The High Side

Another happy paid subscriber to @thehighside.bsky.social. @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I are interested in "super-secret ninja black ops stuff" too, Shea! E.g., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... (JSOC/Israel) and thehighside.substack.com/p/red-menace... (Green Berets' backpack nukes).

The main @thehighside.bsky.social article @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I discuss in the podcast: thehighside.substack.com/p/hunting-bi...
Others include: thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t..., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... and thehighside.substack.com/p/in-the-kil...

When 2 CIA operatives thought they got bin Laden on camera, CIA photo analysts backed them up! One of the wildest stories we'd heard about the bin Laden hunt (and the CIA's relationship with Pakistan's ISI). And we got the photos. By @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social:

In 2005 a CIA team in a remote valley in Pakistan got eyes on Bin Laden, confirmed above 90% certainty by the analysts...but was it really him? Controversial within the CIA and unreported until now.

thehighside.substack.com/p/hunting-bi...

We appreciate the sentiment from this new paid subscriber to The High Side! Check out our work here: thehighside.substack.com and if you like what you see, please become a paid subscriber. And while you're at it, show @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @theteamhouse.bsky.social boys some love too.

This is a great read

Zeroed Out: How JSOC’s Omega teams enabled the CIA’s Afghan militias The joint CIA/JSOC hunter-killer teams stalked Afghanistan for nearly twenty years

Lots of talk today about the "Zero Units" in Afghanistan. @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I discussed them in our article on @thehighside.bsky.social about JSOC's Omega teams. Zeroed Out: How JSOC’s Omega teams enabled the CIA’s Afghan militias: thehighside.substack.com/p/zeroed-out...

Veterans of the war in Afghanistan, particularly those who fought in Kunar and Nuristan, will want to read this one. Years after leaving these valleys, an important story is told about Bin Laden’s post-9/11 life

Highly recommended piece from @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social & @seandnaylor.bsky.social

Our latest story by @seandnaylor.bsky.social
and @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social about how a chance sighting in a Pakistani bazaar prompted some in the CIA to believe that for the first time in years they'd picked up bin Laden's trail. And then someone told the head of the ISI...

New article tomorrow early AM on @thehighside.bsky.social with @seandnaylor.bsky.social. It is a Bin Laden story I've had to sit on for about ten years. Spicy content, and we've got the pics.

“But other observers have heavily criticized the program, in part due to numerous war crimes allegations aimed at the militias… ‘They did more harm than good,’ said an academic who worked closely with coalition forces in the field in Afghanistan”

Generous praise from ret. Col. (and former deputy assistant secretary of defense) Joe Collins for @seandnaylor.bsky.social (and, by extension, @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social) and our work on @thehighside.bsky.social. Read it at TheHighSide.substack.com and consider becoming a paid subscriber like Joe.

The latest in our very irregular feature, "The Back Brief," in which @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social reviews some of the latest national security-themed books, including controversial releases about how drug trafficking has corrupted Delta Force, and the CIA's successes and failures in the 21st Century.

Another happy paid subscriber, plus a shout-out to @theteamhouse.bsky.social's Eyes On podcast. (Our @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social also runs The Team House.) The story to which our new paid subscriber was responding: thehighside.substack.com/p/the-unit-t... about the CIA's elite all-Afghan humint cell.

"Definitely worth the price tag for subscription," Nigel says about our new story by @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social +
@seandnaylor.bsky.social: thehighside.substack.com/p/the-unit-t... on a CIA all-Afghan humint cell that tried to recruit a jihadi who was present when @wsj.com's Daniel Pearl was killed.

Great shout-out for @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social's and my story in @thehighside.bsky.social about the CIA's all-Afghan humint unit that tried to recruit one of Daniel Pearl's killers: "a fascinating report ... You'll want to read to the end." The story is here: thehighside.substack.com/p/the-unit-t...

- “very well put together” – Michael Goad
- "this article is like the core info in a riveting book" - Chuck Beatty
(all quotes from social media or comments on Substack)

- “crazy espionage story” – @wesleymorgan.bsky.social, author of "The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley"
- “Must read” – E. Jones
- “such intelligent reporting” – Matt ( at whatIthink77 on Substack)
- “Great work” – Nigel Watson

- “a fascinating report … You’ll want to read to the end” – @spytalker.bsky.social, aka Jeff Stein of www.spytalk.co
- "Great story” – @tim-weiner.bsky.social, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century”

The Unit That Didn’t Exist How the CIA’s elite Afghan spies tried to recruit one of Daniel Pearl’s killers

What readers are saying about "The Unit That Didn’t Exist: How the CIA’s elite Afghan spies tried to recruit one of Daniel Pearl’s killers" thehighside.substack.com/p/the-unit-t..., our latest by @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social (thread 1/3):

Great story.

Read this.

The Unit That Didn’t Exist How the CIA’s elite Afghan spies tried to recruit one of Daniel Pearl’s killers

New from @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social - The Unit That Didn’t Exist open.substack.com/pub/thehighs...

Soft launching our @theteamhouse.bsky.social newsletter which will be in conjunction with @thehighside.bsky.social bringing a weekly round up of our podcasts and activities.

Sign up: teamhousepodcast.kit.com/join

Subscribe to my substack where we write national security focused investigative journalism about special operations and the intelligence community. Just two guys and a dream, no outside funding, no billionaire telling us what to write.

thehighside.substack.com

Should be a fun summer, but no vacation this year. Lots of @theteamhouse.bsky.social podcasts, several cool articles for @thehighside.bsky.social, turning in the final copy of my novel to the publisher, and tech advising on a Vietnam war film (possible on camera role too).

The CIA-directed sabotage cells setting Russia ablaze The story the CIA doesn't want you to read

Some new updates to this story I first published in late 2022.

thehighside.substack.com/p/the-cia-di...

1865. Or whatever.

Tell me again history doesn't matter

Jason, sorry, this is Sean replying. That wasn't clear in my previous reply.