Maggie Ybarra

FBI faces several challenges with cybersecurity program

A government watchdog has discovered several roadblocks preventing the FBI from fully implementing a cybersecurity initiative aimed at thwarting threats to the United States.

July 30, 2015

Excessive regulation: Small business owners victimized by Operation Choke Point decry government ove

Allison Deguisne, the owner of a small chain of Westshore Cash and Loan, says she will stop running the two-shop operation by the end of the month, and she blames federal government regulators.

July 29, 2015

Peter Neffenger, TSA administrator, to address security failures by September

Newly confirmed Transportation Security Administration Administrator Peter Neffenger told lawmakers Wednesday that he plans to retrain security officials on how to identify and avoid some of the systemic problems that have plagued the federal agency, such as failing to spot weapons and neglecting to properly vet employees for terrorist ties.

July 29, 2015

Chaka Fattah, Philadelphia congressman, indicted in racketeering case

Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah and four associates were indicted Wednesday for racketeering and conspiracy schemes aimed at boosting their political and financial interests.

July 29, 2015

Maryland police officer with gun accused of threat to neighbor, intoxication

Anne Arundel County police have arrested a Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation police officer after, according to a police report, he drunkenly put his firearm near the head of a neighbor who had pulled over his car to check on his welfare.

July 28, 2015

Heroin influx, overdose spike alarm U.S. gov’t

An alarming increase in the amount of heroin trafficked into the United States has government officials and lawmakers looking for ways to reduce the influx of the drugs and the number of fatal overdoses they say are akin to "a public health care crisis."

July 28, 2015

Peter King wants tougher punishment for ambush attacks

Rep. Peter King, chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, wants to amend federal sentencing guidelines so that anyone who ambushes a police officer, state law enforcement officer or federal agent faces extra jail time and stiffer fines.

July 27, 2015

Petty officer charged with taking unlawful pictures of nuclear submarine

A federal grand jury has accused a petty officer of unlawfully taking pictures of restricted areas of nuclear-attack submarine USS Alexandria and trying to sabotage an investigation into his actions by destroying evidence.

July 24, 2015

Hillary Clinton email account had classified info: IG

Some of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails had classified information in them, though they weren't specifically labeled classified at the time, and at least one of those emails has already been put out in public by the department, its inspector general has concluded.

July 24, 2015

FBI sees 53 percent jump in foreign spies trying to steal U.S. trade secrets

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has noticed a 53 percent increase in the number of hostile intelligence agents that have been attempting to steal U.S. trade secrets since this time last year, federal authorities said Thursday.

July 23, 2015

Michael McCaul calls for new coalition to battle terrorists in Syria

House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul called on President Obama Wednesday to head a multinational coalition responsible for building an armed force capable of stamping out the "terrorist sanctuary" in Syria.

July 22, 2015

Boko Haram fight may require U.S. to train Nigerian forces

On the heels of President Obama's meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the U.S. may be looking to help train Nigerian law enforcement officials to fight Boko Haram, Islamic State and other extremist organizations in the region, analysts say.

July 21, 2015

Authorities to comb Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez’s computer, cellphone

Federal authorities have obtained computer and cellphone devices belonging to the 24-year-old man who shot and killed four Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said Friday.

July 17, 2015

Federal authorities search for terror ties in Chattanooga shootings

Federal authorities said Friday they have chased 70 individual leads in their effort to dig into the personal history of Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old man who had spent time overseas prior to shooting and killing four Marines at two separate military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

July 17, 2015

Homeland Security panel passes bill creating one anti-terror office

A key House panel passed legislation Wednesday that calls for the Homeland Security Department to create an office focused solely on countering violent extremism out of concern that the fractured program cannot effectively deter terror events from occurring within the U.S.

July 15, 2015

Retired military officials indicted in bribery scheme

Four retired Army National Guard colonels have been indicted in connection to a large-scale bribery scheme that involved funneling payments to high-ranking military accomplices in an effort to obtain lucrative marketing contracts.

July 15, 2015

Bob Goodlatte wants answers from Loretta Lynch on Obama drug pardons

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wants U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to answer detailed questions about the 89 drug offenders to whom President Obama has granted clemency.

July 14, 2015

Congress skeptical of Homeland Security developing unified plan on WMD defense

The Department of Homeland Security is planning on creating a "one-stop shop" that would centralize weapons of mass destruction defense, a restricting the long delay of which, lawmakers say, has left the U.S. vulnerable to an attack.

July 14, 2015

Civil liberties groups push to end NSA bulk collection of phone records

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union are asking the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records.

July 14, 2015

Baltimore joins forces with feds to curb crime

BALTIMORE -- Nine people have been killed here since Friday, including two who were gunned down Monday, raising Baltimore's homicide toll to 168 this year and adding to the pervasive sense that violent crime is extinguishing the charm of this city by the bay.

July 13, 2015