New: Recovering Iran’s remaining highly enriched uranium stockpile — an objective the Trump admin has been discussing — would require a significant number of US ground troops, beyond a small special operations footprint, per 7 current & former officials. www.cnn.com/2026/03/09/p...
NEW: The CIA has been working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN.
www.cnn.com/2026/03/03/p...
CNN's @natashabertrand.bsky.social reporting rumored rationale that Iran was about to strike us first, preemptively, is not accurate to US sources she's spoken with.
VERY important because that would be a reason to not go to Congress first - imminent threat to US forces.
When Trump addressed the American people on Tuesday night, he claimed that Iran is “working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
That assertion is not backed up by US intelligence, sources told CNN. www.cnn.com/2026/02/27/p...
New: Military officers could soon find dozens of top colleges and universities across the US (list in replies) abruptly off limits for tuition assistance as part of Hegseth’s campaign against schools he describes as being biased against the US military
www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/p...
Breaking: A fed judge has shut down Hegseth’s attempts to punish Sen. Mark Kelly over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders
“Senator Kelly was reprimanded for exercising his First Amendment right to speak on matters of public concern," wrote US District Judge Richard Leon.
Breaking: The US and Russia have agreed to re-establish high level military to military dialogue, which had been dormant for more than 4 years. The channel was suspended in the fall of 2021 in the run up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. www.eucom.mil/pressrelease...
Could not agree more.
The US is making plans to try to intercept a fleeing oil tanker currrntly in the North Atlantic that Russia has claimed ownership of, per 4 sources, setting up a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin…
www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/p...
The 1989 legal opinion, authored by Bill Barr, concluded that the president has the inherent constitutional authority to deploy the FBI to investigate and arrest individuals for violating US law, "even if those actions contravene international law."
The FBI was on the ground w/Delta Force on Friday.
New: Trump administration officials are internally pointing to a 1989 legal opinion and the subsequent US invasion of Panama as precedent to justify the operation that was carried out in Venezuela on Friday night without US congressional authorization, per 3 sources.
Exclusive: The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility in Venezuela, sources told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country. This is the attack Trump has repeatedly alluded to in recent days. www.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...
Exclusive: Top lawyer for military joint chiefs told chairman that officers should retire if faced with an unlawful order. That advice is raising serious concerns among current and former officials. Latest: www.cnn.com/2025/12/19/p...
Potentially a big day on the Hill tomorrow…
Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and SecState Marco Rubio are expected to brief the Gang of 8 tomorrow afternoon
Separately, outgoing Southern Command commander Adm. Alvin Holsey is expected to virtually meet HASC and SASC leaders.
New: Alleged traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were not heading toward the US, Adm Bradley told lawmakers yesterday, per people briefed.
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...
New: The men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat after the Sept 2 secondary strike did not appear to have radio or other comms devices, top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers, undercutting claim they could have called for backup. www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/p...
New: A classified final version of the Pentagon inspector general’s report into Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss sensitive military operations has been delivered to lawmakers for review, and a declassified, redacted version is set to be released publicly on Thursday. www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/p...
The US military carried out a followup strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean on Sept 2, killing survivors of the initial strike, sources said.
People briefed on the “double-tap” strike said they were concerned that it could violate the law of armed conflict. www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/p...
The American delegation is: Secretary Rubio, Special envoy Witkoff, Jared Kushner, SecArmy Driscoll, State Dept counselor Michael Needham, US Amb Julie Davis, Deputy NSA Andy Baker, and EUCOM commander Gen. Grynkewich.
Update on the US-Ukraine talks in Geneva today: US and Ukrainian delegations are having a formal meeting now “where they will be ironing out the details of the agreement,” per US official. Previous talks were “conclusive” in some areas, official says.
NEWS: The UK is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...
Trump admin officials told Congress that the US is not currently planning to launch strikes inside Venezuela and doesn’t have a legal justification that would support attacks against land targets right now—but they’re seeking one from DOJ, per US official. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/06/p...
New: The Pentagon cleared giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, despite Trump suggesting earlier this month that the US might not have enough to give away. Final decision largely political now. edition.cnn.com/2025/10/31/p...
NEW: National Guard troops deployed in Washington, DC, will remain mobilized in the city at least through February 2026. Hegseth extended their orders on Monday. edition.cnn.com/2025/10/29/p...
NEW: The Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement aimed at getting the centers built faster. www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Great video by @averyschmitz.bsky.social (with some narration help by me 🤭) taking a look at what the US military has built up in the Caribbean.
The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months. Here’s what’s been positioned as Trump pressures Venezuela (and, increasingly, Colombia): www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/w...
Great segment here with @rgoodlaw.bsky.social.
Also, important observations from @natashabertrand.bsky.social about the dynamics of lawyering within DoD on the Caribbean strikes, including the sidelining of actual experts and reliance on the OLC license to kill.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L062...
Thank you Brian
