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‘Absolutely nuts’: DHS secretary to review all contract, grant awards over $100k

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3 months ago

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Just ahead of the busiest time of the year for most agency acquisition shops, the Homeland Security Department is throwing in an extra layer of review for its procurement efforts.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is requiring her office to review and sign off on all contracts and awards over $100,000.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a new contract award review policy.
(AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

“All proposals for my consideration must include all relevant details, including any mission impact, dollar values, description of the supplies or services, any timeliness issues and a description of the proposed action,” Noem wrote in the memo obtained by Federal News Network. “Requests for approval of obligations above the $100,000 threshold must be submitted via memo through the Executive Secretary process. As with any request for secretarial approval, please allow a minimum of five days for front office review.”

Based on the last three fiscal years’ data, Noem’s office will have to approve more than 5,100 contract actions worth over 100,000.

“I think most, if not all sane and knowledgeable people would consider this policy absolutely nuts,” said Mark Borkowski, who served for 13 years as the assistant commissioner and chief acquisition officer at the Customs and Border Protection directorate before retiring in 2023. “I understand why someone would want to do this. I completely understand the rationale as we did something similar at CBP when I was there. This is as much an opportunity to audit contracts and figure out what is there and look for waste and redundancy. So I understand their motivation, but this will be  tremendous workload.”

Data from Deltek, a market research firm, found DHS spends between 45% and 47% of its procurement budget in the fourth quarter, which starts July 1.

Federal News Network asked DHS for more details about the decision, including how the Noem plans to ensure the approval process for contract and grant awards doesn’t create a backlog at a critical time of the year.

A DHS spokesperson said: “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is rooting out waste, fraud [and] abuse, and is reprioritizing appropriated dollars. Secretary Noem is delivering accountability to the U.S. taxpayer, which Washington bureaucrats have ignored for decades at the expense of American citizens.”

Noem said in her memo that this new guidance supersedes a previous directive calling for her approval for all spending over $25 million.

DHS policy is “bush league”

Borkowski said the memo opens the door to a lot of questions about the reviews needed when an office picks up an option under an existing contract or for task orders under indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) type contracts. He said CBP used a time-and-materials contracts to address contingency or emergency needs and questioned whether those, too, would need Secretary approval.

“There has to be some other agenda here. Is the intent to slow down and gum up the works or to stop things? There is no way the secretary will be able to review these contracts,” Borkowski said. “Who will be doing these reviews? The politicals? But they will also need experts in procurement and acquisition from across the agency so that means folks will be pulled away from supporting the mission at one of the busiest times of the year. I know procurement people are often stressed at end of fiscal year so I’d also be concerned what this will do to workload on folks who now have to be diverted to support this process.”

Another former DHS acquisition executive, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, called this memo “ridiculous” and “bush league.”

“The procurement system is purposely separated from political influence. By doing this she’s violating that principle,” the former executive said. “Is the secretary in the position to make technical and cost trade-off analysis? Does her staff have cost analysts to determine if the price is ‘right’ based on the requirement? Is she merely looking to see if the award is going to a company favorable to the administration? The mission need and estimated costs are always decided BEFORE the procurement.”

Both Borkowski and the other former executive said the five-day review period and the $100,000 floor threshold also are concerning.

Not only is $100,000 well below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold of $350,000, but many times these small buys are done using purchase cards, which means there is an immediate need for the product or service.

“Smart buying would suggest that low-dollar value items are purchased at economical quantities for the sake of efficiency and to save money. The fact that secretary would want to consider little thing like bulk printer paper buys, restocking rubber gloves at TSA check points or anything of this nature sounds like waste, fraud and abuse to me,” said the former executive. “The secretary and her staff should have far more important things to do with her time.”

5-day reviews critical

Borkowski said contracting officers can easily build in the five-day review requirement into their timeline so as not to impact the acquisition. But he’s skeptical that the secretary’s office can be relied upon to meet their own deadlines.

“If you can’t rely on the five day review, and I don’t believe you can, then I think you will have some serious issues getting contract actions through. Hopefully they find some way to come up with a waiver for contingencies and other urgent needs,” he said.

During his last few years at CBP, Borkowski said he initiated a similar review of service contracts after receiving criticism from oversight bodies like the Government Accountability Office.

“I was tasked to create a review process for service contracts and we met monthly. The first thing we did was collect list of contracts and there were thousands of them. We had to set threshold for what to review and we also looked those deemed high interest. We set a threshold of $2 million. If we went below that, there wasn’t enough hours in the day and would’ve shut the organization down waiting to review them. That was just CBP and just a subset of contracts,” he said. “I ran that and had others to help, and it was a lot of work. And I was just a component acquisition executive. This new effort is going to be an incredible amount of work, particularly if you go down to sec level.”

The post ‘Absolutely nuts’: DHS secretary to review all contract, grant awards over $100k first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Black Lives Matter Activist in Boston Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges – Scammed Donors to Fund Her Lifestyle

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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Screencap of YouTube video.

A Black Lives Matter activist in Boston named Monica Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty to federal charges this week, admitting that she scammed donors and used their money to fund her own lavish lifestyle.

Cannon-Grant was previously held up as an admired figure. The city of Boston named her the Bostonian of the year at one point for her ‘social justice activism’ and she was even recognized by the Boston Celtics basketball team for her efforts.

She is now facing a minimum of two years in prison.

The New York Post reports:

BLM-linked activist admits conning donors to fund her lavish lifestyle

A once-celebrated Boston social activist has pleaded guilty to defrauding donors — including Black Lives Matter — out of thousands of dollars that she used as a personal piggy bank.

Monica Cannon-Grant, 44, pleaded guilty Monday to 18 counts of fraud-related crimes that she committed with her late husband while operating their Violence in Boston (VIB) activists group, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

The activist scammed money — including $3,000 from a BLM group — while claiming it was to help feed children and run protests like one in 2020 over the murder of George Floyd and police violence.

Cannon-Grant also conned her way into getting $100,000 in federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits — which she used to pay off her personal auto loan and car insurance policy.

But she has now confessed to transferring funds to personal bank accounts to pay for rent, shopping sprees, delivery meals, visits to a nail salon — and even a summer vacation to Maryland.

Just amazing.

Here’s a local video report:

She should pay back every penny.

The post Black Lives Matter Activist in Boston Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges – Scammed Donors to Fund Her Lifestyle appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Keith Olbermann Backpedals Furiously With Apology for Threatening CNN’s Scott Jennings – Jennings Responds (VIDEO)

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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As the Gateway Pundit reported yesterday, former MSNBC host and generally unhinged leftist Keith Olbermann, appeared to threaten CNN’s conservative pundit Scott Jennings on Twitter saying, ‘You’re next motherf**ker.’

Well, Olbermann may have gotten a phone call or a visit from the FBI because today he walked back those comments with a full-throated apology.

RedState has an update:

To quickly recap, Scott Jennings, a Salem Media Network radio host and conservative CNN political commentator, reacted to breaking news on Monday that Kimmel had been reinstated by tweeting, “So basically his employer suspended him for being an insensitive pr**k, and we don’t live in an authoritarian regime? Got it.”

This enraged Olbermann, who proceeded to tweet what many, including Jennings, perceived to be a threat. “You’re next, motherf**ker. But keep mugging to the camera.” Jennings tagged Patel and included a screengrab of the tweets in response.

Though the FBI hasn’t commented as to whether an investigation was launched, Olbermann ostensibly appears to have thought twice about what he tweeted and deleted, apologizing profusely in tweets posted on Tuesday and claiming what he wrote was “misinterpreted”:

See Olbermann’s tweet below:

Scott Jennings, always a class act, offered this hilarious response:

Keith Olbermann really needs help. The guy is just so out of control.

The post Keith Olbermann Backpedals Furiously With Apology for Threatening CNN’s Scott Jennings – Jennings Responds (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Where is Lance Twiggs? Kirk Assassin’s Transgender Lover Has Vanished

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23 hours ago

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September 24, 2025

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Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson and roommate Lance Twiggs

Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson lived with his transgender partner – a male-to-female trans named Lance “Luna” Twiggs.

The FBI used Robinson’s texts with his transgender partner to solidify that Robinson was the assassin. Lance Twiggs has not been charged with any crime; however, federal authorities are still investigating.

Last week, Utah authorities released the text exchange between Tyler Robinson and his transgender lover, Lance Twiggs, sent shortly after Kirk’s assassination.

Utah County District Attorney Jeff Gray announced seven charges against Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson. They will also be seeking the death penalty.

Robinson was charged with:

– Count 1: Aggravated murder (capital offense)
– Count 2: Felony reckless discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury
– Count 3: Felony obstruction of justice for hiding the firearm
– Count 4: Felony obstruction of justice for discarding the clothing he wore during the shooting
– Count 5: Witness tampering for asking roommate to delete incriminating messages
– Count 6: Witness temperating for demanding trans roommate stay silent, and not speak to police
– Count 7: Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child

Jeff Gray released the chilling texts between Tyler Robinson and his “love” Lance Twiggs.

Read the text exchange here:

Tyler Robinson texts with transgender lover Lance Twiggs / 1
Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson texts with transgender lover Lance Twiggs / 2

Lance Twiggs was reportedly cooperating with the FBI, however, according to the Daily Mail he has seemingly vanished.

“If [Lance Twiggs] ever comes back, it will be in a body bag,” a neighbor said to the Daily Mail. “That’s not a threat – I’m just saying that there are so many people who want a piece of him he’d be mad to show his face in public again. This was a generational event.”

The Daily Mail reported:

The Trans boyfriend of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin has fled their former lovenest – and locals tell the Daily Mail they never want to see him again.

Lance Twiggs, 22, was led away for questioning when police swooped on the smart three-bed condo he shared with accused gunman Tyler Robinson, 22.

Shaken neighbors say the part time plumber has not been back to the $320,000 property in St. George, Utah – one declaring: ‘Good riddance. I never want to see either of them again.’

His beaten-up Infinity compact is still parked in his space with his work gear tossed across the back seat and a sandwich wrapper and a drink on the front passenger seat.

Upstairs lights have been left on for more than a week and notes and Amazon packages are piling up outside the home owned by Twiggs’s devout Mormon family.

The post Where is Lance Twiggs? Kirk Assassin’s Transgender Lover Has Vanished appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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