Covert Action

Sometimes the only gear needed is a wink, a can-do attitude… and some next-level diving gear. Prepare for a tale of underwater politics, espionage, and treachery.

A sunken Soviet submarine packed with nukes. A window for America to gain the upper hand in the Cold War. A CIA cover story worth three billion dollars. I give you Project Azorian, or how the U.S. tried to steal a Soviet sub. It’s the late 1960s. Nuclear submarines are a key cog in a […]

Hitmen gunning down victims in parks in broad daylight. Deaths resulting from acute exposure to weapons-grade nerve agents. Election interference. Covert online influence operations. And sleeper cell intelligence officers. If that list sounds like something out of a movie or thriller novel, it isn’t. Welcome to the new age of Russia’s efforts to influence or […]

How far would the CIA and the military’s elite Special Operations units go to avoid political oversight for their covert activities? To the end of the world, it seems. Congress is suspecting that the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) haven’t been transparent when it comes to briefing lawmakers about their covert operations. […]

The Director of the CIA today told an audience in Texas that “at this very moment, there’s a CIA team preparing for a mission in a very dangerous part of the world.” “There’s not much of a U.S. footprint there, nor is it a place where our brothers and sisters in the military can operate,” […]

An Iranian government-backed hacking group has been targeting American and other international businesses over the last few years, according to a report released by private cyber security researchers at FireEye. The hackers, dubbed APT33 by the security research firm, appear to be engaged in a form of industrial cyber espionage on regional and strategic competitors […]

For months now, SOFREP has been writing a series of articles about how badly things are going for the Special Forces soldiers assigned to covert and clandestine programs in Syria, Turkey, and Jordan.  Some of the frustration that the Green Berets are experiencing is indeed normal, as the unconventional warfare mission is difficult, complicated, and […]

Green Berets Matthew Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe, and James Moriarty approached the Prince Faisal Airbase in Jordan in their vehicle along with one Jordanian military officer. They were assigned the IA mission, meaning inter-agency, as a part of the CIA’s Timber Sycamore covert operation to train and arm so-called moderate Syrian rebels. At the gate there […]

During Jack Murphy’s recent trip to Syria, “The Canary,” a UK based news agency, interviewed Jack regarding his perspective on the current situation and the stakeholders involved in the Syrian conflict.

A new video has emerged showing the so-called New Syrian Army in action, kitted out with American weapons and equipment.  The train and equip program is a funded and run under the auspices of the CIA but the actual military training which the New Syrian Army receives is conducted by US Special Operations personnel.  The New […]

Recent comments on Twitter and on SOFREP.com’s Facebook page have spurred some of us here at the site to wonder if we are experiencing first-hand a Russian covert action program to counter-message what the Russian government sees as articles and opinions hostile to Russian interests. Recent SOFREP articles by Brandon Webb and Eric Jones, for […]