Iranian attacks on CIA facilities in Gulf prompts probe into Russian assistance

July 23, 2026 by 4 Comments

Iran UAV droneINTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS IN THE United States are looking into the possibility that Russia may have given Iranian targeters information about the location of secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) facilities in the Gulf. According to the Reuters news agency, Iran has managed to strike “several” CIA facilities in at least three countries in the Middle East in the past few months. Some of the strikes appear to have been surgically targeted at specific buildings, and even parts of buildings.

The CIA maintains official stations inside American embassy facilities throughout the Gulf. But the agency also manages an extensive network of offices, logistics hubs, safe houses, and surveillance or other operational facilities throughout the region. The location of these facilities is highly classified and compartmentalized even within the CIA itself. According to intelligence sources cited by Reuters, few nations other than Russia possess the necessary resources to map the precise locations of CIA facilities and the desire to share them with Tehran.

Citing “four people familiar with US intelligence”, Reuters said that Iran has managed to successfully target “more than one and fewer than a dozen” CIA facilities in the Gulf since March. Among them is a secret facility in Iraq, as well as the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, which is located inside the US embassy complex in Riyadh. According to reports, Tehran deployed an advanced version of its Shahed and Mohajer drones to demolish the exterior wall of the CIA station before another set of kamikaze drones burst into the interior of the facility. Some analysts believe that the kinetic capabilities of the drones used in the attack had been enhanced using Russian technical expertise.

The Reuters report added that Moscow has a longstanding intelligence-sharing relationship with Iran and has been known to provide Tehran with targeting information and other forms of support. This relationship only strengthened since the onset of the current war between the US, Israel, and Iran. However, the report states that intelligence officials have yet to draw firm conclusions about Russia’s precise role in the Iranian attacks on CIA facilities.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 23 July 2026 | Research credit: M.J. | Permalink

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US spy agencies resisting White House plan to create master list of espionage threats

July 1, 2026 by 11 Comments

ODNI DNIAMERICAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES are reportedly refusing to abide by a White House directive that requires them to turn over the names of all individuals who are believed to be spying on the United States. The directive aims to build a master list of all known foreign intelligence actors with the goal of streamlining American counterintelligence efforts against them. However, according to a New York Times report, senior counterintelligence officials are concerned that such a centralized master list could leak and result in a catastrophic compromise of national security information.

Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Times said on Monday that the effort to create a master list of foreign spies and Americans who are spying on behalf of foreign intelligence services is being led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The agency has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI to provide the names of all individuals who have been found to engage in espionage and are being watched by the Bureau. Likewise, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been asked to provide names of foreign espionage operatives that populate its lists of potential assets—foreign spies who may in time be turned by the CIA.

The master list of spies would potentially allow the entirety of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to monitor the global activities of these espionage operatives and share information about them in real time. Additionally, the existence of such a list would in theory prevent operational duplication and help deconfliction within the IC when it comes to counterintelligence efforts. The central idea behind the master list dates to National Security Presidential Memorandum – 7, a directive issued by President Donald Trump in October 2017, during his first term in office.

However, senior counterintelligence officials are reportedly concerned that giving the ODNI full access to such a comprehensive master list of espionage threat actors could potentially compromise the integrity of counterintelligence operations. Information about espionage operatives and assets—both current and prospective—is usually protected behind several layers of classification and compartmentalization that shield it even within individual intelligence agencies. Additionally, some of the information relating to these individuals is acquired through counterintelligence activities authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and is thus subject to tight restrictions.

At a deeper level, the resistance of senior counterintelligence officials to surrender sensitive information about espionage to the ODNI reflects years of mutual suspicion and turf wars within the IC. According to the Times, these officials have yet to agree about how such a master list would be constructed, what information it would contain, who should have access to it, and how it should be maintained and updated.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 1 July 2026 | Permalink

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Iran has mostly replenished its missile stockpiles: Western intelligence

June 15, 2026 by 5 Comments

Iran War 2026IRAN USED THE EIGHT-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel to replenish its military arsenal to at least three-quarters of its pre-war levels, according to Western intelligence estimates. Tehran has been able to incorporate substantial supplies of Russian-built weapons to its firepower and could easily reach 100 percent of its pre-war arsenal capacity soon, according to reports.

The latest estimates directly contradict earlier assessments by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which claims Iran’s military firepower has been obliterated in the past three months. In March, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Iran’s offensive capability had been reduced by as much as 90 percent. Earlier this month, President Trump claimed that Iran’s missile arsenal stood at 60 percent of its pre-war level.

However, Western intelligence estimates now suggest that the Iranian regime’s ability to replenish its military arsenal has been far more advanced than presumed by its adversaries. In a related development, the Reuters news agency reported last week that the United Arab Emirates directly approached Tehran and offered to pay it in return for not being attacked again.

According to Reuters, the UAE agreed to give Iran between $10 and $20 billion in return for halting its attacks on the Gulf state. The news agency claimed that $3 billion of the earmarked funds had already been delivered to Tehran. In a subsequent statement, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the Reuters report as “entirely false and unfounded” and stated that no funds had been “released, transferred or facilitated through the UAE”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 15 June 2026 | Permalink

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CIA officer found with over $42 million in gold and cash had created ‘fake’ program

June 8, 2026 by 4 Comments

CIAA CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY officer allegedly created a fake government program in order to embezzle over $42 million in government funds, according to reports. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested David J. Rush on May 19, after he has found in possession of 303 bars of gold worth over $40 million. He was also found in possession of over $2 million in cash and over 30 luxury watches.

Late last week, The Washington Post reported that Rush had built an unacknowledged special access program (SAP). Dating to World War II, SAPs are government-authorized support operations or ‘black’ projects with information-sharing restrictions that exceed those of regular classified projects. Select government personnel are typically ‘read in’ to such projects after signing specialized nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) that exceed the scope of their top-secret clearances.

According to The Post, Rush created a CIA unacknowledged SAP relating to “continuity of government operations”. The term refers to state-wide plans to enable the United States government to continue to perform essential operations in the event of a catastrophic disaster, such as a highly destructive earthquake, a pandemic, or a nuclear war.

Using the ‘read-in’ provisions of SAPs, Rush allegedly read two of his CIA colleagues into the program he created. In doing so, Rush used carefully crafted NDAs that prevented his colleagues from disclosing the program’s existence to others. He then allegedly convinced his colleagues to transfer bars of gold and cash into the program, claiming that the resources were to be used to keep the United States government operating as part of continuity planning.

The accused reportedly remains in detention in Alexandria, Virginia, after a federal judge ruled last week that there was significant likelihood he would abscond or fail to appear for future proceedings.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 June 2026 | Permalink

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US, Mexican authorities deny claims CIA is assassinating cartel members in Mexico

May 18, 2026 by 4 Comments

Sinaloa cartelAUTHORITIES IN MEXICO AND the United States have rejected as “fictions” reports in American and Mexican media that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel are directly involved in assassination operations against the cartels. Notably The New York Times and CNN reported last week that the CIA participated in the killing of mid-level Sinaloa cartel member Francisco “El Playin” Beltran and his driver. The two men were killed by a car bomb on March 28 in a suburb of Mexico City.

According to the reports, Beltran’s killing was part of a rapidly expanding CIA campaign in Mexico, which aims to eliminate selected mid-tier members of the cartels. Some of the operations allegedly involve the participation of the CIA’s so-called “Ground Branch”, which is the paramilitary and covert action wing of the CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC). Some Ground Branch members have directly participated in assassination operations in Mexico, either in collaboration with the Mexican authorities or as teams operating independently, according to the reports.

But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued an outright denial of the claims last Wednesday during her weekly media conference in Mexico City, describing them as “fictions the size of the universe”. Sheinbaum’s claims came a day after Omar Harfuch, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, dismissed the reports as “false and salacious reporting”, adding that they serve as “nothing more than a [public relations] campaign for the cartels and [put] American lives at risk”.

American officials insist that the role of American military and intelligence agencies in anti-cartel operations in Mexico is limited to training and intelligence-sharing, and stress that American government personnel have no direct involvement in these activities. However, there is intense speculation about the death of two American embassy officials in a car crash in April, following their alleged participation in a counter-cartel operation in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. According to The New York Times, the two embassy officials were CIA officers.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 May 2026 | Permalink

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CIA working with Kurdish separatists to foment armed rebellion in northwestern Iran

March 5, 2026 by 1 Comment

Iran KurdistanTHE UNITED STATES CENTRAL Intelligence Agency (CIA) is arming and training ethnic separatists in northwestern Iran with the goal of fomenting an armed rebellion against Tehran in the coming weeks, according to reports. Several news outlets, including CNN, report that Iranian Kurdish opposition forces are preparing to launch a ground operation in northwestern Iran “in the coming days”.

The nearly 10 million Kurds in Iran are one of the largest ethnic minorities in the country, concentrated in the mountainous western provinces bordering Iraq and Turkey. They are predominantly Sunni Muslims in a country governed by a Shia clerical state, creating both religious and ethnic tension. The central government has generally responded to calls for autonomy by various Kurdish factions with security crackdowns and suppression of dissent. Kurdish regions have been subject to heavy surveillance and military deployment, particularly during periods of regional instability.

British news outlet ITV reports that American and Israeli air strikes have consistently targeted Iranian military installations in western Iran in recent days, in an effort to degrade Tehran’s security assets in the region and provide Kurdish rebel forces with the ability to launch a successful armed campaign. According to ITV, Kurdish rebels have asked Israeli and American forces to provide air cover for an eventual ground campaign—though whether this request has been approved remains unknown.

According to Axios, US President Donald Trump spoke directly with Iraqi Kurdish leaders last weekend, seeking access to Iran’s Kurdish provinces through the Kurdish-controlled autonomous region of northern Iraq. Such access would allow the CIA and US Special Operations Forces to create a supply route for the provision of weapons and other war materiel to Iranian Kurdish rebels. The US president also spoke with at least one Iranian Kurdish leader on Tuesday, according to reports.

CNN said it reached out to the CIA about this story but the agency refused to comment on it.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 March 2026 | Permalink

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Colombian spy chief claims intelligence-sharing with CIA continues despite dispute

December 1, 2025 by 3 Comments

Gustavo PetroIN A RARE MEDIA interview, the chief of Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) has said that his agency’s collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other American spy organizations continues unabated. This statement appears to contradict a prior statement by the president of Colombia, who said his country had stopped all intelligence-sharing with the United States in protest against the lethal targeting of civilian vessels in the Caribbean.

The political dispute between the two countries made headlines on November 11, when Colombian President Gustavo Petro (pictured) ordered his government’s intelligence agencies to “suspend intelligence sharing with US intelligence agencies”. The leftist leader made the announcement in response to the targeting of Colombian boats that Washington accuses of involvement in narcotics smuggling in the Caribbean. Two weeks earlier, the White House had personally accused Petro of participating in illicit drug trade activities and imposed sanctions on him and his immediate family.

Two days after the dramatic breakdown in intelligence cooperation between Colombia and the United States, Colombian officials claimed that Bogota would continue to share intelligence with international spy agencies, including those of the United States. Petro’s Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, said that reports about the alleged breakdown in intelligence cooperation between the two countries were due to “a misunderstanding”. He added that Colombia would “continue working […] against drug trafficking and crime with the United States”.

Now the director of the DNI, Jorge Lemus, has told Agence France Presse that his agency’s relationship with the CIA had not been disrupted, despite the high-level political dispute between Colombia and the United States. The CIA “are collaborating a lot, and so are we”, said Lemus. The spy chief added that Colombian counternarcotics forces had destroyed “over 10,000” illicit cocaine labs in 2025 and were continuing operations against drug cartels “together with them [the CIA], hand-in-hand with them. We continue exactly as before […] not only with the CIA, but with all agencies”.

Lemus’ comments are reportedly the first high-level confirmation of Benedetti’s November 13 statement that intelligence cooperation between Colombia and the United States continued unabated despite the political falling-out between the two countries’ leaders.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 01 December 2025 | Permalink

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British spy and his Chinese handler used private jet to escape to China, report claims

November 10, 2025 by 2 Comments

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport SerbiaA BRITISH MAN WANTED by American authorities for spying for China, who disappeared along with his Chinese handler while under house arrest, may have managed to escape to China using a private jet, a report claims. John Miller, 63, from Tunbridge Wells in the United Kingdom, was arrested alongside his alleged Chinese handler, Cui Guanghai, in April of this year.

At the time of their arrest, the two men were staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Serbian capital Belgrade. Serbian authorities reportedly arrested the men just hours before they were about to board a flight to China. American authorities accuse Mille, who lives permanently in the United States, of attempting to smuggle “sensitive […] military technology” to China, such as drones, air defense systems, and ground-to-air missiles.

The two suspects were jailed while awaiting extradition to the United States, where each faced up to 40 years in prison for violating the United States Arms Export Control Act. A month later, the two suspects were moved out of jail and placed into house arrest in two separate apartments in Belgrade. Both were required to wear electronic ankle bracelets at all time.

However, on August 4, the two men damaged and forcibly removed their surveillance devices. Records show that the devices stopped transmitting their location coordinates between 12:43 and 12:54 a.m. local time. Alarms were automatically triggered, alerting officials at Serbia’s Criminal Sanctions Enforcement Directorate, whose surveillance systems were monitoring the two men.

In less than an hour, however, the two men had arrived at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport. According to a new report, published last week by the Serbia-based Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), the suspects boarded a private Gulfstream G550 jet that was waiting for them at the airport. The report claims that the jet is owned by a Beijing-headquartered firm called Deer Jet. Shortly afterwards, the jet took off for a nine-hour direct flight to the Chinese capital.

Miller and Cui have not been seen since. BIRN said officials from the Serbian government did not respond to calls for comment. British newspaper The Mail on Sunday said it contacted Deer Jet but received no responses. The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States refused to comment as well.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 10 November 2025 | Permalink

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Dutch spy services have restricted intelligence-sharing with the United States: report

October 20, 2025 by 15 Comments

Mark Rutte NATO TrumpINTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN THE Netherlands have restricted intelligence-sharing with their United States counterparts due to political developments in Washington, according to two leading Dutch intelligence officials. This development—which may typify Europe’s current approach to transatlantic intelligence-sharing—was confirmed last week by the heads of the Netherlands’ two largest intelligence agencies in a joint interview with De Volkskrant newspaper.

The joint interview was given to De Volkskrant by Erik Akerboom, director of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), and Peter Reesink , director of the General Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD)—AIVD’s civilian military counterpart.

Both men stressed that inter-agency relations between Dutch and American intelligence organizations remain “excellent”. However, they added that the Netherlands has grown more selective about what it chooses to share with American intelligence agencies—particularly the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. “That we sometimes don’t share things anymore, that’s true,” Reesink said, referring to sharing information with American intelligence agencies. Akerboom added: “sometimes you have to think case by case.” He went on to say: “We can’t say what we will or won’t share. But we can say that we are more critical.”

According to the two senior officials, Dutch spies have been intensifying intelligence cooperation and sharing with their European counterparts. This is particularly applicable to a collection of central and northern European intelligence services from countries like Scandinavia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland, according to De Volkskrant.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 20 October 2025 | Permalink

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Hackers breach website used by US intelligence community to solicit vendor contracts

July 28, 2025 by 1 Comment

NRO - IAHACKERS HAVE COMPROMISED A website used by the United States Intelligence Community (IC) to solicit sensitive contracts from the private sector, according to a new report. The target of the attack, and the methods used by the hackers, appear to point with a high degree of certainty to a state actor.

The website in question belongs to the Acquisition Research Center (ARC), an initiative of the US government’s Acquisition Center of Excellence. Even though the ARC solicits contracts on behalf of the entire US IC, its public-facing website is maintained by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which last week notified several companies affected by the breach.

The ARC online interface is designed for companies in the private sector who want to register as government vendors in the national security space. Once they register through the ARC system, these companies can pitch a variety of intelligence agencies with a particular technology or idea. Recent projects solicited through the ARC system have involved communications interception systems, artificial intelligence-powered data collection or analysis tools, predictive technologies, signature-reduction systems, or various tools used in physical surveillance.

It is believed that the hackers targeted the unclassified portion of the ARC website, seeking personal information about vendors, as well as proprietary intellectual property. An NRO spokesperson told The Washington Times that the breach was being looked at by federal law enforcement but declined to provide further information about what he described as an “ongoing investigation”.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 28 July 2025 | Permalink

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Austrian intelligence service report draws international attention over Iran nuke claims

June 2, 2025 by 10 Comments

Direktion Staatsschutz und NachrichtendienstON MAY 26, THE Austrian domestic intelligence service, Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst (DSN) in Vienna officially presented its annual report: the Verfassungschutzbericht (VSB) [Constitution Protection Report].  The document can be downloaded [PDF] via the official homepage of the DSN.

First published in 1997 by the predecessor of the DSN and then titled Staatsschutzbericht [State Protection Report], these reports offer rare official insights into the work of Austria’s domestic intelligence service. While their form and scope have varied over the nearly 30 years of the service’s existence, their aim and structure have roughly stayed the same: the VSB informs the public about the duties of the service, and about recent developments in the fields it is tasked with, monitoring and policing, during the calendar year prior to its publication.

Featured chapters nearly always include political extremism, terrorism, espionage, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, protection of critical infrastructure and, since their emergence, sometimes also cyber threats. Often—thought not always—the reports feature anonymized cases from the year before and specialized essays about certain relevant topics. Traditionally the media and public give most attention to those parts of the report that deal with extremism and terrorism of all kinds inside Austria.

VSB 2024 Receives International Attention

This year, however, several paragraphs in the chapter titled “International Illicit Arms Trade and Proliferation” [“Internationaler Illegaler Waffenhandel und Proliferation”] have drawn international attention. The proliferation section—starting on page 154 of the report—deals with a number of states that can be described as partly or fully antagonistic to “the West”. In addition to Russia, China, Pakistan and North Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran and its activities are described in the chapter. Regarding the Shia theocracy and its nuclear program, the report states (translated by the author with assistance by DeepL):

In order to assert and enforce its political claims to regional power, the Islamic Republic of Iran is striving for comprehensive armament. Nuclear weapons are intended to make the regime untouchable and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Middle East and beyond. The Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons is well advanced. An arsenal of ballistic missiles is ready to carry nuclear warheads over long distances. [Emphasis added]

All efforts to prevent Iran’s armament with sanctions and agreements have so far proved ineffective. On the contrary: the Islamic Republic of Iran is producing weapons and weapons delivery systems on a large scale—and not just for its own use. [p.158]

Iranian intelligence services are entrusted with the development and implementation of circumvention structures for the procurement of armaments, proliferation-relevant technologies, and materials for weapons of mass destruction. They use front companies and networks inside and outside the Islamic Republic of Iran for this purpose. In particular, the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guards Corps’ widely ramified and difficult to oversee company empire serves proliferation purposes. [p.159]

The report clearly describes a program by Iran to develop nuclear weapons as a fact. It does not only suggest that it might be well advanced, but states this as a given. The report furthermore establishes that transport systems to deploy nuclear weapons—once finalized—are in place and could reach long-distance targets.

Fox News Picks Up VSB 2024

The VSB was picked up by the American media giant Fox News. The network reported on it under the title “Explosive new intelligence report reveals Iran’s nuclear weapons program still active” on May 28. The Fox News report begins by pointing out that “[t]he startling intelligence gathering of Austrian officials contradicts the assessment of the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)”. It goes on to note that “[t]he Austrian intelligence findings could be an unwanted wrench in President [Donald] Trump’s negotiation process to resolve the atomic crisis with Iran’s rulers because the data outlined in the report suggests the regime will not abandon its drive to secure a nuclear weapon.”

Fox News quotes David Albright, a physicist and founder/president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, DC, as saying: “[t]he ODNI report is stuck in the past, a remnant of the fallacious unclassified 2007 NIE [National Intelligence Estimate]. The Austrian report in general is similar to German and British assessments. Both governments, by the way, made clear to [the] US IC [Intelligence Community] in 2007 that they thought the US assessment was wrong that the Iranian nuclear weapons program ended in 2003.”

The Fox News report also states that “[t]he danger of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism [and its illegal atomic weapons program] was cited 99 times in the 211-page report that covers pressing threats to Austria’s democracy.” All in all, Fox News’ reporting paints a picture that the small European state’s intelligence service has information that contradicts the assessment of the much larger American IC and insinuates that the American assessment—and by implication the political approach to dealing with Iran—is wrong. Read more of this post

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White House orders spy agencies to prioritize intelligence collection on Greenland

May 12, 2025 by 8 Comments

Nuuk GreenlandTHE ADMINISTRATION OF UNITED States President Donald Trump has ordered American intelligence agencies to focus on Greenland, while also mulling a plan to establish a formal association with the island territory. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), headed by Tulsi Gabbard, has communicated an official “collection emphasis message” on Greenland to the directors of American intelligence agencies.

Citing “two people familiar with the effort”, the paper said that the classified message was communicated to the leadership of the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, among other members of the intelligence community. The recipients of the order were instructed to prioritize the collection of intelligence about the politics of Greenland and Denmark to which Greenland belongs. They were also instructed to collect information about the island’s economic and social dynamics, including its inhabitants’ views on the United States.

The United States government uses collection emphasis directives as a means of aligning the use of intelligence resources with the White House’s policy priorities. According to The Wall Street Journal, the directive appears to be among the first concrete steps taken by the White House to utilize the government’s national security apparatus in support of President Trump’s often-stated desire to acquire Greenland on behalf of the United States. The island’s 57,000 residents are citizens of Denmark, which is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a longtime American military and political ally.

When asked to comment on this report by The Wall Street Journal, DNI Gabbard accused the newspaper of “breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy [by] leaking classified information”. She added that the newspaper “should be ashamed of aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the President by politicizing and leaking classified information”.

Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency reported last week that White House officials have begun outlining a plan to pursue a so-called Compact of Free Association (COFA) between the United States and Greenland. The United States maintains COFA agreements with several Pacific Island nations, including Micronesia and Palau. These agreements permit the American military to operate on the soil and maritime jurisdiction of these nations. In return, the United States provides these nations with essential services, as well as security and military protection.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 12 May 2025 | Permalink

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Son of senior CIA official dies ‘fighting for Russia’ in Ukraine

April 28, 2025 by 1 Comment

CIA Directorate of Digital InnovationA 21-YEAR-OLD American citizen, whose mother is a senior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official, died while fighting with the Russian military in Ukraine in 2024, according to a news report. Late last week, the CIA confirmed the accuracy of the story while requesting that the media afford the bereaved family “privacy at this difficult time”.

On April 25, the independent Russian media website Important Stories (known as iStories) claimed that Michael Gloss, 21, the son of CIA Deputy Director for Digital Innovation Gallina Gloss, had “died within the borders of Ukraine” while fighting for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Although his death had occurred in April 2024, the information about his American citizenship and his connection to the CIA had been kept from the media until the iStories report disclosed it to the public.

Later on the same day, a spokesperson for the CIA told NBC News that the spy agency was aware of the incident, which had been treated “as a private family matter for the Gloss family, not a national security issue”. The CIA spokesperson added that Michael Gloss had “struggled with mental health issues” and relayed the Gloss family’s wish for “privacy at this difficult time”.

According to iStories, Michael Gloss voiced strong support for Ukraine early in the Russo-Ukrainian war. He eventually traveled to Europe on his own, joining the Rainbow Family, a modern-day hippie movement with roots in late-1960s counterculture. Gloss eventually traveled across Turkey, where he reportedly began posting increasingly pro-Russian messages and strong criticism of the United States on his social media accounts.

In the summer of 2023, Gloss began posting stories and images from Russia. In one instance, he stated in a social media post that he had decided to “defeat mortality and the military-industrial complex”. Shortly afterwards he enlisted in the Russian army and began posting photos and videos from his military training alongside other international volunteers. He also began participating on Russian social media platforms, such as VKontakte, where he expressed strong support for the Russian war effort and blasted what he referred to as “Western propaganda” about Ukraine and its government.

According to iStories, Michael Gloss “died within the borders of Ukraine”, though it is not known whether he participated in any fighting. An obituary published by his family in the United States makes no mention of his enlistment in the Russian military, stating only that he was “tragically killed in Eastern Europe on April 4, 2024”, while “forging his own hero’s journey”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 28 April 2025 | Permalink

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Pentagon orders its cyber arm to stop operations against Russia [updated]

March 1, 2025 by 12 Comments

PentagonTHE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Defense has reportedly ordered its Cyber Command to “stand down from all planning” of cyber operations aimed at Russia. According to technology news source The Record, the order was issued by President Donald Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the Record said US Cyber Command’s outgoing Director of Operations, Marine Corps Major General Ryan Heritage, communicated the order last week to all component commands.

Established in 2009, the US Cyber Command is among the 11 unified combatant commands of the US Armed Forces. It coordinates and directs cyber operations in the Department of Defense, having achieved a degree of autonomy from the National Security Agency (NSA), which has historically led the US military’s defensive and offensive cyber operations.

According to the Record, Secretary Hegseth’s order appears to encompass all offensive cyber operations aimed at Russia. These are carried out by US Cyber Command’s National Mission Teams, as well as all component commands, which reside under the US Armed Forces branches —namely the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy. The order also appears to apply to all cyber operations carried out by the US European Command. However, the order does not apply to the NSA, according to the report.

The precise scope of Secretary Hegseth’s order remains unclear. The exact duration of the order is also not known at this time. But, according to the Record, Hegseth’s order provides “more evidence of the White House’s efforts to normalize ties with Moscow,” as the Trump administration continues to push for a negotiated end to the Russo-Ukrainian war.

In a separate development, Secretary Hegseth reportedly told Mexican government officials on Friday that the US military was “prepared to take unilateral action” to combat drug cartels in the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported this development, the Trump administration has begun transporting nearly 2,000 troops to the US-Mexican border, to assist in “machine operation, medical evacuation and administrative support.

UPDATE: The New York Times is also reporting this as of March 2, stating that move is “apparently part of a broader effort to draw President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia into talks on Ukraine and a new relationship with the United States.”

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 01 March 2025 | Permalink

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DOGE breach of US Treasury data may harm CIA intelligence assets, officials warn

February 8, 2025 by 13 Comments

Department of the TreasuryUNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS have raised concerns that allowing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) access to Treasury Department databases could expose human intelligence assets operating abroad. On January 31, newly installed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave two DoGE employees, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, read-only access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. Elez, 25, subsequently resigned from DoGE, following allegations that he had authored a series of racist tweets. However, last Friday Musk announced on X that he would rehire Elez.

According to The Washington Post, a senior Treasury employee filed a memorandum to Secretary Bessent, warning that any form of access to the department’s payment system by DoGE employees would “pose an unprecedented insider threat risk” to government secrets. The memo reportedly focused specifically on payments made by Treasury to human intelligence sources, which are typically recruited and handled abroad by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and other agencies of the United States Intelligence Community. Such payments are made to foreign assets who collect intelligence on behalf of American agencies, or Americans who work in an intelligence capacity without the use of diplomatic cover.

According to Newsweek, which followed up on the story, the memo noted that the Treasury Department employs several methods to disguise payments made to human intelligence sources. However, these methods remain vulnerable to detection by “people with the requisite know-how”, which would allow these assets to be identified and could place their lives in danger. As a result, DoGE’s access to the classified database posed an “unprecedented insider threat risk”, according to the memo. It advised Secretary Bessent to “suspend [DoGE’s] access immediately and conducting a comprehensive review of all actions [DoGE employees] may have taken on these systems”.

On Saturday a federal judge in the district of Manhattan issued a preliminary injunction that bars DoGE from accessing any Treasury Department databases that contain personally identifiable information. The injunction also instructs DoGE personnel to surrender back to Treasury all information they have obtained so far. A hearing to decide the next steps in the case is due to occur on February 14.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 February 2025 | Permalink

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