2026-08-13
9 分钟BuzzMobile.com From the New York Times, it's the headlines.
I'm Tracy Mumford.
Today's Thursday, August 13th.
Here's what we're covering.
In a Times exclusive, my colleagues have learned about a major purchase by the Department of Homeland Security.
Last fall, DHS said it needed airplanes fast, specifically a fleet it could use for more deportation flights.
It said the need was so urgent, there was no time to follow the federal requirement
to get competing bids to ensure it was getting the best deal for taxpayer money.
Instead, it ended up spending $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes.
And the Times has learned that since the government acquired them,
the planes have barely been used for deportations or anything else.
Three of the aircraft are luxury business jets,
and within months of getting them, DHS started trying to loan or lease them out to other federal agencies,
including for FBI Director Kash Patel to use, according to lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The other seven planes have been left parked at an airport in Louisiana for months at a time.
An internal government document reviewed by the Times said DHS didn't have the staff to operate them.
Overall, the nearly half a billion dollar contract underscores what's become a broader trend in the second
Trump administration of no-bid contracts being awarded to people with connections to the president or his cabinet.
In this case, the chairman of the company that got the plane contract had donated to a group that supported Kristi Noem,
who was Homeland Security Secretary until the spring.