Press Release

WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight is pressing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for additional records about its Federal Air Marshals Service surveillance programs and asking her to bring transparency and accountability to the programs. The organization’s request stems from the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) misuse of its “Quiet Skies” surveillance program, including its targeting of former …

Empower Oversight today submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding potential conflicts of interest in the Department’s administration of the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The hotline, operated since 2007 by Polaris through millions of dollars in federal grants, is currently under renewed scrutiny as …

WASHINGTON – Following whistleblower protected disclosures regarding the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Empower Oversight is pressing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to extend the contract deadline for applications to operate the hotline. The current contractor, Polaris, is the subject of numerous disconcerting allegations by state attorneys general and a whistleblower revealing deep …

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has denied the federal government’s latest attempt to further delay disclosing its justifications for 5 years of non-disclosure orders (“NDOs” or “gag orders”) following the initial subpoena for activity logs of the personal phone and email accounts of members of Congress …

Today, Hunter Biden voluntarily dismissed his civil lawsuit against the IRS. Without giving IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, who were working the investigation at the time, an opportunity to defend themselves, Biden sued the IRS and accused the agents of violating his privacy by making protected whistleblower disclosures about …

Washington, D.C. – Nearly eight years after the Justice Department first spied on members of Congress and staff, Empower Oversight is opposing the federal government’s latest move to keep hiding its supposed justifications for 5 years of non-disclosure orders (NDOs) following the initial subpoena for activity logs of the personal phone and email accounts of …

Washington, D.C. – Following multiple lawsuits and years fighting for transparency, Empower Oversight has now obtained the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report of Investigation entitled “Financial Conflict of Interest Allegations Against Former Corporation Finance Director William H. Hinman.” The ten-page report is dated December 9, 2024, 31 months after …

Washington, D.C. – Empower Oversight has filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging Chief Judge James E. Boasberg’s decision to keep sealed the arguments used by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain secret gag orders blocking notifications by Google to targeted members of Congress and congressional staff, …

WASHINGTON –Empower Oversight has released new details about several clients caught in the crosshairs of the politicization of the FBI, in particular the Bureau’s Security Division (SecD). In a letter to the FBI’s new General Counsel Samuel Ramer that the whistleblower organization is just now making public, it seeks justice from the new administration for …