The White Mouse: Remembering Nancy Wake, covert ops operative

Nancy Wake was given the moniker, “the White Mouse” by the Germans during World War II, for her uncanny ability to escape out of any trap. However, the glamorous female agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was deadly; in one instance she killed an SS guard, taking him out with her bare hands to […]

Israeli Air Force pounds Iranian targets inside Syria

During the early pre-dawn hours of Thursday, the Israeli air force reportedly pounded several proxy Iranian militia targets according to the Syrian government. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 12 militiamen were killed. The Syrian military released a statement through the Syrian state news agency SANA claiming that they downed a […]

Thinking Before Shooting: Intelligence and Special Operations

The attacks of 9/11, which seem so long ago, caught the United States by surprise. There were some warning signs that were missed by our intelligence and law enforcement agencies but pointing the finger isn’t the purpose here. The last 16 years have seen our forces fighting a different kind of war, with a different […]

The Fusion Analyst: An intro to all source intelligence and analysis

“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge.” The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of […]

CIA strike targets al-Qaeda leader who had survived a SEAL Team Six raid

U.S. government officials believe that an American drone strike has killed the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Qasim al-Raymi is believed to have been killed by a CIA drone sometime in January. U.S. officials have been hesitant to confirm his death because of previous instances were High-Value-Targets (HVTs) were pronounced dead only […]

A Spy and a Gentleman: John Ford, Oscar-winning Hollywood director

Most people remember John Ford as an iconic Hollywood film director and winner of multiple Oscars. Ford was known especially for his westerns for which he frequently used Monument Valley in the Arizona/Utah area as a backdrop. But during World War II, Ford went to work for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner […]

Less Blackhawks, more Chinooks for Afghanistan’s premier SOF aviation unit

Afghanistan’s premier Special Operations Aviation unit is slotted to receive an unspecified number of CH-47 Chinooks from the U.S. Established in 2005, the Special Mission Wing (SMW) is the cream of the crop of the AAF. With less than 1,000 pilots and ground personnel in its ranks, the unit was initially designed to support counter-narcotics […]

Jihadist involved in the 2012 Benghazi attacks sentenced to 19 years in prison

On the evening hours of September 11, 2012, the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, came under attack. What followed was a determined attack against the consulate, and later against the CIA compound, that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department Information Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs and CIA […]

A glimpse into the Covert Ops of the Vietnam War

On August 2, 1964, four North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the destroyer USS Maddox (DD731). This did not turn out well for the North Vietnamese. Between American guns and air support, one NV patrol boat was left dead in the water with the remaining badly shot-up. The Maddox took a few machine-gun hits. In spite […]

We almost got him: High-ranking Iranian operative survives another drone strike

The same night that a U.S. drone killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, an almost simultaneous targeted strike took place in Yemen. Its target was Abdul Reza Shahlai, a senior Quds Force operative. The drone missile missed, resulting in the escape of Shahlai, who continues to remain at large. Abdul Reza Shahlai is a senior Quds […]

What is the threat level to US Embassies and diplomatic personnel abroad?

Considering the current status of events in the Middle East I believe that the threat level to U.S. Embassies to be moderate to low. Embassies are fairly hard targets these days, considering the steps which have been taken to increase their security since the last major attack on a U.S. Diplomatic establishment. The last such […]

Breaking: US strike kills top Iranian general

In the early morning hours of Friday, a historic U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s top covert operations general. Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, was killed by an MQ-9 Reaper as he was leaving Baghdad International Airport. The Quds Force is a rough equivalent of a combined CIA […]