Tag: intelligence community

Behind Israel’s Wars Lies a Global Spy Machine

In the aftermath of the devastating Twelve-Day War in June 2025, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib made a striking claim that captured international attention: more than fifty foreign intelligence services had provided direct support to Israel during the conflict. Speaking during an official visit to Iran’s southwestern Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in October 2025, Khatib characterized this coalition as an “intelligence NATO” that coordinated efforts to destabilize Iran through hybrid warfare encompassing military attacks, psychological operations, cyber warfare, and media campaigns.

His statement came against the backdrop of the Twelve Day War that began on June 13, 2025, when Israel launched surprise attacks on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, killing over 1,000 Iranians. Iran responded with “Operation True Promise 3,” involving twenty-two waves of missile strikes and over 550 ballistic missiles targeting Israeli territory. The United States intervened on June 22 with B-2 bomber strikes on Iranian nuclear sites before a ceasefire was brokered on June 24.

Khatib’s claims, while potentially inflated, align remarkably well with patterns this author previously documented in “The Illusion of Israeli Self-Sufficiency in Intelligence,” which exposed how Israel’s most celebrated operations relied on cooperation with the CIA, NSA cyberwarfare expertise, European intelligence networks, and covert collaboration with Arab regimes. As that analysis demonstrated, Israel’s intelligence empire survives not through independence but through reliance on Western logistics, intelligence sharing, and political approval.

The foundation of this multinational intelligence cooperation traces back decades. According to research covered by Israeli investigative journalists, the Berne Club—a secret European intelligence alliance founded in 1969—provided crucial support for Israel’s assassination campaign following the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Through an encrypted communication system called “Kilowatt,” thousands of cables were exchanged among eighteen Western intelligence services, functioning as a secret clearinghouse for raw intelligence containing the locations of safe houses, vehicle registrations, the movements of high-value targets, and analytical assessments.

The core of Israel’s intelligence support network begins with the United States and extends through the Five Eyes alliance. The CIA-Mossad relationship dates to the early 1950s, with leaked documents revealing that the NSA shares intelligence with Israel’s Unit 8200 through a formal agreement. Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, “US intelligence dispatched a special unit to assist the IDF in the war in Gaza and established intelligence-sharing channels with Israel to help locate top Hamas commanders,” according to a report by The Conversation. During Israel’s June 2025 strikes on Iran, the United States joined the operation directly with B-2 bomber strikes.

The United Kingdom maintains similarly close cooperation. GCHQ documents reveal Britain “cooperating very closely with Israel.’ DeClassified UK reported that between 2023-2024, “the RAF conducted 518 surveillance flights over Gaza from Cyprus’s RAF Akrotiri, supplying real-time intelligence to Israeli forces.”

European nations have provided extensive intelligence infrastructure supporting Israeli operations. Germany announced this past summer plans to strengthen cooperation on cyber defense, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt outlining a five-point plan for establishing a “Cyber Dome” including “establishing a joint German-Israel cyber research center.”

Keep reading

Spy Agencies Cozied Up To Wuhan Virologist Before Lying About Pandemic

A close collaborator of virologists who studied coronaviruses in Wuhan frequently advised America’s top spy agency in the lead-up to the pandemic, and that same agency suppressed intelligence on the parallels between COVID-19 and their research.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) hub for foreign biological threats dismissed the intelligence pointing to a lab accident in Wuhan as “misinformation” in January 2021, two former government sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal meetings told the Daily Caller News Foundation. New documents show that intelligence risked implicating ODNI’s own bioengineering advisor — University of North Carolina professor Ralph Baric.

Baric, who engineered novel coronaviruses with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), advised ODNI four times a year on biological threats, according to documents released Oct. 30 by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Baric did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

The professor’s ties to American intelligence may run even deeper, the documents reveal, as ODNI facilitated a meeting between the CIA and Baric about a project on coronaviruses in September 2015.

The email exchange with the subject line “Request for Your Expertise” shows an unnamed government official with a CIA-affiliated email address pitching a “possible project” to Baric relating to “[c]oronavirus evolution and possible natural human adaptation.”

The new documents shed a bit of light on a question members of Congress have posed for years: Whether our own intelligence agencies knew more about the likelihood of a lab origin of COVID than they told the public.

Keep reading

Colombian President Orders Halt to Intelligence Sharing With US Over Drug Boat Strikes

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Nov. 11 that his nation’s security forces will stop intelligence sharing with the United States in response to U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean.

Petro stated on X that he had instructed the Colombian public security forces at all levels to suspend cooperation with U.S. agencies until the U.S. military ceases its strikes on vessels in the Caribbean.

“Such a measure will be maintained as long as the missile attack on boats in the Caribbean persists. The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people,” he stated.

The White House has not publicly commented on Petro’s announcement. The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Since September, according to posts by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other media reports, the U.S. military has carried out at least 19 strikes against vessels alleged to be transporting illegal drugs to the United States, actions that have drawn condemnation from Venezuela and Colombia. At least 76 suspected drug traffickers have been killed in these strikes, according to reports.

Tensions rose between the United States and Colombia after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Petro of encouraging illegal drug production in Colombia, which Petro and the Colombian government have strongly denied.

Keep reading

European Commission weighs creation of intelligence arm amid global tensions

The European Commission is considering setting up a dedicated intelligence cell to strengthen security amid geopolitical difficulties, an EU spokesperson said on Tuesday, adding that the initiative is still at an early stage.

“We are in a challenging geopolitical and geoeconomic environment, and the Commission, because of this, is examining how to strengthen its security and intelligence capabilities,” the spokesperson said.

The Financial Times earlier reported that the Commission has begun setting up a new intelligence body under President Ursula von der Leyen, in an attempt to improve the use of information gathered by national spy agencies.

The unit, to be formed inside the commission’s secretariat-general, plans to hire officials from across the EU’s intelligence community and collate intelligence for joint purposes, the newspaper reported, citing four people briefed on the plans.

Keep reading

Grassley, Durbin: DOJ blocking oversight of foreign intelligence courts

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to amend its procedures for congressional attendance at Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) proceedings ahead of the expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) next April.

The current procedures, first established by the Biden administration in November 2024, and continued under the current administration, hinder congressional oversight and conflict with Section 5(d) of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA).

“The FISC Procedures, as drafted, comport with neither the plain language nor the spirit of RISAA, and raise numerous separation of powers concerns. As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate’s primary committee of jurisdiction over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, we are troubled by the Department’s lack of transparency and failure to engage meaningfully with our committee as these procedures were developed. We request that the Department amend the FISC Procedures to comply with the Constitution and RISAA,” the lawmakers wrote.

RISAA – signed into law in April 2024 – requires DOJ to allow select members of Congress and designated staff to attend and conduct oversight of FISC proceedings. In November 2024, the Biden DOJ implemented a policy that requires members of Congress and their staff to agree to a series of arbitrary and inappropriate procedures before being allowed to attend FISC proceedings, which the Trump administration has maintained.

Some of DOJ’s policies and procedures include:

  • Prohibiting members of Congress from sharing information with other members of Congress and members of their staff;
  • Restricting members of Congress from requesting information or documentation from participants of FISC proceedings;
  • Allowing DOJ staff to remove congressional observers, including members of Congress, from FISC proceedings at any time and at the sole discretion of DOJ;
  • Allowing only a limited number of congressional observers to attend FISC proceedings at any one time;
  • Prohibiting designated staff from attending the same FISC proceeding as their specified member of Congress; and
  • Prohibiting note taking during proceedings, despite congressional staff’s ability to maintain classified notebooks.

Read Grassley and Durbin’s letter to DOJ HERE or below.

Keep reading

US intel contradicts Trump’s claims of fentanyl production in Venezuela: Report

US intelligence has assessed that little to no Fentanyl trafficked to the US is being produced in Venezuela, contradicting recent claims from US President Donald Trump to justify airstrikes on alleged drug boats, Drop Site News (DSN)reported on 24 October.

Trump claimed last month that boats targeted in US airstrikes in the Caribbean were carrying Fentanyl to the US.

“Every boat kills 25,000 on average — some people say more. You see these boats, they’re stacked up with bags of white powder that’s mostly Fentanyl and other drugs, too,” Trump said.

US strikes on vessels operating in international waters in the Caribbean Sea since September have killed at least 32 people.

However, a senior US official directly familiar with the matter stated that Fentanyl is not being produced in Venezuela and sent to the US.

“The official noted that many of the boats targeted for strikes by the Trump administration do not even have the requisite gasoline or motor capacity to reach US waters,” DSN reported.

The lack of intelligence linking Venezuela with fentanyl production is further evidence that the strikes are driven by an effort to topple the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump has used allegations of Venezuelan drug trafficking, including claims without evidence that Maduro is leading a drug cartel, as the justification for overthrowing the socialist government.

In a post on social media, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth equated the alleged threat of Venezuelan drug cartels to that of Al-Qaeda.

“Just as Al-Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people,” Hegseth said, adding that “there will be no refuge or forgiveness – only justice.”

His comments come just a few weeks after the founder of Al-Qaeda in Syria, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, met with US officials in New York. Sharaa seized power in Damascus in December, declaring himself president, with US backing.

Two sources familiar with discussions at the White House told DSN that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the driving force behind the regime change effort.

Secretary Rubio has earmarked millions of dollars previously allocated for “pro-democracy” measures in Venezuela to prepare for a war.

The sources cited Rubio’s desire to access Venezuela’s vast oil resources as the reason for seeking regime change.

On Friday, the Pentagon confirmed it was deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean Sea, adding to the thousands of troops deployed to the Venezuelan coast.

Keep reading

US Intelligence Has Been Enabling Ukraine’s Destruction Of Russian Energy Sites

Fresh reporting in the Financial Times offers more confirmation that the Trump administration has been escalating the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, in hopes of forcing Moscow to the negotiating table.

The Sunday report makes clear that “The US has for months been helping Ukraine mount long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities, in what officials say is a coordinated effort to weaken Vladimir Putin’s economy and force him to the negotiating table.”

“American intelligence shared with Kyiv has enabled strikes on important Russian energy assets including oil refineries far beyond the frontline, according to multiple Ukrainian and US officials familiar with the campaign,” it adds.

One source described Ukraine’s drone program as the tool the US is using to weaken Russia’s economy and pressure Putin into ending the war on terms more favorable to Kiev.

Washington has sunk billions of dollars in expanding Ukraine’s drone capabilities, with the CIA reportedly supporting the initiative. Attacks on Russian oil and energy sites have become almost a nightly occurrence. In many cases Russian anti-air defense fail to intercept the small drones – or else only destroy some among larger swarms.

FT provides a timeline of when this ramped-up intel sharing began. The program reportedly expanded based on a July phone call between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump allegedly asked whether Ukraine could target Moscow if supplied with longer-range weapons.

The report relates this exchange as follows:

Trump signaled his backing for a strategy to “make them [Russians] feel the pain” and compel the Kremlin to negotiate, said the two people briefed on the call. The White House later said Trump was “merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing”.

After this, as if to demonstrate its existing capabilities to Washington, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy sites sharply increased in August and September.

Interestingly, the FT notes that the Biden administration had avoided backing such strikes, but still authorized the supply of US Army ATACMS missiles, capable of reaching targets up to about 190 miles away, against Russian border areas.

Keep reading

Jeffrey Epstein Worked to Coordinate Former Israeli Prime Minister’s State-Level Investment Meetings in Mongolia

Epstein planned Ehud Barak’s meeting with the Secretary of the National Security Council of Mongolia.

Jeffrey Epstein’s ability to pull strings at the highest echelons of global power is no longer just rumor—it’s confirmed by a cache of leaked emails from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. These documents expose Epstein—already notorious for his criminal life and intelligence connections—as a behind-the-scenes fixer, using his network and financial heft to help broker a security and technology deal between Israel and Mongolia.

Epstein’s Network Reaches Ulaanbaatar

Epstein’s personal ties to Israeli leadership, including Barak and Ehud Olmert, were already well-known, as were his donations to Israeli causes like Friends of the IDF. Yet, these emails, released by the pro-Palestinian hacking group Handala(possibly tied to Iran), and published via Distributed Denial of Secrets, prove for the first time that Epstein facilitated a state-level deal leading to a formal bilateral security agreement.

The leak includes unpublished photos and documents spanning 2013–2016 with virtually daily correspondence between Barak and Epstein, showing Epstein arranging Barak’s meetings with Mongolia’s top brass.

Orchestrating State Security

In April 2013, only a month after stepping down as Israel’s Defense Minister, Barak landed in Mongolia to meet President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj and key security officials. The trip’s real architect? Not Barak, but Epstein—coordinating logistics, introductions, and the broader strategy behind the scenes. The emails make it clear: Epstein was instrumental in setting up Barak’s meeting with Enkhtuvshin Tsagaandari, Secretary of Mongolia’s National Security Council. At this pivotal exchange, the CEO of Israel Weapon Industries delivered a gift—a Jericho pistol engraved for the occasion—cementing ties and paving the way for deeper cooperation.

Barak’s Official Offer: Spying Tech for Mongolia

The Israeli push didn’t stop at gifts or diplomacy. Ehud Barak submitted an official Israeli memorandum to Terje Rød-Larsen, president of the International Peace Institute, outlining a proposal for advanced spying technology, electronic surveillance, and intelligence support for Mongolia. Tellingly, the letterhead bore Israel’s official emblem above Barak’s name—a detail legally requiring Israeli Minister of the Interior’s approval.

Barak’s memo also promised support in modern agriculture, water management, and medical diagnostics, while Barak himself cut deals with Israeli biotech and mining firms on the side—showcasing how political and private profits were deeply entwined.

Epstein, the Mongolia Advisory Board, and Global Power Brokering

The “advisory team” concept in Mongolia wasn’t organic; it was proposed by Terje Rød-Larsen (president of IPI and prominent Oslo Accords mediator), another figure deep within Epstein and Barak’s network. Barak, Rød-Larsen, and even Lawrence Summers (former Harvard president and U.S. Treasury Secretary) were tapped by Epstein to serve on the “Mongolia Presidential Advisory Board” with each reportedly earning up to $100,000 for their efforts.

Their inaugural meeting—at Davos, naturally—included the Mongolian President, National Security Advisor, and Rød-Larsen, with Epstein joining as “financier”[meeting notes PDF]. Advice flowed on everything from creating a Mongolian sovereign wealth fund to importing Israeli “zero-click” cyber-surveillance capability.

Keep reading

Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard

It is difficult not to notice the strategy of how certain Trump administration officials are targeted.

Any cabinet member that looks inward to reveal the status of corrupt activity within the information silo itself becomes a target. Cabinet officials who focus externally, meaning the majority of their effort looks outside government, are seemingly left alone.

HHS Secretary RFK Jr and Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, are examples of those receiving the worst ideological targeting from operations within HHS and the Intelligence Community respectively.

Conversely, CIA Director John Ratcliffe faces almost no scrutiny or targeting by the Intelligence Community as the silo operators frame narratives almost exclusively against DNI Gabbard.

The latest effort surfaces as embeds within Main Justice and the CIA frame a storyline that Tulsi Gabbard’s action in removing the security clearances of 37 current and former officials, has now resulted in those same officials being incapable of testifying against former CIA Director John Brennan (and others).

The premise of the narrative is ridiculous.  If we are to accept some current or former IC officials are willing to testify against Brennan (or others), regardless of whether Tulsi Gabbard has revoked their security clearances, their retroactive knowledge is still pertinent.  They are completely free to give statements and testimony based on their prior conduct.

What the leakers to Axios and the New York Times are trying to establish, is groundwork for the removal of Tulsi Gabbard. This stops her objective of investigating internal corruption.  I suspect most of the people trying desperately to undermine Gabbard are from within the CIA Directorate of Analysis, or at least in alignment with the directorate’s agenda.

The narrative’s author, Marc Caputo, claims AG Pam Bondi is hampered in her effort to criminally indict John Brennan because the witnesses Main Justice would use have lost their security clearances.  Again, the game of leveraging internecine friendships in/around the office of Trump becomes an overlay.

It is certainly true that AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have refused to look internally; and it is also true that DNI Tulsi Gabbard has spent much of her focus time looking internally.  Bondi and Patel continue the preferred game of institutional blame-casting in Main Justice. Meanwhile, Gabbard is busy focused on cleaning up her IC house.

The Fourth Branch embeds do not fear the approach of Bondi/Patel, but the Fourth Branch embeds are petrified by the approach of Tulsi Gabbard.  That reality underpins the baseline of opposition against the Director of National Intelligence.

As the dynamic unfolds, CIA Director John Ratcliffe is certainly not corrupt; however, nor is he brave.  Director Ratcliffe is willing to let Director Gabbard clean up his house, and then he takes credit for the reform.  As the weeks unfold into months, this is becoming increasingly obvious.

Mark Zaid is the current anti-Trump Lawfare operative likely seeding the narrative to Axios/New York Times.

Keep reading

Telegram’s Durov claims French intelligence tried to blackmail him over Moldovan election

Writing on X on Sunday, Durov said the approach came about a year ago, while he was under judicial supervision in France following his arrest at a Paris airport. He claimed that intelligence services contacted him through an intermediary and asked Telegram to remove a number of Moldovan channels before a presidential vote.

According to St Petersburg native Durov, Telegram did delete some flagged channels that clearly violated its own policies. But he said the intermediary later relayed a more troubling message: French intelligence had offered to “say good things” to the judge in charge of his case in exchange for wider cooperation.

“This was unacceptable on several levels,” Durov wrote, adding that if the agency did contact the judge, it would amount to interference in the judicial process — and if it didn’t, it meant exploiting his legal jeopardy to influence political developments abroad.

Durov said that shortly afterward, Telegram received a second list of “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first batch, he insisted, nearly all of these accounts were legitimate and fully compliant with Telegram’s rules.

Keep reading