:06
Speaker 1: they note. In January, the administration moved to reduce the
41:09
Speaker 1: number of vaccines routinely recommended for all children bypassing the
41:14
Speaker 1: government's traditional process for changing the schedule. A federal judge
41:18
Speaker 1: in March blocked the administration from implementing those changes, siding
41:22
Speaker 1: with major medical organizations that argued Kennedy had unlawfully changed
41:27
Speaker 1: vaccine policy and improperly reconstituted the federal panel of outside
41:31
Speaker 1: experts that advises the government on vaccines. The order explicitly
41:36
Speaker 1: acknowledges that the administration's earlier vaccine directives have been quote
41:40
Speaker 1: delayed due to litigation, and instructs federal agencies to advance
41:44
Speaker 1: the new recommendations to the fullest extent allowable by law.
41:49
Speaker 1: Under the order, the White House is calling for proposed
41:51
Speaker 1: changes to come within ninety days from the Health Department's
41:55
Speaker 1: Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, a long defunct panel
41:59
Speaker 1: resurrection to last year to the cheers of anti vaccine activists.
42:03
Speaker 1: The task Force should assess the ideal timing and sequencing
42:07
Speaker 1: of all core childhood vaccines and adjusts the childhood schedule
42:11
Speaker 1: as appropriate, The document says. It also calls for the
42:15
Speaker 1: development of more alternative adjuvants to Aluminium adjuivants are ingredients
42:20
Speaker 1: added to vaccines that help the body produce an immune
42:22
Speaker 1: response to offer protection from diseases. Some high level Food
42:27
Speaker 1: and Drug Administration officials last year believed it would be
42:30
Speaker 1: infeasible to take aluminum adjivants out of vaccines and couldn't
42:34
Speaker 1: be done on a practical timeline. The order also advises
42:38
Speaker 1: states to consider updating relevant laws and regulations regarding school
42:42
Speaker 1: vaccine requirements. Weather states will do so remains to be seen.
42:47
Speaker 1: Several statutes place vaccine recommendations under the authority of the
42:51
Speaker 1: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Independent Vaccine
42:55
Speaker 1: Advisory Panel, said dorrit Rice, professor of the University of
42:59
Speaker 1: California College Law at San Francisco, whose research focuses on
43:03
Speaker 1: public health law. The President can instruct them to consider this,
43:07
Speaker 1: but an EO is not a substitute to the congressional process.
43:11
Speaker 1: Rice said. The order also opens another potential legal front
43:15
Speaker 1: over state vaccination requirements. It directs the Justice Department to
43:20
Speaker 1: pursue what it calls meritorious legal challenges to state laws
43:24
Speaker 1: involving parental authority and religious and medical exemptions that is
43:28
Speaker 1: likely to create additional confusion over which schedule doctors and
43:32
Speaker 1: families should follow. Pediatricians said it could also put political
43:36
Speaker 1: pressure on Republican led states to remove vaccines from school requirements.
43:40
Speaker 1: Rice said. Even if that's not legally sound, the potentially
43:45
Speaker 1: chilling effect on states and organizations to deliver vaccines as great,
43:49
Speaker 1: said Higgins, the University of Colorado assistant professor. It's real.
43:55
Speaker 1: This article is accompanied by a photo which is captioned
44:00
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump, flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior,
44:04
Speaker 1: holds a signed executive order calling for changes to childhood
44:08
Speaker 1: vaccine recommendations in the Oval Office on Monday. Jacqueline Martin
44:12
Speaker 1: ap A second photo accompanying this item is captioned as
44:17
Speaker 1: sign outlining the gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Order is
44:22
Speaker 1: displayed near bus to Benjamin Franklin in the Oval Office
44:25
Speaker 1: on Monday. Kylie Cooper, Reuters. The next item from today's
44:31
Speaker 1: front page is entitled US water systems are especially vulnerable
44:36
Speaker 1: spate of intrusions believed to be work of Iranian hackers
44:40
Speaker 1: by Ellen Nakashima and Amy B. Wang. In late twenty
44:44
Speaker 1: twenty two, Microsoft detected the hack of a water system
44:48
Speaker 1: in Guam, the US intelligence agencies in the following months
44:52
Speaker 1: determined was orchestrated by China. The idea wasn't new. The
44:56
Speaker 1: spy agencies had long watched as Iron targeted Israeli w systems.
45:01
Speaker 1: That another nation state was doing it to us. That
45:04
Speaker 1: was unsettling, recalled one former US official, who, like several
45:08
Speaker 1: others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of
45:11
Speaker 1: anonymity because of the matter sensitivity. Senior US officials were
45:15
Speaker 1: concerned that such intrusions could affect military basis on Guam,
45:20
Speaker 1: but also civilian water supplies, many of which were poorly
45:23
Speaker 1: protected against hacks. The Biden administration, alarmed by the spring
45:28
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one ransomware attack on Colonial pipeline, had already
45:32
Speaker 1: moved to regulate pipelines and then railroads. Now it wanted
45:36
Speaker 1: to move on water. In March twenty twenty three, the
45:39
Speaker 1: Environmental Protection Agency issued a memo to require that states
45:43
Speaker 1: work with local officials to spot weaknesses in water systems
45:47
Speaker 1: that hackers could exploit, and then develop plans to remediate them.
45:52
Speaker 1: Municipalities could apply for federal grants to help defray costs,
45:56
Speaker 1: but attorneys general in three Republican led states, Arkansas, Iowa,
46:01
Speaker 1: and Missouri, sued, arguing that the memo exceeded the EPA's authority,
46:06
Speaker 1: failed to provide for public comment, and was a financial
46:09
Speaker 1: burden on small towns. The federal appeals Court for that region,
46:14
Speaker 1: seen as among the most conservative, halted the rule change.
46:17
Speaker 1: The EPA withdrew it late last month, a water utility
46:21
Speaker 1: in the western part of Arkansas, one of the states
46:24
Speaker 1: it sued, was hit with a cyber attack, part of
46:27
Speaker 1: a spate of intrusions in the municipal water systems that
46:31
Speaker 1: U s by agencies believes the work of Iranian regime hackers.
46:35
Speaker 1: The campaign comes as a US launched war with Iran
46:37
Speaker 1: moves into its sixth month, with Tehran showing no sign
46:41
Speaker 1: of backing down. Had the EPA rule been in place,
46:44
Speaker 1: some experts say the Arkansas utility or others like it,
46:48
Speaker 1: might have been spared shooting it downs at its back,
46:52
Speaker 1: said Gus Serino, president of iy and see Secure, Inc.
46:55
Speaker 1: A cyber security consultant on control systems and a former
46:59
Speaker 1: engineer at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. The level of
47:03
Speaker 1: effort and expense to fix these systems is not that much.
47:07
Speaker 1: It wouldn't remove all the risk, but would certainly remove
47:11
Speaker 1: most of the low hanging fruit. The number of states
47:14
Speaker 1: affected has expanded to at least a dozen, say officials
47:17
Speaker 1: familiar with the matter, with at least thirty systems effected
47:20
Speaker 1: in Minnesota alone. Iran's targeting of water systems, a trend
47:24
Speaker 1: that federal authorities first warned of months ago, and a
47:28
Speaker 1: history of failed efforts to boost water utility cybersecurity, has
47:32
Speaker 1: lit a fire under some members of Congress. Senator Adam
47:36
Speaker 1: Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the water panel
47:39
Speaker 1: of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, unveiled a bill
47:43
Speaker 1: Monday explicitly authorizing the EPA to regulate water sector cybersecurity.
47:48
Speaker 1: The measure would enshrine in law what the agency tried
47:51
Speaker 1: to do by executive action three years ago, require water
47:54
Speaker 1: utilities to conduct cybersecurity assessments and require corrective actions when
47:59
Speaker 1: signific and vulnerabilities are identified. Days before IRAN began its
48:04
Speaker 1: recent campaign of hacks into water utilities, the Senate EPW
48:08
Speaker 1: Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan measure that would help rule
48:13
Speaker 1: water systems mitigate cybersecurity risk. Industry representatives are now saying
48:18
Speaker 1: that voluntary efforts are not enough. The largest group representing
48:23
Speaker 1: water utilities is urging passage of a bill sponsored by
48:27
Speaker 1: Representative Rick Crawford, Republican from Arkansas, that would establish an independent,
48:32
Speaker 1: non governmental body to develop minimum cybersecurity requirements for the
48:36
Speaker 1: water sector overseen by the EPA. We need minimum requirements,
48:41
Speaker 1: said Kevin Morley, federal relations manager at the American Waterworks
48:45
Speaker 1: Association AWWA. It's time to step up the game. The
48:50
Speaker 1: flurry of activity comes as the administration has slashed cyber
48:54
Speaker 1: specialists at the Department of Homeland Security and has not
48:57
Speaker 1: sought to renew funding for cybersecurity chants to states. President
49:02
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has blamed the States for the hacks, criticizing
49:06
Speaker 1: Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, a Democrat, for a rash of
49:09
Speaker 1: attacks there, adding that he didn't think Iran was the
49:12
Speaker 1: culprit us. Intelligence agencies are confident that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
49:18
Speaker 1: Guard Corps is behind the campaign, but have not made
49:21
Speaker 1: a formal attribution, in part because there is still some
49:25
Speaker 1: debate about which group within the IRGC carried out the attacks.
49:29
Speaker 1: According to two people familiar with the matter, one of
49:32
Speaker 1: the people added that there may be a reluctance to
49:34
Speaker 1: make an attribution that contradicts the president's public remarks. The
49:39
Speaker 1: FBI declined to comment. The state of cybersecurity varies across
49:44
Speaker 1: the nation's more than one hundred and fifty thousand water systems.
49:47
Speaker 1: Some municipalities, such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were largely insulated
49:52
Speaker 1: against their recent hacks because their systems are air gapped
49:55
Speaker 1: or not connected to the Internet. We have had multiple
49:58
Speaker 1: people recommend we hire system to the outside world. Roy Hesseman,
50:03
Speaker 1: utilities director for Cedar Rapids, whose water system serves about
50:06
Speaker 1: one hundred thirty five thousand people and whose state was
50:09
Speaker 1: among those that sued the EPA. I've been adamant going
50:13
Speaker 1: back to nine to eleven, knowing that people were occasionally
50:16
Speaker 1: getting hacked. No, we are not doing it. At least
50:20
Speaker 1: three states have recent laws requiring cybersecurity risk assessments for
50:24
Speaker 1: water systems. Indiana, Maryland, and New York. Authorities are unaware
50:29
Speaker 1: of any water system hacks related to the recent campaign
50:33
Speaker 1: in these three states. A political third rail, the prospect
50:38
Speaker 1: of cybersecurity regulation has been a political third rail in
50:41
Speaker 1: Congress for over a decade. A major bipartisan push to
50:46
Speaker 1: enact mandatory standards for critical infrastructure in twenty ten and
50:50
Speaker 1: again in twenty twelve blew up in the face of
50:52
Speaker 1: fierce opposition from the industry. Instead, voluntary frameworks and sector
50:57
Speaker 1: specific initiatives were established, all by executive action. Then, in
51:03
Speaker 1: May twenty twenty one, a Russian speaking ransomware group attacked
51:06
Speaker 1: Colonial pipeline, forcing a multi day shutdown of one of
51:10
Speaker 1: the nation's largest fuel pipelines, causing shortages on the East
51:14
Speaker 1: Coast and panic buying of gasoline. Ransomware cyber attacks, once
51:19
Speaker 1: considered a criminal nuisance, became a matter of national security,
51:23
Speaker 1: leading then President Joe Biden to raise the issue with
51:26
Speaker 1: Russian President Vlatimir Putin how a summit in Geneva. The
51:31
Speaker 1: pipeline scare spurred regulations on key sectors of critical infrastructure.
51:36
Speaker 1: Working with a Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard,
51:40
Speaker 1: the Biden administration added cyber requirements to existing authorities that
51:44
Speaker 1: mandate physical security of infrastructure, and Neuberger, Biden's Deputy National
51:49
Speaker 1: Security Advisor, convened meetings in the White House with industry
51:53
Speaker 1: executives to share threat intelligence and drive home the need
51:57
Speaker 1: for cybersecurity, not just in pipelines, but also in airports, ports,
52:01
Speaker 1: and railroads. It was a pretty sobering assessment of the
52:05
Speaker 1: bad actors and their aim to potentially disrupt critical infrastructure,
52:09
Speaker 1: said Todd Haptly, CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives,
52:14
Speaker 1: who attended a September twenty twenty two meeting. It softened
52:18
Speaker 1: the ground up for those who would react instinctively against
52:20
Speaker 1: increased regulatory efforts. The approach recalled then TSA administrator David
52:26
Speaker 1: Pokowski was providing a framework and then saying to the
52:29
Speaker 1: critical sector, you come back to us with a plan,
52:33
Speaker 1: which was reviewed annually. The pipelines balked at their initial
52:37
Speaker 1: proposed rule as overly prescriptive, but a revised rule crafted
52:41
Speaker 1: with industry feedback allowed more flexibility to synchronize requirements across
52:46
Speaker 1: multiple agencies, assigning the rules are working. Some experts say
52:51
Speaker 1: is that Trump, who signed in order to slash regulations
52:53
Speaker 1: in its first month back in office, has retained the
52:56
Speaker 1: existing rules put in place by its predecessor, signs of
53:01
Speaker 1: a softening, but the U. S Water sector remained impervious
53:05
Speaker 1: to Biden's rule push. In March twenty twenty three, the
53:08
Speaker 1: three states and industry representatives blocked when the EPA issued
53:12
Speaker 1: the memo calling for cyber assessments to be added to
53:15
Speaker 1: periodic surveys of the physical security of water systems. The
53:19
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three approach was a little bit of one
53:22
Speaker 1: size fits all, top down, no real substantive involvement from
53:25
Speaker 1: the community as to what made sense, said Morley of
53:28
Speaker 1: the a w w A, one of the groups that
53:31
Speaker 1: soothed the EPA. To day, there are signs of a softening.
53:35
Speaker 1: Iran's recent attacks, despite the relatively low level of damage inflicted,
53:40
Speaker 1: have raised a level of urgency. On Wednesday, a w
53:44
Speaker 1: w A sent a letter urging lawmakers to create training programs,
53:48
Speaker 1: provide funding for cybersecurity, and support Crawford's bill. It also
53:52
Speaker 1: wants a federal government to expand a program that dispatches
53:55
Speaker 1: free technicians to rural towns to help set up water
53:58
Speaker 1: systems and manage cyber security. Chris Harris, CEO of the
54:02
Speaker 1: nonprofit Arkansas Rural Water Association, said his group has been
54:06
Speaker 1: trying for years to educate operators on best cybersecurity practices.
54:11
Speaker 1: After news of the breaches broke last month, his group
54:14
Speaker 1: urged members to take any Internet exposed control switch devices offline,
54:19
Speaker 1: but he is unsure how many did so. A lot
54:22
Speaker 1: of people don't take it serious until it happens to them,
54:25
Speaker 1: Harris said. Most people think that we're this little bitty
54:29
Speaker 1: three hundred population town. Why would Ron be concerned with us.
54:33
Speaker 1: They don't realize that they're attacking whatever they can. Pronchu Verma,
54:38
Speaker 1: Aaron Schaeffer, and Jake Spring contributed to this report. This
54:43
Speaker 1: item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned the
54:47
Speaker 1: water system in Plymouth, Minnesota, experienced a suspected Iranian cyber
54:50
Speaker 1: attack on July twenty twenty six, officials, said Alan Schmidt AP.
54:56
Speaker 1: The photo shows houses with a water tower labeled Plymouth
55:00
Speaker 1: in the background. Next is a photo captioned and Neuberger,
55:05
Speaker 1: Deputy National Security Advisor in the Biden administration, urged industry
55:09
Speaker 1: executives to improve cybersecurity not just in pipelines, but also
55:14
Speaker 1: in airports, ports, and railroads. Patrick Semanski AP. The next
55:20
Speaker 1: photo accompanying this item is captioned Ahmad Vahidi leads the
55:24
Speaker 1: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which US intelligence agencies blame for
55:29
Speaker 1: the hacking campaign in Minnesota. Lorenzo Tubnoli for The Washington Post.
55:34
Speaker 1: The photo shows a large group of men standing in
55:37
Speaker 1: front of a chainlink fence. Next from today's from page
55:42
Speaker 1: is an item en titled Businesses scramble to contain hacks
55:46
Speaker 1: by AI. Revelations of malicious acts lead to renewed calls
55:50
Speaker 1: for scrutiny and regulation by Garrick da Vinc. From San Francisco.
55:56
Speaker 1: Staff members at Chat, GPT and Maker Open AI didn't
56:00
Speaker 1: notice for weeks after the AI systems made a chilling
56:03
Speaker 1: leap this spring. Instead of answering questions designed to test
56:06
Speaker 1: their cybersecurity capabilities, a group of AI models began colluding
56:11
Speaker 1: on how to cheat, the company said, setting up a
56:14
Speaker 1: secret internal message board where they swap notes and ideas.
56:18
Speaker 1: The misbehaving bots used a secret form throughout May and June,
56:22
Speaker 1: Open AI said, eventually figuring out how to break out
56:26
Speaker 1: and access the Internet. After staff members spotted the escape
56:29
Speaker 1: and cleaned up the compromise system, the AI agent staged
56:33
Speaker 1: another undetected breakout two days later. Only after the rogue
56:38
Speaker 1: models hacked into the network of another AI firm last
56:41
Speaker 1: month did OpenAI staff members shut them down. The details
56:46
Speaker 1: of how OpenAI repeatedly lost control of its AI technology.
56:50
Speaker 1: Disclosed by the company at a computer security conference in
56:53
Speaker 1: Las Vegas on Wednesday, delivered an explosive finale to two
56:58
Speaker 1: weeks of revelations that have sent through the tech industry,
57:02
Speaker 1: prompting fierce criticism of the security practices of AI firms.
57:06
Speaker 1: Lawmakers on both sides of the Aisle and state law
57:09
Speaker 1: enforcement officials across the country have called for new scrutiny
57:14
Speaker 1: and regulation of the industry. In a letter Monday, Senator
57:17
Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, urged the CEOs of open Ai, Anthropic,
57:23
Speaker 1: and Meta to pause AI development or warned that my
57:28
Speaker 1: colleagues and I in the US Senate will The letter,
57:31
Speaker 1: provided to The Washington Post, was first reported by Axios.
57:36
Speaker 1: A series of disclosures by OpenAI, Claude chatbot maker Anthropic,
57:40
Speaker 1: Facebook owner Meta, and British government researchers have revealed that
57:45
Speaker 1: in recent months, some cutting edge AI models asked to
57:48
Speaker 1: perform tasks designed to test their cybersecurity capabilities tried to
57:53
Speaker 1: cheat instead of solving a problem. The models ventured outside
57:57
Speaker 1: their test arenas, using hacking skills and tricks, including impersonating humans,
58:02
Speaker 1: to break into other companies networks. The incidents have prompted
58:06
Speaker 1: warnings that an era of disruptive AI power cyber attacks
58:10
Speaker 1: could lay ahead unless ways can be found to prevent
58:13
Speaker 1: such misbehavior and ensure that AI helps defenders as well
58:18
Speaker 1: as bad actors. Due to the constraints of time, we
58:21
Speaker 1: will have to end this item at this time. This
58:25
Speaker 1: concludes the reading of the Washington Post for today, Tuesday,
58:28
Speaker 1: August eleventh, twenty twenty six. Your reader for today has
58:32
Speaker 1: been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments, or
58:35
Speaker 1: suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call us
58:38
Speaker 1: at eight five nine four two two sixty three nine zero.
58:41
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for
58:44
Speaker 1: continuing programming on Radio I