SpyTalker

Pentagon says it is deploying California National Guard to Portland The U.S. military said it is reassigning about 200 federalized members of the California National Guard from the Los Angeles area to Portland.

Can there be any question now that Trump & co are determined to impose military rule on majority Democratic states and cities? www.reuters.com/world/us/pen...

Kash Patel fires FBI trainee who displayed pride flag: Sources The FBI has "summarily dismissed" a new agent trainee who displayed a pride flag at his previous work area, several sources with knowledge of the action told ABC News.

Ka$h Patel "summarily dismissed" a new agent trainee at the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia, who displayed a pride flag at his previous work area. abcnews.go.com/US/kash-pate...

New in SpyWeek: Leaks and Piques Hegseths mobilizes lie detectors, Tulsi cancels intel report, Trump cuts NYPD counterterrorism funds, Mossad spy hanged, questions about Venezuela info

New in SpyWeek: Leaks and Piques
www.spytalk.co/p/new-in-spy...

Can This Be Fiction? Ex-CIA Novelist Takes Us Inside Israel’s Covert Ops in Iran David McCloskey shifts from Russia to Iran in his latest great spy thriller, “The Persian.”

www.spytalk.co/p/can-this-b...

Watch @spytalker.bsky.social & @misikoff.bsky.social chat with David McCloskey. #SpyTalk #MSWMedia

New #SpyTalk podcast with hosts @spytalker.bsky.social & @misikoff.bsky.social #MSWMedia 🕵

Listen: spytalk.simplecast.com/episodes/dav...

Got An Opinion? Tough. Sorry for the second post today, and for the dreariness of its content.

The Washington Post’s pre-Halloween Thursday Night Massacre.
open.substack.com/pub/genewein...

Cyber Security Act Sunsets Under Shadow of Government Shutdown Even in the face of heightened cyber threats, Sen. Rand Paul’s objections could not be overcome before federal funding ran out

As first reported by SpyTalk: www.spytalk.co/p/cyber-secu...

Too little, too late.

Opinion | The Embarrassing Pete Hegseth The Pentagon needs sober, judicious leadership, not a drama queen who makes things jarring and fevered.

“You know why people say something’s wrong with this guy? Because it appears something is wrong with this guy.”—former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...

“You know why people say something’s wrong with this guy? Because it appears something is wrong with this guy.”

More turmoil at Virginia US attorney's office following Comey indictment: 2 top prosecutors fired, sources say Two top attorneys in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have been fired from their jobs in recent days, sources told ABC.

Chaos in office of inexperienced Virginia prosecutor installed to go after Comey. abcnews.go.com/Politics/tur...

Economist cover says it all: “Russia Tests the West” www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/imag...

Swear her in.

The Secretary of Wardrobe Pete Hegseth summoned generals from all over the globe to Virginia to hear him talk shaving and fitness standards. If this seems below the pay grade of a four-star, chances are the generals weren’t hi...

This is probably the most comprehensive and insightful piece you can find on the Hegseth debacle at Quantico, by @juliaioffe.bsky.social puck.news/how-was-pete...

Seventy years ago one brave senator, Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith, put the dagger in Joe McCarthy’s balloon. Pffft! Isn’t there a single GOP man who has the guts to stand up, seize her legacy and put a stop to the madness?

James Comey’s Indictment, While Without Merit, Is Part of Comey’s Own Legacy The former hard-charging deputy attorney general succumbed to political hubris as FBI director, and discredited the federal justice system in the process.

Justice off the rails: "an ironic twist is the active role Comey himself played in his later law enforcement career in dismantling the norms that had been considered vital to an ordered constitutional democracy."—@pepelletier @thenation
www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Cyber Security Act Sunsets Under Shadow of Government Shutdown Even in the face of heightened cyber threats, Sen. Rand Paul’s objections could not be overcome before federal funding ran out

Cyber Security Act Sunsets Under Shadow of Government Shutdown
www.spytalk.co/p/cyber-secu...

Appreciate that. Thank you.

Well, I am. Gathering and reporting facts has been my job for 40+ years. But you be you.

You know this as a fact that everyone in the FBI press office has been fired? I don’t think so.

Looming Shutdown Threatens Pentagon Spy Agencies NGA spy satellites, NSA eavesdropping programs and DIA technical collection ops would be curtailed under the Defense Department 'Contingency Plan.'

Looming Shutdown Threatens Pentagon Spy Agencies
www.spytalk.co/p/looming-sh...

Trump gave ‘an unusually meandering speech’ at #Quantico, which is really saying something. Translation: Off his rocker.

Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules The efforts to detain and deport noncitizen activists earlier this year represented an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment, the ruling says.

Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules, calling it a “truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech.’ www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason. Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

Veteran assaulted by ICE: 'three days in federal custody with no charges, no phone call to my family, no access to a judge or an attorney, no shower, and no explanation for their actions. It is deeply troubling..'
newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-a-us-ci...

The Shutdown and the Spies For the intelligence agencies' frontline personnel, it'll be business as usual—but only for a short while.

ICYMI The Shutdown and the Spies open.substack.com/pub/spytalk/...

No one is picking up the phone in the press office @fbi. Its recorded message does not allow a reporter to leave a voicemail request. Repeated email requests go unanswered. Is this a glitch or deliberate policy—to just ignore inquiries?

Hegseth’s weird rant was merely the warmup act for Trump’s rambling, incoherent—bizarre even for him—speech, which went on and on, and on….

One of Eric Adams' last gifts to New York was rescuing a casino that will give the Trump Organization a $175 million payday.

Everyone involved swears it wasn't a kickback for Trump making Adams' case go away.

Live updates: Trump vows ‘fiercer’ military after Hegseth pledges to address ‘decades of decay’ The gathering, at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, was ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and required some officers to fly thousands of miles.

Trump at #Quantico encourages ICE, etc agents to beat up protesters: “They spit, we hit.” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...