September 23, 2026 – Short News

Today in our news briefs: The FBI is investigating a possible attack on its recruitment website. Republicans are calling for an investigation into Donald Trump Jr. over a wedding celebration financed by a Russian businessman. Hegseth wants future generals to fight wars on a screen. And following the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin is considering blocking a future AfD-led state government from accessing classified German military defense plans.

Also: Trump's Greenland agreement and the question of just how far the American military presence on the island is set to expand.

"We Hacked the FBI": Attackers Claim to Have Stolen Personal Data on Every Employee

The FBI is looking for people who want to work for the bureau. On Tuesday, visitors to its recruitment website were greeted with a different message: "This site has been seized by ShinyHunters." The attackers had left those words where applicants would normally look for information about a career with the bureau. It was a reference to the notices the FBI itself puts on websites it has seized. This time, the joke was on the investigators. Shortly afterward, both the recruitment website and the application portal for prospective special agents became unavailable.

The ShinyHunters group claims it stole data on every current and former FBI employee, as well as every applicant. The information allegedly included names and private home addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. In some cases, it also included information about spouses. A representative of the group provided a sample containing alleged records for around 5,000 FBI employees. Some of the phone numbers in those records could be linked to people with the names provided. Further checks found that certain numbers were associated with employees of the U.S. Department of Justice. That lends support to parts of the information presented. Whether the entire collection is authentic and actually came from FBI systems remains unconfirmed.

After the first reports appeared, the FBI confirmed that it was aware of the claims about unauthorized activity on its recruitment website. The bureau said it was investigating the incident. That did not amount to confirmation that all personnel records had been stolen. The attackers' claims about the extent of their possible access have not been independently verified either. There is a substantial difference between altering a website and gaining the access to an entire federal agency's personnel files that the group claims to have obtained.

Still, it is possible to describe how ShinyHunters says it carried out the attack. According to the group, it began Monday evening. The attackers claim they exploited a previously unknown security vulnerability in Oracle's PeopleSoft human resources software. From there, they allegedly gained access to servers in AWS GovCloud, the government's cloud computing environment, and downloaded between 2 and 3 terabytes of data. GovCloud is designed for particularly sensitive work carried out by U.S. government agencies. The FBI has confirmed neither that method of access nor the alleged data theft. There is also no independent technical evidence so far to substantiate the group's account.

An earlier wave of attacks raises additional questions. Back in June, there were reports of ShinyHunters gaining access to PeopleSoft systems at more than 100 organizations. At the time, an attempt to break into a corresponding FBI portal was said to have failed. Whether the group succeeded in a new attack in September or whether its current claim is connected to the earlier wave remains unclear. The attackers have offered an explanation. Independent technical confirmation is still missing.

If the claimed data really has fallen into the wrong hands, the consequences would reach far beyond the workplace. Private addresses could make investigators and their families easier to locate. Information about spouses would give criminals additional ways to put people under pressure. Perpetrators associated with attacks like these have previously used stolen phone records to track and intimidate FBI investigators. According to the bureau, the group's methods also include making fake emergency calls that bring armed police officers to private homes. Accurate personnel and family information would also be of considerable interest to foreign intelligence agencies.

On the altered recruitment website, ShinyHunters also claimed that protected health information had been compromised. The group says it has access to information about former employees and applicants. Application records in particular could contain personal information that was never meant to become public. Which of those records the group actually possesses has not been established. There has also been no confirmed report so far of affected individuals being notified.

ShinyHunters is known for attacks in which stolen data is subsequently used as leverage. The perpetrators typically threaten to publish the information unless the targeted organization pays them. In the FBI case, however, a representative of the group denies that money is the motive. He says he would describe what they intend to do as coercion rather than extortion. On its publication site, the group demands that the FBI correct or remove an earlier report about ShinyHunters within 1 week. In that report, the bureau accused the attackers of exaggerating the extent of their access to confidential data to extract payments. The FBI had also described threats against victims and their families.

The attackers ended their message with the words "Thank you for your attention to this matter," a reference to Donald Trump's posts on his own social media platform. It's a joke that can spread easily. For the people whose names appear in the sample records, the unanswered question is far more serious: Does someone now know where they live?

Hegseth Wants Future Generals to Play War Games and Turns the Existing Promotion System Upside Down

Pete Hegseth wants officers to be tested in simulated combat before they can be promoted to general or admiral. The Pentagon is expected to introduce the new selection process later this year. Army and Marine Corps colonels and Navy captains will have to show how they make military decisions under pressure. Hegseth says he wants to cut bureaucracy and base promotions on actual performance. The evaluations and performance reports that superiors have compiled over an officer's entire career are supposed to carry less weight in the selection process. A battle fought on a screen will help determine who later gets to command real soldiers. Hegseth points to the experience of major military exercises held before the United States entered World War II. Those exercises, he says, helped identify capable commanders, including Dwight Eisenhower and Chester Nimitz.

What the test looks like will depend on the military branch. The Army is planning a written assessment followed by a digital war game. The Air Force and Space Force will use a 2-hour analysis test and a 1-hour simulation. Navy officers will first undergo a 3-hour written assessment at the Naval War College before taking part in a war game lasting 2 to 3 hours. The Marine Corps is planning an 8-hour remote assessment on an artificial intelligence platform. The Joint Staff is taking part as well: Between 50 and 60 students at the Joint Forces Staff College will first be tested in writing and then complete an artificial intelligence exercise in Norfolk. Hegseth assigned Stuart Scheller to lead the effort a year ago. The military branches are expected to report to the Pentagon every week on the development of the new process.

Hegseth has already blocked numerous promotions to general and admiral, including, according to reports, those of many Black officers and women. He has also long claimed that people in the military are promoted because of their race or gender. He has provided no evidence for the quotas he condemns. Now he describes his new combat assessment as an objective standard under which only decisions made under pressure count. What a poor result will mean for an experienced officer remains unclear under the rules described so far. What is clear is that promotion to the military's highest ranks will also depend on how someone fights a war that takes place only on a screen.

Russian Oligarch Pays for Trump's Son's Wedding Celebration: Now Republicans Are Calling for an Investigation, Too

A private island in the Bahamas, 3 days of wedding celebrations and fireworks paid for by someone else. Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Bettina reportedly had their celebration financed by Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin. Republican Senator John Curtis wants to know what was behind the gifts. Kremlev, the president of the controversial International Boxing Association, reportedly traveled to China shortly beforehand as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin. To Curtis, gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. president's son smell like corruption. He is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Trump Jr. Hunter Biden should also testify about his relationships with foreign business figures and any financial benefits he may have received.

Read also our article: Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Celebration on a Private Island - Paid for by an Oligarch Close to Putin

Curtis is no longer alone in his own party. John Cornyn, himself a member of the Judiciary Committee, explicitly supports the request. Thom Tillis considers the gifts questionable enough that Trump Jr. should come forward himself and explain how they came about. Tillis would support an investigation after the election, although he was not prepared to commit to subpoenaing Trump Jr. Bill Cassidy had already described a $250,000 gift from a businessman with close Kremlin ties as wrong. Hunter Biden, meanwhile, said he was ready to testify alongside Trump Jr., anytime and anywhere. Democrat Dick Durbin supports an investigation into both presidential sons. He noted, however, that Hunter Biden had already testified under oath before Congress about his past business dealings. If the committee ignored the new allegations, Durbin said, it would risk becoming complicit in a cover-up.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he had not yet read Curtis's letter. He also had to deal with calls for hearings on the business practices of social media companies. Cornyn believes Grassley wants to examine the reports first. Majority Leader John Thune likewise referred the matter to the committee chairman and said he did not have enough information to comment on Kremlev's gifts. Curtis's move comes in the middle of an election campaign for Republicans: Democrats want to make the presidential family's business dealings an issue, while senators from Trump's own party are now demanding answers as well. Whether Trump Jr. will actually be subpoenaed remains open. The bill for the celebration is still hanging over the whole affair.

Trump Wanted to Take Over Greenland. Now He Signs Off on Expanding American Military Power on the Island

For months, Donald Trump threatened to bring Greenland under American control. He raised the possibility of sanctions and even military intervention. On September 22, he sat down with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, and signed a security agreement. The United States is allowed to expand its military presence on the island. The publicly released account makes no mention of transferring sovereignty. The White House calls the agreement "historic" and says it is critical to America's security in the Arctic. For now, the major dispute over the island has resulted in an agreement about American troops.

Shortly before the signing, Trump had announced before the UN General Assembly that the United States would immediately reinforce its forces in the region and build 2 major military bases. According to earlier reports, Washington wants to restore a former Cold War base in southern Greenland and open another one in the east of the island. Trump had repeatedly described Greenland as indispensable to his "Golden Dome" missile defense system. He cited the threat from Russia and China as his justification and even demanded that NATO help the United States bring Greenland under American control. Now the military presence is set to grow, while the island remains part of Denmark.

Nielsen described the agreement at the signing ceremony as beneficial to both sides. He said the interests of the people of Greenland and their rights had been a decisive condition throughout the negotiations. A look at Copenhagen shows just how difficult it was to reach this outcome: Trump's earlier threats had strained relations so badly that, late last year, Denmark's military intelligence service included the United States for the first time among the countries that could pose a threat to national security. Now the agreement has been signed. How far American authority in Greenland will actually extend will have to be judged by the agreement's specific provisions and how they are put into practice.

43,8 Percent for the AfD: Berlin Wants to Block Saxony-Anhalt From Accessing Classified German Military Defense Plans

The German military's classified defense plan for the event of another Russian attack in Eastern Europe runs to around 1,000 pages. The document, drawn up in 2024, has so far also been available to the authorities of all 16 German states. Following the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, that could come to an end. The party won 44 percent of the vote and is negotiating a governing coalition. The federal government under Friedrich Merz is reportedly preparing to block the state authorities from accessing the plan. Berlin fears that confidential information could make its way to Moscow. No one has yet established that this document has been passed on. The federal government is now considering restricting access before those fears turn into an actual security breach.

The defense plan may not be the only thing affected. Berlin is also reportedly considering withholding intelligence about Russian sabotage in Europe and investigations into far-right groups from Saxony-Anhalt. That includes information about the AfD itself. Its state chapter is classified as confirmed extremist and is monitored, including by undercover domestic intelligence officers. A complete cutoff of information sharing is not planned, so counterterrorism efforts can continue. Poland and several Scandinavian countries have reportedly already raised concerns with Berlin about possible intelligence leaks to Russia. The federal government has not yet specified which documents Saxony-Anhalt might actually be denied access to in the future.

Boris Pistorius had announced before the election that he would not share military intelligence with an AfD-led state government. The Defense Ministry says it is currently examining which information requires special protection. AfD representative Jork Herrmann describes excluding a party on the basis of unfounded and unprovable allegations as undemocratic. State party leader Ulrich Siegmund called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "war crime" during a televised debate and then demanded that sanctions against Moscow be lifted. While negotiations over a governing coalition continue in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin is already grappling with the question of which classified documents a future state government should still be allowed to see.