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The Big Story
Trump’s ‘down payment’ on sovereign wealth fund
The U.S. government could take equity stakes in more companies in the future as the Trump administration looks to build a sovereign wealth fund, National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett said Monday.
President Trump announced Friday that Intel agreed to give the federal government a 10 percent stake in the struggling company in exchange for money previously allocated under the Biden-era CHIPS and Science Act.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Hassett made clear the government does not have voting shares in the company, “so there’s not going to be government intrusion into the business of Intel.”
He added, “It’s more like a down payment on a sovereign wealth fund, which many, many countries have.”
Hassett described the Intel deal as a “special circumstance” but said the public should expect similar types of deals with companies going forward.
“The president has made it clear all the way back to the campaign, that he thinks that in the end, it would be great if the U.S. could start to build up a sovereign wealth fund,” Hassett said. “So I’m sure that, at some point, there’ll be more transactions — if not in this industry, in other industries.”
“In the past, the federal government has been given money away, lickety-split, to companies, and the taxpayers have received nothing in return.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is pressing Trump administration officials about the cost of the National Guard deployment to the nation’s capital, in addition to the scope and legal parameters of the operation.
Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is returning to the political fray with a Senate bid at a moment when the cryptocurrency industry — which poured millions of dollars into ousting him last year — is emboldened by its recent political successes.
Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:ALM) is one of the must-buy small-cap stocks to invest in. On August 11, Oppenheimer initiated coverage of Almonty Industries (NYSE:ALM) with an Outperform rating and a $7.00 price target, citing the company’s strong growth trajectory and recent NASDAQ listing on July 14, 2025. Almonty has delivered a staggering 440% return over the past year and is positioned to become the largest tungsten producer outside China and Russia.
10 Must-Buy Small-Cap Stocks to Invest In
Tungsten prices have surged past $500/MTU, fueled by rising global defense spending, U.S. restrictions on non-friendly-sourced materials, and China’s tightening export controls. In response to this demand, Almonty aims to triple its output to 2.4 million tons by 2027, potentially accounting for 40% of tungsten production among allied nations.
Almonty Industries Inc. (NASDAQ:ALM) is a tungsten mining and development company that acquires and optimizes underperforming tungsten operations and assets, with a focus on turning them around into profitable ventures. It operates mines in Spain, Portugal, and South Korea.
While we acknowledge the potential of ALM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on thebest short-term AI stock.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has described illegal immigration as a “scourge” which is affecting the country on a “historic and unprecedented” scale.
Farage will outline his party’s plans to tackle small boats crossings later on Tuesday, pledging to detain and deport people coming into the UK illegally.
He will also propose significant legal changes and question whether Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is on the side of human rights lawyers or the British people.
To make removals easier, Reform is promising to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), repeal the Human Rights Act and disapply international treaties like the Refugee Convention.
With four MPs, Reform UK is a small force in the Commons.
But polling suggests its popularity has grown significantly – so significantly that Farage talks in today’s Daily Telegraph about what he plans to do if his party wins power at the next general election.
Farage wants to introduce a legal obligation on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to remove people who arrive illegally – an approach which was tried by the last Conservative government.
Reform also wants to ban anyone entering illegally from ever being able to claim asylum.
“Under these new plans, if you come to the UK illegally you will be ineligible for asylum. No ifs, no buts,” Farage wrote in the Telegraph, as he calledon politicians to put the UK first.
Labour said Reform’s plans had been written on the back of a fag packet – and there was no substance on delivery.
Government minister Matthew Pennycook said the plan relied on other countries agreeing to accept deported migrants.
He told BBC Breakfast: “What happens if Reform cannot in that scenario negotiate returns agreements with the Taliban in Afghanistan? What happens if they can’t get a returns agreement with Iran, a country currently being sanctioned by the UK?”
He said Reform could “stoke anger” on the issue, while Labour would take “unglamorous but practical” steps to “bear down on this problem”.
Meanwhile, the Toriessaid Reform was recycling their ideas in a “desperate attempt to chase headlines”.
“Reform UK has clearly not done the serious thinking about securing our borders,” said shadow home secretary Chris Philp.
Farage said the country faced “a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order”.
“The scourge of illegal migration that we have seen in this country over the last five years is historic and unprecedented,” he wrote.
Zia Yusuf, head of Reform’s government efficiency department, told the BBC that “phase one” of the deportation programme would involve lone adult migrants – while unaccompanied children would “probably” be included later.
Asked whether Reform was comfortable sending migrants back to places where they could face persecution, such as Afghanistan, Yusuf said: “We’re not going to embark on a plan with the intent of sending anyone to that fate, but we’ve got to prioritise the British people and we make no apologies for that.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said that while immigration was a concern among the British public, “prominent politicians are… giving it greater salience”.
Mr Solomon told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that when people feel “key issues” such as the economy and the NHS are not being addressed, “they easily see a traction in arguments that become about labelling migrants as the root of all problems”.
He said the UK should focus on how it can support those “genuinely fleeing torture and persecution and war”, and that those who arrive in the UK “need to have the right to have [their] case heard”.
Nearly 28,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel since the start of year.
Meanwhile, more than 50,000 migrants have come to the UK via this route in the 403 days since Labour came to power in July 2024.
The prime minister had made tackling illegal immigration and “restoring order” to the asylum system a priority for the government.
Under a new “one in, one out” pilot scheme set up between the British and French governments, some people who come into the UK in small boats will be detained and sent back to France.
The group are currently in detention, including some arrested over the weekend, the paper says.
Official Home Office figures show that more than 2,500 migrants crossed the Channel in the first 11 days the agreement took effect.
On Monday, Labour said it was planning an overhaul of the asylum appeals system as it tries to cut the number of migrants staying in hotels while they await a ruling.
The government has been under increasing pressure to reduce its reliance on asylum hotels, with demonstrations held across the UK over the weekend the latest in a wave of protests over the policy.
President Trump is escalating his criticism of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for his unwillingness to overhaul the “blue slip,” a move that has further dismayed Senate Republicans.
Trump is growing increasingly upset that some of his choices for judicial posts remain stalled and on Monday vowed to take legal action against the longtime Senate custom, which allows senators to block district court judge and U.S. attorney nominees from their home states.
And the president has increasingly trained his fire on Grassley, who is tasked with shepherding Trump’s judicial picks through the Senate and has steadfastly stood behind the practice.
Trump’s latest salvo grated on GOP senators who were already frustrated with the president’s attacks on Grassley, the longest-serving senator of the current Congress who has been a stalwart in the GOP conference for decades. Many believe the barbs are unwarranted and that Trump is making a strategic error.
“Why you’re picking a fight you can’t win is really beyond most of our comprehension,” one Senate Republican told The Hill.
“It also doesn’t make sense in the face of other members who have said regardless of what the chair may do that I would uphold the blue slip policy for the remainder of this Congress,” the Senate GOP member continued. “It makes no sense picking a fight that the president has no way of winning. Period. Full stop.”
Trump’s initial comments came on Sunday night when he declared that his “Constitutional Right” to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys “has been completely taken away from me.”
“This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn, even though the Democrats, including Crooked Joe Biden (Twice!), have done so on numerous occasions,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The president also pushed Grassley to “allow strong Republican candidates to ascend to these very vital and powerful roles, and tell the Democrats, as they often tell us, to go to HELL!”
It’s the second barrage of attacks Trump has leveled against Grassley this summer, having panned him for refusing to budge on the issue last month. But unlike most other fights, Senate Republicans, in both instances, decidedly did not rush to Trump’s side and instead gave the Iowa Republican backup.
“Blue slips have stopped Obama and Biden from getting more liberal judges on the bench in conservative states. They’re used effectively,” one Senate GOP aide said, noting there is not much chance of a change after many members rallied to Grassley’s side in July.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) at the time told reporters there is little appetite to change the practice.
Trump on Monday said he would file a lawsuit to stop the use of blue slips in the Senate, arguing in the Oval Office he can only get U.S. attorneys whom Democrats approve.
“We’re also going to be filing a lawsuit on blue slipping. You know, blue slips make it impossible for me as president to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney because they have a gentleman’s agreement, nothing memorialized, it’s a gentleman’s agreement that’s about 100 years old where if you have a president, like a Republican, and if you have a Democrat senator, that senator can stop you from appointing a judge or a U.S. attorney in particular, those two,” Trump said.
“You’ll be hearing about the blue slipping. Because if you have — you don’t need two senators, you just need one Democrat senator with a Republican,” he added. “The only person I will be able to get approved in any of those states where you have a Democrat, I can’t get a U.S. attorney, I can only get a Democrat U.S. attorney.”
What has also been notable to members is the impetus for the latest attacks, which appear to stem from the inability to confirm Alina Habba to become U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Habba, who was part of Trump’s personal legal team, was named as acting U.S. attorney earlier this year for a term that lasted 120 days and nominated for the full-time post, but was unable to advance because of opposition from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.).
A panel of judges then denied her from continuing to serve and appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, her first assistant, to the interim position. Trump withdrew Habba’s nomination a day later.
Attorney General Pam Bondi proceeded to fire Grace from the post and appoint Habba in an attempt to keep her in the top role on an interim basis, but that maneuver is under intense scrutiny after a district judge declared that she is “not lawfully” holding the position.
“It’s still a miscalculation,” the Senate Republican said about Habba sparking the latest comments. “I don’t see any scenario where the president can succeed because there are other people who have expressed concern, and there’s generally I think solid support among the members.”
For her part, Habba has also recently taken aim at Grassley for holding up the blue slip practice, saying it is “not a law.” She has also bashed Booker and Kim for not speaking to her despite her “attempts to meet them.”
Grassley on Monday continued to defend his use of the blue slip and said the Judiciary panel never received her paperwork for vetting.
“A U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte As chairman I set Pres Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE,” Grassley saidon the social platform X. “Habba was withdrawn as the President’s nominee for New Jersey U.S. Atty on July 24 &the Judic cmte never received any of the paperwork needed for the Senate to vet her nomination.”
“The 100 yr old ‘blue slip’ allows home state senators 2 hv input on US attys & district court judges In Biden admin Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL W CONSERVATIVES,” Grassley added.
Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSIX) is one of the must-buy small-cap stocks to invest in. On August 11, the company announced it had entered into a second amendment to its Uncommitted Revolving Credit Agreement with Standard Chartered Bank.
10 Must-Buy Small-Cap Stocks to Invest In
A close-up of a large industrial compressor in the oil and gas industry.
With the new agreement, the company’s borrowing capacity under the credit facility has increased to $135 million. The agreement also extends the credit facility to July 30, 2027, as Power Solutions International has repaid all outstanding borrowings under the previous Shareholders’ Loan Agreement with Weichai America Corp.
Borrowings under the new credit facility are to incur interest at the applicable Secured Overnight Financing rate plus 2.10% per annum. The signing of the new agreement follows the company’s achievement of profitability and the generation of positive cash flows from operations for several years.
Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSIX) is an industrial company that designs and manufactures emission-certified engines and power systems. Its solutions are utilized in various industries, including power generation, industrial equipment, and transportation.
While we acknowledge the potential of PSIX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on thebest short-term AI stock.
Watch: Iran orchestrated ‘dangerous acts of aggression’ in Australia, says Albanese
Australia says it will expel Iran’s ambassador after alleging the country’s government directed antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attacks were “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation”. Nobody was injured in the attacks, which happened last year.
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief Mike Burgess said his agency had intelligence that Iran was “likely” behind more attacks on Jewish targets in Australia incidents.
Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three other Iranian officials have been ordered to leave Australia within seven days. Iran has not yet commented on the accusations.
Burgess said: “Iran has sought to disguise its involvement, but Asio assesses it was behind the attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on 20 October last year, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on 6 December.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time since World War Two that Australia had expelled an ambassador.
Wong said that Australia would continue to maintain some diplomatic lines with Tehran but had suspended operations at its embassy in Iran for the safety of staff.
She also urged Australians not to travel to Iran and called for any citizens in the country to leave now if it is safe to do so.
Albanese said his government would also designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Exactly a week ago, Texas House Democrats returned to the state after fleeing to prevent Republicans from voting on President Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Map.’ Now, Republicans are trying to prevent them from leaving in the future.
During the second special session, three bills have been filed to either punish quorum-breakers or prevent quorum breaks in the future; a measure added to the special session agenda by Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday.
House Bill 18: Banning fundraising during a quorum break
Senate Bill 48/House Bill 64: Vacating the seat of a lawmaker with seven consecutive days of unexcused absences
House Joint Resolution 10: Amending the Texas Constitution to reduce the quorum threshold from two-thirds majority to a simple majority
According to the Texan News reporter Brad Johnson, the Texas House Republicans agreed to support each of those bills, along with supporting House rule changes to increase penalties for future quorum breaks.
Those rule changes include:
Allowing the removal of chairmanship/vice-chairmanship and loss of seniority for breaking quorum
Dramatically increasing the $500/day fine for breaking quorum
Forfeiting a pro rata portion of their office budget for each day absent
Automatically vacating chairmanship/vice-chairmanship roles for missing two consecutive days unexcused
However, they fell just short of hitting the two-thirds vote necessary to support a censure of the Democrats who fled the state.
“The tenuous Republican Caucus unity that has been developing since the Dems broke quorum is over, and it’s the fault of Speaker [Dustin] Burrows,” State Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, wrote on X. “Only 44 Republican members were willing to punish the Derelict Dems after Burrows’ whipping votes against it. Very disappointing.”
“I am incredibly disappointed in the uniparty Republicans that chose to get the backs of the far left democrats that abandoned Texas rather than getting the backs of their constituents,” State Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, wrote.
The fight over what to do with the quorum breakers comes after the Texas House revealed the fines accrued by the quorum breakers last week.
State Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, shared a letter from the Committee on House Administration to his office charging him $9,354.25 for the quorum break. Fees included $7,000 worth of fines — House rules fine members gone for a quorum break $500 a day — along with a $2,354.25 fine to cover the expenses to have the Texas Department of Public Safety attempt to bring Democrats back to Austin. The letter states $124,943.25 was spent towards the latter purpose.
According to the Texas House Democrats, most members who broke quorum incurred a fine of the “same amount or very, very similar.”
Push for banning fundraising during a special session
On Friday, the Texas Senate stopped a last-ditch measure by State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, to stall the “Big, Beautiful Map,” even further through a filibuster. At around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, accused Alvarado of using her seat for fundraising, calling it unethical and potentially unlawful. Currently, lawmakers are prevented from raising campaign funds during regular session, but are allowed to fundraise during any subsequent special sessions.
“I thought it was a lame excuse, and I thought it was just, you know, overreaching, trying to shut down a filibuster, something that’s been a Senate tradition for as long as I know,” Alvarado said. “They didn’t say what rule was broken, what law was broken, because there wasn’t any, and I think it was just a way to yet again, silence voices.”
On social media, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, then called for a ban on special session fundraising.
“I think the whole furor over the fundraising filibuster brought this to the surface. Because what happens if somebody does send out a email that says, ‘I’m going to filibuster, and you need to watch, and not only watch, you need to rush donations to me,'” Bettencourt said. “And that’s something the Senate had never seen before.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick followed up by saying a special session fundraising moratorium could hinder future quorum breaks.
“[Bettencourt’s proposal] greatly reduces quorum breaks because outsiders will not be able to fund the costs to travel outside Texas,” Patrick wrote. “It will cut down on the number of special sessions and their length. Members want to complete their work quickly and effectively, so they can return home to their families and regular jobs. The most important result is that this bill will keep legislators on task and save taxpayer money.”
Alvarado said she supports Bettencourt and Patrick’s attempt to ban special session fundraising.
“Sign me up, I’ll be the first one to joint author,” Alvarado said.
“I know I have at least one bipartisan vote,” Bettencourt said after Alvarado posted her support on social media. “That much is for sure.”
Bettencourt said his fundraising ban would also extend to the Governor’s office — as the Governor is the only one who has the power to call special sessions.
“I think we’ll get clear special sessions,” Bettencourt said. “We’ve had nine special sessions in four years… it starts turning everything into mini-legislative sessions as opposed to what special sessions were designed to be—fixing specific problems and getting them fixed and get out of (Austin) as soon as you can.”
Hours after Patrick and Bettencourt called for the special session fundraising ban on social media, Abbott added two items to the second special session.
ThredUp Inc. (NASDAQ:TDUP) is one of the must-buy small-cap stocks to invest in. On August 4, the company delivered solid second-quarter results driven by strong customer and order growth. Revenue in the quarter increased 16% year-over-year to $77.7 million as Gross profit increased 17% to $61.7 million and gross margin expanded to 79.5% from 78.8% in the second quarter of last year.
10 Must-Buy Small-Cap Stocks to Invest In
A smartly dressed woman browsing a selection of designer clothing in an upscale retail store.
The robust revenue growth was driven by a 17% increase in active buyers to 1.47 million and a 21% rise in orders purchased to 1.54 million. Loss from continuing operations shrank to $5.2 million compared to a loss of $9.4 million in the second quarter of last year. The better-than-expected results came as ThredUp continues to benefit from AI investments that are driving buyer and seller acquisition.
ThredUp expects the growth achieved in the second quarter to continue in the third quarter. Therefore, it expects revenue to range between $76 million and $78 million, representing a 25% year-over-year increase. Gross margin is expected to range between 77% and 79%.
ThredUp Inc. (NASDAQ:TDUP) is an online consignment and thrift store specializing in buying and selling secondhand women’s and children’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. It also offers a “Resale-as-a-Service” platform that allows brands and retailers to integrate resale into their businesses.
While we acknowledge the potential of TDUP as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on thebest short-term AI stock.
Leila Nathoo, political correspondent & Daniel Kraemer
File on 4 Investigates
PA Media
Jess Phillips said authorities must make best of system they have until a better one is found
The main screening tool used to decide which domestic abuse victims get urgent support “doesn’t work”, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has admitted to the BBC.
Police, social services and healthcare workers across the UK have largely relied on the Dash questionnaire to assess risk since 2009.
But there are now mounting concerns from academics and those working in the sector that the checklist does not correctly identify victims at the highest risk of further harm.
Phillips told the BBC’s File on 4 that she was reviewing the entire system supporting victims but said it wouldn’t “change overnight”.
The Dash (Domestic, Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour-Based Violence) assessment is a list of 27 questions put to victims, to 24 of which they answer yes, no or don’t know.
The questions include things like: “Has the current incident resulted in injury?” and “is the abuse getting worse?”
The resulting score typically determines what happens next. If a victim is classified as “high” risk, they are referred on for specialist, intensive support.
There were 108 domestic homicides in England and Wales in the year to March 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics.
But one analysis of 135 recent domestic homicide reviews, shared with the BBC, found just 20% of the Dash forms completed for the victims identified them as high risk.
Now, families of women who were murdered after not being graded as high risk are exploring legal action against the institutions they believe failed their loved ones.
“These aren’t just statistics, they’re preventable tragedies and it leaves families devastated when risks are inadequately assessed and victims are left exposed,” lawyer Matthew Jury, whose firm has been approached by relatives, told the BBC.
Jess Phillips, whose remit also covers violence against women and girls, admitted there were “obvious problems” with the Dash questionnaire but said: “Until I can replace it with something that does [work] we have to make the very best of the system that we have.”
“Any risk assessment tool is only as good as the person who is using it,” she said, adding that practitioners needed to be trained to understand that risk was dynamic.
People were killed even when deemed to be at high risk, she added. “The grading system won’t immediately protect you… It is the systems that flow from those risk assessments that matter much, much, much more than the score.”
The Home Office is now reviewing how all agencies handle domestic abuse cases – including risk assessments – as part of its wider strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, which is expected to be published in the autumn.
Multiple academic studies, some dating back almost a decade, have looked into how Dash is performing and have found that it is unable to accurately identify high-risk victims.
A study from the London School of Economics published in 2020, analysing Greater Manchester Police data, found that in almost nine out of 10 repeat cases of violence, victims had previously been classed as standard or medium risk by officers using Dash.
In 2022, academics from Manchester and Seville Universities analysed anonymous police force data and found 96% of victims who were retrospectively judged as “high risk” had previously been classed as “standard” or “medium” risk by Dash.
“When it comes to the question of the reliability of Dash as a predictive tool, there is a growing consensus that Dash does not do that job at all well”, Dr Heather Strang, director of the Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology at the University of Cambridge told the BBC.
“It wasn’t designed to do that, it has become the primary tool over the past several years used by police to risk assess and predict future behaviour”, she said.
“It is possible to do much, much better,” said Tori Olphin, a former police officer and data scientist who worked with Thames Valley Police to analyse their Dash performance and who came up with an alternative tool, using a much wider collection of police data.
“This is a group of people who we are making decisions about who are incredibly vulnerable, who may go on to suffer life-changing, life altering or life-ending outcomes from their domestic abuse.”
Details of organisations offering support for victims of domestic abuse are available at BBC Action Line.
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) says that about 20% of all police recorded crime relates to domestic abuse, accounting for over 400,000 recorded incidents each year.
It decided in 2022 that forces should use a new questionnaire, Dara, which was developed by the College of Policing following its concerns that Dash wasn’t producing consistent information on risk when used by officers.
But 20 out of 39 police forces across the UK which responded to freedom of information requests sent by the BBC, said they were still currently using Dash.
The NPCC told the BBC that risk assessment tools were not designed to be used in isolation.
“We also expect and encourage officers to use their own professional curiosity, training and experience to bring offenders to justice and ensure the effective safeguarding of victims,” it said in a statement.
Charities who operate in the sector have also raised concerns about Dash, which many are required to use as part of their contracts to provide domestic abuse services on behalf of public bodies, the BBC found from freedom of information requests.
“We have always believed that it falls short of being competent, specifically with the demographic that we represent,” said Djanomi Robinson, operations manager at Sistah Space, a charity working with black African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse.
“There’s a lot of nuances that are missed, cultural specifications that are missed.
“We’ve had many instances where service users of ours fall short, they don’t rank very high in their risk assessment, but we as specialists can tell actually their situation is quite serious”, she said.
Ellen Miller, chief executive of SafeLives, the charity that initially developed Dash and promotes its use, told the BBC that the “beauty” of the questionnaire was “its simplicity, its universality and its accessibility”.
She said the apparent failings of Dash to correctly identify high-risk cases were down to “a combination of the tool not being updated to reflect everything we know now, and it is also an issue about how it is being used.”
The government has commissioned SafeLives to run an initial review into the full domestic abuse risk process across agencies.
The Department of Defense (DOD) tech innovation chief stepped down from his role, the latest departure, coming just days after DOD Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted three top military officials last week.
Doug Beck, who has led the California-based Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) since 2023, resigned on Monday, a U.S. official familiar with the matter and speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Hill on Monday.
The DIU did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
The DIU works on accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the U.S. military and partners with organizations across the DOD to “rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale.”
The DIU has five offices around the country: Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and at the Pentagon itself.
Beck, who is a captain in the Navy Reserve, served in Iraq and Afghanistan with a joint special operations task force. Before leading the DIU, which was established in 2015, Beck was a vice president at Apple and was with the tech behemoth for more than 13 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Beck’s departure from the DOD comes just three days after Hegseth terminated three senior military officials — the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse; Rear Adm. Milton Sands, who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command; and Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, the head of the Navy Reserve.
Also last week, the Air Force announced that its chief of staff, Gen. David Allvin, will retire two years into his four-year term.
