February 2025 US Tech Policy Roundup

Rachel Lau and J.J. Tolentino work with leading public interest foundations and nonprofits on technology policy issues at Freedman Consulting, LLC. Ben Lennett is the managing editor of Tech Policy Press. The end of February marked thirty-nine days of President Trump’s second term and included significant developments in US technology governance, highlighted by Elon Musk’s […]

How Elon Musk Executed His Takeover of the Federal Bureaucracy

On the last Friday of September 2023, Elon Musk dropped in about an hour late to a dinner party at the Silicon Valley mansion of the technology investor Chamath Palihapitiya. Mr. Musk’s visit was meant to be discreet. Still skittish about getting involved publicly in politics, he told the guests he had to be careful […]

US FBI Director calls on Congress to investigate Ukraine aid transparency

Kash Patel, the newly appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), called on US Congress to investigate how aid money sent to Ukraine has been used, The Epoch Times reported on March 2. “I’ve asked Congress to investigate where this money has gone. The American people are owed that answer because it’s our […]

Trump stops the lowering of standards for first responders

WHITE HOUSE – President Donald J. Trump declared an end to lower standards in the name of discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives — and the Trump Administration continues to make good on that commitment to prioritize merit, not divisive race-based obsessions, in hiring. Yesterday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed several Biden-era lawsuits against […]

Trump Nominated Dan ‘Razin’ Caine

DEFENSE.GOV – President Donald J. Trump announced the nomination of Dan “Razin” Caine for the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Feb. 21, 2025.   The chairman is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military advisor to the president, defense secretary and National Security Council. Caine, a retired Air Force lieutenant […]