Not an explanation I have heard, I'll give you that! How to explain the jamming of the transmission?
In any event, whether ABC is describing the numbers station or some other communication, the last part of their story is right: there are concerns in US and among allies that Iran has deployed agents for retaliatory operations. Read my story on all this here: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
It's also strange to describe this message as having been "intercepted," as ABC does. Anyone with a shortwave radio can listen to V32. Interception suggests some clandestine intelligence method. Maybe this suggests the ABC story is not about a numbers station. Tho the story sure reads that way.
The evidence so far, collected by amateur shortwave trackers, suggests this broadcast is NOT a message from Iran to activate sleeper cells. Again, maybe the USG knows something they don't. Also possible that this alert was sent before the jamming began.
There are indications that the Iranian gov't is jamming this signal. That suggests the message is meant for someone acting against Iran's interest, not the other way around. The interference, known as a "bubble jammer," is very similar to what Iran has used to block the transmission of Radio Farda.
ABC reports: US officials alerted law enforcement to "communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as 'an operational trigger.'" The origin of the broadcast (aka V32) has been very hard to pin down. Possible US gov't has determined this, but... abcnews.com/US/iran-acti...
This ABC News story about Iran activating sleeper cells sure sounds like what I reported about a Persian-language numbers station today. But if so, there's something off. 🧵
New: A Mysterious Code Is Being Broadcast on Shortwave Radio. Is It Iran?
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
I take a look at the "V32" Farsi numbers station that aired on Feb. 28. Also proxy and cyber attacks, as well as other asymmetric measures Iran might use.
Somehow we keep coming back to Iran… Always great to talk to Mary even when the subject is grim.
“Let them sing.”
Significant new reporting from Warren Strobel and @ellenwapo.bsky.social on a secret “Havana Syndrome” device in Norway.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Please remember that this is not your fault. You did everything you could, everything that was asked of you and more. I was and remain proud to be your colleague.
...I'm going to channel my fury into love, for the people in my old newsroom who are about to lose their livelihoods, and the ones who will be expected to pick up the pieces. I'm sending you all every good thought I can muster.
I spent 7 years at the @washingtonpost.com. Did some of the best work of my career. Had some of the best times of my life. The people responsible for the misery that is about to unfold will probably fail up, which is a damn shame. There will be a time for recriminations. But today...
Tim Walz tells @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social he fears a Ft. Sumter moment in Minneapolis. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
“.. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks on the phone while standing inside a vehicle loaded with boxes outside the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center after the FBI executed a search warrant there.”
@reuters.com
“Americans who support liberal democracy need to recognize what we’re dealing with in order to cope with it, and to recognize something, one must name it. Trump has revealed himself, and we must name what we see.” — @jonrauch.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Back on the pod!
“We have done so much for America”: Denmark fought alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan. Now, as Trump eyes Greenland, the families of fallen soldiers have a message for him, @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social reports:
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
Note: Towards the end of the Biden administration, NSC officials briefed victims that new information--which they didn't describe at the time--had come to light that undercut the official assessment on Havana/AHIs. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
Fascinating story from the nat sec team at CNN. Through an undercover operation, the Pentagon paid eight figures for a device some investigators suspect is linked to Havana Syndrome. www.cnn.com/2026/01/13/p...
"Why I joined the Navy!"
Feels right.
Aldrich Ames, most damaging CIA traitor in agency history, dies at 84
www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...
Always a pleasure to talk to Mary and the team at Slate.
Here’s how Trump takes Greenland—and ends NATO. www.theatlantic.com/national-sec... w/ @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social and @jonlemire.bsky.social
Trump on Venezuela’s new leader: “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”
More here from @michaelscherer.bsky.social’s interview this morning with the president.
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
New tonight: More surprising than Maduro’s capture was that the White House plans to run Venezuela.
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
How Did We Get to Such a Bad Question? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/o... To Carlos’ excellent list of useless questions I would add, “What keeps you up at night.”
