Hayden Center

What most people get wrong about U.S. intelligence…

Join legendary intelligence scholar Mark Lowenthal as he unpacks the real history—and future—of America’s intelligence system.

🗓️ Mar 11 | 7 PM ET | Arlington VA or livestream
🎤 Moderated by David Priess

Register: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20975...

A Possible US Government iPhone-Hacking Toolkit Is Now in the Hands of Foreign Spies and Criminals A highly sophisticated set of iPhone hijacking techniques has likely infected tens of thousands of phones or more. Clues suggest it was originally built for the US government.

www.wired.com/story/coruna...

CIA station in Saudi Capital hit in drone attack | Fox News Video Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the latest on warfare between the United States and Iran on ‘Special Report.’

Our thoughts are with our CIA colleagues

www.foxnews.com/video/639034...

CIA working to arm Kurdish forces to spark uprising in Iran, sources say | CNN Politics The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran and the Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish lea...

www.cnn.com/2026/03/03/p...

CIA’s former Counter-Terrorism Director on Iran and Operation Epic Fury This is the first part of my conversation with Bob Grenier, a 27-year veteran of the CIA and the former director of its Counter-Terrorism Center.

open.substack.com/pub/sashaing...

Trump’s Case for War With Iran Faces Growing Scrutiny U.S. intelligence showed threats from Iran loomed, as they had for years. But they were not imminent.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Kash Patel’s latest firings ousted agents with expertise in Iran The FBI director gutted a specialized, global espionage unit of counterintelligence agents, just days before Operation Epic Fury.

www.ms.now/news/kash-pa...

After the Strikes: Is Iran on the Brink? After U.S. and Israeli forces hit deep inside Iran — and Tehran retaliates — what comes next could redefine the nuclear standoff and the region’s balance of power.

www.thecipherbrief.com/after-the-st...

Sen. Mark Warner says he saw 'no intelligence' of imminent threat from Iran Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, undercut the Trump administration’s justification for its attack.

www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Why the US-Israel Intelligence Campaign Matters Even More Than Bombs Falling on Iran Joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran got underway last night, bringing enormous military assets into a fight that, by all accounts, will last weeks, not days, in pursuit of “regime change.”Israel...

newlinesmag.com/running-note...

The C.I.A. Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/u...

Push from Saudis, Israel helped move Trump to attack Iran President Trump launched a wide-ranging attack on Iran after weeks-long lobbying by an unusual pair of U.S. allies in the Middle East: Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“The attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran’s forces were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the U.S. mainland within the next decade.”

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

THE STEADY STATE Statement on U.S. Attack of Iran The Steady State | February 28, 2026

Worth reading—from a group of concerned former intelligence officers, diplomats, and military officers.

open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei could be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would...

www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Israel Hacked Popular Iranian Prayer App to Urge Defections, Resistance Israel hacked a popular Iranian prayer app to send notifications to potentially millions of phones Saturday morning urging the country’s military personnel to defect from the regime and join a fight t...

www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

How did U.S. intelligence become the most powerful in the world?

Find out March 11 at 7 PM ET 🗓️
Dr. Mark Lowenthal discusses his book VIGILANCE IS NOT ENOUGH. With @davidpriess.bsky.social.

REGISTER: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20975...
In person. Arlington VA. 🏫
YouTube Livestream @haydencenter 🎥

Trump’s Grand Conspiracy Delusion The Grand Conspiracy is a conspiracy theory, not a real legal theory.

Worth a read.

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...

How did U.S. intelligence become the most powerful in the world?

Find out March 11 at 7 PM ET 🗓️
Dr. Mark Lowenthal discusses his book VIGILANCE IS NOT ENOUGH. With @davidpriess.bsky.social.

REGISTER: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20975...
In person. Arlington VA. 🏫
YouTube Livestream @haydencenter 🎥

Emails Show FBI’s Resistance to Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago FBI emails released via FOIA show just how divided the bureau and the Department of Justice were over the search of Trump’s residence in August 2022.

www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Trump Ally Expands Inquiry of Former Officials Who Investigated the President

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/u...

Acting head of the nation’s cyber agency reassigned amid rising congressional scrutiny Madhu Gottumukkala, the former acting director of CISA, is taking on a new role as DHS’s director of strategic implementation.

www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Sen Ron Wyden blocks nomination of NSA Director/Cyber Command commander over lack of cyber & surveillance experience

www.congress.gov/congressiona...

'All-star' DOD team prevented from briefing Congress on Havana Syndrome Rep. Rick Crawford tells me he plans to reach out to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the coming days "to ensure he is aware of the situation."

Incompetence or intentional coverup by DoD? Curious kinds want to know

open.substack.com/pub/sashaing...

FBI fires agents who scrutinized Patel in Trump documents case The terminations are the latest in an ongoing purge of bureau employees who participated in investigations of Donald Trump.

www.ms.now/news/fbi-fir...

Trump tells committee chairs he backs controversial spy law extension Congress faces an April 20 deadline to renew the Section 702 surveillance program.

www.politico.com/live-updates...

WhistleblowerAid.org’s response to confirmation that DNI Gabbard continues to block key congressional leaders from seeing – in any form – the underlying, classified intelligence associated with our IC... DNI Tulsi Gabbard continues to block key congressional leaders from seeing – in any form – the underlying, classified intelligence associated with our client’s disclosure. This is by no means surprisi...

whistlebloweraid.org/whistleblowe...

Trump Administration Moves to Allow Intelligence Agencies Easier Access to Law Enforcement Files “None of this has been thought through very carefully,” one official said of the plans, which upend long-standing restrictions meant to protect Americans’ privacy.

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Exclusive | Spy Agency Blocks Congress From Seeing Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office rejected Democratic efforts to see all the underlying material about a foreign conversation that discussed Jared Kushner.

Spy Agency Blocks Congress From Seeing Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence Citing Executive Privelege

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

A Chinese official’s use of ChatGPT accidentally revealed a global intimidation operation | CNN Politics A sprawling Chinese influence operation — accidentally revealed by a Chinese law enforcement official’s use of ChatGPT — focused on intimidating Chinese dissidents abroad, including by impersonating U...

www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/p...