Mike Waltz pitifully tries to pin Signal scandal on Biden as he seeks U.N. ambassadorship

Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, a collection of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.

Former national security adviser Mike Waltz, who left his post amid backlash over his and other top Trump officials’ roles in sharing sensitive military information with a journalist via an unsecured Signal chat, appeared before the Senate on Tuesday ahead of a vote on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Waltz tried to downplay the scandal under fierce questioning from Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chris Coons of Delaware. At one point, he told Coons that such use of Signal had been aligned with Biden-era federal guidance, adding that no classified information was shared. He also said the White House had concluded its investigation but said he thought the Defense Department’s probe is ongoing.

Indeed, Politico reported Monday that two close aides of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are under investigation at the Pentagon in the matter, so any suggestion that the Signal chat was completely on the up-and-up — and that this has been affirmed by independent officials — is dubious at best.

Read more at The New Republic.

A senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official admitted that his agency has used a list compiled by Canary Mission — a controversial and shadowy website that has been accused of doxxing pro-Palestinian activists — in its efforts to target, detain and deport immigrants.

Read more at CNN.

After an incident in which Grok — Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence tool — called itself “MechaHitler” and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and instructed one social media user how to commit rape, the federal government confirmed its plans to offer Musk’s company, xAI, up to $200 million to institute Grok across the Defense Department. The same contract awards were offered to OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.

Read more at CNBC.

The FBI has reportedly been using polygraph tests to measure employees’ loyalty and determine whether they have said negative things about FBI Director Kash Patel. It sounds like the conspiratorial Patel is living up to my MSNBC colleague Hayes Brown’s description of him as a mixture of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and MAGA influencer Alex Jones.

Read more at The New York Times.

A team working under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly sought to use artificial intelligence tools to sift through emails at the nation’s top spy agencies in an effort to root out people seen as disloyal to the Trump administration. As The Washington Post reported:

A special team created by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has expressed a desire to gain access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. spy agencies with the aim of using artificial intelligence tools to ferret out what the administration deems as efforts to undermine its agenda, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Several Big Tech executives leaped to the defense of venture capitalist Shaun Maguire, who has been denounced for a bigoted tweet claiming New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is out to advance an “Islamist agenda” and “comes from a culture that lies about everything.” In response to a letter from hundreds of tech executives and employees denouncing the comments, various tech executives signed a letter calling Maguire’s remarks “the reflections of a principled thinker.”

Read more at Business Insider.

A far-right militia may have inspired a recent attack on an Oklahoma television station’s weather radar. The vandalism comes as prominent Republicans — including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — have fueled conspiracy theories about natural disasters being geo-engineered by nefarious actors.

Read more at NBC News.