Latest news with #RaphaelSatter
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US State Department cable says agency using AI to help staff job panels
By Raphael Satter and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department will use an artificial intelligence chatbot to help it select the people who will perform annual reviews of promotions and moves, according to a cable issued Monday and reviewed by Reuters. The cable said that StateChat, an in-house chatbot which works using technology from Palantir and Microsoft, will be employed to pick foreign service officers for participation on the Foreign Service Selection Boards, the annual evaluation panels which decide whether and how to promote and shuffle around State Department employees. In a statement, a department spokesperson said the evaluations themselves "will not be done by AI." The boards, whose role is governed by the 1980 Foreign Service Act, play a critical role in the State Department's personnel promotion decisions, managing the annual process by which diplomats and others jump from one professional grade to the next. By statute, the boards are meant to include "a substantial number of women and members of minority groups." The State Department has been using StateChat since last year to transcribe notes, draft emails, and analyze diplomatic cables. Last week the agency's acting chief data and AI officer, Amy Ritualo, told a Palantir conference that StateChat had about 40,000 users across her agency. The program's role in the human resources process, however, has not previously been disclosed. Last month the State Department abruptly postponed the boards, and previously selected members received emails saying their services were no longer required. Monday's cable said that StateChat's technology would instead be used to "perform unbiased selection" for the boards based on employees' internally adjudicated skill codes and grades. That list would then be screened - for example for disciplinary and security issues - before being used to create the panels. There was no mention of female or minority representation. President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly attacked what Republicans refer to as "DEI," a catch-all term covering work protecting civil rights, fighting discrimination, and boosting diversity. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents State Department employees, did not directly comment on the use of AI but said it was seeking clarification from agency leadership about how it intends to comply with its legal obligations around women and minority group representation. Palantir and Microsoft didn't immediately return messages. Although the deployment of AI by officials precedes Trump's reelection in 2024, his administration has aggressively expanded its use since his return to power. Last month Reuters reported that tech tycoon Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service was expanding its use of the AI chatbot Grok across the U.S. federal government. In April, Reuters reported that Trump administration officials had told some U.S. government employees that DOGE was using AI to monitor at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to the president.
Hans India
05-06-2025
- General
- Hans India
Centre defends OCI cancellation in HC
New Delhi: The Centre has defended in the Delhi High Court its decision to cancel the OCI card of US-based journalist Raphael Satter saying he maligned Indian institutions in the international arena through journalistic activities. The Centre said it was satisfied that Satter conducted journalistic activities without waiting for necessary permission and violated the government's notification and that a 'discreet' lookout circular (LOC) was opened against him. 'It has been reported by security agencies that Raphael has been noted for acts of maliciously creating adverse and biased opinions against Indian institutions in the international arena through his journalistic activities and a discreet LOC was opened against him,' the Ministry of Home Affairs said in an affidavit. The Centre said that his revision petition was as a result disposed of and a speaking order dated May 24, 2024 held that there were no grounds to revise the overseas citizen of India (OCI) cancellation order. The Union ministry's affidavit came in response to Satter's plea against the cancellation of his OCI card. Justice Sachin Datta, who is hearing the matter, granted liberty to Satter to file a rejoinder to the government's reply and posted the hearing on August 25. Satter obtained the OCI status through his marriage and claimed he visited India for family purposes. The Ministry said it was brought to its notice through security agencies that Satter had attended Nullcon conference in Goa in September 2022 and the focus of the conference was to showcase the next generation of offensive and defensive security technology. Without necessary permission, he attended the conference and conducted journalistic activities, therefore, violating the provision of the ministry's notification, it said. OCI card holders or other foreigners visiting India, it said, were supposed to adhere to the laws of the country, meaning, the activities they are prohibited from under the category of visa or OCI guidelines. 'An OCI cardholder is a foreigner and OCI card is a life-long visa issued to such a foreigner. Every country has a sovereign right to refuse entry into its territory to any individual whom it may consider undesirable and informing about the same inasmuch as entry into any country's territory is not a matter of right, even if the person holds a valid visa,' the affidavit said. Citizens of India, the government said, were guaranteed fundamental right of speech and free movement, but foreigners or citizens of other countries were not entitled to such rights. Since OCI card holders are foreigners and citizens of another country, they cannot claim the right to free speech, movement and protest under the Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, the ministry added. It came on record that before initiating cancellation of the OCI proceedings, the ministry consulted security agencies and also the Ministry of External Affairs. After examining the petitioner's activities, his OCI card was found liable to be cancelled. 'Therefore, on June 12, 2023, this ministry (MHA) served a 'notice' to the petitioner through the High Commission of India in Washington DC to showcause as to why his OCI card may not be reports received from security agencies are 'secret' in nature, therefore, it cannot be disclosed to the petitioner,' the affidavit said. Though Satter submitted his reply to the ministry notice, the government claimed, he did not submit documents to establish he did not carry out any journalistic activity aside from showing his whereabouts and activities during his India visit. The MHA, however, said the reports received from the security agencies and the MEA provided 'enough inputs' indicating he had 'willfully violated' the provision of the 2021 notification. Satter, in his revision petition filed in January, 2024 before the MHA under the Citizenship Act, challenged his OCI cancellation order of December 4, 2023. On April 23, 2024 he claimed of not having carried out any journalistic activity, but the ministry claimed otherwise.
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Business Standard
04-06-2025
- General
- Business Standard
Govt defends cancellation of US journalist's OCI card, says reasons secret
Raphael Satter obtained the OCI status through his marriage and claimed he visited India for family purposes New Delhi The Union government on Wednesday defended its decision to revoke the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card of US-based journalist Raphael Satter, telling the Delhi High Court that he had maligned Indian institutions in the international arena through his journalistic activities. "It has been reported by security agencies that Raphael has been noted for acts of maliciously creating adverse and biased opinions against Indian institutions in the international arena through his journalistic activities, and a discreet LOC was opened against him," the ministry of home affairs said in an affidavit. The government said the nature of the information against Satter is 'secret' and cannot be disclosed to the petitioner. Who is Raphael Satter? Raphael Satter, a US-based cybersecurity journalist for Reuters, is a US citizen and has family in India. Satter obtained the OCI status through his marriage and claimed he visited India for family purposes. The Appin defamation case When Satter's OCI card was revoked, the government did not cite any reason for its decision. However, The Guardian said that it coincided with a defamation case against him in India, linked to his Reuters investigation titled 'How an Indian startup hacked the world'. The report alleged that an Indian cybersecurity firm, Appin, developed into a 'hack-for-hire powerhouse' targeting high-profile individuals worldwide. The co-founder of Appin, Rajat Khare, denied the allegations and later sued Satter for defamation. What is an OCI card? The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI ) card is a scheme that allows multiple-entry, multipurpose, life-long visas for visiting India. The scheme was introduced with an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in August 2005. "An OCI cardholder is a foreigner, and an OCI card is a life-long visa issued to such a foreigner. Every country has a sovereign right to refuse entry into its territory to any individual whom it may consider undesirable, and informing about the same, inasmuch as entry into any country's territory is not a matter of right, even if the person holds a valid visa," the government said in the affidavit. How can OCI cards be cancelled? As per sub-section (1) of section 7A of the Citizenship Act, the government has the power to cancel the OCI card of any person if it is satisfied with certain conditions, such as disaffection towards the Constitution of India or if it was obtained by fraud. The government can also cancel it if it deems it necessary to do so in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of India, friendly relations of India with any foreign country, or in the interests of the general public.
The Star
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Coinbase breach linked to customer data leak in India, sources say
FILE PHOTO: A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of the Coinbase logo in this illustration taken on March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase knew as far back as January about a customer data leak at an outsourcing companyconnected to a larger breach estimated to cost up to $400 million, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters. At least one part of the breach, publicly disclosed in a May 14 SEC filing, occurred when an India-based employee of the U.S. outsourcing firm TaskUs was caught taking photographs of her work computer with her personal phone, according to five former TaskUs employees. Three of the employees and a person familiar with the matter said Coinbase was notified immediately. The ex-employees said they were briefed on the matter by company investigators or colleagues who witnessed the incident in the Indian city of Indore, noting that the woman and a suspected accomplice were alleged to have been feeding Coinbase customer information to hackers in return for bribes. The ex-employees and person familiar with the matter said more than 200 TaskUs employees were soon fired in a mass layoff that drew Indian media attention. Coinbase had previously blamed "support agents overseas" for the breach, which it estimated could cost up to $400 million. Although the link between TaskUs and the breach was previously alleged in a lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Manhattan, details of the incident, reported here for the first time, raise further questions over when Coinbase first learned of the incident. Coinbase said in the May SEC filingthat it knew contractors accessed employee data "without business need" in "previous months." Only when it received an extortion demand on May 11 did it realize that the access was part of a wider campaign, the company said. In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, Coinbase said the incident was recently discovered and that it had "cut ties with the TaskUspersonnel involved and other overseas agents, and tightened controls." Coinbase did not disclose who the other foreign agents were. TaskUs said in a statement that two employees had been fired early this year after they illegally accessed information from a client, which it did not identify. "We immediately reported this activity to the client," the statement said. "We believe these two individuals were recruited by a much broader, coordinated criminal campaign against this client that also impacted a number of other providers servicing this client." The person familiar with the matter confirmed that Coinbase was the client and that the incident took place in January. Reuters could not determine whether any arrests have been made. Police in Indore did not return a message seeking comment. (Reporting by Raphael Satter; additional reporting by Chris Prentice in New York and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; editing by Chris Sanders and Richard Chang)
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Romanian pleads guilty to 'swatting' US lawmakers and top officials
By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Romanian man has pleaded guilty to participating in a years-long series of dangerous hoax phone calls and bomb threats targeting American legislators, law enforcement leaders, and government officials, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday. In a statement, the department said that Thomasz Szabo, 26, who was extradited to the United States last year, admitted targeting more than 75 officials, four religious institutions, and multiple journalists in his campaign of intimidation. Officials said Szabo targeted private residences, including the homes and families of senior government officials. Authorities say Szabo routinely phoned in bomb threats and reports of ongoing violence or hostage situations at his targets' homes or places of work, a technique called 'swatting' because it is meant to elicit the emergency deployment of heavily armed police officers. Emails seeking comment from Szabo's lawyers were not immediately returned. Justice officials described Szabo as the leader of a group that made a series of false reports to U.S. law enforcement, including a December 2020 threat to commit a mass-shooting at New York City synagogues and a January 2021 threat to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol and kill then-President-elect Joe Biden. The department said that, in a two-month period alone, members of Szabo's gang targeted at least 25 members of Congress or their family members, six then-current or former senior U.S. federal officials, "including multiple cabinet-level officials," at least 13 then-current or former senior federal law enforcement officials, including the heads of multiple federal law enforcement agencies. Others targeted included members of the federal judiciary, state government officials, and members of the media. It was during that time that one of Szabo's subordinates boasted of "creating massive havoc" in the United States, the department said.
