The Paper Trail: October 6, 2026

ICE Deletes Death in Custody Reviews; Meta Uses Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Taxes; Local Officials Discover Unauthorized Flock Cameras

October 6, 2026

Announcements

Iran War

Prediction Markets

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Hegseth to cut 20 percent of admirals, generals in major Pentagon overhaul

The upcoming cuts come as the defense secretary has fired or pushed out more than two dozen military leaders across the branches, personnel moves that have unnerved lawmakers in both parties.

(Filip Timotija, The Hill)

Hegseth freezes hiring of civilian tenured faculty at U.S. military academies
(Filip Timotija, The Hill)

Business and Finance

Democratic senators challenge Trump officials on Pentagon’s Venezuela oil deal

The lawmakers allege the deal for a position in Venezuela’s second-largest oil producer stands on shaky legal ground, won't lower fuel costs for Americans, and undermines Venezuela’s democratic transition. The senators also seek answers as to whether any Trump donors or family members will benefit from the deal.

(Collin Eaton, Wall Street Journal)

Why the Pentagon just dropped $450M on tungsten mining
(Daniel Terrill, Military Times)

Tech

Trump urges public to trust industry self-policing of AI technology

The president last week announced that the administration and some of the world’s most powerful tech executives had signed a voluntary, “morally binding” accord intended to ensure the industry develops AI safely.

(Ian Duncan and Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post)

FTC is investigating OpenAI and Anthropic over possible risks to consumers
(Associated Press)

Infrastructure

How Meta uses AI data centers to avoid billions in federal taxes

Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Experts say it’s an aggressive interpretation of the tax break, which Meta has used to claim almost $4 billion in tax credits for data center expansion.

(Kashmir Hill, New York Times)

A startup wants to build a massive nuclear-powered data center on public land in Utah
(Geoff Brumfiel, NPR)

Health Care

ICYMI

On the Lighter Side

White House’s new AI website confirms Trump lost the 2020 presidential election: In response to the query “Who won the 2020 U.S. presidential election? Who lost?”, America.gov responds, “Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Donald J. Trump lost.” The site also provides the official electoral college results: “Biden: 306 electoral votes” and “Trump: 232 electoral votes.” (Todd Spangler, Variety)
How is “Mean Girls” like gerrymandering? Ask these former Hill staffers: Former congressional staffers writing a book on gerrymandering use Mean Girls, The Hunger Games, and other pop-culture references to explain the arcane process. As the book says: “People come to Washington hoping it resembles ‘The West Wing’ .... In reality, it’s ‘Veep’: messy, chaotic, and held together by overworked staffers and the hope that no one notices how fragile it all is.” (Nina Heller, Roll Call)