Alex Iftimie

OpenAI legal; fmr @DOJ #natsec, @MoFoLLP partner; tweets on #cyber & national #security; views are my own

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

Thanks to the @Hewlett_Found and @AspenInstitute for putting on a terrific Verify Conference

[Hewlett Foundation @Hewlett_Found]

@OpenAI @FBI @CISAgov @Microsoft @USCG @Kate_OKeeffe “AI safety and AI governance transcends global boundaries. We need a global consensus and to find common ground on issues of AI safety.” - Alex Iftimie, Associate General Counsel of @OpenAI

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

🩵

[OpenAI @OpenAI]

We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo.

We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

Attorneys should not be turned into witnesses against their own clients. That is the takeaway of our amicus brief, along with 82 other law firms, in support of Covington's opposition to releasing the names of clients targeted by a cyberattack to the SEC.

https://t.co/hxDTqJVzEM

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

Barrack is alleged to have used high-level connections within the Trump Administration to act as a back channel for the UAE to influence U.S. policy.

It's a relatively novel use of Section 951, and it has broad implications for how we thing about diplomacy.

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

The Thomas Barrack trial, which started this week in federal court in Brooklyn, is the latest flashpoint in the DOJ's efforts to prosecute foreign influence efforts.

I sat down this week with @nkorpett on the @lawfareblog Podcast to discuss.

https://t.co/J8WBYTwzvY

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

DOJ sought to expose some of these disinformation activities directed at the Women's March and other U.S. social movements in charges it brought in 2018.

https://t.co/0g2mwQIhNf

2/2

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

Pleased to contribute to this important reporting by @EllenBarryNYT tracing the impact of Russian disinformation campaigns on the Women's March--part of a focused and well-funded Russian effort to exploit divisions within our society. 1/2

[Ellen Barry @EllenBarryNYT]

After the 2017 Women's March, Russian trolls began testing out narratives critical of the movement. They posed as Black women alienated from white feminism. As conservative women. As jeering men. Then they found a far more effective line of attack.

https://t.co/I1eYQzU6Hj

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

For those wondering what may get unsealed tomorrow, it would include a filled out version of this form -- as well as attachments identifying the place to be searched and the items to be seized:

https://t.co/8SM6FSWvLL

[The Associated Press @AP]

BREAKING: The Justice Department has asked a court to unseal the search warrant the FBI received before searching former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. https://t.co/qyhixkXB7l

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

... the search warrant gave DOJ the means to recover the documents before they could fall into the wrong hands. Beyond searching for evidence a crime, search warrants are used to seize items that are illegally possessed. 2/2

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

Too much of the discussion about the search warrant has focused on potential criminal charges against the former President. A search warrant is not just a precursor to charges. If the DOJ was concerned about highly sensitive document being stored improperly at Mar-a-Lago ... 1/2

[Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT]

Some Trump advisers have insisted they were trying all along to work with the feds. But others familiar w federal officials’ efforts have said that Mr. Trump resisted returning property that belonged to the government, despite being told that he needed to. https://t.co/es0aah5WpN

[Brandon Van Grack @BVanGrack]

Classified info pertaining to nuclear weapons has its own classification designation under the Atomic Energy Act called Restricted Data. Violations involving Restricted Data, like other classified info, are investigated by the DOJ Counterintelligence & Export Control Section.

[Brandon Van Grack @BVanGrack]

It is HIGHLY unusual for Jay Bratt, the Chief of the DOJ Counterintelligence & Export Control Section (CES), to sign an unsealing motion--or any motion. It's possible he hasn't signed one since he arrived at CES years ago.

[Miriam Wugmeister @MWugmeister]

This is really important distinction about what private browsing does and does not accomplish

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

The facts also matter--and we don't know them all. For example, the victims may not have known they were paying a ransom to a NK group at the time, a factor Treasury is likely to take into account notwithstanding the strict liability of civil sanctions violations.

5/

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

A thread re: the Justice Department's announced seizure of ransoms paid to North Korean ransomware actors, including by two health care providers in Kansas and Colorado--and the sanctions enforcement implications.
1/

[Eric Tucker @etuckerAP]

At ⁦@FordhamLawNYC⁩ this morning for cybersecurity event with top officials at FBI, DOJ and other federal agencies. Deputy AG Lisa Monaco says the US recently disrupted a North Korea hacking group whose ransomware targeted American hospitals across the country last year.

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

The USG underscored prior Treasury guidance that when parties fully cooperate with law enforcement and take steps to improve their cybersecurity, Treasury is more likely to resolve apparent sanctions violations involving ransomware with a non-public enforcement response.

4/

[Alex Iftimie @aiftimie]

In another example of how the sanctions compliance landscape has gotten more complicated for ransomware victims who are contemplating payment, Evil Corp has started to use off-the-shelf ransomware tools to blend in with non-sanctioned ransomware groups.

[CyberScoop - @cyberscoop.bsky.social @CyberScoopNews]

Evil Corp affiliates are using off-the-shelf ransomware to evade sanctions
https://t.co/F6yfwNGIwu by @TonyaJoRiley