S2 Underground

//The Wire//2300Z August 29, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DIPLOMATIC TENSIONS INCREASE IN MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH AMERICA. MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING RESULTS IN INCREASED THREAT RISK AS MANY PEOPLE DECLARE SUPPORT FOR THE KILLER.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: Indications and warnings are growing regarding what may be a general increase in hostilities throughout the region. Yesterday, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom voted to begin the process of re-imposing the United Nations sanctions on Iran (the same sanctions that were lifted in 2015). In Gaza, the conflict continues as before, with the statements by the White House over the past few weeks giving the green light for another expansion of Israeli operations in Gaza City. This morning, the White House revoked the diplomatic travel visas of Palestinian Authority diplomats, so that they cannot travel to testify before the United Nations General Assembly.Analyst Comment: This could be nothing, or this could be the start of something. Overnight, Turkey inexplicably closed their airspace to all Israeli aircraft and has allegedly cut all economic ties with Israel. Separately, Germany issued warnings to all of their citizens in Iran to leave the country, mostly out of fear of retaliatory attacks. So far, these are very early indications of trouble, but the history of the region is proof that very little is needed for a war to kick off again.South America: US Naval operations continue off the coast of Venezuela, as Venezuelan forces increase territorial defense operations. Several low-level military exercises have been undertaken in Venezuela, and coastal gunboat patrols have increased over the past few days.Analyst Comment: So far, this is all just posturing from both parties. Venezuela has no real defense against American forces, so any real resistance to this "naval diplomacy" effort from the United States will carefully avoid any direct confrontation.-HomeFront-Florida: This morning a mass casualty event was reported on I-95 near Ives Dairy Road in Miami. 29x people were hospitalized due to injuries sustained when a semi truck failed to observe traffic congestion, rear-ending a long line of halted vehicles. The driver has not been identified, but is expected to face charges.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: So far, the fallout from the Minneapolis Church Shooting has left more questions than answers. From a tactical standpoint, the shooter very clearly stated that he selected this Church as a target due to the staff being unarmed and thus unlikely to fight back. The killer also had drawn very crude sector sketches of the Church interior, mapping out the entry and exit points in the Nave. The killer also made statements of specifically avoiding behavioral actions that might tip off authorities that he was planning this attack, indicating that this had been in the works for some time.Similarly, online rhetoric has been exceptionally severe following this attack, with hundreds (if not thousands) of accounts online supporting the killer. There is even one company selling T-shirts with the killers face, declaring support for his actions. One Massachusetts man posted a video online encouraging further attacks on Christian institutions, and many others have also declared the intent to carry out other attacks (though without providing specific and actionable details). In short, the online atmosphere among the usual suspect platforms (Reddit, Discord, etc), has indicated that the threat of copycat attacks is higher than usual. It's hard to say how serious most of these threats are, however the sheer number of people who have expressed support for this attack should not be ignored and should be taken seriously out of an abundance of caution.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 28, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: UKRAINE WAR REIGNITES AS BOTH SIDES LAUNCH OFFENSIVES. WHITE HOUSE ALLEGEDLY WITHDRAWS PLAN TO IMPORT 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS AFTER MAJOR PENTAGON CYBER VULNERABILITY EXPOSED.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Europe: Overnight the war escalated with large-scale missile/drone attacks being conducted by Ukraine and Russia. Missile strikes were reported in Kiev, at least one of which struck the building currently being used by British advisors. In Russia, Ukrainian forces launched a major attack as well, targeting oil refineries hundreds of miles behind the lines.Analyst Comment: As usual, who started what is hard to determine. Some say that the strikes at the British council office were actually the debris of Ukrainian missile defenses, whereas others say it was a deliberate strike. Likewise, what was struck in Russia is not entirely confirmable, though Ukraine has increasingly started to target legitimate and militarily-valuable oil refineries over the past few months. Either way, this latest spat likely won't completely derail diplomatic efforts, but it will probably pump the breaks on peace talks for a few days.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - The White House has allegedly reversed the decision to admit 600,000 Chinese students, backtracking on the policy to state that the total number of Chinese visas issued per year will remain as before, at around 300,000.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The reversal of the 600,000 Chinese students policy is a positive move for national security, but this will probably come back again at some point. Continuing political tradition, the White House cannot admit that their policy decision was wrong, so they have to phrase this as simply a misunderstanding. This probably came after defense officials got involved as the national security concerns are very openly observable on this issue. On the same exact day as this announcement, SECDEF Pete Hegseth released a video explaining a recent discovery at the Department of Defense. Pentagon systems were accessed by unauthorized contractors (who just so happened to be Chinese nationals employed by Microsoft) to service Department of Defense servers, and that Pentagon data was being stored on data servers in China.This short video, though causing more questions than answers, is the tip of the iceberg regarding what is very likely to be a very big problem. A two-minute video of the SECDEF explaining that the entire existence of the Pentagon was probably breached by Chinese spies embedded at the Microsoft corporation (and that the practice has been going on for years), is not a good sign. It has long been suspected by anyone remotely connected with defense industry that any byte of data more complicated than a pocket calculator has probably been breached by the Chinese military. This has been the quiet assumption for many years, and the SECDEF's recent statement confirms that this idea is certainly more true than anyone would like to think. Considering these developments (and the overwhelming backlash) the White House will probably seek to quiet down the import of Chinese students for a while. However, this will be something to keep an eye on just in case politicians try to slip this by the American people once again.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 27, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: TWO MASS SHOOTINGS STRIKE MINNEAPOLIS. CONCERNS WITHIN TRUCKING COMMUNITY GROW AS FOCUS ON TRAFFIC INCIDENTS INCREASES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Arkansas: A truck driver was arrested after driving the wrong way across the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge yesterday, causing a large traffic disruption. Traffic was halted for some time as the driver was detained and his semi-truck removed from the roadway.Analyst Comment: This case is interesting as this was very likely an intentional act. The driver, who was driving for Raj Transport, had to be forcibly removed from the truck's cab at gunpoint by police.  There is also a bit of confusion regarding this case, as multiple individuals have been arrested under similar circumstances, with nearly the same name, over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, another Indian driver was arrested in the same area. The driver's booking details revealed his name to be Harvinder Singh, not to be confused with the Harjinder Singh who caused the deaths of three people in Florida two weeks ago. In this case, the Arkansas Singh was highly intoxicated at the time of his arrest, with a BAC of 0.15%. So far, the wrong-way driver from yesterday has not been identified.As a brief summary, the following is a description of recent events which may be confusing due to the similarity of the names of those involved, and the circumstances of each incident:Harjinder Singh: Arrested on August 18th in California after causing the deaths of three on the Florida Turnpike.Harneet Singh: Passenger in Harjinder Singh's truck (and also his brother). Arrested on August 21st by ICE for being in the US illegally.Navjeet Singh: Arrested in Canada on August 22nd, after remaining a fugitive almost 9 months after causing a fatal crash in Manitoba.Harvinder Singh: Arrested on August 14th on I-40 near West Memphis for drunk driving.Unknown Raj Transport Driver: Arrested on August 26th after driving the wrong way on the Interstate 55 Bridge near West Memphis.Minnesota: Two mass shootings have been reported in Minneapolis over the past 24 hours. Yesterday a drive-by shooting was reported in the vicinity of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School on 4th Avenue. 1x person was killed and 6x others wounded during the attack. The suspect has not been identified and remains at large.This morning, a separate mass shooting was reported at the Annunciation Church on W 54th Street. One gunman targeted the Church during the all-school morning Mass for the Catholic School co-located with the Church. Local authorities report a total of 2x children killed, and 17x others wounded during the engagement. The suspect has been identified as Robin Westman (formerly Robert Westman), who was reported deceased at the scene.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: At the moment, all evidence points to this Church shooting not being a random act, but a deliberate and targeted act of terrorism. A manifesto created by the murderer was posted online shortly before the attack, which (along with other content) confirms the shooter was a mentally ill transgender man who attacked his old Church.It is usually best to wait a few days for information to settle down after a major shooting. However in this case it is important to be aware that while the crime scene was still active, gun control activists were observed demonstrating at the scene, harassing parents who were trying to pick up their children from the school after the shooting. Horrific murder scenes are already a nightmare to manage...staging areas have to be established for reuniting families, media has to be kept from contaminating the crime scene, and further security concerns must be considered as well (just in case of secondary attacks). Any time a mass shooting like this occurs, it takes great skill to (on

//The Wire//2300Z August 26, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON CHINESE STUDENT EXPANSION AS RESEARCHER IN TEXAS IS CHARGED WITH STEALING SECRETS FOR CHINA. WAVE OF FAKE ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTS SWEEPS THROUGH AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. SYRIAN MIGRANT WHO ATTACKED AMERICAN IN DRESDEN RELEASED FROM CUSTODY, BUT RE-ARRESTED AFTER PUBLIC OUTRAGE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Germany: Following Sunday's knife attack in Dresden, one of the individuals involved in the attack of an American tourist was released from jail. Sunday morning, two illegal immigrants from Syria were harassing two women on a tram in Dresden. John Rudat, an American tourist visiting the city intervened during the altercation, and was stabbed in the face by one of the assailants, resulting in extremely severe lacerations. The other assailant (not the man who stabbed Rudat, but a different attacker) was captured while trying to escape, but was released from custody yesterday, only to be re-arrested after public outrage pressured the prosecutor's office to act. The man who stabbed Rudat remains at large.-HomeFront-USA: Over the past few days, many different universities and institutions have been the victim of hoaxes which have taken the form of someone calling in a fake active shooter threat. What began as one or two reports has spread to about a dozen different institutions.Analyst Comment: Right now, it is not known who is calling in these fake reports, but extreme caution is warranted. The theories of why this is happening vary widely, but this could also be a desensitizing effort that precedes a legitimate attack at some other institution. As such, vigilance is recommended to avoid slipping into complacency, just in case this turns out to be a legitimate threat at some point.Washington D.C. - President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have doubled-down on statements supporting the import of 600,000 Chinese students, further reiterating the intent to stick to this policy at present, with President Trump stating multiple times that he is "honored" to have these students taking up seats at American universities.Texas: Yesterday afternoon Dr. Yunhai Li, a researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was formally charged with stealing roughly 90gb of research material. Li was arrested on Friday before attempting to board a flight to China, after uploading the stolen research data to a Chinese government cloud storage platform. Li had personally been granted both NIH and Department of Defense grants to conduct undisclosed research.Maryland: The first human case of New World Screwworm was reported by the CDC yesterday afternoon, which was contracted by a person who traveled to El Salvador. The USDA has stated that this case doesn't pose any threat to livestock at present, however a 20-mile surveillance zone has been established around the individual's location as a precaution.California: More details have come to light regarding a car fire that was reported at the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka over the weekend. Local authorities have stated that a man drove his vehicle onto the lawn of the courthouse, before setting the car on fire.Analyst Comment: So far, this incident appears to be an elaborate form of protest, though at present no clear ideology could be discerned from the evidence at the scene. Some people report that they saw various messages written in chalk on the sidewalk, and that hand-written papers were found scattered about the scene. All of this points to this being more of a mental health incident than anything else at this time.North Carolina: The victim of a murder on the Blue Line rail system in Charlotte has been identified as Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee. Zarutska was stabbed to death on the train by Decarlos Brown Jr. on Friday night.Mi

//The Wire//2300Z August 25, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DOMESTIC CONCERNS REMAIN HIGH IN UNITED KINGDOM FOLLOWING THE ARREST OF CHILD. TRUMP ORDERS CREATION OF NATIONAL GUARD QUICK REACTION FORCE. WHITE HOUSE DOUBLES NUMBER OF CHINESE STUDENTS ADMITTED TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-United Kingdom: Social tensions have continued to deteriorate following the arrest of a 14 year old girl for brandishing a knife on St. Ann Lane in Dundee, Scotland. Details are largely unclear, however the girl was attempting to defend her younger sister from the advances of a migrant while walking down the street.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This morning President Trump signed several Executive Orders, the most prominent of which involved the banning of burning the American Flag, which is being phrased as a "hate crime" punishable by a mandatory-minimum prison sentence of one year. Other Executive Orders were also issued pertaining to ending federal funding to jurisdictions which allow the practice of cashless bail, as well as to expand the scope of National Guard deployments throughout the nation. This order directs the Pentagon to create the idea of a "standing National Guard Quick Reaction Force" (QRF), which can be deployed around the nation in a similar fashion as the force already deployed throughout Washington. This order also cracks down on HUD providing housing for violent criminals, and uses very politically correct language to more or less convey the idea of cleaning up the Section 8 housing projects throughout the city.Analyst Comment: The EO pertaining to the deployment of National Guard very much illuminates the perspectives of the White House and defense officials. While it was glossed over in the text of the EO, that word "standing" as it applies to the National Guard reveals the wordsmithing that is at play. Due to the intricacies of how military forces are deployed in the United States for domestic policing roles, the White House is probably trying to treat the National Guard as a standing army so as to avoid getting entangled in the Constitutional problems of creating a standing army for domestic policing roles.Washington D.C. - This afternoon, the White House announced the expansion of Chinese visas being allowed for educational purposes, with 600,000 Chinese students being allowed into the United States, more than double the 278,000 Chinese students which were enrolled at US universities over the past academic year.Analyst Comment: This announcement has been cause for concern as, right now, trillions of dollars are being spent by the DoD to prepare for a war with China; the China/Taiwan conflict is the sole focus of INDOPACOM and all military service branches are currently working at breakneck speed to prepare for this conflict as it's no longer an "if" but "when" situation. As such, it's not a great look for the White House to confirm that 600,000 potential foreign adversaries are more important than 600,000 American students, especially since several Chinese researchers have been caught smuggling bioweapons into the United States over the past few years.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As always, the details of the Dundee incident are sketchy and impossible to verify at present. Locals claim that the girl was attempting to defend herself from the advances of a migrant, who had just tried to solicit her younger sister, which resulted in a scuffle. After this solicitation attempt failed, the migrant continued his advances by lewdly recording a video of her on his phone. She pulled out a large kitchen knife and a hatchet as a means of defending herself and her sister from the migrant who would not stop following them as they tried to leave the area. Of note, the migrant recording the video of this incident inadvertently confirmed that he was indeed filming the children

//The Wire//2100Z August 22, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: "FLAGGING" OPERATIONS CONTINUE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AS DISSENT GROWS REGARDING MIGRATION EFFORTS. JOHN BOLTON'S RESIDENCE RAIDED BY FBI.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-United Kingdom: Opposition to migrant centers continues, mostly in the form of "flagging" operations around England. For the English, a common point of resistance has been the public display of the English flag, which in some context has been classified as a criminal act. As such, the emplacement of the St. George's Cross flag has become a focus point for British society over the past few days.-HomeFront-Colorado: The investigation into the stabbing of a park ranger at Staunton State Park has concluded with the arrest of the park ranger who initially made the allegations. Callum Heskett was arrested for making false claims regarding the attack, which turned out to be an elaborate hoax.Analyst Comment: It's not clear why he did it, but the Sheriff stated that Heskett intentionally stabbed himself and radioed in the "attack", which triggered a very widespread manhunt and lockdown of the surrounding area.Nebraska: Approximately two weeks since the raids first took place, two of the four hotels complicit in the Chaudhari child slavery scandal from have been shut down. The AmericInn and the Victorian Inn and Suites in Omaha were observed to be shuttered to the public yesterday afternoon, pending the human trafficking network investigations.Analyst Comment: The other two hotels, the Inn (formerly the Super 8) and the Roadway Inn are reported by local media to still be open for business, for the time being. Somewhat interestingly, the local media coverage of these closures has focused on the displacement of long-term residents of these hotels, many of which were formerly homeless. In an interview with local media, one hotel resident stated that these hotels were used as residences by people who couldn't rent due to poor credit, rental history, and so on. If these hotels were quietly serving as a sort of informal halfway house for long term residents, this human trafficking network could be much larger and more substantial than previously known.New York: This afternoon a tourbus suffered a rollover accident on Interstate 90 near Pembroke. The initial response was treated as a mass casualty event due to 52x patients being reported at the scene. Many fatalities and entrapments were also reported as a result of the crash.Maryland: This morning the home of John Bolton was raided by the FBI as part of an ongoing national security probe. The raid lasted several hours, and many boxes of documents were observed being removed from the residence.Analyst Comment: Beyond the headline, not much is known. Most journalistic speculation has theorized that the DoJ is trying to get him on mishandling of classified information, which is an easy charge to levy against most political elites who very rarely handle classified information properly.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In the United Kingdom, a bit of context for the "flagging" operations is important. Unlike in the United States (where the national flag is a common sight) throughout Europe in general national flags are not a typical observation throughout society. The one exception being...foreign flags. In many parts of the United Kingdom, the sight of Indian and Pakistani flags is vastly more common than the Union Jack, with foreign flags even being flown from government buildings.Even more important is that the official flag of the United Kingdom (but especially the flag of England, the St. George's Cross) has been demonized to the point of quite literally being illegal to display in some cases. Many people have been arrested for displaying the Union Jack at Hindu or Islamic street parades or events, a

//The Wire//2300Z August 21, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: WARS CONTINUE IN MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE. PLAGUE CASE IDENTIFIED IN CALIFORNIA.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: Overnight Israeli forces began their advance on Gaza City once again, as roughly 60,000 more reservists have been placed on mobilization notice to carry out the expansion into Gaza. Territory seizure operations in West Bank have continued as well, which has resulted in increasingly more widespread protests over the past few weeks.-HomeFront-California: Local authorities have announced the discovery of one case of plague in El Dorado County. The individual is believed to have contracted the disease after being bitten by a flea while camping near Lake Tahoe.Analyst Comment: No information has been released regarding the type of plague the individual contracted, but they are recovering at home. Plague cases occasionally pop up in the area, with the last instance occurring in 2020 under similar circumstances in the same area.Washington D.C. - This afternoon the White House announced that roughly 55 million visa holders in the United States will be reviewed for potential violations of immigration policy.Analyst Comment: This innocuous comment, which was made in response to a question originally posed by the Associated Press, has been interesting as it indirectly confirms that there are 55 million visa holders in the United States in the first place. Since the US population is officially around 340 million people, 55 million legal visitors is a staggering number and indicates that the true number of illegal immigrants is vastly higher than previously theorized.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In Europe, the war in Ukraine continues as before, with Russia increasing attacks on various fronts over the past few days. Russia is very likely attempting to capture as much ground as possible to put themselves into a better position at the negotiating table, so these attacks will probably continue until some sort of truce is agreed upon. NATO knows this, and depending on how substantial these attacks become, could seek to increase arms shipments to Ukraine (as was done the last time Russia launched a major offensive). Yesterday, a Russian drone crashed and exploded in a cornfield in Poland, roughly 60 miles from the Ukrainian border, and 400 miles from Russia. This isn't the first time such cross-border fires has happened...this is the third time this year that similar drone/missile debris has been found, which serves as a reminder that though peace talks have been positive so far, the larger scale of the war must not be forgotten. Until signatures are put on paper and the fat lady sings, this war is still being waged with full effect.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 20, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: WALMART SHRIMP RECALLED DUE TO POTENTIAL CESIUM 137 CONTAMINATION. PEACE TALKS CONTINUE REGARDING POST-WAR EUROPE SECURITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Europe: Talks continue regarding the potential end of the war in Ukraine. Many ideas have been presented so far, some of which will absolutely be sticking points for a prospective peace deal. Yesterday President Trump stated that the United States may be involved in some way regarding the peacekeeping situation after the war. These comments were vague, but the general tone was conveyed that indicates NATO is looking to have a coalition-led peacekeeping effort in Ukraine after the war. This morning Russia rejected this idea outright, as one of the main reasons for starting the war in the first place was the encroachment of NATO into Ukraine.-HomeFront-USA: The FDA has issued a recall warning for certain seafood products sold by Walmart, due to potential contamination. Various frozen shrimp products have been recalled after radioactive particles were detected during normal counterterrorism screenings of shipping containers.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As concerning as radioactive shrimp are, the underlying details of this story are far more concerning. The reason for this recall is not due to the shrimp being caught in radioactive waters, but because the shipping containers they were transported in were contaminated with radioactive particles, specifically Cesium 137. This is a far bigger concern as Cesium 137 is mostly used as reactor fuel, so random shipping containers being radioactive raises the question of what was in (or near) those shipping containers *before* they were used to transport shrimp. Adding to the concern is the detail of exactly where these isotopes were detected...Cesium 137 was detected at four different ports, all a great distance from each other: Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami. Radioactive particles are detected all of the time in the world of logistics, but this case certainly warrants closer scrutiny due to the potential for further contamination, or other radiological threats.Regarding Ukraine, the frank discussions that are being carried out in the open air between nationstates is very illuminating. Many people may feel a certain way about the whole thing, but it is important to remember that at war's end, the reasons for a war breaking out in the first place often come back to the forefront of discussion. In this case, Russia appears to be the one not budging on anything. This could be true, or it could be that the security guarantees that have been floated so far simply go against their core reasons for engaging in the war to begin with. Peace is often hard to achieve, and these discussions prove it. Both NATO and Russia will continue to act in their respective best interests, which might not result in a solution being found as quickly as one might think.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 19, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: PENTAGON DEPLOYS NAVAL ASSETS TO SOUTHCOM TO COMBAT DRUG TRAFFICKING. PARK RANGER STABBED IN COLORADO.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Colorado: A manhunt is underway for an assailant which attacked a park ranger this morning at Staunton State Park in Jefferson County. Local authorities state that an unidentified man stabbed a park ranger this morning, before egressing on foot into the woods of the park. The suspect is described as a White Male, 6'0" tall, 200lbs and is wearing a grey shirt and blue jeans.Washington D.C. - Yesterday evening the White House announced the deployment of US Navy forces to the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. A Task Force comprising of 3x Destroyers is currently transiting to their patrol areas off the coast of Venezuela, with the stated goal of combatting drug trafficking by sea.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Though it has been de-prioritized in the news cycle lately, the escalation of force to combat narco and cartel activity in Central and South America has continued to grow, with multiple Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) flights being observed deep inside Mexico over the past few weeks. A drone pilot leaving their transponder turned on while conducting a spying mission in southern Mexico is message, and a bold one at that.Last week, the Mexican government stated that they will hand over 26x cartel shotcallers to the United States, so that they cannot continue to run their vast narco empires from prison (or at least make it a little more challenging for them to continue operations). This is very likely an attempt at an olive branch...Mexico may be trying to play ball so that the United States doesn't start dropping Hellfire missiles in their country.More strategically speaking, one of the early indications and warnings of a very sharp increase in combat operations in an area, is the arrival of the US Navy. In the case of counter-narco operations in Central and South America, controlling the seas will be absolutely mandatory for any sort of escalation of conflict, should that course of action be the one taken later on. Arleigh-Burke Class Destroyers serve as a critical part of the Aegis defense doctrine; these vessels are mostly used for missile defense and providing protection for much more vulnerable assets (such as aircraft carriers). In this role they excel, however Destroyers also deploy with VBSS teams onboard. Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations are a mainstay of the counter-narco mission on the high seas, and this is very likely what these Naval vessels will be engaged in for the foreseeable future.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 18, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CARGO VESSEL EXPLODES NEAR BALTIMORE HARBOR. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED FOR FLORIDA TRAFFIC ACCIDENT THAT KILLED THREE. DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS CONTINUE REGARDING UKRAINE WAR PEACE DEAL.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Global: This afternoon Starlink experienced another global outage, with services being down for all users around the world for about 15 minutes. This marks the second time this month that a major outage of the Starlink system has been reported. No cause for the outage has been provided.-HomeFront-Maryland: This afternoon a large explosion was reported onboard a cargo vessel that was transiting outbound from Baltimore, bound for Mauritius. The M/V *W SAPPHIRE* experienced an explosion in one of her forward cargo holds shortly after leaving port. Her current position remains east of Bodkin Creek, and multiple tugboats and firefighting vessels remain on scene to keep her under control.Analyst Comment: As this is a developing situation, there's no further information on what caused the blast, or the fate of the crew.Washington D.C. - This afternoon President Zelenskyy returned to the White House, continuing diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine.Analyst Comment: Regarding the potential for peace, the situation remains tenuous. Following the negotiations with Putin on Friday, Russia's position appears to be largely the same as when the war started; Russia wants the Donetsk and also the "freezing" of front lines where they are right now on all fronts. Ukraine's position is equally hardline, with Zelenskyy also reiterating Ukraine's position of ceding zero terrain in any prospective peace deal.Utah: A shooting was reported at a residence in Tremonton yesterday evening, which resulted in two police officers being killed, and one other wounded. Officers initially responded to this address due to multiple 911 hangups, and upon arrival, a barricaded shooter engaged them from within the house.Analyst Comment: What led to this shooting is unclear, but 911 hangups are frequently utilized by individuals seeking to take their own life by the actions of the police, or by those seeking to ambush authorities. In this case, the latter seems to have been the result, which turned into a protracted small arms engagement. Multiple pre-made incendiary devices were recovered from the residence after the shooting, indicating that this was a planned ambush of some kind.Florida: Vehicular homicide charges have been filed against Harjinder Singh for his role in the death of three people on the Florida Turnpike last week. Singh was attempting to conduct an illegal u-turn on the interstate, which resulted in him positioning his semi truck completely perpendicular to the road, completely blocking all lanes of traffic. Three people traveling in a minivan were unable to stop in time, colliding with the semi's trailer, resulting in their deaths.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: The case involving the crash in Florida has gained nationwide notoriety for two main reasons. Firstly, the in-cabin video showing the crash was published immediately, which not only shows the exceptionally graphic nature of the crash, but also the lack of any sort of remorse from the driver after the crash. The social reaction to this video has resulted in more focus on this case, which leads to the second reason for the attention...this case gets worse the more one digs for details.After the accident, Singh was revealed to have been an illegal immigrant from India, who crossed over the southern US border in 2018. Singh was allowed to get a driver's license in California (as this state allows illegals to get a license through the AB 60 program). From there, he was able to get his CDL license in the same state, despite federal law banning illegals f

//The Wire//2300Z August 15, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: PUTIN ARRIVES IN ALASKA FOR SUMMIT. U.K. MIGRANT CRISIS CONTINUES TO WORSEN.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-United Kingdom: The situation is reaching a breaking point regarding the migrant crisis. On Wednesday evening, a migrant from the Canary Wharf Migrant Center (formerly the Britannia International Hotel) broke in to a nearby apartment. Details are hard to verify (and no names have been released so far), however a woman inside the apartment (who was blind) possibly did not know that the migrant was inside her home. Some time later, the woman's daughter arrived at the apartment, discovering the migrant in the process of assaulting her mother. The daughter managed to get rid of the migrant, but after some time, she decided to approach the entrance to the Britannia Hotel with a meat cleaver. A security guard managed to calm her down, but police arrested the woman at her home some time later.The judge denied the daughter bail, and the status of the migrant who started all of this remains unknown. Authorities have stated that he remains in custody, but that cannot be verified at this point, as British authorities have a long history of secretly releasing violent criminals (especially migrants) without notice.-HomeFront-New York City: This morning a three-alarm fire was reported at a residential apartment building in the Upper East Side, in the vicinity of 95th Street. The fire resulted in an explosion which injured three firefighters.Alaska: This afternoon the peace summit between the United States and Russia began, with both President Putin and President Trump meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.Analyst Comment: So far, the initial meeting appears to be amiable, and today's talks ended several hours early on positive terms. Immediately following the meeting, President Trump conducted a phone call to undisclosed leadership in Europe. Since these are closed-door deliberations, we'll have to wait until morning to determine how things went on the first day (unless there's some kind of unplanned announcement by the White House), but at the moment the general situation looks positive.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: When governments push their populations past the breaking point, things get ugly, and London is rapidly becoming the central focus point for understanding what happens when things come to a head throughout the western world. One woman with a meat cleaver who is at the end of her rope, with no options left, is not likely to result in any change, tactically speaking. Mass protest is unlikely to result in any change in this situation either. However, the rawness and grit of this incident is significant; bottom line, the British government does not know what generational anger they have stoked at this point.The Britannia Hotel is host to significant police activity, and has been turned into an urban fortress by the authorities seeking to protect the violent criminals inside. Roughly 1,000 migrants are being housed at this facility, many of which have long criminal records. British authorities keep shuffling the migrants around in an elaborate shell game, so that no one really knows for sure how many are in a Migrant Center at any given time. This also serves to prevent locals from building familiarity and starting to notice the same faces committing crimes over and over again. This site is also host to significant protest activity, but so far this Key Terrain has not been breached or vulnerabilities exploited. So far, most of the activities surrounding the migrant centers in and around London have been fairly low-intensity, but as more innocent people continue to be harmed, this will not last.Yesterday, London also announced the expansion of surveillance operations in the city. 10x surveillance vans equipped wit

//The Wire//2300Z August 14, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DC CLEANUP CONTINUES AS ACTIVISM INCREASES THROUGHOUT THE CITY. TOTAL POWER OUTAGE STRIKES LARGE REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN UTAH.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Virginia: Multiple police officers were injured/wounded while attempting to serve warrants in Gretna last night, which led to a prolonged standoff. The suspect, who has been identified as James Andru Lehnerd [sic], was initially wanted for trespassing and brandishing a firearm, and as police arrived to serve the warrants Lehnerd engaged them. 3x officers were wounded and/or injured by flying debris, but none were hit with bullets. Lehnerd surrendered to police after a few hours.Utah: This morning the Intermountain Medical Center near Salt Lake City suffered a catastrophic power outage, with both the primary source of electricity failing along with backup generators. Patients needing critical life-support devices were immediately evacuated to other hospitals, and this afternoon local media reported that repairs were made to allow the hospital to operate in a limited capacity on backup generators.Analyst Comment: It is exceptionally rare for any Level 1 trauma center to lose power like this, but even more rare is the failure of backup generators designed from the ground up expressly for this type of emergency. This is also not a small clinic, but a VERY large hospital that provides emergency care for much of the entire region.Washington D.C. - Anti-crime initiatives continue as before, with several arrests being announced over the past few days. Yesterday evening, a man was arrested after assaulting ICE agents during a downtown immigration raid. This morning the DoJ identified this individual as Sean Dunn...a DoJ employee who was subsequently fired this morning.Analyst Comment: Regarding these policing efforts, mostly low-level criminals have been rounded up, or general miscreants who the feds could only grab on "illegal gun" charges or other dubious means. National Guard soldiers have been observed taking up positions around the city, and so far have mostly served as a target for activists to scream at. Cleanup operations continue around the city with little fanfare, and so far the general plan has been to dismantle homeless camps around the city, with the inhabitants housed in dedicated facilities or mental health/rehab clinics as needed.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: Throughout the international community, there is growing sentiment that tomorrows meeting between Russia and the United States may result in things falling into place very rapidly. What the outcome of this meeting will be is anyone's guess, but many European leaders have issued statements of concern, indicating that many world leaders seem to think that this meeting will hammer out the details of a peace agreement. Several European leaders have assured their populations that there will be no territory-swap terms discussed during this meeting, however the fervor by which statements have been made have undermined their efforts at narrative control. In other words, when a dozen European Heads of State make multiple statements that the US won't allow Ukraine to be carved up...and they make these statements over and over again, one might be inclined to think this is exactly what's going to happen. Either way, the ball is in Russia's court. American sanctions have done absolutely nothing but strengthen Russia's economy, simply because most of Europe itself relies on Russia in some form or other. So threatening to sanction Russia if the meeting doesn't go well is a farce. On Russia's end, the world is changing, and it is easy to surmise that the next large-scale conflict may take place in the Far East...Taiwan. Since this is mostly up to Putin, he himself is very clearly interested in solving this issue decisively; Russia does not want to have to fig

//The Wire//2300Z August 13, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: ARRESTS MADE REGARDING LONG-TERM HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SLAVERY NETWORK IN NEBRASKA. CANADIAN WILDFIRES THREATEN ST. JOHNS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Canada: As wildfires continue to burn throughout the nation, more populated areas have begun to be placed on evacuation notice. Parts of the town of Paradise in Newfoundland were ordered to be evacuated yesterday, and the outskirts of St. Johns has been ordered to prepare for an evacuation if the Paddy's Pond Fire continues to threaten Highway 1, one of the main egress routes that would be taken if a larger scale evacuation were to be ordered at some point.Analyst Comment: The circumstances of this fire are suspicious, and local authorities are seeking information from anyone who may have details regarding a vehicle which was spotted near the origin of the fire, right before it broke out.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Diplomatic activities continue as President Trump's face-to-face meeting with President Putin draws near. Both leaders are scheduled to meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on Friday. Analyst Comment: Though the White House specifically states that this is not a negotiation meeting with regards to the Ukraine War, the general consensus is that the war will be the main topic of discussion.Tennessee: Severe storms swept through the state overnight, resulting in the deaths of three people in Chattanooga. 6.5 inches of precipitation fell in just a few hours, causing flash floods which stopped traffic on I-24 and resulted in 6x people being rescued by swiftwater teams overnight. One person remains missing due to the flooding, and search and rescue operations continue.Nebraska: Yesterday the DoJ released details on a human trafficking network that was allegedly broken up in Omaha. 5x individuals were arrested for enslaving children to work at four different hotels, in addition to prostitution and drug trafficking. Money laundering, visa fraud, and drivers license fraud were all of the other crimes listed on the notice provided by the DoJ regarding these arrests.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: Most of the human traffickers arrested in Omaha were members of the Chaudhari family (a prominent immigrant family from India) which is well known for owning most of the cheap hotels in and around Omaha. It would be exceptionally foolish to conclude that this trafficking network has been shut down...these raids have only scratched the surface regarding this criminal enterprise. This is also not the first time this family has been directly implicated in human trafficking. Vishnubhai Chaudhari and Leelabahen Chaudhari (both illegal immigrants) were arrested in 2017 for the exact same human trafficking behavior in nearly the same manner in the exact same place, trafficking children to serve as slave labor for local hotels.In 2018, these people were convicted and sentenced to only a single year in prison....for enslaving children, and beating and abusing them regularly over a period of years. Now, the family tradition has continued with the arrest of 5x other direct family members. As such, whenever this new case involving this same family goes to trial in a year or so (and thus the media no longer cares about this), it is astronomically likely that everyone involved will get a slap on the wrist and continue these horrific actions once again.Of note, all of the hotels that were raided are still up on Tripadvisor and other travel websites, available for bookings. Similarly, the Super 8 motel where child slaves were rescued from in 2018 is still open for business and sports a rating of 3.7 stars. No protest activity or public outrage has been observed at these facilities so far.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.m

//The Wire//2300Z August 12, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: NAVAL DIPLOMACY CONTINUES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, TWO CHINESE SHIPS DAMAGED IN COLLISION. ANTI-CRIME INITIATIVES CONTINUE IN WASHINGTON. CANADIAN BAN ON PUBLIC PARKS CONTINUES TO DRAW IRE OF CITIZENRY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-South China Sea: The situation remains tense following an escalation of maritime trade policy that took place yesterday. The conflict at Scarborough Shoal has continued over the past few months, with confrontations between the Philippine Navy and Chinese Coast Guard vessels becoming more frequent. Yesterday, Two Chinese vessels were carrying out power-projection operations in the area which took the form of spraying a Philippine vessel with water cannons (as has been a common tactic during this spat). However, during this confrontation the two Chinese vessels became less aware of their respective positions, which resulted in one colliding with the other.Analyst Comment: Video provided of the collision indicates that the damage was substantial, though China has not acknowledged this collision taking place. Nevertheless, this incident is merely the latest in the long history of force-projection operations in the region.Australia: A very graphic series of murders was reported in Melbourne overnight. One suspect has been arrested in conjunction with the murders of two people at their home in Mount Waverley.Analyst Comment: There is probably more to this story than first meets the eye. Most notably, the details of the murder scene alone are far too graphic to recall in mixed company. Also of note, graffiti was found spray painted on a few walls of the victims' home, which contained phrases such as "meat is murder". If this graffiti is connected to the murders, this could be a detail to be aware of, just in case this is more substantial than a home invasion gone wrong.Canada: Opposition to the ban on recreational areas being closed is growing in Nova Scotia, with a total of 6x people being ticketed and fined roughly $28,000 each for walking in the woods during the ban on outdoor activities.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This morning the White House announced the deployment of 800x National Guard soldiers throughout the city, to supplement the increased police presence as part of the recent counter-crime initiative.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: So far, the general situation in Washington is much the same as before, with most policing efforts focusing on increase presence patrols, cleaning out homeless camps, more counter-narcotics operations, and so on. The DC Police Union has issued statements of support for President Trump's initiative, which has negated the talking points expressed by most media sources claiming that crime is down in DC. The fact that a DC police commander was suspended two weeks ago for manipulating crime data has also cast doubt on recent crime statistics throughout the city. More broadly, whether or not these efforts are having an impact on the crime situation is too soon to determine.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 11, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: WHITE HOUSE ENACTS HOME RULE ACT TO FEDERALIZE CONTROL OF WASHINGTON D.C. POLICE FORCES// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Pennsylvania: This morning a large explosion was reported at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works facility near Pittsburgh. Multiple casualties were reported from the explosion, which resulted in catastrophic damage to the structure.Washington D.C. - Efforts to crack down on street crime became more solidified over the weekend, with the White House officially enacting Section 740 the Home Rule Act to federalize administrative control of the city's police forces.In response to a few shootings and "street takeovers" that took place in D.C. over the weekend, a "juvenile" curfew zone has been established by Metro PD near the Navy Yard and Capitol Riverfront (a notoriously high-crime area). The White House also stated that various National Guard units will be deployed throughout the city, though exactly how this will work out is unclear.Analyst Comment: This afternoon, various anti-Trump rallies/protests were held throughout the city, with locals using this move to form a level of opposition to Trump's policies on everything from illegal immigration, to diversity initiatives. Some scuffles broke out among demonstrators as groups who possessed slightly different beliefs started arguments which escalated into more direct confrontations.Texas: This afternoon a shooting was reported at a Target store in Austin. Two people were killed and several others were wounded during the engagement. The suspect carjacked a vehicle during the escape, but was apprehended some time later. No further details have been released as of this report.Colorado: District Attorney Amy Padden has officially dropped all charges against Solomon Galligan, an individual who was captured on video attempting to kidnap a child in broad daylight from an Elementary School back in April.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: These charges were dropped because of Galligan's alleged mental illnesses, which somehow dictate that someone with a criminal history a mile long (many of which are crimes against children) is somehow entitled to not be locked away for the rest of his life. This leaves little recourse for the general public and highlights a critical flaw within our justice system at large...if the government won't prosecute someone who commits a crime, there's nothing the people can do. The DA's and judges who let criminals out of detention for personal reasons are almost never held accountable for their actions in releasing violent criminals into society, and the vicious cycle continues. In this specific case, the concept of due process cannot be tested as this man is not even being charged for trying to snatch a child from a school playground, so he won't even see the inside of a courtroom for his actions this time, much less get a conviction of any kind. As such it is extraordinarily likely that Galligan is already in the process of being released to the public once again.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2200Z August 8, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MASSACHUSETTS SHERIFF ARRESTED ON EXTORTION CHARGES. CONFLICT ESCALATES IN MIDDLE EAST.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Middle East: Conflict continues as before, escalating this week with the announcement of another Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. Israeli media has stated multiple times that the annexation of Gaza has been approved, and that mobilizations are ongoing among the IDF to prepare for such deployment.Central America: This morning, the New York Times published a story claiming that President Trump has authorized the use of military force to combat cartel operations throughout Central and South America.Analyst Comment: Right now, no official word has confirmed this, so until targets start exploding down south, there's not much to go on. Special operations targeting various cartels over the years have been a constant, so this is not entirely a new or surprising revelation. However, (if these specific claims are true) this may also be the first steps in widening the war on organized crime throughout the continent. If this is the desired goal, the general situation could become kinetic rather quickly.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Discussion surrounding the potential federalization of the city continues, with a few different initiatives in the works. The White House has floated the idea of deploying the National Guard throughout the city in an attempt to combat the rampant crime, though the details of how this might work out in practice are unclear.Massachusetts: Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins was arrested this morning on extortion charges after an investigation was conducted into his department's licensing process for a cannabis company that sought to develop a new dispensary in his jurisdiction.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: This is an interesting case as the scheme unraveled only at the end, not the beginning. Sheriff Tompkins had already engaged in corruption by levering his position in the approval process for the cannabis company. Due to the nature of the product they intended to sell, state-level requirements abound regarding working with local law enforcement groups for various approvals and licensing mandates.However, during his part in this process, Sheriff Tompkins decided to engaged in a little insider trading by purchasing $50,000 worth of stock in the company before he granted his approval to open a new dispensary (and before the company went public). However, after the company failed to financially profit as much as expected, he wanted his illegal investment back, thus the extortion charges. At the time, nobody knew that the approval authority for a cannabis company had purchased stock in that company while going through the approval process. Or if anyone knew, they didn't care. In the end, it was only the Sheriff's greed that got him caught...if he hadn't tried to extort the company for his money back, nobody would have ever known that the initial crime took place.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2000Z August 7, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: UNITED AIRLINES SUFFERS IT OUTAGE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, CAUSING NATIONWIDE GROUND STOP. DISSENT GROWS IN CANADA AS WILDFIRE RESPONSE RESTRICTS LAND ACCESS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Antarctica: An emergency medical evacuation was carried out overnight at McMurdo Station by the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Three researchers fell ill with an undisclosed illness, prompting their evacuation under hazardous weather conditions.Canada: Concern is growing following governmental policies allegedly intended to combat wildfires. Most hiking trails on public lands are off limits throughout the nation, and even private land owners have been "urged" to not hike on their own land. A hotline has also been established for Canadians to report their fellow citizens to the government for breaking the rules and hiking in the woods. Analyst Comment: Supporters of the lockdowns say this move is intended to reduce the number of arsonists in the woods, and also reduces the number of vehicles in wilderness areas, since the hot exhaust pipes on vehicles are sometimes causes of wildfires. Opponents of these policies state the practice doesn't actually reduce wildfire risk but actually just serves to further totalitarianism. Similar bans have been implemented over the years, with the most recent taking place in 2023.-HomeFront-USA: Yesterday evening an outage of IT systems at United Airlines caused a brief nationwide ground stop for most United aircraft. The airline specifically stated that the outage was not the result of a cyberattack, but rather an error on their part. Nevertheless, systems were offline (and flights delayed) for several hours while a fix was being implemented.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comment: In Georgia, a brief update from base personnel has confirmed that all five soldiers wounded during yesterday's shooting at Fort Stewart are expected to survive, with three soldiers undergoing surgery overnight. So far no motive has been made public regarding the shooting, however base personnel did confirm that Sgt. Radford conducted the attack at his workplace.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2000Z August 6, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MASS SHOOTING REPORTED AT FORT STEWART IN GEORGIA. WHITE HOUSE PROPOSES PLAN TO FEDERALIZE ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON D.C. FOLLOWING VIOLENT ATTACK ON DOGE DEPARTMENT STAFFER.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Western Asia: India has responded to the latest tariff escalations by the White House, largely in the form of resistance to the re-negotiation of trade policy. The Ministry of External Affairs called the tariffs unfair, and has indicated that they will be fighting the implementation of these taxes in some form.Analyst Comment: India is not a particularly major trade partner with the United States, but is at the center of the immigration issue. However, this spat is probably not related to the H1B visa scandal, but is probably related to relations with Russia, which remain a persistent concern when it comes to BRICS nations becoming more economically dependent on each other.-HomeFront-Georgia: A mass shooting was reported on base at Fort Stewart this morning. 5x casualties were wounded by a gunman at headquarters of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Base personnel apprehended the shooter at the scene, and local media has identified the shooter as Quornelius Radford (an Army Sergeant), though this has not yet been confirmed through official channels. The status of the five casualties (how many fatalities vs wounded) is also not yet known, though some of the victims are being treated at a local hospital.Washington D.C. - An incident involving a senior DOGE staff member took place Tuesday evening. Edward Coristine, one of the key software engineers involved at the DOGE department, was assaulted by a group of black males after he attempted to intervene to stop a carjacking of a young woman. Coristine was beaten severely during the encounter, and only two of the attackers have been arrested so far, with the rest evading capture. The woman (who has not been identified) appears to have survived the encounter. Following this brutal attack, President Trump has vowed to federalize the city of Washington D.C. and begin the crackdown on crime.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: This has been theorized for a long time, and may now actually happen. Federalizing Washington would place the city's administration under the control of the US government, and it's not entirely clear how this might work out in practice. The most immediate impact this would have would probably be the mass firing of leadership of the dozens of law enforcement agencies that have overlapping jurisdictions throughout this special administrative region.Washington D.C. is infamous for street crime running rampant just a few streets over from the White House. There have been multiple instances of Secret Service agents experiencing attempted carjackings of official government vehicles (which came to light over the past year), and violent muggings, murders, and carjackings continue to be a regular observance throughout the Capitol region.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 5, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DHS DELETES ISRAELI MANDATE FROM DISASTER AID CONDITIONS, NO EXPLANATION GIVEN. SECOND EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEW YORK. CANADIAN WILDFIRES CONTINUE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Canada: Significant wildfires continue to burn throughout Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which has prompted air quality concerns for much of the American northeast and the Great Lakes regions, due to the smoke.-HomeFront-New York: Another earthquake struck New York City earlier this morning, which reached an estimated magnitude of 2.7. No major damage was reported.Missouri: Overnight an arson attack was reported in Clayton, with multiple vehicles set on fire outside of the residence of an Israeli soldier (who is a dual citizen living in the US). Various anti-Israeli graffiti was also observed spray painted in the street at the scene.Washington D.C. - Following the fallout of yesterday's scandal, the Department of Homeland Security has re-updated their Terms and Conditions to remove the inflammatory language. No explanation was given for why the language was ever included in the first place.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Concerning yesterday's saga involving the DHS covertly changing their Terms and Conditions for disaster aid, the following general timeline may be helpful for understanding the sequence of events as they unfolded. This is important to document for the historical record, if nothing else, since the old version of this PDF has been deleted from public view.1. On April 18th, 2025 the Department of Homeland Security updated their Terms and Conditions that all 50 States must abide by in order to get federal aid (specifically, purchases of equipment with federal grant money).2. In these Terms and Conditions, a single line item was added, mandating that if states want FEMA grant money, they have to pledge allegiance to Israel and promise to not boycott Israeli companies.3. Nobody notices this policy change for several months.4. Yesterday morning (August 4th, 2025) Reuters finally notices this change, and pushes the news story out, as they do.5. Immediately, the reaction on social media is that this story is fake, due to how incredulous it sounds and the already poor reputation of most media groups.6. A few hours after the story went viral, the actual PDF file on the DHS website was altered and re-uploaded…with the sections pertaining to Israel missing. No outward changes were apparent on the website; the file name, version number, and upload date were all the same. However, the content was different.7. As time elapsed (and as people heard about this story), anyone who checked the DHS website  after exactly 4:30pm (when the file was changed) saw the updated PDF file, which had no mention of Israel.8. This led many to think that the whole story was fake, not knowing that a change had occurred.9. Subsequent analysis of the metadata of the NEW file, and archived copies of the OLD file confirm that shenanigans are afoot, and the file was changed, last being edited by a senior attorney who works for the DHS.10.  A few hours later, the DHS (speaking directly to journalists) confirmed that the policy change did occur. The DHS did not provide any explanation as to why this policy was ever in effect in the first place, or who made the decision to include this policy change.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z August 4, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MULTIPLE BOMB MAKERS ARRESTED AROUND THE USA. CHILEAN HEIST CREW MEMBER ARRESTED AFTER ATM ROBBERY INVOLVING EXPLOSIVES. MASS SHOOTING REPORTED IN MONTANA, SUSPECT AT LARGE. MIGRANT CRIME CONTINUES TO INFLAME TENSIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-United Kingdom: Immigration scandals have continued as another assault case has come to light over the past few days. A young child was assaulted by two Afghan "refugees" in Birmingham last week, who have been identified as Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir.Analyst Comment: This case has served as yet another catalyst for public anger to rise, as the British government continues to not just allow these horrific crimes to occur, but is actively working to protect the criminals and prosecute those expressing anger about these attacks. In this case, Warwickshire Police are under fire for deliberately requesting local officials to withhold the details of this crime from the public, to protect the criminals.-HomeFront-New York: Over the weekend a minor earthquake was observed throughout New York City and New Jersey, with an estimated magnitude of 3.0. No major damage was reported.Montana: A mass shooting was reported at the Owl Bar in Anaconda on Friday. Authorities have identified the shooter as Michael Paul Brown, who was seen fleeing the scene in a stolen pickup truck (which was found some time later Friday night). 4x people were killed during the engagement, and a local manhunt remains underway with authorities theorizing that he may still be in the local area.Tennessee: An IED Factory was discovered at the home of a local man in the unincorporated township of Old Fort on Friday. Kevin Wade O'Neal was arrested for making threats against public officials, and during the arrest officers allegedly smelled something burning in a back room. This resulted in the discovery of 14x explosive devices, at least one of which had been ignited (but failed to detonate).Analyst Comment: Much like other IED discoveries as of late, the photo evidence of the devices themselves confirm that these devices were exceptionally crude in their construction, indicating the user had little to no training in the construction of explosives.California: One of the members of an infamous Chilean heist crew was arrested in Newport Beach, after he attempted to use explosives to breach an ATM at a local Target store two weeks ago.Analyst Comment: The use of explosive breaching in robbery cases is rare, but becoming more common around the world following this being the robbery method of choice in South Africa. Regarding this specific case, the use of explosives in California is common enough that this did not get national news coverage until it was revealed that the man who was arrested, was a member of the Chilean heist crew which conducted several bank heists throughout the west coast last year.California: In a separate case, a bomb maker was arrested at his residence in Long Beach Friday afternoon, following an investigation by the FBI. Mark Lorenzo Villanueva was arrested after he sent money to what he thought was an affiliate group of ISIS. During the search of Villanueva's residence, an Improvised Explosive Device was found.Washington D.C. - Scandal has erupted following the discovery of a new addition to Department of Homeland Security doctrine. Back in April of this year, the Department of Homeland Security published their updated terms and conditions for receiving disaster aid for FY 2025. Though it was not observed by many at the time, this morning a few mainstream media outlets became aware of this doctrine change, which now includes specific language preventing disaster aid from flowing to states which have not signed a pledge to not-boycott Israel. This pledge of allegiance

//The Wire//1800Z August 1, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CHRISTIANS AMBUSHED AT CHURCH EVENT IN SEATTLE. MULTIPLE FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS LAUNCHED INTO STUDENT ALTERCATION AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Washington: An ambush was reported in Seattle at a Pursuit Northwest Church event last night. One person was killed after unknown attackers opened fire on them, while laying in wait inside a vehicle parked on the street. The attacker(s) fled the scene after the shooting in a white Hyundai Elantra, which has a broken window. The Seattle Police Department has confirmed that the shooting was a deliberate ambush targeting churchgoers.Analyst Comment: This is the same Church at the center of recent controversy in Seattle, and the same Church that was berated by Seattle police for having the audacity to express their faith in public. This Church was condemned by the Seattle police union a few months ago for holding an event at a park deep behind the lines into ANTIFA-held terrain, with the police complaining that they had to protect the churchgoers from violent criminals. Following this incident, it was made clear that the city itself not only approved the permit for this event, but specifically suggested that exact park. Now, the violence continues, not only by parishioners being beaten by the crowd, but now including murders of people trying to go to Church. From a risk management perspective, this is one of the most clear cases of violent religious persecution in the United States, and the city is very obviously not interested in combating the violent militants which are now shooting and murdering Christians in the streets. The federal Department of Justice has not commented on this incident, nor is there any indication of federal interest in Christians persistently being attacked (and now murdered) in Seattle.Florida: The Department of Justice has responded directly to an altercation between two students at Florida State University. The FSU Police Department has launched a full investigation in to the incident, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered US Attorney Jack Heekin, the US Civil Rights Division, and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to launch a full federal investigation into the incident as well. Florida Congressional Representatives have also gotten involved, and FSU has brought in third-party therapists to provide free trauma counseling services for students who may have indirectly heard about this incident.Analyst Comment: This event, which warranted the involvement of multiple federal law enforcement agencies, revolves around verbal anti-Israeli comments a woman made in the gym toward another student; this entire response stems around a woman saying mean things to a man in the gym. Of course, a response to this would normally be carried out by a university as harassing someone in the gym in this manner is counter to good social order. Normally this type of behavioral incident is handled in-house (usually with something like a brief suspension from classes, if even that). However, as a particular foreign nationstate was mentioned this incident is being responded to as if a murder took place. Consequently, as it's very clear that these types of statements are by far the most heavily-policed speech crimes in the United States, the woman who made the comments has already been doxxed, suspended from classes, and banned from campus, pending the multiple federal investigations that are now underway. -----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In Washington D.C. politics continues as before, most of which isn't immediately pressing but worthy of note. Talk surrounding the potential pardon of both Diddy and Ghislaine Maxwell continues, with no indication of whether or not a decision has been made on either front yet. The Epstein scandal continues to develop by the hour, most of w

//The Wire//2300Z July 31, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DIGITAL PRIVACY CONCERNS REMAIN A CENTRAL FOCUS OF THE WESTERN WORLD. RANDOM ATTACKS TAKE PLACE IN MULTIPLE RECREATIONAL AREAS AROUND THE USA.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Global: Around the world, the push for more censorship and a reduction of privacy continues to grow in size and scope. In the United Kingdom, politicians have called for an expansion of the Online Safety act to include generic search engines such as Google. Following the implementation of the Online Safety Act, several other EU member states have also voiced their support for similar efforts in their nations, which include: Italy, Greece, Denmark, Spain, and France.Germany: Outrage has resulted from a recent push in Bavaria to tax groundwater. As of January 1, 2026, residents of the region will be taxed 10 cents per cubic meter of groundwater that is pumped out of the ground on one's own property.Analyst Comment: Once various entities around the world realize that this tax will just result in general discontent, and not an outright open rebellion, this tactic will expand greatly to be utilized by other nations.Ireland: New footage has come to light regarding an Islamic terror attack that took place in Dublin on Tuesday. The video of the attack confirms that the assailant shouted Islamic phrases during the attack, in which he approached a police officer from behind, stabbing him with a large knife.Analyst Comment: Continuing the trend of European media, all references to this attack strategically omitted all references to terrorism, with all media groups calling this incident an "unprovoked attack" and protecting the identity of the terrorist. This half-truth omits the detail that the individual was attempting to commit an act of jihad.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Various trade deals remain in development with the White House granting Mexico an extension regarding the implementation of a deal with the United States. South Korea also finalized their re-negotiation of trade policy with the United States yesterday.North Carolina: A shooting was reported at the Avalon Fishing Pier in Kill Devil Hills this afternoon. One person was killed and another wounded during the engagement, with the shooter egressing from the area before being immediately captured nearby. No further details have been provided on this shooting, or what prompted the incident in what is normally a low-crime area.Colorado: This afternoon an ICE-involved shooting was reported in the Black Forest area near Colorado Springs. Federal authorities state that immigration enforcement operations were underway throughout the area this afternoon, when two illegals in a vehicle attempted to ram an officer while trying to escape the scene. One agent engaged the vehicle with small arms, which was later abandoned by the assailants. The status of the illegals remains unknown, and a significant police presence has been noted throughout the area.Georgia: Four people have been arrested for an attack that took place at the Low Gap Campground last weekend, and more details pertaining to the case have also come to light. A man and his daughter were fishing when four individuals hit him over the head with a glass bottle, knocking him unconscious and causing severe bleeding. The man's daughter was also attacked, but managed to stab her attackers with her knife, causing the attackers to flee.Arkansas: An assailant has been arrested in conjunction with a double-homicide investigation at  Devil's Den State Park, following the discovery of the remains of two hikers on a trail in the park on Saturday. The attacker has been identified as Andrew James McGann, who was arrested today after confessing to the murders.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: These attacks are an unfortunate reminder

//The Wire//2300Z July 30, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: EARTHQUAKE STRIKES WESTERN PACIFIC, TRIGGERING TSUNAMI CONCERNS. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL OUTAGE CAUSES LONDON AIRPORTS TO GROUND FLIGHTS. WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW AI-DRIVEN HEALTHCARE INITIATIVE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Pacific: A major earthquake was reported yesterday afternoon off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, reaching an estimated 8.8M and becoming tied for the 5th strongest earthquake recorded since records began in the 1960's. Due to this earthquake's severity, Tsunami Advisories were issued for most of the Pacific Rim, to include Hawaii, Alaska, and most of the American west coast. These concerns prompted mass evacuations for millions of people seeking refuge on higher ground. As of this morning, tsunami waves did hit Russia and Japan, though minimal damage was reported. No tsunami materialized in Hawaii or the west coast.United Kingdom: This morning the airspace over most of England was closed due to a technical issue at an air traffic control center in Stanwick. Aircraft at Stansted, Gatwick, and Heathrow were grounded for about 4 hours while the issue was being resolved.Analyst Comment: Details on the outage are hard to verify, however this outage occurred at the same facility that was involved in the infamous outage at Heathrow Airport in 2023. This has caused much fingerpointing and consternation among airlines due to the lost revenue as a result of the outage.United Kingdom: Data security concerns remain paramount as the effects of the Online Safety Act become more clear. Most websites are now locked down and everything from Wikipedia to medical publications have been affected by the act.Analyst Comment: Though it's tough to verify (and possibly fake), at least one user reported that they had to show identification papers for using a food delivery app. While this testimony can't be independently verified, what is true is that the crackdown on the concept of privacy continues to grow. Several politicians have mentioned the possibility of targeting VPN users who try to evade scanning their identity documents and their face to access most of the internet. Meanwhile, children are using certain video games to bypass the face-scanning requirements.Most of the people who wrote the Online Safety Act are of the Atari generation, and do not understand how good the graphics are in most modern video games. Hyper-realistic video games which use motion-capture technology to put the faces of real actors in the game have been extremely effective at tricking apps and websites. Most of the games that rely on this technology also have modes or settings menus for customizing characters...which allow users to strike funny poses with the character on screen...this providing the realistic head and mouth movement that is used by most AI-driven websites requiring a face scan.-HomeFront-Virginia: This afternoon an arson attack was reported in Danville, at the offices of Showcase Magazine. Local authorities have identified the attacker as Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, who was arrested a short time after the attack. Locals have stated he was targeting Lee Vogler, a local city councilman for the town of Danville. The attacker reportedly broke into the councilman's office, and doused him in gasoline before setting him on fire on the street outside. Vogler has so far survived the attack, and is currently hospitalized with severe burns.Analyst Comment: Locals state that the attack was not due to a political issue, but rather a personal dispute as the attacker and victim knew each other. Whether or not this is true is anyone's guess. Nevertheless, this kind of high-profile (and brutal) attack vector does not occur that often in a small town such as this, so the details that are hard to verify now may become more clear over time.Wash

//The Wire//2300Z July 29, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CAMBODIA AND THAILAND IMPLEMENT CEASEFIRE. HIGH-PROFILE SHOOTING STRIKES MANHATTAN. MOB VIOLENCE IN OHIO HIGHLIGHTS CENSORSHIP CONCERNS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-Southeast Asia: The war between Cambodia and Thailand has subsided as both sides have agreed to a ceasefire for the time being. The ceasefire went into effect yesterday after the leaders of both nations met in Malaysia to settle the border dispute.Analyst Comment: It is always best to wait a few days before calling the conflict as being over; conflicts in this region have a way of flaring up rapidly again. Nevertheless, both sides appear to be backing down after getting their licks in, though the broader issue of the disputed border remains unsolved. This conflict is most certainly not settled, however things may at least remain tepid for a while.-HomeFront-Georgia: A statewide recall of ice cream has been issued due to contamination concerns.Analyst Comment: This is worthy of note as this safety recall came out at the same time as another nationwide ice cream recall, and confusion between the two recalls can be very serious. The nationwide ice cream recall was issued not due to a health concern, but due to the labels on certain products not containing explicit guidance that dairy products contains milk. However, in Georgia, ice cream products form the Rich's Ice Cream Company were recalled due to listeria concerns, not a labeling error. As such, it's a good idea to double-check any frozen dairy products to ensure that they are safe for consumption.New York: A high-profile shooting was reported at the Blackstone building in Manhattan, which resulted in four fatalities. The shooter has been identified as Shane Tamura, who was recovered deceased at the scene.Analyst Comment: As one might expect due to the high-profile nature of a shooting at this location, the manipulation of information regarding this incident is staggering. At the moment, it appears as though the shooter was attempting to target the NFL headquarters, but accidentally exited the elevator on the wrong floor (or took the wrong elevator altogether, reports differ) and thus ended up actually targeting the Blackstone corporation. Authorities reportedly recovered a note from the scene, which indicates the shooter may have been suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease common to football players.Nebraska: This afternoon a large explosion was reported at the Horizons Biofuel facility in Fremont. Three workers remain missing following the explosion, and the cause of the blast is not yet known.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Following a brutal attack over the weekend in Ohio which has gone viral on social media, the impact of this event is worthy of note due to this event serving as not just another reminder of the importance of situational awareness, but also risk management when it comes to everyday social occasions. Two event goers at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival were attacked by a mob in the downtown area, which resulted in both being beaten severely. Local authorities have confirmed that out of the 100+ people who were in the mob (or otherwise were bystanders), only one person called 911 to report the assaults. Yesterday afternoon the Cincinnati Police Chief berated those who expressed anger over this event online, along with those who point out the very obvious racial motivations for this gruesome attack. No arrests have been made, despite the dozens of cellphones that were present at the attack, and the assaults being well-documented on social media by those bragging about taking part in the attack.As concerns grow globally concerning censorship, the situation in Cincinnati is a reminder that the United States is host to significant censorship efforts as well.

//The Wire//2300Z July 28, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: DATA PRIVACY PRACTICES REMAIN GLOBAL CONCERN. PROTESTS CONTINUE IN U.K. AMID CRACKDOWN ON SPEECH.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-United Kingdom: Concerns regarding internet censorship have grown following the rollout of the Online Safety Act a few days ago. This Act went into law, and in less than 24 hours was followed up by the creation of a new government Task Force who's sole mission is to police dissent on social media regarding immigration issues. The National Internet Intelligence Investigations division within the National Police Coordination Centre has been tasked with identifying anti-immigrant sentiment throughout Britain.This law has also been used to directly censor footage of demonstrations outside migrant centers, which took place in Leeds, Bournemouth, and Norwich over the weekend.-HomeFront-Nevada: This afternoon a shooting was reported at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. Local authorities state that the assailant shot several people in the valet area of the casino. Two people were killed and several others were wounded as a result of the shooting, and the assailant is in custody. No further details regarding the attacker have been released by authorities.Michigan: A mass stabbing was reported at a Walmart in Traverse City, which resulted in 11x people being wounded during the attack. Bradford James Gille was arrested on terrorism charges after attacking random shoppers at the store, before being taken down by bystanders.Analyst Comment: So far there isn't a clear motive for this attack, though locals claim that the assailant had a history of mental illness.USA: Delta Airlines is facing backlash following the implementation of a new AI-driven dynamic pricing model. This model will take into account all of the data processed by data brokers regarding a person's life, and determine what price a person will pay for a plane ticket.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Delta's new AI pricing model is more or less Delta's attempt to apply their Dynamic Pricing Models to individual users...not just everyone who needs to buy a ticket at the last minute. Airlines have become infamous for utilizing dynamic pricing models over the years (even using AI to drive these models), however the sharp change here is that Delta is looking to apply these models to individual users based on their digital advertising ID.This AI pricing model will allegedly scan not just the internet, but a person's entire digital fingerprint (which is sold by almost all vendors and companies). The example touted by many critical of this plan regarding how this pricing model might work is for a person's digital advertising fingerprint to be analyzed by Delta's data brokers, to figure out that a family member has passed away in a far-away state, and that this person needs to fly to the funeral. The AI model will use this data to charge that person more for their ticket, since it's a pressing family emergency. Other examples include people who need to fly for medical treatment, who are identified by their health insurance company selling their personal data. This is because a person who needs to travel for an emergency reason is likely to pay a higher price for a "right now" plane ticket, than someone just shopping around and making vacation plans.This idea is not new by any means; Various companies (not just airlines) have played around with this idea for a few years; Amazon drew flak over trying to do something similar a few years ago, and the Walmart and Kroger grocery store chains have faced backlash over doing the same thing (with facial recognition cameras) in their stores earlier this year. As such, data security remains a critical vulnerability that continues to grow more serious with each passing month, as the goalposts of privacy exp

//The Wire//2300Z July 25, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: "DATING" APP DATA BREACH HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-USA: This morning a major PII leak was exploited on the Tea app, the infamous app that has gained notoriety around the United States. This data leak was not a hack by any means; the selfie ID feature and driver's license images used to register users were stored unencrypted on the app's servers for anyone on the internet to see. Furthermore, the location data was not scrubbed from the images, so the exact GPS coordinate of each user was also leaked, with tens of thousands of users' private location data being leaked online.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: This app gained infamy as it's entire purpose is to serve as a "Yelp" for women to rate men, and to allow women to secretly share personal information regarding prospective dates, all without men being allowed to either face their accusers or even know that they are being gossiped about (thus the name of the app being a slang term that serves as a synonym for "gossip"). Most importantly, the app uses facial recognition to prevent biological males from obtaining an account. Beyond the unfortunate origins of the app and the equally unfortunate data leak, examination of the data that was leaked is likely to cause exceptionally grave risks to national security. The "gossipy" nature of this story doesn't matter, a bunch of unflattering selfies doesn't matter either; what does matter is that this may have inadvertently revealed significant national security concerns.For instance, preliminary analysis of the datasets indicates that many users of the Tea app downloaded the app, took a selfie, and registered for an account while at work. In some cases, at government facilities or on military bases...such as the rather unfortunate individual who decided it was a good idea to register for this app while stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Or the person who felt that they needed to use this app while on a gunnery range at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. So far, other interesting sites located via personnel taking a selfie to register for this app at work include the following locations:- An ammunition storage bunker at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey.- The legislative offices at the Connecticut State Capitol building.- One of the headquarters buildings at Minot Air Force Base.- A maintenance site on the airfield at Eglin Air Force Base.- Alumni Hall at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.- And the off-base housing complexes at nearly every single military base in the United States.Of course, these data points only encompass the GPS coordinates that were embedded in the metadata of the selfies taken when users created an account on the app, so the data that was leaked is merely a snapshot of wherever a person was when they registered an account. Most of the GPS points presented in this data were very precise, pinpointing users within a diameter of 36ft or so on average. GPS errors are also likely to throw off this dataset, so it's probable that quite a few data points are inaccurate. However, most of the data (as leaked) is good enough for nationstate-level malign actors to have a field day when it comes to espionage. A person who is unhappy with the person they are in a relationship with, who is also willing to submit their full legal name and street address (or GPS location) makes for a prime espionage target when this data is cross-referenced with other data. It takes exactly two clicks to import the leaked data to a map, and overlay that map with known sensitive military sites around the nation...perhaps in the process finding a few new locations as well. It is also easy to cross-reference this data with property ownership documents to find out how many people took a selfie at a different ad

//The Wire//2300Z July 24, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CONFLICT ERUPTS BETWEEN THAILAND AND CAMBODIA. GLOBAL STARLINK OUTAGE OBSERVED THIS AFTERNOON.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Southeast Asia: Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand have flared up again, and both nations have escalated sporadic border clashes into more direct hostilities. Yesterday, a Thai soldier stepped on a landmine in the disputed border region and from there, the situation deteriorated rapidly. Overnight, Thailand conducted several airstrikes in Cambodia, bombing unknown targets in the contested regions along the border. Some reports claim that one Thai F-16 dropped two bombs on an unoccupied road, whereas other reports claim that military targets were hit by several aircraft. Regardless of the uncertainty of what was struck initially, Cambodian forces have begun the deployment of armored columns to the border to attempt to maneuver through the extremely rugged terrain throughout the contested areas. Rocket attacks have been carried out by both sides throughout the day, also with unknown targets or effects, and most of the border between the two nations is currently host to sporadic fighting, artillery strikes, and small arms skirmishes.-HomeFront-USA: This afternoon an outage was reported on the Starlink network, which resulted in all Starlink terminals being down around the world for several hours.Analyst Comment: So far no cause for the outage has been reported, and there are already many points of speculation as to what caused such a substantial outage. Yesterday T-Mobile and Starlink announced the rollout of their direct-to-cell service project. This also comes a few days after the Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability continues to wreak havoc on various commercial and government entities, so it's always possible that some little known exploit related to that was involved in the outage. However, until Starlink issues a statement regarding what caused the disruption, it could be anything.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In Washington D.C. various political moves continue as before, not much of which is helpful for discerning the truth at the moment. The Epstein scandal remains pertinent as the White House continues sheepish behavior on the subject, and a federal judge blocks the DoJ from releasing certain documents pertaining to the case. Separately, the White House and Director of National Intelligence have made statements pertaining to the Obama Presidency, and the actions undertaken at that time to target President Trump. No real "smoking gun" details have been released on that topic (beyond what everyone already knows), and the timing of this bombshell report is interesting. Nevertheless the weaponization of various intelligence agencies for political gain over the past few years is a serious topic that at this point is too big to ignore. As such, the truth coming to light is of utmost importance if there is to be any hope of trust in the intelligence community ever again.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 23, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION IMPACTED BY SHAREPOINT BREACH. PEACE TALKS RESUME BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA AS US STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZES SALE OF AMERICAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Turkey: This morning another round of indirect peace talks between Russia and Ukraine began, with no real headway being made by this afternoon. This marks a return to negotiations after the intensification of the war almost two months ago.Analyst Comment: So far all sides have stated that expectations are low for any sort of diplomatic progress. However, various teams of negotiators are at the table anyway, which is progress.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This afternoon the State Department approved the sale of roughly $172 million worth of military hardware to Ukraine. This order mostly comprises of missile defense systems, repair tools and parts, trucks, and various other logistical support equipment.Analyst Comment: The White House has not commented on this development, however remarks from President Trump a few weeks ago indicate the general mood is to continue aid to Ukraine, but instead of outright gifting military hardware, the Pentagon will make Ukraine pay for it using the American tax dollars that were sent to Ukraine over the past few years. While this is slightly more fiscally advantageous, the elephant in the room is that regardless of who's paying for it, the war continues as before.USA: Fallout from the recent Microsoft SharePoint breach has continued as the scale of this scandal became more clear this morning. The National Nuclear Security Administration was impacted by the breach, with unknown effects. This little-known agency nested within the Department of Energy is responsible for the construction and disposal of nuclear weapons. So far, Microsoft has stated that roughly 8,000 SharePoint servers have been impacted by the zero-day exploit that was discovered a few weeks ago, many of which are servers used by various governmental and defense agencies.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The deterioration of complex (but boring) systems and processes is one of the most catastrophic problems of our modern era that largely goes ignored until something happens. Due to the entire world of nuclear weapons being a highly-sensationalized topic on any given day, this is a good reminder of how civilization decline is a rather serious concern in our modern times. When someone thinks of the administrative management of nuclear weapons, one is likely to be assaulted with a plethora of content regarding the extreme security of our nuclear triad. Consequently, when some sort of problem occurs, the first knee-jerk reaction to a vulnerability is to assume that "surely someone has taken care of this, or mitigated that". And in most cases one would be correct...but not always. Many people have grow accustomed to "zero-fail" systems actually being zero-fail due to the assumption that nothing bad will happen, because nothing bad has happened yet.Over time, this has resulted in a level of trust being placed on systems that today are not nearly as reliable as they are believed to be. In the case of a highly-dramatized topic such as nuclear weapons, it's quite clear that the actual implementation of nuclear warheads is rather well planned and managed....but Microsoft's SharePoint scandal has proven that maybe the companies that actually build the weapons are not as hardened as we all thought they were. From the mass-firings at the 5th Mission Support Group in 2023 due to failed nuclear readiness inspections, to the NNSA being impacted in undisclosed ways by a SharePoint breach (of all things), the American people are perfectly justified in adopting a "don't trust, always verify" mentality regarding systems that *were

//The Wire//2300Z July 22, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN SYRIA. MICROSOFT SOFTWARE VULNERABILITY RESULTS IN CYBERATTACKS ON SHAREPOINT USERS. AIRMAN KILLED DUE TO MALFUNCTIONING SERVICE PISTOL, INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE CAUSATION.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: The civil war in Syria continues as before, with various tribes continuing to consolidate gains in their respective areas. The Jolani government remains largely centered in Damascus, and most of the violence continues in Suwayda.Analyst Comment: Most western nations are still pretending that a ceasefire exists and is in effect, when in practice there is no such cessation of hostilities as tribal violence and random executions of civilians are becoming more common on all sides. An American citizen aligned with the Druze was executed a few days ago, drawing concerns of what the international response will be to the escalating violence throughout the region. So far, there hasn't been much interest from the international community to get involved in Syria again, with the exception of Israel and Turkey (who are the biggest external nationstates involved in the conflict so far). However, this is Syria and things happen quickly here.-HomeFront-USA: Microsoft has faced scrutiny for their response to a recent software vulnerability that was recently announced. Over the weekend Microsoft revealed the discovery of a critical vulnerability within the Sharepoint ecosystem, which was discovered after thousands of government and enterprise-level customers experienced significant cyberattacks (mostly from well-known Chinese hacking groups).Analyst Comment: This morning, it became known that this vulnerability was actually already known, and was identified by Trend Micro (a cybersecurity firm) which found the exploit back on July 8th during a hacking competition. Microsoft allegedly issued software fixes to patch the vulnerability, however a few days ago malign actors were observed utilizing the exploit anyway, confirming that Microsoft's efforts to patch this Sharepoint bug were ineffective.Washington D.C. - The Department of the Air Force has launched an investigation into the M18 service pistol following the death of a service member due to safety concerns. The US Air Force will cease all issuance of the M18 platform while the investigation is ongoing, following several other government agencies which have already halted the use of this weapon system due to safety concerns.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: For those who are not aware of the implications of the M18 scandal, this scandal has been building for some time and opinions are sharply divided. Sig Sauer has been the center of much controversy surrounding the P320 (the civilian designation of the M18 service pistol) after multiple reports emerged from owners regarding the pistol not being drop-safe. Most modern handguns incorporate some sort of "drop safety" into their design, which prevents the pistol from firing if the gun is dropped. After admitting there was a problem regarding the drop safety on early P320's, Sig issued a recall and allegedly fixed the issue. However, after some time, an entirely separate series of issues began to be reported, namely that in some cases, the pistol would discharge on it's own at random while holstered. When these reports came out, Sig Sauer did everything in their power to silence these concerns, and several Public Relations efforts were undertaken to shame and gaslight P320 owners into thinking that the problems were entirely the result of the end user and not a design flaw. However, despite the months of denial, problems remained.Several law enforcement agencies halted the use of the M18 a few months ago after very-well-documented cases confirmed that sometimes the M18 will fire a chambered round while hol

//The Wire//2100Z July 21, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CHINA BEGINS MAJOR HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT IN TIBET. ALASKA AIRLINES SUFFERS IT OUTAGE, GROUNDING ALL FLIGHTS SUNDAY EVENING.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Central Asia: Over the weekend, Chinese authorities began construction on a major hydroelectric power plant in a remote region of Tibet. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held at a site adjacent to the future Yarlung Tsangpo Hydroelectric Power Plant in Nyingchi. This project is scheduled to be completed by 2033, and for comparison will allegedly be roughly three times the size of the Three Gorges Dam project.-HomeFront-Washington: Sunday evening an IT outage resulted in all Alaska Airlines aircraft being grounded for several hours. Roughly 150 flights were canceled as a result of the outage, and airline representatives have warned of future disruptions due to malfunctioning equipment. So far no cause for the outage has been disclosed, beyond general comments of unspecified equipment failure.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As with most Chinese industrial projects, the scale of the hydroelectric project in Tibet is impressive. However in this case, they are attempting to build the largest hydroelectric power plant in human history...directly in the middle of a region legendary for extreme seismic activity. More broadly however, there are mitigating factors which complicate this seemingly glaring mistake.As the dam will also be built over a river that flows into India, various concerns are present regarding restricting the flow of water into India. Conversely, since India will be the primary customer of the electricity, these concerns will likely waver over time due to India's extremely poor infrastructure. In short, China knows that India is desperate for electricity, so China is going to dam up a river on the Indian border and use what would have been India's own river to produce electricity to sell back to them. Consequently, since this power plant will be used to provide electricity for export, CCP officials probably don't care as much about the national security risks when/if the plant gets destroyed due to an earthquake or due to combat action.Considering that this dam can also be used to halt the flow of water into India, this dam highlights the often forgotten detail that the People's Republic of China rarely does anything that does not also have military value. The Yarlung Tsangpo River (which is known as the Brahmaputra River in India) accounts for roughly 7% of all of the freshwater supply in India (at least, according to the Indian government). This means that China can quite literally turn the screws on India, and apply pressure to their BRICS partner as necessary. Indian leadership, only interested in short-term gains (and cheap electricity), have either forgotten that there's no such thing as a free lunch and/or are so desperate to keep their failing electrical grid from outright collapse that they don't care about the potential military impacts that will occur in a decade when the plant comes online.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2000Z July 18, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: SITUATION IN SYRIA CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE. CONCERNS GROW REGARDING LONG-STANDING THREATS TO AMERICAN LIVESTOCK.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Syria: The violence continues to escalate as the Druze militias have taken advantage of recent Israeli strikes to make territorial advances in the south. This morning PM Netanyahu pledged support for the Druze, and stated that Syrian government forces will not be allowed to enter the district south of Damascus. Overnight Druze forces seized the city of Suweida, and have claimed to control most of the key terrain throughout the entire region.Analyst Comment: Though Netanyahu didn't name the district specifically, he probably meant Suwayda, but he could also have meant Daraa (which is an important distinction). Lines on the map have no meaning whatsoever in Syria right now, however Suwayda is the district currently host to the most fighting, mostly between the Druze and various other Islamic-based militias. Daraa is the main district that is currently occupied by Israeli forces, following Israel's invasion of Syria during the fall of the Assad regime. Right now, it looks like Netanyahu is trying to use the Druze to push Jolani's forces out of Suwayda, so as to increase Israel's "buffer zone" eastward, probably all the way to Druze Mountain. On the other hand, this is Syria...the cultural/tribal situation is vastly more complicated than that. The Druze community itself is not as culturally solidified as one might imagine, with younger tribes more closely aligning with Israel, but older Druze communities serving the Assad regime faithfully. Similarly, the fall of the Assad regime immediately spawned hundreds of splinter groups that have formed an even more complicated web of loyalties than before the collapse.In short, there are no "good guys" in this case; all sides and tribes have committed extremely gruesome violence against each other, so the situation is largely a wash. However, Israel is the main nationstate-level player involved in all of this, and thus seeks to come out on top, regardless of which tribes kill each other. As usual, only time will tell how effective this effort will be. For context, the operational environment in this case is roughly 40% of the total land mass of Israel itself, with the Daraa and Suwayda districts combined being roughly 8,000 km² in size.-HomeFront-Midwest: Concern is growing regarding the spread of disease caused by the Asian Longhorned Tick, an invasive species of parasite that has become a problem throughout the United States over the past year. This parasite is known to cause Theileriosis in cattle, which can cause death in a wide array of cases, varying from 3-90%. There is no known treatment or vaccine for this disease, and prevention methods are the only known mitigation tactics that are effective at reducing the spread of this disease.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The concerns regarding the Asian Longhorned Tick are not new by any means, however this topic has gained more traction due to various research projects that are now underway. Oklahoma State University is currently sampling cattle to study how serious the spread of this parasite is, and the University of Georgia is likewise conducting similar research. While it may not sound like a serious threat at the moment, this parasite has the potential to exponentially grow into a major problem since the female tick can lay around 2,000 eggs at a time without mating. As a reminder, this tick was first discovered in the US on a sheep in New Jersey back in 2017, however due to the exponential spread of this parasite, entire herds of cattle are now swarming with these ticks from coast to coast. This has already resulted in a 150% spike in this tick being observed in the state of Pennsylvania, for instance. However no

//The Wire//2000Z July 17, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: TENSIONS CONTINUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AMID RENEWED TARGETING IN GAZA AND WEST BANK. CONGRESS WEIGHS IMMIGRATION AMNESTY BILL.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Gaza: The war continues as before amid Israeli forces conducting the high-profile targeting of a Christian Church. The Holy Family Church in Gaza City was struck with a tank shell overnight, which resulted in 3x parishioners being killed and many people inside being wounded, including the parish Priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli.Analyst Comment: This attack comes after weeks of increased violence on Christian Churches in the West Bank, as Israeli settlers have conducted arson attacks on Churches throughout the region as recently as two days ago. This also comes two years after another high-profile Church bombing, in which the IDF targeted a site adjacent to the Church of St. Porphyrius a few days after the war began in October, 2023. That strike killed over a dozen people, and the Church was heavily damaged during the strike.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - In Congress, Rep. María Elvira Salazar introduced the "Dignity Act" on Tuesday, an immigration reform bill which seeks to grant amnesty to "long-term immigrants" via new work programs. Separately, in the Senate, Bill 225 has been introduced as the End Unaccountable Amnesty Act, which seeks to remove the ability for the DHS to grant immigrants Temporary Protected Status (TPS), as well as allow the deportation of unaccompanied minors that were dropped off at the border.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In Washington, rumors are growing pertaining to the strikes in Iran a few weeks ago. In short, grumblings are beginning to emerge that indicate the airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities were not as effective as first touted. Both American and Israeli media outlets have been trying to float this story for a few days, of course citing the usual "unnamed sources" that can't be verified in any way. Whether or not this information is true is largely immaterial when it comes to the potential for this whole affair to kick off again. Right now, there aren't many indicators suggesting the US is interested in escalating things again. However, with strong domestic dissent regarding the handling of issues such as the Epstein scandal, the motivation for diversionary actions is quite high. This consideration, while certainly out on a limb at the moment, is still worth remembering as there might not be much notice of impending escalations with any of the global conflicts currently on the table.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2000Z July 16, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: ISRAELI FORCES STRIKE DAMASCUS. ATTEMPTED FIREBOMBER ARRESTED IN MICHIGAN. CONCERNS MOUNT REGARDING SECRET BRITISH PLAN TO HOUSE AFGHAN MIGRANTS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-United Kingdom: Social backlash has resulted from a court order issued yesterday, which unsealed many details pertaining to a secret government plan to relocate Afghans to the United Kingdom following the fall of Kabul in 2021. In 2022, a plan was created by the Ministry of Defense to covertly extricate roughly 4,500 people from Afghanistan and relocate them to the United Kingdom, after a data breach allegedly revealed that they were working for the British government during the war. On Tuesday, the British citizenry discovered that the true number of Afghans imported under this secret plan was actually over 16,000.Syria: This morning Israeli forces conducted a large-scale airstrike at the Ministry of Defense building in Damascus, with initial damage assessments indicating the complex was nearly completely destroyed. The bombing of Damascus continued throughout the day.Analyst Comment: At the moment it is uncertain as to how far Israel will go (for this specific engagement), however it's possible these are the next steps of their much larger campaign. For additional context, PM Netanyahu's criminal trial was scheduled to begin today, however court was adjourned due to the strikes. Before the cancellation, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee was in attendance at the court.-HomeFront-Michigan: One assailant has been arrested in conjunction with a firebombing attempt that was carried out at the GOP headquarters in Dickinson County on Saturday. Local authorities state that Zayn Edward Arcand attempted to throw an incendiary device at the facility, however the device failed to ignite during the attack. Arcand was arrested shortly after the attack.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The Afghan scandal in the United Kingdom comes as concerns grow regarding the censorship of the citizenry. One of the more important aspects of this case is that everyone knew this was happening at the time in 2022, however a court order banned speech from media groups referencing this scandal. Now that this order has been rescinded, more details pertaining to immigration issues are likely to come to light over the next few weeks.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2000Z July 15, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: FLOODING CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. CONCERNS GROWING REGARDING SHIFTING PRIORITIES IN WASHINGTON.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Syria: Conflict has erupted once again, as fighting has flared up between Druze militias and the  collection of Bedouin and pro-government forces loosely aligned under al-Jolani's new regime. A few hundred casualties have been reported in the town of Suwayda over the weekend, and a very hesitant "ceasefire" has been declared after this latest round of fighting.-HomeFront-Colorado: Following a high-profile kidnapping attempt that occurred in Aurora last year, a District Attorney has faced backlash for her efforts to free the perpetrator of the attack. Solomon Galligan was arrested for attempting to kidnap a child on the street in Aurora last year, and on Monday reports emerged that DA Amy Padden was attempting to drop all charges against him because he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.USA: Flooding incidents continue as before, with heavy rainfall causing flooding throughout New York and New Jersey overnight. In Texas, recovery efforts continue amid constant heavy rainfall, with roughly 160x persons still being reported missing from the initial flooding crisis that struck the Guadalupe River basin two weeks ago. The casualty count for the floods in Texas so far remains at 132x reported fatalities.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: At the moment, the White House appears to be radically shifting priorities on many different issues. The shift to cover up the Epstein client list, and to hush-up all aspects of the case is without question a bridge too far for most people to accept. Claiming that the largest known human trafficking network in the world simply had no clients is an incredulous turning point in history that President Trump will not be able to walk away from hoping that everyone forgets. Likewise, relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated further following the events of the past few days. The war in Ukraine has sharply veered away from any sort of peace agreement, with the United States ramping up arms shipments to Ukraine once again. Though nothing is confirmed at this point, the usual leaks have indicated that the White House is considering the next wave of aid to Ukraine, and what weapons systems it will entail. Some whispers suggest the US will allow Ukraine to increase direct attacks on Moscow with American arms, and other rumors suggest that the US is looking to send more capable arms and missiles with which to continue the war. Time will tell what is decided, but the bottom line is that the flow chart is pointing toward an increase in the war's activity, and all parties are trending away from peace talks.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2100Z July 14, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: WHITE HOUSE LOOKS TO TARIFF RUSSIA AS PEACE TALKS STAGNATE. FLOODING CONTINUES IN TEXAS AS MORE RAINFALL ARRIVES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Kentucky: On Sunday, a shooting was reported in Lexington at the Richmond Road Baptist Church after a brief police pursuit. Local authorities state that Guy House briefly engaged a police officer near the Blue Grass Airport during a traffic stop, wounding the officer in the initial incident. House then fled the scene, entering the Church that was located adjacent to the airport. Upon entry, House murdered two people, and wounded several others. House was engaged by pursuing officers, and was killed at the scene.Texas: Following last week's devastating floods, heavy rainfall returned over the weekend to the same area. Roughly 6-10 inches of rain fell throughout central Texas, and more precipitation is expected throughout the week. Search and Rescue operations have been halted a few times due to flooding risks re-emerging throughout the region.Washington D.C. - Relations with Russia have deteriorated following efforts by the White House to end the war in Ukraine falling flat. This morning President Trump stated that the United States is looking to implement a tariff of 100% on Russian goods if a peace deal is not reached in 50 days.This afternoon, the Pentagon awarded xAI's Grok a $200 million contract to integrate the LLM throughout the defense community.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Russia is already the most heavily-sanctioned nation on Earth, with very little trade being undertaken between the United States and Russia. American imports of Russian goods amount to roughly $3.5 billion per year, which (for context) is roughly 10 times less than the GDP of Vermont. Consequently, engaging in a trade spat with Russia is unlikely to yield the intended effect.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 10, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MERCHANT VESSELS SUNK IN RED SEA. FLOODING CONTINUES AROUND THE UNITED STATES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Red Sea/HOA: Two commercial vessels have been sunk off the coast of Yemen by Houthi forces over the past few days. On July 6th, the M/V MAGIC SEAS was struck by cruise missiles and Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), which was rapidly followed up with small arms and RPG attacks via militants in small boats. The next day, the M/V ETERNITY C was attacked in a similar manner. Both vessels suffered severe flooding, finally sinking overnight.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This morning the FDA granted approval for Moderna's new "Spikevax" COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months old to 11 years old. Following concerns expressed by the agricultural community, the USDA has reversed their stance on allowing cattle to be imported from Mexico. The decision to re-close livestock imports was made following a new infestation of New World Screwworm (NWS) being reported at a higher latitude than previously disclosed by Mexican officials, and that NWS was present in herds of livestock much closer to the US/Mexico border than previously known. As of right now, all ports of entry are closed to Mexican cattle, while the parasite continues to spread throughout Mexico.Southern USA: Flooding incidents remain constant as severe weather systems continue to develop throughout the region. More severe flooding was reported throughout North Carolina, with water rescues continuing in Durham and many downed trees causing power outages. The Graham–Mebane Water Treatment Plant went offline due to flooding damage, causing a brief water shortage throughout the city of Mebane.The flooding recovery in Texas continues as the total casualty count climbs to 120x fatalities and around 173x people still being unaccounted for. In New Mexico, 3x fatalities were reported as a result of the floods over the past few days, as flash floods struck the town of Ruidoso.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Heavy rain is still being forecast for many areas throughout the American South and along the east coast for the next few days. Considering the rain that has already fallen, in many areas the ground is already saturated, making flooding and landslides much more of a risk. Now is the time to prepare, and consider the impact of weather events becoming much more severe than originally forecast.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 9, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN GERMANY AND CHINA REGARDING RED SEA INCIDENT. TAIWAN BEGINS LARGE-SCALE MILITARY EXERCISE. WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEW TARIFF ON COPPER.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Far East: Taiwan began their largest annual military drill yesterday evening, with this year's exercises being the most substantial to date. This drill is scheduled to last 10x days, roughly double the length of last year's maneuvers.Germany: Controversy has resulted from an incident that occurred in the Red Sea a few days ago. German authorities have stated that a Chinese warship operating in the Red Sea deliberately targeted one of their aircraft with a laser with the indent to blind the pilots and/or damage sensor equipment. This incident prompted Germany to summon the Chinese Ambassador to account for the situation, and tensions between the two nations have increased as a result.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Yesterday the White House announced implementing a 50% tariff on all imported copper. Following this announcement, the price of copper skyrocketed by 13% to a new high today.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The long-term economic impacts of pumping the price of copper are best analyzed by economists. However, the real-world impacts to the average person are plain to see. Anytime a precious metal sharply increases, theft of that metal also rises. Copper theft is already a growing problem in most areas, so opportunistic criminals will likely take advantage of this new high to steal and scrap everything that isn't bolted down (and also most things that ARE bolted down), at least in the short term while the price of copper remains very volatile.Regarding the lasing incident in the Red Sea, these types of events happen very frequently. However, these more soft-targeting efforts are generally a good indicator for which way the wind is blowing in the international arena. Right now China is not very friendly with the west, but particularly the European Union at large.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 8, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: WHITE HOUSE REVERSES STANCE ON EPSTEIN SCANDAL. USA MAKES PLANS FOR RESTARTING ARMS SHIPMENTS TO UKRAINE. TRUMP STATES NO DEPORTATION AMNESTY FOR ILLEGALS, EXCEPT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS WHO CAN STAY UNDER NEW WORK PROGRAM.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Texas: Disaster recovery continues following the recent floods that have struck the state. Over 109x fatalities have been reported in conjunction with the flooding in Kerr County and the Guadalupe River basin. Local officials are starting to shift rescue operations into recovery, as the last live victim was recovered on Friday. Nevertheless, the search for the missing continues.North Carolina: Following the landfall of a tropical depression over the weekend, severe flooding struck the Capitol region. Dozens of water rescues were conducted over the past two days in Chapel Hill and Durham, and 4x fatalities have been reported so far as a result of the floods.Washington D.C. - Political activities continue as various press statements and news conferences over the past few days have resulted in a shifting of priorities for the White House. Most notably, the White House has changed perspective on the Epstein case. After months of hype surrounding the potential for arrests, the White House and DoJ have stated that no arrests of Epstein's clients will occur nor will any further documents be released regarding this case. President Trump also verbally berated the journalist inquiring about this change of stance, calling the question a "waste of time".Concerning immigration, President Trump also stated that illegal immigrants will not be granted amnesty, however agricultural and service workers will be granted reprieve from deportation under a work program (the details of which have yet to be released).President Trump has also expressed interest in re-arming Ukraine, following last week's slowdown of supplying Ukraine with missiles for their Patriot batteries. Yesterday afternoon the Pentagon confirmed that they will resume weapon shipments to Ukraine.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Regarding the flooding in Texas, as unfortunate and inflammatory as it is, the potential for malign action must be considered. Concerns are already growing regarding the operations of the Rainmaker Technology Corporation and their weather modification programs that have taken place throughout Texas. Augustus Doricko, the CEO of Rainmaker admitted to their company conducting operations in south-central Texas on July 2nd...two days before the severe flooding occurred. Additionally, many are wondering why cloud seeding operations were conducted if the remnants of a Tropical Storm were expected throughout the area, and no drought was declared.Of course, it will take many years of investigation to determine the links between all of this, but since time is of the essence and Hurricane Season is well underway, it would be wise to re-examine risk assessments to factor in current events. From a risk management perspective, if hazardous weather is forecasted, it would be wise to plan for that weather system to produce more severe weather than originally forecasted, just out of an abundance of caution. Especially if located in areas where weather modification efforts are being undertaken with zero oversight whatsoever. However, at the end of the day, if you are chest-deep in water trying to save your family, it won't matter if this is the work of a company to manipulate atmospheric conditions, or if it was a freak weather system. At that point, you're in the mud having to make tough decisions. Assess the risk, start taking weather systems more seriously, and have a plan for what to do if the forecast underestimates a situation when it occurs.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 7, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: FLOODING DEVASTATES AMERICAN SOUTH. MULTIPLE AMBUSHES REPORTED AT ICE FACILITIES IN TEXAS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Texas: Severe flooding continues to impact the state following unusual weather systems producing much more precipitation than originally forecasted. Concerning casualties, 82x fatalities have been reported so far. Hundreds of rescues by small boat and helicopter have been conducted, and Search and Rescue operations continue throughout the Guadalupe and Llano River basins.Texas: This morning, a small arms engagement was reported at the CBP annex in McAllen. Authorities state that an assailant (who has not yet been identified) was waiting in ambush with multiple firearms to target CBP agents arriving for work this morning. After a short firefight, the individual was killed. This shooting comes two days after a separate skirmish was reported at the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado.Friday night, an individual who was visibly armed was acting suspiciously in the vicinity of the Prairieland Detention Facility. Beyond these initial factual details, the timing of events becomes unclear. However, as this situation was unfolding, a group of insurgents were observed maneuvering tactically to the west of the facility, taking up a position haphazardly concealed in a treeline running north/south approximately 50m to the west of the facility's perimeter fence. Shortly after this observation, this element launched their attack by setting off fireworks either as a diversionary maneuver, to conceal the sound of gunfire, or to prompt police to come out of the facility to enter the killzone of their arranged ambush. During the fray, a small arms engagement erupted outside this facility, as the element of insurgents in the treeline opened fire on one of the officers attempting to investigate the situation. No one was killed during the exchange, however one officer was wounded. A total of 11x people have been arrested so far in conjunction with this attack.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The shooters arrested in conjunction with the Prairieland Detention Center skirmish appear to not necessarily be Cartel-affiliated, but the more garden-variety far-left-insurgent-type. Cartel members don't often take breaks during a small arms battle to spray paint graffiti (as has been reported taking place during this engagement), nor do more organized and professional militants usually get caught en masse like this. All of the attackers were wearing body armor at the time of their arrest, but local reports state that only one firearm was recovered (the rifle that jammed and concluded the attack). As such, this is either a very kinetic "protest" event, or a very poor ambush.Concerning the other small arms engagement (the shooting in McAllen), it's possible there is a link between the two, though authorities have not speculated publicly on this yet. Prior to his attack, the McAllen shooter had spray painted the words "Cordis Die" on his vehicle, which was used to ram the gate at the Border Patrol facility to launch the attack. This phrase is most commonly associated with video game culture (such as the Call of Duty franchise), so it's possible that the attack in Alvarado could be linked, even if it's just a loose link based on ideology. Both attacks were conducted with very obvious public relations efforts in mind, and symbology/politics was certainly a focal point of the evidence left behind. Nevertheless, there are so many attacks on Border Patrol facilities at present that it's hard to establish any clear link between all of the groups who have chosen to conduct targeting efforts.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//1800Z July 4, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MIGRANT CRIMINALS INCREASINGLY IMPLEMENTING ADVANCED TACTICS DURING CRIMES. TRUMP STATES NO PROGRESS MADE WITH PUTIN ON ENDING UKRAINE WAR. NORTHCOM DEPLOYS MARINES TO FLORIDA.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Yesterday President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, to discuss various issues pertaining to the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. After the phone call, President Trump stated that he was not happy with the discussion, as no progress was made on concluding the war in Ukraine.Florida: Yesterday afternoon, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) released a statement confirming that 200 U.S. Marines will be deployed to the state to provide logistical support to ICE. The press release also stated that more deployments are expected.California: A total of 7x Central and South American migrants were arrested yesterday in conjunction with a jewelry heist that occurred back in May. Local authorities state that the Bidrussian Jewelry store in Glendale was burglarized by the seven assailants, who exhibited more advanced tactics than normally presented during a standard smash-and-grab. The city's 911 service and internet connectivity was impacted due to the thieves cutting communications cables and using signal jammers during the robbery.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The use of signal jammers is interesting in that it's a major indicator for the progression of the sophistication of crime in an area. All of the assailants were caught, so it didn't work out too well for them in the end, however this is the latest example of how criminals are learning tactics from around the world. Criminals in South Africa, for instance, are legendary for their widespread use of jammers during criminal activities, both to prevent victims from calling emergency services, but also to disable WiFi cameras and GPS tracking devices. Similarly, the cutting of communications cables has been noted as being effective due to the commonality of  climate activists cutting cables in sabotage operations throughout Europe.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 3, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: AX ATTACK STRIKES GERMANY. JUDGES CONTINUE TO HALT IMMIGRATION AND DEPORTATION POLICIES. RECONCILIATION BILL PASSES IN CONGRESS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Germany: Dissent is mounting following a wave of assaults at public swimming pools throughout the nation. Following the assault of 8x children by Syrian immigrants last week, German authorities have implemented a nationwide media campaign to educate immigrants to the idea that it is not acceptable to assault children.Continuing the trend of violent attacks, an unidentified assailant conducted an ax attack on a train in Bavaria this morning. 4x people were wounded in the attack. The assailant has not been identified (as is standard policy) however locals who witnessed the attack state that attacker was Syrian, however this has not been confirmed yet.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Despite the recent ruling from the US Supreme Court regarding the judgements of lower courts, a federal judge (Judge Brian Cogan) has blocked the White House's efforts to remove the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) from roughly 500,000 Haitian migrants. Separately, a different judge (Judge Randolph Moss) ruled against President Trump's order to increase scrutiny on those seeking political asylum in the United States from Mexico.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: In Congress, controversy continues regarding the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB). Following last-minute political deals, filibusters, and various political moves, the bill was passed in the House today and is expected to be on President Trump's desk for signature tomorrow. Considering this bill's long history, being introduced in the House, sent to the Senate where changes were made, and then sent back to the House, it will probably be some time before the true contents of the omnibus bill are examined closely. Most of the political pork added to the bill to pretend to appease voters in the House was immediately stripped by the Senate, and further changes were made once the bill landed back in the House.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 2, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: IRANIANS CLOSE AIRSPACE TO COMMERCIAL AVIATION. FBI GETS NEW HEADQUARTERS BUILDING.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: This afternoon Iranian airspace was closed along the western border of the nation, ceasing all commercial aviation traffic until tomorrow. This comes a few hours after Iranian authorities briefly opened their airspace to commercial traffic for some international flights.Analyst Comment: As this is a developing situation, it's hard to determine what's going on. Normally, the closure of Iranian airspace indicates some sort of security threat, however their airspace has mostly been closed for weeks now. It's possible that a mixup occurred, or that the Iranians changed their mind regarding re-opening their skies to commercial traffic. Either way it's still a tense situation all around.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This morning FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the decision to move the FBI's headquarters has been finalized, and that the FBI will be moving from the J. Edgar Hoover Building down the street to the upgraded and modernized Ronald Reagan Building with offices also expanding to include the old USAID offices in the International Trade Center building.Texas: This morning four individuals were arrested in conjunction with an investigation into a kickback scheme in Houston. One of the individuals arrested was an ICE agent, and allegedly worked with a local bail bond company to lift deportation retainer classifications, for a fee.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As a reminder, there are still plans to conduct another round of No Kings protests on July 4th. However, considering the abysmal turnout the first time, most of these events probably won't happen or remain comparatively low-risk. The protests planned for July 4th have received none of the media blitz the first protests experienced, and therefore probably won't be that impactful. However, any event that brings large crowds and poor security practices presents risk in our modern times, so being aware of these events is still worthwhile.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z July 1, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: CARTEL VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN MEXICO. USDA ANNOUNCES OPENING OF CATTLE IMPORTS DESPITE PARASITE OUTBREAK.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Mexico: Cartel violence continues as before, amid a recent wave of murders that have taken place around the country over the past few weeks. Last night, several human remains were discovered hanging from a bridge in Culiacán, with a total of 20x remains discovered throughout the site.Europe: Tensions between Germany and Poland have been on the rise, as recent changes in German immigration policy have caused problems for Poland. Various protests have occurred along the border in Poland, as citizens have voiced concern with Germany deporting illegal immigrants from their country, into Poland.Analyst Comment: This practice has been ongoing for some time, and many legal battles are in progress pertaining to immigration issues that have caused problems among European nations. Nevertheless, dissent is growing among the citizenry with regards to how governments are handling immigration issues.-HomeFront-Texas: Yesterday afternoon the US Department of Agriculture announced that the import of foreign livestock from Mexico will recommence on July 7th. The import of all livestock had previously been halted in May due to an outbreak of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico, a flesh-eating parasite which is infamous for devastating entire herds of cattle, deer, and bison.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The decision to begin re-opening imports of foreign livestock has been received with raised eyebrows for two main reasons: For one, screwworm is very serious and the wisdom of re-opening imports while the outbreak is ongoing is questionable. And secondly the press statement by the USDA essentially boiled down to the USDA trusting Mexico to increase parasite surveillance operations. Trust is hard to come by these days, and this move to re-open imports is at odds with the concerns raised by the state of Texas concerning this disease.Texas agricultural agencies, research groups, and health officials, recognizing the risks posed by NWS have begun more intense efforts to combat the disease. Governor Abbott signed a letter last week ordering the creation of various Task Forces to coordinate and share resources to combat the cross-border transmission of the parasite.The press statement also indicates that the USDA is more or less taking the position of opening up cattle imports, and hoping it doesn't spread. The USDA has been increasing operations to release sterile NWS flies throughout Texas and Mexico, however the timing of this is suspect considering that it was the Mexican Minister of Agriculture that requested the acceleration of timelines concerning the re-importing of Mexican cattle. Since roughly 20% of the beef consumed in the United States originates from Mexico, the decision to allow imports during an outbreak is probably based more on economics than medicine. Time will tell if this is a good decision or not. On the one hand halting beef imports for too much longer will probably cause a rise in prices at the supermarket, but on the other hand NWS was only eradicated in the US during the 1960's after long and arduous efforts, so if this gets out of hand again this has the potential to become very serious once more.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z June 30, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: FIREFIGHTERS TARGETED IN IDAHO AMBUSH, MULTIPLE FATALITIES REPORTED. TARGETING CONTINUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: The situation remains tenuous throughout the region as another drone attack strikes Tehran. This afternoon, locals reported witnessing a kamikaze drone attack taking place in Tehran, which is being claimed to have targeted a senior IRGC official.Analyst Comment: As this is a developing situation, very few details are confirmed. However, yesterday anti-aircraft batteries throughout the city were observed engaging targets, which would add more validity to the claims of small drones being used to target senior defense officials. Reports from last night also suggest that Iranian leadership is continuing to crack down on spies and insurgents carrying out attacks within Tehran, which is continuing to be a problem despite the ceasefire.-HomeFront-Idaho: Yesterday afternoon a small arms engagement was reported on Canfield Mountain just east of Cour d'Alene. At approximately 1330L, firefighters responded to a call of a brush fire on Canfield Mountain, in the vicinity of Nettleton Gulch Road. Upon arrival on scene, firefighters unknowingly maneuvered into the kill zone of a deliberately laid ambush, with the fire being started to lure authorities in to the location. In the initial ambush, 2x firefighters were KIA, and several others were wounded. After some time, local authorities stated that the body of a male individual (presumed to be the shooter) was recovered from the scene, along with a firearm. This morning, the shooter was identified as Wess Roley.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Regarding the verbiage used to describe the situation in Idaho, additional context would be helpful to discern the threat. The term "ambush" is technically correct in describing the shooting, however this term is also likely to imply that a classic L-shaped ambush was laid by a professional military force. In this case, this is not what happened at all. The shooter briefly spoke to firefighters who were arriving on scene, before climbing a tree and engaging them with a shotgun from close range. Considering that many people around the nation are currently concerned with various threats of terrorism, it is important to understand that while horrific, this incident does not bear the hallmarks of a more professional and sophisticated terror attack.Incidents like this often highlight additional concerns that would be wise to consider. For instance, even before the shooter's identity was even known, many "journalists" were pushing a narrative for political purposes even as the incident was ongoing. Even now, a full day after the attack (and knowing the shooter's identity), many news organizations have not issued corrections to their articles that attempted to paint this situation as some sort of crazed militia activity related to White Supremacy groups (or the general idea of such). This horrific attack was the result of one individual who's success relied not upon military planning tactics, but on the fire department (understandably) not expecting to roll up to a fire and find someone shooting at them from a tree.However, regardless of the rhetoric that is already being spread, it is extremely crucial to remember that in the heat of the moment, the underlying politics and ideology are less important than the situation at hand; political discussions are best served after the situation is resolved, not while bullets are still whizzing by overhead. It is also easy to forget that, regardless of the suspicious nature of attacks like this, at the end of the day real people are dead. This will be important to remember as multiple sides will seek to spin this event to suit their narratives.Analyst: S2A1Research: htt

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//The Wire//2300Z June 27, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: SCOTUS SIDES WITH TRUMP ON LOWER COURTS ISSUING BLANKET RULINGS. PROTESTS IN EUROPE CONTINUE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Europe: Various demonstrations and protests continue as usual. In Poland, demonstrations were conducted today regarding the migrant crisis, with Poles expressing dissatisfaction with the deportation of migrants to their country.Yesterday a small protest was reported in Ljubljana, Slovenia, following the NATO summit this week. This summit largely did not discuss much of any importance, with the exception of again urging member states to pledge 5% of their defense budget to NATO's collective defense. AC: Demonstrations in eastern European nations often end up being a good barometer for gauging how the east/west dynamic is developing. This time, Slovenians protested against NATO and the United States for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to the recent activities in the Middle East.Middle East: Tensions in Gaza have increased following a report from Israeli media claiming that IDF soldiers were ordered to target civilians seeking food aid. In the report, interviewed IDF soldiers explained the long-standing practices regarding the targeting of civilians, such as the practice of shooting civilians "who appeared to pose no threat".AC: The Israeli Military Advocate General has also ordered an internal investigation into these targeting efforts, and several nations have issued statements of condemnation regarding this practice. These reports come after months of complaints from international aid groups being kinetically targeted throughout the region.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - This morning the US Supreme Court issued a few rulings of note. SCOTUS ruled in favor of President Trump concerning his lawsuit to prevent activist judges from exceeding their jurisdictions to issue rulings more broad than the initial scope of the initial lawsuit. In effect, this means that President Trump's executive order to ban birthright citizenship for illegals and for those on temporary visas is in effect.Similarly, this morning the White House announced that they will be terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of roughly 500,000 Haitian nationals, continuing the efforts from a few months ago to halt/slow immigration from Haiti under humanitarian programs.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The SCOTUS did not address the merits of Trump's birthright citizenship Executive Order itself; this judgement only re-affirmed the long-standing policy of preventing judges from issuing judgements outside their jurisdiction. However, the follow-on effects of this judgement will be interesting to follow as this affects a few hot-button issues that is currently at the heart of American discourse (most notably immigration-related issues).Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z June 26, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MORE ARRESTS MADE FOLLOWING WEEKEND NEEDLE ATTACKS IN FRANCE. DEBATE CONTINUES REGARDING SUCCESS OF BOMBING RAID AT FORDOW.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-France: More arrests have been made in conjunction with last weekend's mass needle-attacks at a nationwide series of music festivals around the nation. Over the past few days, a total of 12x suspects have been arrested after over 145x people were stabbed with syringes filled with various harmful substances at various events around the country. Most of the victims are women, who were intentionally targeted as posts on social media urged the syringe attacks before the events got underway. 13x police officers were also stabbed with needles during the festivities.AC: Though the sheer scale of mass needle attacks is very concerning, this has happened many times before throughout France. In 2022, over 300x people were wounded in similar attacks. However, in traditional fashion, the names of the suspects who have been arrested have been withheld from the public.Middle East: This afternoon a drone attack was carried out in Tehran, targeting a residential apartment building.AC: So far details are sketchy at best, but there's been no response from any interested party, even though this is probably another ceasefire violation.-HomeFront-Washington D.C. - Much debate abounds concerning the recent strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. President Trump has condemned the initial intelligence leak that indicated that the strikes were not successful, and has blamed the leak on Democratic representatives in Congress (though few details have clarified this claim). Currently, all parties involved (to include every governmental resource and the mainstream media) all concur that the Iranian nuclear weapons program was set back considerably by the strikes, and that the American bombing operation was an overwhelming success. However, all sides have also stated that Iran possesses several hundred pounds of highly-enriched Uranium, which allegedly remains unaccounted for.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: A more forensic Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) of the strikes at Fordow will need to be conducted, but it's going to be almost impossible to confirm with any certainty whether or not America's finest bunker-buster munitions would pierce deep enough to catastrophically destroy the vast array of underground enrichment and processing facilities. The Iranians will seek to downplay losses (so they won't exactly be publishing photos of damage) and the Israelis/Americans will want to over-state the impact this targeting effort had. The truth will be challenging to discern via independent sources as everyone involved seeks to lie in one way or the other.Nevertheless, the world will work with the information that is available, and micro-analyze every rock and pebble out of place at these facilities over the next few months, all with the goal of determining whether or not mission success was achieved. Speaking purely from a historical perspective, the debate of "can a GBU-57 actually pierce Fordow?" has been ongoing for decades. Of course, there are very few indicators that would actually provide proof of any internal damage to the facility (there will be no crater to speak of for an explosion that takes place hundreds of feet under a mountain). The only entities that for-sure, 100% know the damage that was caused by the strikes are the Americans/Israeli's (via spies) and the Iranians themselves. In short, the Iranians know how deep to dig their tunnels now, one way or the other.In a larger sense, these details are important as exceptionally grave errors often result in a conflict where one belligerent makes the assessment that a certain target was destroyed, when in fact...it was not. In any case, from the out

//The Wire//2300Z June 25, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: NATO SUMMIT CONCLUDES AT THE HAGUE, NOTHING MAJOR OF NOTE. RECENTLY-RELEASED DETAILS OF A MURDER CASE HIGHLIGHT GROWING TERRORISM CONCERNS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Europe: This afternoon the NATO summit concluded largely without incident. This year the focus was largely centered around President Trump's return to the White House, and the subsequent changing of American priorities throughout NATO. AC: For the most part, nothing surprising was discussed. Commitments to NATO in terms of Article 5, increased defense spending, and general discussion of the war in Ukraine were all points of discussion as usual, but for the most part this was a fairly unassuming summit.-HomeFront-Arizona: Yesterday afternoon Adam Sheafe confessed to the murder of Bill Schonemann, a local pastor. Sheafe had previously been arrested for the murder, and conducted the interview from jail.AC: This murder occurred back in April, however the recent interview given from jail has revealed the exceptionally graphic details of the murder. At the time, the details of this murder were not publicized, nor was Sheafe's plan to murder 13 other religious leaders around the nation. At the time of his arrest, he was in the final stages of planning the murder of two other pastors in the Phoenix area. This was not a random targeting effort; this was a deliberate attempt to target specific religious leaders who may not have known that they were being targeted specifically.Also of note, the family of Bill Schonemann released a statement yesterday, expressing concern that the killer was able to have unsupervised internet access to conduct an interview while being incarcerated. The family's statement also mentioned that this individual not only is not remorseful, but also very dedicated to continuing the mass murder of Christian clergymen. Considering that media groups have allowed him to spread his ideology, this is an important concern to note as the threat of copycats remains pertinent.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: So far, the ceasefire in the Middle East is holding. However, this ceasefire is tenuous at best, as all sides seek to capitalize in the cessation of hostilities to continue machinations. Iran's Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh arrived in China this morning, signaling both an attempt to improve relations with China, but possibly also signaling fractures in Iran's relationship with Russia. Throughout Israel, the implementation of the ceasefire has soured relations with the United States somewhat, with many low-mid level officials making statements that they intend to continue targeting Iran's nuclear program.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z June 24, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MIDDLE EAST CEASEFIRE IMPLEMENTED, IMMEDIATELY BROKEN. MASS SHOOTING PREVENTED OVER THE WEEKEND IN MICHIGAN.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: Following yesterday's missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base, President Trump announced the implementation of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. This ceasefire was immediately broken.Though the details are hard to verify, in the interest of expediency the following is a rough timeline of how events have unfolded over the past 24 hours.June 23, 1630Z: Iranian forces carried out their counterattack via a ballistic missile strike on Al Udeid Air Base.June 23, 2202Z: President Trump announces the ceasefire terms in a post on Truth Social. In this post President Trump announced the time frames for when the ceasefire was intended to go into effect.June 24 - A few minutes after this announcement, Israeli forces sortied to carry out one of the largest bombing attacks they have conducted, after the ceasefire was announced, but before the ceasefire took effect.June 24 0110Z: Explosions were reported at Evin Prison and at a few others sites around Tehran. At some point during this attack, one Iranian missile was launched (according to President Trump, possibly in error), which did not impact any target in Israel.June 24 - Immediately following this possibly-errant launch (that took place during Israel's attack), Israeli forces planned to conduct a large-scale bombing of Tehran. This raid was to be carried out a day after the ceasefire took effect.June 24, 1128Z - President Trump, assessing that this "bomb everything we can before the ceasefire" mentality expressed by the Israelis was a bad-faith attempt to "cheat" the brokered deal, became belligerent on social media, urging Israeli forces to call off the attack. A few moments later, President Trump (being made aware that Israeli aircraft had already taken off), attempted to salvage the already-violated ceasefire directly by calling Netanyahu to urge him to call off the attack. A few minutes after this phone call, President Trump claimed that he had convinced Netanyahu to call off the attack, and that the Israeli planes would return to base after conducting a "plane wave" (no further information on what that means, but he was possibly referring to a flyby of some kind).June 24, 1257Z - Explosions were reported in Tehran, confirming that Israel ignored President Trump's ceasefire. Israeli media sources claim that instead of dropping all of their bombs (as they had planned) Israeli forces only bombed one target post-ceasefire due to President Trump's phone call. This remains unconfirmed at this time, however reports from locals on the ground claim that a radar site was struck north of Tehran.June 24, 1400Z- After this sortie, President Trump made statements to the media before departing on Marine One for a NATO summit. President Trump confirmed that Israel had broken the ceasefire deliberately, and that Iran had done so as well (but possibly in error).AC: As of this report, the Iranians have not responded to the post-ceasefire strike, and much of the prior details will likely be clarified in due time.-HomeFront-Michigan: On Sunday a mass shooting was successfully stopped by prepared citizens at the Crosspointe Community Church in Wayne. Local authorities state that Brian Anthony Browning approached the Church shortly before services began, and began shooting at the Church building. Upon witnessing the shooting taking place, one of the parishioners of the Church rammed the assailant with their vehicle in the parking lot, after which two armed parishioners returned fire on the suspect, halting the attack. Browning was killed in the attack, and one member of the Church was wounded.AC: Though the threats po

//The Wire//1730Z June 23, 2025////PRIORITY////BLUF: IRANIAN COUNTERATTACK TARGETS US MILITARY BASES IN MIDDLE EAST. SHIPPING CONCERNS MOUNT AS IRAN THREATENS TO TARGET SHIPPING IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----Middle East: This morning the kingdom of Qatar closed their airspace to commercial aviation traffic. Separately, both the United States and Britain issued shelter-in-place orders for their citizens. Shortly after these announcements, multiple Iranian ballistic missiles struck US military bases throughout the region. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar appears to have been successfully targeted to some degree, and impacts were reported at the US Navy base in Bahrain. Reports have emerged indicating unknown bases in Iraq were also targeted by ballistic missiles.Shortly after the missiles were launched, American fighter aircraft were observed scrambling in Saudi Arabia, with a number of sorties being conducted on targets unknown.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As this is a developing situation, the success of these missile strikes remains unknown until the dust settles. Video evidence indicates that many of the missiles were successfully intercepted, however some made it through to successfully impact their targets. Qatar announced that 100% of the missiles intended for their nation were successfully intercepted, however this remains unconfirmed at this time and Qatari media groups stated that at least three missiles evaded defenses to impact at Al Udeid. No word on casualties from any of the strikes reported so far today.Following the strikes on Iranian facilities over the weekend (and today's retaliatory strikes), tensions have escalated sharply throughout the region. Iranian forces have threatened to "close" the Strait of Hormuz, which traditionally involves the emplacement of sea mines throughout the choke point. There are no indications that IRGCN and/or IRIN vessels have laid any mines just yet. However, some commercial shipping companies that are unwilling to accept the risk have turned around and begun returning to their homeports.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

//The Wire//1215Z June 22, 2025////IMMEDIATE////BLUF: UNITED STATES CONDUCTS AIRSTRIKES IN IRAN.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----Middle East: A few moments ago, President Trump posted a statement on social media, confirming that a series of airstrikes has been carried out at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. In the post, President Trump stated that all of the aircraft involved are out of Iranian airspace, and has insinuated that this is a one-and-done series of attacks.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: As this is a developing situation, no additional details have been provided. President Trump has not yet held a press conference, nor has the White House, so every American is discovering that the United States has struck Iran from a single social media post. A few moments after this announcement, President Trump's account on Truth Social went offline, leading many to wonder if this was some sort of cybersecurity event.Further details are expected to emerge in due time, however right now we have nothing but the post from President Trump's Truth Social account. At this time, Congress has NOT declared war on Iran, however, if the hundreds of aircraft that have been moved into the CENTCOM theater over the past few days are any indication, this is probably not a one-and-done series of attacks. There are simply too many resources spread throughout the Middle East for this to be over just yet.Strategic Indications and Warnings: HFGCS traffic has been elevated over the past few days/weeks, however no extremely concerning EAMs have been detected over the past few hours. Radio chatter on the Russian BearNet is also quiet at this time.This strike lines up with the timing of the B2 Spirit stealth bombers which took off from Whiteman AFB this morning with what was assessed at the time to be a full payload of munitions.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//