GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (6/15–19)
Happy Juneteenth! This week's Weekly Debrief covers the Supreme Court's recent decision holding discrimination against gay and transgender people as unlawful under Title VII, DoD IG's advice for effective pandemic contracting, NSA's revised telework guidance, COVID-19 cyber fraud, and an Illinois business owner charged with PPP fraud.
Happy Juneteenth, everyone!
General Order No. 3 – The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere. – Union Major-General Gordon Granger, June 19, 1865
Supreme Court
"[I]n a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against or firing employees for being gay or transgender. [1] Today's ruling is a major victory for the LGBTQ+ community, for LGBTQ+ allies, and for equality."
Defense
"With billions of dollars in CARES Act funding yet to be spent and several billion more potentially in the appropriations pipeline, it’s far too early to tell how effectively the Defense Department is spending its share of the disaster funding."
Cyber
"The National Security Agency updated guidance to help federal agencies choose secure collaboration services, changing its determination of whether a number of products offered
end-to-end encryption and other security features."
"The Defense Department’s information warfare leaders want to know what they can learn from U.S. Cyber Command’s online offensive against the ISIS. Defense officials have been applying lessons learned in combat to the hotly contested information space. To date, this process has involved a variety of reorganization efforts across the services, but the approach is changing."
"In addition to loss of life and economic costs, COVID-19 pandemic has also become a cottage industry for cyber-enabled fraud and other schemes. According to FBI Deputy Assistant Director Tonya Ugoretz, the number of daily complaints to their Internet Crime Complaint Center has tripled and sometimes quadrupled over the past four months."
Justice
"The owner and operator of several information technology companies based in the Chicago area has been charged in a complaint with allegedly filing a bank loan application fraudulently seeking more than $400,000 in a forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act."
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