//The Wire//2300Z September 5, 2025// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: VENEZUELAN AIRCRAFT CONDUCT FLIGHT OVER US NAVY SHIPS, PROMPTING US RESPONSE. BRITISH CABINET SHUFFLES PERSONNEL FOLLOWING RESIGNATION OF DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER DUE TO TAX EVASION SCANDAL. USA/INDIA RELATIONS DETERIORATE AFTER CHINESE DEFENSE SUMMIT.// Β -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Germany: Concern is growing regarding the sudden deaths of several politicians/candidates from the Alternative fΓΌr Deutschland (AfD) party. Local party officials have reported that 7x candidates have died unexpectedly, two weeks before the next round of elections on September 14th. Analyst Comment: German authorities have stated that two of the deaths were from natural causes, however the others have not been explained. Independent verification is not possible at this time as government and party officials are withholding the names of the deceased for reasons of family privacy. United Kingdom: Several high-level positional changes have taken place throughout the British government following the departure of Deputy PM Angela Rayner. This morning Yvette Cooper announced her resignation from the Home Office, with Shabana Mahmood taking her place as Home Secretary. Cooper will become the Foreign Secretary, and David Lammy (the former Foreign Secretary) is to become Deputy Prime Minister. Analyst Comment: This reshuffling is largely due to several scandals that have plagued Starmer's government for several months. From the migrant crisis to internal corruption scandals, the last straw was the discovery that Angela Rayner had not paid property taxes on one of her residences, which totaled roughly Β£40,000 worth of tax evasion. This rapidly snowballed into a big scandal, especially since she has previously called out the tax-loopholes utilized by other politicians in the past. Caribbean: Yesterday, 2x Venezuelan F-16's conducted an overflight of the US Navy Task Force currently conducting operations in the southern Caribbean Sea. In response to this action, this morning the Pentagon announced the deployment of 10x F-35 fighter aircraft to Puerto Rico. This forward deployment will be conducted to allegedly engage in kinetic targeting of narcotics trafficking platforms, and also to provide more air-to-air targeting capabilities in the region. Analyst Comment: As expected, the situation has escalated. The deployment of F-35s usually points to one possibility...an expansion of the conflict. More specifically, F-35's would not be needed to target simple narco-vessels but would be a satisfactory platform for engaging more substantial threats, such as the F-16's the US sold to the Venezuelan military back in the 1980's. -HomeFront- Washington D.C. - Relations between the US and India have deteriorated somewhat over the past few days, following the trade negotiations that have been ongoing for some time. Earlier this week, China hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which coincided with a visit by President Vladimir Putin, and Prime Minister Modi. This summit resulted in India re-affirming their desire to strengthen ties with their fellow BRICS partners, instead of growing ties with the United States. This in turn has lead to a worsening of relations with the United States, and the White House taking a more hardball approach to trade negotiations with India. After the display of friendship between India and China, President Trump has floated the idea of blocking American tech companies from outsourcing work to India. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: There is another angle to the deteriorating US/India relations that is worthy of note. Brief scandal erupted on social media yesterday as multiple influential accounts were discovered to be posting suspiciously pro-India content, in response to the White House making statements that relations between the US and India were deteriorating due to India's alignment with China. Grifting on social media is hardly a new or noteworthy concept, nor is the first time within the past few months that this has happened. However in the current era of social media carrying a lot of weight when it comes to national policy, this is something to be aware of. Many people will chastise legacy media for being propaganda outlets, while praising "independent media" as the truth. The White House Press Corps was even modified to add a seat for social media influencer access a few months ago, and after the Binder Scandal it is very clear that this influence can't be ignored. However, in some cases, it turns out that many sources (which have the ear of the President himself) are quite literally being paid secretly by foreign powers, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Analyst: S2A1 Research: //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.// Β -----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 from obtaining CDLs. As a reminder, Singh was already in the United States illegally, so he's already a criminal right up front. This might not seem to be important, but when he arrived in 2018 H1B visas were being handed out like candy. Anyone in India had free reign to come to the United States, *especially* when it comes to industries like the trucking industry. This begs the question: If it was (and still is) so incredibly easy for Indians to come to the United States legally...why did Singh go through the hassle (and the danger) of sneaking under the fence illegally? Right now it's just hunch, but there may be other reasons as to why Mr. Singh did not want his name run through federal databases upon entry into the United States. More importantly than the criminal negligence of one illegal is realizing how systemic this problem is. Singh was not joyriding around...he was working for a company which has a name, business license, and mailing address: White Hawk Carriers. While Singh himself has been arrested and charged...no one at this company has been arrested for allowing an illegal immigrant to work for them in violation of labor laws. In fact, Florida's official statements regarding this crash made no mention of the company he was working for. Observers only found out which company it was after reviewing the post-accident videos and seeing the logo (and the DoT number) painted on the door. When it comes to companies that sport a DOT identification number, a wealth of information is available online via several databases (such as the Safety Measurement System) which paint a clear picture. For instance, out of the 68x times this company's trucks were inspected on the highway in 2023, 36x of those inspections resulted in violations. So far this year this company has been cited for 19x Hours of Service violations. As if that was not serious enough, a closer look at the company's ownership is even more illuminating. White Hawk Carriers Inc. is a company registered in California. The Secretary of State's database confirms this company is run by one Navneet Kaur. The initial investigation points to this person's name very likely being used for obfuscation. It's very common for shady businesses to be registered in a spouses name, or in the name of a family member if the person who's actually running the company has legal trouble, or is in the United States illegally. Running this name through the other businesses registered in the same name turns out a whole host of other companies ranging from tax preparation companies and dry cleaners...to other trucking companies. The initial partial list of which is as follows: - Navn Transport (Stockton, CA) - Gobind Trucking (Lathrop, CA) - Naav Enterprises (Menteca, CA) - America One Logistics Company (Tracy, CA) - American Auto and E Solutions (Lathrop, CA) This list is incomplete as when searching the databases for associates of these companies, the links to other businesses are nearly endless. Each of these companies is registered to a different mailing address, and when each of those addresses is cross-referenced to find other businesses using that same address, potentially tens of thousands of "businesses" are linked together in some way, either by owner name or mailing address. Most disturbingly, Kaur (or whoever is actually running the companies) appears to be engaging in the timeless tradition of simply changing business names when one of their trucking companies is banned from the road. For instance, there are around half a dozen trucking company LLC's that Kaur had previously registered in California. When cross-referenced with the DoT's safety databases, the picture becomes more clear. Whenever one trucking company gets too many violations and eventually gets banned from operating in the United States, they simply fold that LLC up, register a new one, and transfer the employees and trucks to the new LLC name. Various permitting hoops are jumped through and a new DoT identification number is issued for the new carrier...meaning that the same exact people get a fresh start with zero repercussions for previous safety violations. In this case, Kaur registered a suspiciously similar company by the name of White Star Transport Inc, which had it's operating authority involuntarily revoked in 2015. Almost immediately after White Star Transport Inc folded, White Hawk Carriers Inc (the company involved in the crash) was registered and granted authority to operate within the United States. On Tuesday, the day of the fatal crash, the insurance policy for White Hawk Carriers was canceled. This could mean that the cycle will very likely continue as this LLC is rolled up and a new company created when the situation cools down. Analyst: S2A1 Research: //END REPORT//
This week's intel update is out πŸ‘
//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.// Β -----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 which has been concerning to the point of sheer incredulity. Most people are still trying to figure out what President Trump actually meant when he stated that Epstein was outcast from Trump's circle for poaching the workers at Trump's own resorts. The implications made by this direct statement don't leave much room for interpretation and the reality of that logic is rather sobering for many. The developments in this case alone have cast a shadow over what probably should be a much bigger scandal: the various developments regarding the targeting of President Trump by previous administrations. If the Epstein scandal had not been handled as poorly as it has, more attention would probably be given to the evidence of prior administrations' corruption. However at this point, trust has faltered to the point that even smoking-gun evidence of collusion by intelligence agencies to spread fake information is not met with the intended response...even just a year ago this would have been an earth-shattering story, but compared to everything else that is going on it's not as groundbreaking as one might expect, especially since most people already knew this information or at least assumed as much. Plus (to be brutally honest), when many people are broke, being replaced by H1B-hires, censored everywhere, and federally investigated for criticizing a specific foreign nation, they are not going to care about what happened to Trump. And the White House has burned through a lot of the goodwill that got them across the finish line (mostly from younger conservatives), which for many people has washed away a lot of the good things that have happened, rightly or wrongly. Everyone wants "their guy" to win. And everybody thinks that when "their guy" wins, everything will be vastly better than it was before. In reality, the situation is often only marginally better than the other paths that could have been taken, which is regardless of political party. This "grass is always greener" phenomenon has always been true, but it's still a hard pill to swallow for many, and it's important to remember when it comes to both expectation management and risk assessment. Most of Trump's supporters thought that the crackdown on speech would end when he got elected. But now (in many ways) it's just as dangerous to have certain opinions as before, just in a slightly different way. This is most heavily demonstrated by both the global crackdown on speech and privacy, and also the White House launching headfirst into the same data concerns. Red or blue, it doesn't matter: a future where nothing is private and every bit of personal data is monetized and analyzed...is not exactly a comforting thought for many. Nevertheless, the newly-declassified documents really are an important milestone in the political realm. But despite this importance this situation may fall victim to the age old lesson of politics: if someone alienates a good chunk of their supporter base once they reach power, their supporters may return the favor in kind one day. Whether or not this idea will truly come to fruition is anyone's guess, however this will be important in the context of the challenges faced by Americans over the next few years, especially as speech crimes and censorship efforts continue to be a very significant bi-partisan efforts Analyst: S2A1 Research: //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.// Β -----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: S2A1 Research: //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.// Β -----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: S2A1 Research: //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.// Β -----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: S2A1 Research: //END REPORT//
//The Wire//1215Z June 22, 2025// //IMMEDIATE// //BLUF: UNITED STATES CONDUCTS AIRSTRIKES IN IRAN.// Β -----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: S2A1 Research: //END REPORT//
//The Wire//2300Z June 20, 2025// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: STRATEGIC AVIATION AND NAVAL FORCES CONTINUE STAGING IN MIDDLE EAST.// Β -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Targeting efforts by Iranian forces continue with multiple missile strikes being reported in Haifa overnight, targeting the Negev Advanced Technologies Park. Israeli targeting continues in similar fashion in Tehran. The United Kingdom has evacuated their Embassy in Tehran, and the United States continues to maneuver substantial resources into the Middle East. Maersk has announced that they are suspending all operations in the port city of Haifa while the war remains kinetic. AC: This afternoon a 5.4M earthquake was detected originating in the vicinity of Tehran. Considering that tensions are extremely high throughout the region, this has led many to theorize that some sort of weapons test was carried out (as nuclear tests are normally detected by seismic sensors). However, at the moment, nothing points to this outcome. The USGS plots the earthquake at an estimated depth of 10km, which is far deeper than a nuclear test would be. Additionally, the seismic signature of a man-made explosive device can easily be discerned from natural phenomenon, so if it was a man-made blast every seismologist in the world will be able to verify it. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: As the war continues in the Middle East, a bit of background knowledge may be helpful in understanding the grand strategy of the military tactics at hand. Both Israel and Iran are unique nations in that geography separates them, yet neither have any real expeditionary capability. In short, if a nation is at war with another...but doesn't share a land border or have a military with an amphibious capability... the most that nation can do is more or less to lob missiles at their adversary. So far, both nations have relied upon this long-distance targeting means as their primary way of waging war: Iran launches missiles, and the Israelis drop bombs. However, Israeli military doctrine is heavily reliant upon deception and subterfuge in order to project influence even within the nations they are at war with. Right now, it is becoming more clear that Israeli Special Forces are able to operate on the ground within Iran, in many cases with impunity. Israel was able to create a "drone base" in the desert from which their initial attacks were launched within Iran itself (echoing Ukraine's sneak attack in Russia). Similarly, Iranian forces have discovered several instances of equipment emplaced on the ground very close to sensitive sites; overnight the Iranians discovered a remotely-controlled Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) launcher emplaced outside Tehran, in addition to a small truck that was laden with drones (again, exactly as was used by Ukraine recently). Several propaganda videos of strikes in Iran have raised questions as to exactly how the footage was taken. For example, Israeli forces released the footage of the strikes on the Arak Heavy Water facility...footage which appears to have been filmed from an elevated position on the ground...not from a drone as one might expect. This will be important to consider as American involvement appears be looming. In less than two months, large-scale sneak-attacks via drones and asymmetric warfare tactics have become normalized in two major conflicts. This is not a threat that is years away; this threat has gone from the drawing board to operationally proven (twice) in just a few weeks. Analyst: S2A1 Research: //END REPORT//