
DHS watchdog says DHS lawyers delaying Secret Service Jan. 6 text probe
Sen. Rob Portman wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to press him about delays in providing records to Congress.
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Nicole Sganga is CBS News' homeland security and justice correspondent. She is based in Washington, D.C. and reports for all shows and platforms.
Throughout her 10 years at CBS News, and most recently as homeland security and justice reporter, Sganga embedded with U.S. Coast Guard rescue missions in the Florida Straits, documented conditions at immigration processing centers dotting the Southwest border, tracked the spiraling implications of cyberattacks on the U.S. healthcare system and reported from outside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th insurrection.
She helped lead CBS News investigations into the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, law enforcement's systemic failures in responding to the Uvalde shooting, black market marijuana and the rise of fentanyl trafficking. Sganga also tracked federal hate crimes, domestic violence extremism and gun legislation reform efforts in her role. She reported from inside the court during the civil trial for the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally that condemned two-dozen white supremacists and neo-Nazi organizations.
In 2023, Sganga made her network debut on five broadcasts while reporting on a fatal crash that killed eight Venezuelan nationals in search of the American dream outside a migrant shelter in South Texas. Sganga operated as a multimedia journalist on that breaking news story, serving as cameraperson, audio tech, producer and correspondent.
As a campaign reporter for CBS News, Sganga covered the 2020 reelection campaign of President Trump and filed on-the-ground reporting from more than three dozen rallies. While covering the 2020 New Hampshire primary, Sganga interviewed more than 20 candidates and countless voters on issues ranging from health care to immigration to voting rights.
As a digital journalist in her first role at CBS News, Sganga traveled to more than two dozen states and territories to report on breaking news events including Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Maria, the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting in Las Vegas, the Capitol Gazette shooting, the Sutherland Springs shooting and more.
As a fellow for the New York Times, she filed columns detailing the lack of health care and education inside Rohingya internment camps in western Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Sganga graduated from the University of Notre Dame as a Hesburgh-Yusko scholar and was included in the 2019 Domer Dozen class of outstanding alumni. She earned her LLM in International Human Rights Law at Oxford University and is a member of New College. She is a proud native of Long Island.
Sen. Rob Portman wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to press him about delays in providing records to Congress.
Their texts were lost "in a 'reset' of their government phones upon leaving office," according to the reports of a watchdog and The Washington Post.
James Murray sent a message to Secret Service staff announcing he would delay his departure. His last day was to be July 31.
The legal review comes as lawmakers are calling on DHS inspector general to step aside.
The DHS deputy inspector general told U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray that the agency should stop investigating the matter because it could impede the inspector general's own probe into the agency's Jan. 6 response.
The DHS watchdog and Jan. 6 committee have requested text messages sent and received by 24 U.S. Secret Service officials on Jan. 5-6, two Secret Service officials confirmed to CBS News.
The texts were erased after the DHS inspector general requested electronic communications records from the Secret Service as part of its examination of Jan. 6 events.
To date, "exploitation of Log4j occurred at lower levels than many experts predicted, given the severity of the vulnerability," a report from the panel determined.
Overall fatalities among law enforcement officers are down by almost a third, compared to 2021.
The incident came as President Biden was set to arrive in Tel Aviv as part of a four-day trip to the Middle East.
Investigators found Haitian migrants were seeking to deliver food and supplies to their families and not threatening U.S border agents.
DHS has no "long-term approach" to countering domestic terrorism, report says.
Murray announced his retirement Thursday, after nearly three decades in the U.S. Secret Service.
The 30-day initiative was deemed "Operation North Star" and focused on cities with a high number of homicides and shootings.
At least 53 people died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer, officials said, describing the deadliest migrant smuggling case in U.S. history.