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August 12, 2026

6 entries on this date.

Trump signed memorandum authorizing private companies to conduct offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal groups

President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on August 12, 2026 directing the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to create a program authorizing vetted private companies to conduct offensive "cyber surveillance" and "cyber effects" operations against foreign transnational criminal organizations, under federal government direction and oversight. It is the first time the U.S. government has authorized private firms to conduct offensive hacking operations, a role historically reserved for government agencies; participating companies must maintain a bond or escrow of at least $1 million.

ProPublica investigation reveals Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid contract for Texas plant that produced zero usable shells

A ProPublica investigation published August 12, 2026 found that the U.S. Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid "undefinitized contracting action" awards for a Mesquite, Texas artillery-shell plant that never produced a single usable 155mm shell in the roughly two years since it opened in May 2024. Congress had suspended competitive-bidding safeguards for Ukraine-related weapons production in December 2022, and despite the plant's total production failure the Army imposed no penalties, continued making progress payments, and General Dynamics went on to receive $2.5 billion in new contract awards.

Former Dallas, Ga. 911 director charged with misusing Flock license-plate reader system

Former Dallas (Georgia) Police Department 911 director Heidi Taylor, 52, was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of misusing a license plate reader system on August 12, 2026, and booked into the Paulding County Jail. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, acting on the Dallas Police Department's July 7, 2026 request, found that Taylor had accessed the department's Flock Safety license-plate-reader system for reasons unrelated to law enforcement between 2024 and 2025 while serving as 911 director. What information she accessed was not disclosed.

Orange County audit found health director dismissed conflict warnings, steered no-bid contracts to allies

An independent forensic audit released August 12, 2026 found that then-Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau repeatedly dismissed internal conflict-of-interest complaints about county subcontracts flowing to a nonprofit where then-Supervisor Andrew Do's daughter worked, and separately hand-selected a friend's pharmacy for a county vaccination contract without competitive bidding. Then-County CEO Frank Kim was also alerted to the conflict but relied on a Do aide's assurances rather than independently verifying it. The audit is the second of four planned phases reviewing roughly $4.3 billion in Orange County contracts from 2019 to 2024.

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt ordered state probe of CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood over unsubstantiated terrorism ties; urged federal terrorist designation

On August 12, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2026-29 directing the state Department of Public Safety and Office of Homeland Security to conduct an intelligence-based assessment of whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood pose terrorism threats in Oklahoma, and to advocate for federal designation of both as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. CAIR Oklahoma said the order relied on "debunked conspiracy theories," and University of Michigan political scientist Pauline Jones said no evidence ties CAIR to terrorism and called the order "political theater." Stitt is the third Republican governor in 2026 to order this kind of investigation into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, following two earlier actions by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

ProPublica investigation reveals Jason Crews' Wayne Halfway House concealed abuse, skipped required reports at Tennessee youth prisons

A ProPublica and WPLN investigation published August 12, 2026 found that Tennessee businessman Jason Crews and his company, Wayne Halfway House, repeatedly failed to report abuse and serious incidents at the juvenile-detention facilities Crews operates statewide, as required within 24 hours under Tennessee law. The reporting centers on a June 29, 2024 assault at Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center in Columbia that guards watched happen and did not report; the state's Department of Children's Services confirmed on the record it never received an incident report for that date. Nearly two dozen former employees and youth separately told reporters they suspected abuse went unreported across Crews' facilities.