Luke Ryan

About the author

Luke Ryan is a SOFREP journalist in Tampa, FL. He is a former Team Leader from 3rd Ranger Battalion, having served four deployments to Afghanistan. He grew up overseas, the son of foreign aid workers, and lived in Pakistan for nine years and Thailand for five. He has a degree in English Literature and loves to write on his own as well, working on several personal projects.

‘Mindhunter’: to know your enemy, foreign and domestic

“How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks?” Netflix’s “Mindhunter” follows two FBI agents in the 1970s.  Apparently at that time, the whole concept of a serial killer was a pretty foreign concept, and the two protagonists, special agents of the FBI, take on the burden of pioneering this […]

On this day in history: KGB double agent breaks out of prison

On 22 October, 1966, George Blake broke out of a British prison, only 5 years into his 42 year sentence. Blake was a communist sympathizer, which was what led him to his service to the KGB against the British government.  As a child, he had spent time in Egypt with his cousin, who would go […]

SOFREP Rundown: Hillary Clinton and the Russian uranium business

THE PLAYERS The Clinton Foundation – a non-profit organization run by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.  Its mission is “to bring people together to take on the biggest challenges of the 21st century.”  They focus on areas like global health, climate change, economic development, health and wellness, and programs built to enable girls and women […]

The Karen and the Burmese Army: an insider’s perspective

Fighting between the Karen people and the Burmese (Myanmar) government dates back to World War II.  I went for a trip into the jungles of Burma to meet with the Karen people back in 2015, and it was quite the profound experience. The conflict between the Burmese and its surrounding ethnic minorities has been described […]

On this day in history: Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Baghdad

On October 19th, 2004, an aid worker by the name of Margaret Hassan was kidnapped to be murdered weeks later. Hassan held a dual citizenship between England and Iraq, having been married to Tahseen Ali Hassan and moving to Iraq with him in the ’70s.  She taught English at the British Council of Baghdad and […]

Plague in Madagascar: 57 dead and counting

Madagascar: public activity has slowed to a stop.  Public events and meetings have been banned, school is out and the only busy areas are the lines stretching out behind health facilities and clinics as people wait for antibiotics.  The Red Cross, reporting a “doubling of cases over the last week”, has been developing and is […]

Blade Runner 2049: What makes you a person?

There are no spoilers in this review. If you are going into this movie thinking you’re going to get a sequel to one of the great action flicks of the ’80s, reminiscent of “Commando” or “Escape from New York,” you’re going to be disappointed–remember that the original Blade Runner was not that type of movie either.  It was […]

Cyber security in the digital age: The threats are real, keep yourself safe

With every leap in civilization there comes along with it a new brand of criminal.  People adopt new technology to improve their lives, but with new tech comes new vulnerabilities, and it’s up to the individual to keep themselves protected.  If you invent guns, you are eventually going to need to invent body armor too. […]

On this day in history Oct 16th: The UK effectively bans handguns

Compared to the United States the United Kingdom is known for its strict policies on firearms, particularly handguns.  On 16 October, 1996, the 23 official recommendations were made that enabled the banning of handguns from private ownership throughout the UK. This decision was made just after the most deadly shooting in UK history, what is […]

Pages of War: ‘In Our Time’ by Ernest Hemingway

One of my favorite aspects of Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down was the departure from unrealistically long machine gun bursts and grenades erupting into ridiculous fireballs, and a distinct lack of overly-dramatic crying and shaking of fists to the sky.  It has a visceral, primal tone to it as the quiet protagonists are firing single […]