Rachel Santarsiero

A dark and killing cloud over Tehran And over a shamed America

America and Israel are in essence waging chemical war in Iran, filling the air above its metropolis with toxic smoke after lighting its oil storage depots on fire.
How is anyone supposed to "rise up" when they can't breathe?
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...

Well that took no time at all www.reuters.com/business/ene...

DOJ, DHS, and HHS still haven't posted their annual FOIA reports (and here I thought RFK Jr was going to be so excited to show how closing all of HHS's FOIA offices improved FOIA at the agency).

CIA declassifies more of "Zendebad, Shah!" – internal study of 1953 Iran coup Washington, D.C., February 12, 2018 – A partially-declassified CIA history of the 1953 coup in Iran, released in late 2017, includes an-depth critique of how the agency approached the operation, highl...

In 2017, a mandatory review request by the @nsarchive.bsky.social forced the CIA to release previously redacted portions of an internal history on the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq in 1953. nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

In a handwritten note, Pres. Carter seems to dismiss Brzezinski's call for military action to incite the "downfall" of Khomeini: "We need to list everything that Khomeini would not want to see occur and which would not incite condemnation of U.S. by other nations." nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/197...

Richard Somerville on the long history of climate change science “Everything depends on what people and their government do,” Somerville writes, not once, not twice, but (if I count correctly) seven times.

"Uncertainty cuts both ways. The future is unknown, but it has tails on both sides, and so you shouldn’t assume that uncertainty just means there’s a good chance it won’t be as serious or severe."

My latest @thebulletin.org interview with climate scientist and meteorologist Richard Somerville:

Opinion | Why it matters that the government is messing with health databases There is no replacement for reliable data from federal government databases.

Very cool to see the @nsarchive.bsky.social’s work on disappearing climate data featured in @postopinions.bsky.social!

I’d also point readers to the excellent work of @envirodgi.bsky.social and @publicenvirodata.bsky.social, the experts in environmental data preservation!
wapo.st/4b5EUd8

Let me be clear: I’m glad Kristi Noem was fired. But we still have to abolish ICE.

Documenting U.S. planning for the Iran strike will be harder than documenting the lead-up to the Iraq War thanks to this admin's animosity to record-keeping.

Still, docs released through FOIA re Iraq provide offer a road map of what to ask for.

The best examples are from @nsarchive.bsky.social.

PEER Opens Investigation into EPA’s Use of Artificial Intelligence Workforce Monitoring and Chemical Safety Decisions Under Scrutiny

AI chatbots with programmed bias have replaced the civil service. AI sets policy, filters public input, and decides reality from within a black box. Today we, with our client @peer.org, are using FOIA to break into that black box 1/x

The Defense Department spent $38,000,000 LESS on FOIA in FY 2025 than it did in 2024.

This is a 37% decrease.

Other agencies do not report nearly the same drop in spending, in fact many spent more in 2025 than 2024.

pclt.defense.gov/Portals/140/...

Good news: Scientists were wrong about how bad sea level rise is.

Bad news: It’s even worse than we thought.

Presidential Libraries Are Black Boxes — And Not Just Trump’s Funding disclosure for these institutions is sometimes inconsistent, incomplete or inaccurate, leaving the public in the dark.

A NOTUS review of federal records and library disclosure documents, coupled with interviews with more than 30 presidential library foundation donors, indicates that available information is routinely incomplete, inconsistent or inaccurate.
www.notus.org/money/presid...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence

Via @thebulletin.org by Scoville Fellow '22 @rsanta.bsky.social of the @nsarchive.bsky.social. thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Impunity 101

The good news: Canada ruled against a Guatemalan ex-military officer, calling his actions in the horrific 1982 #DosErres massacre “crimes against humanity.”

The bad news: Canada refused to use its own War Crimes Act, so the ruling strips his citizenship and kicks him out of Canada.

The war lasted 12 days. The environmental impact on Iran may last decades Israel and United States' strikes on Iran could leave lasting health, environmental, and climate damage to the country.

Unfortunately this article that @saragoud.bsky.social and I wrote last year is newly relevant again.

War sucks. It's bad for people, bad for the environment, bad for the climate.

“That’s why anyone who thinks about the environment or cares about the environment should also care about peace.”

Banner image shots a collage of notable moments and actors in US-Iran relations.

The @nsarchive.bsky.social is one of the best resources on the web on the declassified history of U.S.-Iran relations, the 1953 coup, the 1979 hostage crisis, and more.
nsarchive.gwu.edu/project/iran...

'Mass escape' occurred before Islamic State-linked camp in Syria was closed A now-closed camp in northeast Syria saw “mass escape” of people there, raising fresh fears about Islamic State-linked security risks.

The escapes during clashes between Syrian forces and Kurdish fighters who controlled the camp have raised security concerns in a region where memories of the Islamic State running rampant for years remain fresh. https://to.pbs.org/4rDBDJa

The Long Shadow of Dos Erres Washington, D.C., February 24, 2026 - After a decade-long investigation and a trial lasting more than five weeks, a federal court in Ottawa has ruled to revoke the Canadian citizenship of a Guatemalan...

The Long Shadow of Dos Erres: Canadian Court Sanctions Perpetrator of 1982 Dos Erres Massacre in Guatemala --
@nsarchive.bsky.social publishes key records from the trial nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

Maine senator grills intelligence director Gabbard on omission of climate change from annual threat report Gabbard implied that climate change was no longer considered a direct threat to US national security.

And of course, that's when they bother to investigate the security implications of climate change at all, which is no longer a guarantee...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

There's a troubling trend of governments keeping national security and intelligence reports related to the climate crisis under wraps, @rsanta.bsky.social reports for @thebulletin.org

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

UK: A national security report about biodiversity loss & ecosystem collapse held back (& watered down) for being "too negative."

US: 2008 National Intelligence Assessment on global climate change kept classified.

Australia: PM hides a review of national security threats posed by climate change.

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Last month, the UK government was slammed for its bungled rollout of a nat sec report on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

I write about what happens when nations shield their citizens from the very real threats of ecological disruption for @thebulletin.org:
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping…

A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions.

It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping climate security reports from the public, writes Rachel Santarsiero @rsanta.bsky.social.

I had the pleasure of interviewing @rodschoonover.bsky.social for this piece, who said of the US intel apparatus: “If you artificially put blinders on, you are artificially narrowing the threat landscape…It’s destabilizing the security community and making the security community more political.”

BUT political motivations aside, there’s a backdrop of contracting international environmental commitments AND rampant and systematic climate denialism efforts in the US and other nations—and the UK risks aligning itself with those efforts.

What happened in the UK feels more like an effort by the powers that be at No. 10 Downing Street to avoid public embarrassment vs. actual suppression of information by the UK joint intelligence committee.

Deny, delay, downplay: How governments hide climate change intelligence A recent UK national security assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem collapse made headlines, not for its dire warnings, but for its omissions. It's part of a larger trend of governments keeping cli...

Last month, the UK government was slammed for its bungled rollout of a nat sec report on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.

I write about what happens when nations shield their citizens from the very real threats of ecological disruption for @thebulletin.org:
thebulletin.org/2026/02/deny...

What is lost when environmental coverage is cut Word that the Washington Post would be cutting roughly one-third of its staff spread quickly this week. Among those affected were at least a dozen reporters, editors, and visual journalists covering c...

The Washington Post’s decision to cut a large share of its climate and environmental reporters is not just a newsroom story; it reflects a broader weakening of the institutions that sustain a shared, reliable public record on complex and contested issues.
news.mongabay.com/2026/02/what...