Weekly Spotlight: FISA Frenzy

Editor’s Note: There will be no Weekly Spotlight next weekend. We will be back in your inbox on June 27. Happy Juneteenth.

RAPID FIRE

What you need to know this week:

Boiling point on the Iran War: An extremely tense week this week as President Trump threatened to seize Kharg Island and strike “very hard”, before calling off the strikes and claiming a peace deal is near. Iran denies this.

• Iran and the United States are still actively fighting. Congress must stop this. A War Powers Resolution finally passed the House last week. Now it is the Senate’s turn to own its constitutional duty.

FISA frenzy: A bipartisan majority in the House successfully blocked a “clean” reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would've done nothing to protect your privacy.

• Their rebellion put FISA on track to expire last night.
• After widespread opposition to the appointment of Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence, the president nominated Jay Clayton to fill the role permanently.
• The future of FISA is uncertain. But no matter who is in charge of national intelligence, we need sweeping surveillance reforms. There’s simply too much opportunity to abuse the mass surveillance apparatus.

Funding abuse: Congress narrowly passed a bill that will give ICE and CBP an additional $70 billion in funding with no strings attached.

• Since the start of the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security has received a cumulative $260 billion in cash infusions. DHS is using your tax dollars to abuse people and violate the Constitution. The agency needs oversight and accountability, not more money.

POGO INVESTIGATES

Our year scrutinizing ICE

Amidst the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, POGO Investigates examined the murky contracts and shady financials bolstering the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts. Our reporting on ICE was recognized this week by the Society of Professional Journalists, placing as a finalist for excellence in investigative journalism, nominated alongside prominent news organizations like NBC News, Politico, and Reuters.

We are proud that the work of our small, independent, nonprofit newsroom has an outsized impact. We want to celebrate the incredibly talented POGO Investigates team — and thank you, our supporters, who enable them to deliver rigorous, compelling investigations into the issues that you know deserve public attention. We are committed to uncovering the consequential stories you need to know to hold your government accountable.

Explore the series below.

Private Prison Giant Hired ICE Detention Chief: GEO Group hired a top ICE official as the company stands to profit from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Meet the ICE Contractor Running Deportation Flights:CSI Aviation could make billions of dollars running deportation flights, despite its involvement in high-profile controversies.

Stephen Miller’s Financial Stake in ICE Contractor Palantir: Over a dozen Trump appointees in the White House and DHS have owned stock in the controversial company..

$99,999 DHS Contracts Balloon Under Kristi Noem’s Directive:Former Secretary Noem requiring her sign-off on spending above $100,000 reportedly created backlogs of DHS contracts.

ICE, Inc.: The Top Companies Profiting from Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: A number of the companies winning the largest amount of ICE contracts made large political contributions and lobbied on a law tripling ICE’s budget.

NEW FROM POGO

The True Total U.S. Military Budget

The true cost of our military is more than you think. Calculations add up to at least $1.5 trillion — and that's before the half-trillion-dollar increase proposed by the President. Read the report on pogo.org.