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Cybersecurity Gets a Presidential Push in New EO

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.14.13

In the much anticipated cybersecurity Executive Order (EO) issued on Feb. 12, 2013, President Obama identified the cyber threat as "one of the most serious national security challenges we must confront," established a Presidential policy for the U.S. "to increase the volume, timeliness, and quality of cyber threat information shared with the U.S. private sector entities," and provided deadlines for federal agencies to prepare procedures for enhanced sharing of cyber threat information with eligible private entities. In addition, the cyber EO triggers deadlines for the FAR Council to develop recommendations on "the feasibility, security benefits, and relative merits of incorporating security standards into acquisition planning and contract administration," thus signaling a likely push for new cybersecurity acquisition regulations for government contractors and the private sector.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....

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