The Nation in Brief

An official at the Pentagon, speaking anonymously, said that no classified information was compromised in the recent breach.
An official at the Pentagon, speaking anonymously, said that no classified information was compromised in the recent breach.

Cyberattack targets Pentagon personnel

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon on Friday said a cyber breach of Department of Defense travel records compromised the personal information and credit card data of U.S. military and civilian personnel.

The breach could have affected as many as 30,000 workers, but that number could grow as the investigation continues, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The breach could have happened some months ago but was only recently discovered.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the breach is under investigation, said that no classified information was compromised.

According to a Pentagon statement, a department cyber team informed leaders about the breach on Oct. 4.

Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino, a Pentagon spokesman, said the department is still gathering information on the size and scope of the hack, which involved a single unidentified commercial vendor, and who did it.

Disclosure of the breach comes on the heels of a federal report released Tuesday that concluded that military weapons programs are vulnerable to cyberattacks and the Pentagon has been slow to protect the systems.

Aviation spy suspect pleads innocent

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Chinese national pleaded innocent Friday to charges of economic espionage and trying to steal trade secrets from multiple U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, including GE Aviation.

The government alleges that beginning in December 2013, defendant Yanjun Xu recruited experts who worked at aviation companies, including GE Aviation in Cincinnati. They say Xu and others would pay stipends for the experts to travel to China under the guise of delivering a university presentation.

Court papers say Xu and other operatives discussed how they would obtain "highly sensitive information" from the experts.

On Friday, Xu was ordered by a magistrate judge to be detained before trial over the objections of Xu's attorneys, who say he's not at risk of fleeing. And, a day earlier, U.S. District Judge Timothy Black appointed a classified information officer to handle sensitive data during proceedings.

"Xu has no criminal history, has been charged with non-violent, non-drug-related offenses and is not in possession of any confidential trade secret information that could now be disclosed," his attorney, Jeanne Cors, said in a court filing Friday.

Xu was detained by the government in Belgium, where he spent the past six months, before extradition to the United States, Cors said in the filing. His wife and 10-year-old son obtained visas and are relocating to the U.S. to be with him during the trial, the filing said.

Senate hopeful sets fundraising record

The campaign of Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke on Friday said it had raised $38.1 million in the past three months, bringing his total to nearly $62 million -- a haul that makes him one of the most successful fundraisers in American politics.

The three-term congressman outstripped Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who reported raising $12 million over the past three months, bringing his total for 2017 and 2018 to about $28 million.

The cascade of cash propelled O'Rourke past some of the biggest fundraisers on the national level, including then-Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who broke records when she raised nearly $52 million for her 2006 re-election.

The money O'Rourke reportedly raised from July through September shattered the previous record for a Senate candidate set by New York Republican Rick Lazio, who raised $22 million in one quarter during his unsuccessful 2000 run against Clinton, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

O'Rourke's campaign shared limited information from the third-quarter fundraising report, which will be filed with the Federal Election Commission and made public on Monday.

Louisiana pays to end harassment suit

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana has agreed to pay nearly $150,000 to end a sexual misconduct lawsuit against a former Republican secretary of state who resigned in May, the state's highest public official felled by accusations during the #MeToo movement.

Tom Schedler, who was Louisiana's chief elections official while he held the post, will personally pay his female ex-worker $18,425 on top of the taxpayer-financed amount of $149,075 under settlement details provided by the state Division of Administration. The payments resolve legal claims that Schedler sexually harassed the woman when she worked for him.

Schedler, a Republican in office since 2010, left the elected position five months ago. The sexual harassment lawsuit was filed in February, alleging Schedler harassed the woman for years and punished her when she rebuffed his repeated advances. Schedler's spokesman said the pair had a consensual sexual relationship. The woman's lawyer denied that.

A legislative audit released in April showed Louisiana has spent more than $5 million on lawsuits involving sexual harassment claims since 2009.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

photo

AP/The Albany Times Union/JOHN CARL D’ANNIBALE

Mourners enter St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church in Amsterdam, N.Y., on Friday to attend visitation for eight of the 20 victims of last week’s limousine crash in Schoharie, N.Y.

A Section on 10/13/2018

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