Free Republic

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz threatened the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police with “consequences” for holding equipment that she says belongs to her in order to build a criminal case against a Pakistani staffer suspected of massive cybersecurity breaches involving funneling sensitive congressional data offsite. The Florida lawmaker used her position on the committee that sets the police force’s budget to press its chief to relinquish the piece of evidence Thursday, in what could be considered using her authority to attempt to interfere with a criminal investigation. The Capitol Police and outside agencies are pursuing Imran Awan, who has run...

DailyCaller: Sources: Democratic Aide Suspected Of Major Security Breach Under Government Protection In Pakistan A criminal suspect in an investigation into a major security breach on the House of Representatives computer network has abruptly left the country and gone to Pakistan, where her family has significant assets and VIP-level protection, a relative and others told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group. Hina Alvi, her husband Imran Awan, and his brothers Abid and Jamal were highly paid shared IT administrators working for multiple House Democrats until their access to congressional IT systems was terminated Feb. 2 as a result of...

The United State’s military may be about to undergo a radical change. The Marine Corps Times is reporting that there’s an initiative in the works that might see Marines branch out, away from the traditional model that trained every member of the Corps on the basics of physical combat. Some of the new Marines may even skip basic training. The idea gained momentum almost a year ago, when Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter suggested a military build up required soldiers with computer skills, and that these new recruits might be able to move into units with credit for their civilian...

A former congressional information technology (IT) aide allegedly threatened to have his stepmother’s Pakistani relatives kidnapped if she talked to U.S. law enforcement authorities, according to court documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s (TheDCNF) Investigative Group. “Imran Awan threatened that he is very powerful and if I ever call the police again, [he] will … kidnap my family members back in Pakistan,” Awan’s stepmother, Samina Gilani, claimed in the documents filed April 14 in Fairfax County, Va., in the case of Americo Financial Life and Annuity Insurance Company v. Abid A. Awan and Samina Ashraf Gilani. Imran Awan...

Conservative street artist Sabo created the phony posters timed for Jenner's appearance during Tucker Carlson's Fox News show in Bill O'Reilly's previous time slot. A conservative street artist has appropriated Stephen King’s story It, only in this version, Caitlyn Jenner is portrayed as the evil clown. The artwork, in the form of posters and fake advertisements, showed up Sunday around the Los Angeles Fox News bureau and Fox studios, timed for Tucker Carlson’s interview of Jenner during his show Monday night — his debut in the time slot previously occupied by Bill O’Reilly. In the faux ads appearing on bus...

Caitlyn Jenner already switched genders and now she’s gonna switch teams! Radar has exclusively learned that the 67-year-old transgendered reality star – who admitted in her upcoming memoir, The Secrets Of My Life, to having gender reassignment surgery in January – is telling friends that she’s ready to sex it up with Mr. Right! “Caitlyn is on the prowl for a hot young boytoy and she wants someone who is an athlete,” a pal told Radar. “She does not mind being a sugar mama and, in fact, she actually kind of wants that type of scenario!” As Radar has reported,...

Bill Hinshaw is not a typical 75-year-old. He divides his time between his family – he has 32 grandchildren and great-grandchildren – and helping U.S. companies avert crippling computer meltdowns. Hinshaw, who got into programming in the 1960s when computers took up entire rooms and programmers used punch cards, is a member of a dwindling community of IT veterans who specialize in a vintage programming language called COBOL.[snip] Experienced COBOL programmers can earn more than $100 an hour when they get called in to patch up glitches, rewrite coding manuals or make new systems work with old. For their customers...

Professional clowns have complained that the viral trailer for the new film version of Stephen King’s IT is stoking anti-clown prejudice comparable to racism. Outraged members of the clowning community lamented that the remake of the 1990 horror series – a trailer for which has recently taken the internet by storm – is entrenching negative perceptions about them. The two-and-a-half-minute teaser broke after racking up 197 million views in just 24 hours. It’s safe to say lots of people are excited about the return of Pennywise the killer clown – but not clowns themselves.Interviewed for Mel Magazine, several professional...

U.S. Capitol Police are getting “the kind of help they need from other sources” in their criminal investigation of five Pakistani former information technology aides to dozens of House Democrats, according to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. “I wont speak to the nature of their investigation, but they’re getting the kind of technical assistance they need to do that, this is under an active criminal investigation, their capabilities are pretty strong but they’re also able to go and get the kind of help they need from other sources,” the Wisconsin Republican said at the end of a late Wednesday...

The more the scandals left by Obama are unraveling the more I am conflicted between anger and fear over what is in our future. It is bad enough (and not completely unexpected) to learn that Obama has been working harder to destroy our country that we thought. But, the depth of his support in the media is in my opinion, in need of far more exposure and very serious punishment.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in February that three brothers who managed office IT for government officials were relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed specific computer networks without permission, also known as hacking. Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives. One of the brothers has a criminal record. Bill Clinton with Imran Awan The three brothers funneled House data to an external server. Now this… Imran Awan possessed the password to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz’s ipad when DNC emails were leaked to Wikileaks.

Days before U.S. Capitol Police told House members that three Pakistani brothers who ran their computer networks may have stolen congressional data, their stepmother called Fairfax County, Virginia police to say the Democratic staffers were keeping her from her husband’s deathbed. A relative described her situation as being held in captivity for months while the brothers schemed to take their father’s life insurance and other assets. The brothers — who as IT professionals for Congress could read House members’ emails — allegedly used wiretapping devices on their own stepmother and threatened to abduct loved ones in Pakistan if she didn’t...

Two IT staffers who have been under investigation by Capitol Hill police for a month were fired this week by two House Democrats. Politico reports: Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) confirmed to Politico that Hina Alvi’s last day as an IT support staffer in his office was Tuesday. Her husband, Imran Awan, was working for Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) as of Tuesday evening, but a spokeswoman for Fudge said midday Wednesday that Awan was no longer an employee. As of Wednesday, Awan was still working as a technology adviser for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), although he’s been blocked from accessing...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The University of California, San Francisco on Tuesday laid off 49 information technology (IT) employees and outsourced their work to a company based in India, ending a year-long process that has brought the public university under fire. The university announced the plan last July as a way to save $30 million over five years. The University of California system, which includes health care and research-focused UCSF, has been struggling to raise revenue and cut expenses. Globalization and outsourcing have become hot-button political issues in the United States, as more employers cut costs by farming out work...

In the midst of allegations of Russian ties to the Trump administration and in the aftermath of the hacking of Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee emails, there is a new email scandal involving Democratic House members that could amount to a covert effort by foreign actors to penetrate the House of Representatives' computer system.According to the Daily Caller, three brothers who managed information technology (IT) for Democratic House members – Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan – were suspended on February 2, 2017 for serious misconduct, including accessing the computer accounts of House members without their knowledge and stealing equipment...

Congressional aides suspected of criminally misusing their access to House computer systems owed $100,000 to an Iraqi politician who is wanted by U.S. authorities and has been linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Middle Eastern terrorist outfit. Imran Awan and four of his relatives were employed as information technology (IT) aides by dozens of House Democrats, including members of the intelligence, foreign affairs and homeland security committees. The aides’ administrator-level IT access was terminated earlier this month amid a criminal probe by U.S. Capitol Police of a suspected security breach, including an off-site server housing congressional data. The Daily Caller News...

It turns out that congressional staffers have been taking money from an Iraqi politician. These staffers just happen to be the ones who were fired for attempting to access sensitive information. Imran, Abid, and Jamal Awan took $100,000 Dr. Ali al-Attar, money that — according to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group — was “funneled through a company with ‘impossible’-to-decipher financial transactions that the congressional information technology (IT) staffers controlled.” All three of the brothers are now under a criminal investigation. Imran Awan provided IT services for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the disgraced Democrat who was forced to resign as...

“This is now standard practice in the technology industry.” US tech companies, and other companies with large IT departments, are having conniptions about President Trump’s immigration policies, particularly the leaked draft of an executive order that includes references to reforming the H-1B visa program for foreign tech workers. In light of the 85,000 foreign tech workers allowed to be brought into the US annually under the H-1B visa program – a limit tech companies have been clamoring to raise – here’s a stunning forecast by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to...

Three brothers who managed office IT for government officials were relieved of their duties last week on suspicion that they accessed specific computer networks without permission, also known as hacking.   Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday.   They accessed computers unauthorized. They were getting foreign information. The three brothers were making $161,000, $165,000, and $160,000. One of the brothers has a criminal background.   Now this… The three brothers funneled House data to an external server. The Daily Caller reported:   Chiefs of staff for dozens of Democratic...

Three brothers who managed office information technology for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers were abruptly relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed congressional computers without permission.Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis. The two committees deal with many of the nation’s most sensitive issues and documents, including...