Whatevs: They got ["]OMB["] by short and curly procedures

... In its response to us, OMB described the withholding as necessary to ensure that the funds were not spent "in a manner that could conflict with the President's foreign policy." OMB Response, at 9. The ICA does not permit deferrals for policy reasons. See B-237297.3, Mar. 6, 1990; B-224882, Apr. 1, 1987. OMB's justification for the withholding falls squarely within the scope of an impermissible policy deferral. Thus, the deferral of USAI funds was improper under the ICA....

Mulvaney's got some splainin to do. Better bring a few dictionaries, diagrams, possibly weed.

OMB's assertions have no basis in law.  We recognize that, even where the President does not transmit a special message pursuant to the procedures established by the ICA, it is possible that a delay in obligation may not constitute a reportable [BWAH!] impoundment. See B-329092, Dec. 12, 2017; B-222215, Mar. 28, 1986.However, programmatic delays occur when an agency is taking necessary steps to implement a program, but because of factors external to the program, funds temporarily go unobligated. B-329739, Dec. 19, 2018; B-291241, Oct. 8, 2002; B-241514.5, May 7, 1991. This presumes, of course, that the agency is making reasonable efforts to obligate. B-241514.5, May 7, 1991.  Here, there was no external factor causing an unavoidable delay. Rather, OMB on its own volition explicitly barred DOD from obligating amounts.

Always read the footnotes.

Surveillance, 16 Jan 2020

Judicial Watch [!] brought a federal complaint to obtain State Department records

- Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch

• Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent
  
• The Global Engagement Center
  
• The U.S. Embassy Kyiv
  
• The Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
  
• The Bureau of Public Affairs
  
• The Bureau of International Information Programs
  
• The Office of the Legal Advisor
  

The time frame of the request was identified as "January 1, 2019 to the present."

on its use of the CrowdTangle [!] social media monitoring program to surveil journalists and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Plaintiff, Judicial Watch is a well-know politically conservative NGO. Plaintiff motion to compel production of docs requested October 23, 2019 is an auspicious contribution to fog of war, rumors, and just plain bullshit surrounding DJT's administration harassment of Yovanovitch. Yovanovitch submitted her diplomatic brief to "closed door" committees' hearings and maudlin press scrutiny since October. What expectation of privacy in either her personal, public, or professional capacities, Yovanovitch claims, remains to be seen, I could not imagine. I suppose, Judicial Watch is telegraphing a frivolous, or not, interrogatory strategy to sympathetic senate interlocutors.