Raphael Ramos

US one dollar bill, "In God We Trust" is printed above the word "ONE"

OTD July 30 1956 President Eisenhower signs into law H.R. 619 (84th), mandating that "In God We Trust” be included on all US currency.

Although the phrase had been included on minted coinage since 1864, paper currency had maintained the phrase "E Pluribus Unum". With the onset of the Cold War,

New research from me - published in the @officialbaas.bsky.social Journal of American Studies - on William Raborn's tenure as Director of Central Intelligence. 🇺🇲

Including the Dominican Intervention, Vietnam, and some tragicomic anecdotes.

Available Open Access 🔓: shorturl.at/PG4Eb

Cambodge/Chine/France/Myanmar : L'histoire secrète des mercenaires français pris dans l'enfer birman Mercenaires français en Birmanie (1/4) - Le 27 octobre 2023, dans les environs de Laukkaing, dans le nord de la Birmanie, douze étrangers sont capturés par un groupe ethnique rebelle. La plupart sont

J'ai pisté des mercenaires européens (français notamment) dans la guerre civile en Birmanie, dont deux légionnaires d'active, jusqu'à Laukkaing. Cela donne cette enquête en quatre épisodes, dont le premier épisode est en accès libre.

www.intelligenceonline.fr/renseignemen...

Intelligence Online broke the story 2 months ago with ISC chair Lord Beamish saying: "The Committee has examined all the alternatives and decided that the model which best guarantees its independence is for its Office to be established as an independent body corporate".

You can tell outsiders are in charge at Langley (viz., “the CIA” instead of simply “CIA.”

Tim Naftali's tweet on the termination of the HAC members without cause.

Unhappy to confirm that the entire Historical Advisory Committee at the State Department received termination notices this afternoon (myself included). The HAC, set up by Congress, oversees the office that produces the FRUS series. history.state.gov/about/hac/in... 1/

États-Unis : Tulsi Gabbard, dynamiteuse du renseignement américain Les espions de la Maison blanche 1/4 – À l'occasion du vingtième anniversaire de la direction du renseignement national, Intelligence Online revient sur les métamorphoses de cette fonction

Retrouvez le 1er épisode de notre série sur la toute puissante direction nationale du renseignement américain. Focus du jour sur la patronne actuelle, la très trumpienne Tulsi Gabbard @Intel_Online_Fr Par @raphaelramos.bsky.social

www.intelligenceonline.fr/renseignemen...

This means I now have negative 4 security clearances

Were the Kennedy Files a Bust? Not So Fast, Historians Say. The thousands of documents posted online this week disappointed assassination buffs. But historians are finding many newly revealed secrets.

“This opens a door on a whole history of collaboration between the Vatican and the C.I.A., which, boy, would be explosive if we could get documents about,” said Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/u...

Shocked to see the Trump administration apparently shutting @wilsoncenter.org (I thought I saw only 30% of its funding is federal - can it survive still?). I was honoured once enough to be affiliated there and was always impressed by the quality of its expertise. USA self-harming

We have a cover! My thanks to Georgetown University Press for their hard work. Photo of the "father of intelligence analysis" Sherman Kent in a very un-pc pose!

United Kingdom : Lord Beamish's quest to revitalise intelligence oversight The former Labour MP Kevan Jones, known also as Lord Beamish, is the first member of the House of Lords to chair the Intelligence and Security Committee. Like his Tory predecessor at the ISC, he is

"The Committee has therefore decided that we will be moving out of the Cabinet Office, and out of the Executive," Jones told Intelligence Online.

www.intelligenceonline.com/government-i...

Boston Globe reports antics of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at Vermont/Quebec library that sits on Canada-U.S. border. She repeatedly stepped over taped boundary marker in middle of the library, referring to Canada as the "51st State" every time she stood in Canada.

This is a wildly inappropriate thing for her to say as DNI. Partisan politics is way out of her lane. This is positively destructive of the norm that intelligence is to be apolitical. Why should it be apolitical? Because intel is literally worse than useless if it’s written to please.

The President may appoint an officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff only if the officer has served as (A) the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (B) the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, or the Commandant of the Marine Corps or (C) the command of a unified or specified combatant command. (2)The President may waive paragraph (1) in the case of an officer if the President determines such action is necessary in the national interest

today in breaking laws no matter how obscure, ladies and gentlemen, the Goldwater-Nichols Act

From the CIA archives: ”Russian Tactics in International Negotiations: A Guide for American Negotiators”, ca. 1952.

White House forcing out top leadership at National Archives in major shakeup | CNN Politics The Trump administration is forcing out senior leadership at the National Archives and Records Administration in a major shakeup, according to a source familiar. President Donald Trump has been highly...

Breaking - White House is forcing out top leadership at the National Archives.
“The exodus of senior staff is seen as a huge loss for the agency, which is considered nonpartisan and dedicated to the preservation of history and documents.”

www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/p...

EI Talks... the myth and magic of spy fiction Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama? And what do spy stories tell us about the true nature of the secret world?

Are we living through a golden age of espionage drama?

🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by David Omand, Pauline Blistène and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss the enduring popularity of the spy in fiction.

🎙️The myth and magic of spy fiction | EI Podcasts

audioboom.com/posts/865349...

Exclusive | Vance Wields Threat of Sanctions, Military Action to Push Putin Into Ukraine Deal In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the vice president said Ukraine must have “sovereign independence.”

“Russian interference in Western democracy has been overstated in the U.S. and Europe,” Vance said. 😳 Wow. A patently false statement. He also just undercut a decade of work by the US ntl security community, working with European allies to counter Moscow. www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) [Rovner, Joshua] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

The Senate is poised to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, sparking fears of politicization. For those interested in the problem of politicized intelligence, see here: www.amazon.com/Fixing-Facts...

Russia's spies, in retaliation against the CIA, urge Americans to get in touch Russia's foreign intelligence service released an English-language video on Thursday, urging "true American patriots" who care about world peace to get in touch via secure communication in response to efforts by the CIA to recruit Russians.

Russia's spies, in retaliation against the CIA, urge Americans to get in touch - www.reuters.com/world/europe...

So it seems that the power grab on US federal infrastructure involves taking control of digital (specifically software) infrastructure. That's likely the reason why DOGE replaced the US Digital Service.

This idea of opposing human intelligence and analysis is an operational nonsense, which only reflects fantasies of tough guys. The ability to project power abroad through covert ops and to recruit high-value human sources is rooted in the ability to comprehend the environment in which you operate.

United States : Under Trump, CIA's Directorate of Operations to reclaim leading role The spy agency's new director John Ratcliffe has pledged to focus on human intelligence and covert action, overseen by the directorate of operations, rather than analysis, which is seen as a legacy

“The spy agency's new director John Ratcliffe has pledged to focus on human intelligence and covert action, overseen by the directorate of operations, rather than analysis, which is seen as a legacy of the Obama and Biden years.” www.intelligenceonline.com/government-i...

The use and abuse of the Cuban Missile Crisis The claim that we are now closer to nuclear war than at any time in the past is of dubious historical value. Compared to 1962, both the United States and Russia have much better procedures in place to...

The use and abuse of the Cuban Missile Crisis | @radchenko.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-u...

‘All the Heroes are Dead:’ U.S. Covert Operations in Ukraine, 1949-1953 Between 1949 and 1953, the CIA’s Munich operations base airdropped 12 agents into Western Ukraine with instructions to gather intelligence and assist the local partisan movement (Project AERODYNAMI...

New article published in the journal Intelligence and National Security titled "‘All the Heroes are Dead:’ U.S. Covert Operations in Ukraine, 1949-1953" by Thomas Boghardt, available here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I feel the headline rather overstates the “split”. As reported, the two dissenting agencies say there is a roughly 50/50 chance of a hostile foreign actor being responsible. And they say it with “low confidence”. That’s a pretty cautious assessment.

Kash Patel’s Emails Offer Insight Into How He Might Run the FBI More than 800 pages of Patel's emails obtained by FOIA Files, from the Office of Director of National Intelligence, raise questions about whether he’ll weaponize the FBI to settle scores if he’s confi...

NEW FOIA Files EXCLUSIVE: I obtained more 800 pages of Kash Patel's emails (and thousands more are coming) during his stint at ODNI, which offer some insight into how he might lead FBI & raise questions as to whether he’ll use his position to settle political scores
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

États-Unis : Quatre ans à Langley, épisode 2 : William Burns et l'adaptation de la CIA à la compétition stratégique En l'espace de quatre ans, l'ancien diplomate William Burns a pu apposer sa marque sur l'organisation de la CIA pour accompagner les priorités présidentielles dans un environnement international

A lire sur Intelligence Online
l'excellente série de @raphaelramos.bsky.social sur les années Burns à la #CIA

www.intelligenceonline.fr/renseignemen...