Sifting through the chaos
A rundown of The Navigator's coverage of threats to American democracy, plus coverage of climate, economics, food systems, and rights.
The political situation in the United States has people here and around the world honestly frightened for the future. A country founded on self-government is witnessing an extralegal rapid-fire takeover by unaccountable tech interests, as checks on authoritarian rule and corruption are removed.
We share here a few of our pieces covering events. At the bottom we list some essential reading and reporting from others.
The US is living through an administrative coup
Presidents cannot make new law through executive orders, and they cannot use them to exert authorities not granted to the President by the Constitution or by laws compliant with the Constitution. And yet:
'The largest IT security breach in history'
The Atlantic is reporting that IT security specialists who worked on highly sensitive data systems accessed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at Treasury, Personnel Management, NOAA, and other agencies, describe that access as:
Why 'DOGE' is an 'insider threat'
There are many questions swirling around the effort by Elon Musk to access sensitive US government data systems, mine personnel records, and remove dedicated civil servants from their positions. Among these:
DOGE plans for AI government alarm experts on rights & security
Reports are emerging that Elon Musk’s so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) is planning to install AI systems to manage public services now run by trained, oath-taking civil servants. Experts with knowledge of related data security, national security, rule of law, and rights protections, are increasingly alarmed that vital services may …
One of the most important sources for tracking the ongoing Constitutional crisis is Just Security’s Litigation Tracker. A note from Just Security:
This public resource tracks legal challenges to Trump administration actions. If you think we are missing anything, you can email us at lte@justsecurity.org. Special thanks to Just Security Student Staff Editors Anna Braverman, Isaac Buck, Rick Da, Charlotte Kahan, and Jeremy Venook, and to Matthew Fouracre and Nour Soubani.
We have also noted the following as important coverage of apparent extralegal activity by DOGE and the Trump administration:
WIRED: DOGE Has Started Gutting a Key US Technology Agency / Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Working on a Custom Chatbot Called GSAi
The Atlantic: Elon Musk Is Breaking the National-Security System
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Why DOGE’s meddling at Treasury could have catastrophic consequences for the US economy
The Washington Post: Elon Musk’s DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts
Bloomberg: Dismissed Nuclear Bomb Specialists Recalled by Energy Department
The Associated Press: USAID staffers describe colleagues abandoned in violence in Congo as DOGE ends assistance programs
The New York Times: A Justice Dept. in Turmoil Moves to Dismiss Eric Adams’s Corruption Case
CREW: CREW, Democracy Forward sue to block Trump’s illegal plan to fire government workers
The Guardian: Musk’s takeover of US health agencies raises pandemic threat, experts warn
NBC: Judge temporarily blocks mass terminations at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
FastCompany: Trump’s firing of the U.S. government archivist is far worse than it might seem
Each of these sources is also covering the wider landscape of unorthodox, dangerous, and unconstitutional activity associated with the new administration’s unprecedented power grab.
We also want to make sure we are covering wider issues affecting the health and wellbeing of all. A few of these items are listed here:
Los Angeles fires are climate breakdown in real time
The planet never stops spinning. The climate never sleeps. By their nature, climate disruption and the wider planetary crisis are 24/7/365 problems. To those who worry they “hear too much” about an issue they think is someone else’s business: Unless you are hearing about climate change or planetary crisis 24/7/365, with detail about effects and ramifica…
Leaders call for food security moonshot
153 winners of Nobel Prizes and the World Food Prize have signed an open letter calling for early action to prevent a global hunger catastrophe. The letter opens with these words:
Localizing Financial Innovation—A Capital to Communities Update
Two and a half years after we released the Capital to Communities report, we see the access of local communities to capital that supports climate risk reduction and resilience building threatened, around the world. We also see increased interest in "localization", finding new strategies, mechanisms, partnerships, and funding structures, for getting reso…
AI summit does not achieve consensus on risk management
By curating the language and imagery that describe our reality, AI systems can skew the overall body of evidence, degrade understanding, and even cause dangerous decisions to be made. Depletion of critical analysis capacity creates the additional risk that wrongdoing might be harder to uncover. Autonomous armed drones are an obvious concern, but so are …
If you enjoy reading The Navigator, please share with friends and colleagues.
 | A guest post by
|