Daily Intel Brief
China to surround Taiwan for live-fire exercises, Guatemala arrests several migrant smugglers wanted by the U.S., and Russia accuses the U.S. of direct involvement in Ukraine...
Counterterrorism
The Russian Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Ukraine’s Azov Regiment a terrorist organization banned in Russia, a designation that fuels the Kremlin's narrative of the war in Ukraine and that may expose Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow to terrorism...
The terrorist who played a “central role” in the “Black Hawk Down” attack in Somalia and facilitated the deadly U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa in the 1990s could be the next al Qaeda leader following Ayman al Zawahiri’s death in a U.S. airstrike in Kabul…
Military & Defense
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, the Chinese military released a map of exercises to begin in a matter of days that will surround the disputed island that Beijing has repeatedly warned the woman who is third-in-line to the U.S. presidency not to enter…
Russia on Tuesday accused the United States of direct involvement in the Ukraine war while the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets since Moscow's invasion anchored safely off Turkey's coast after a problem-free journey. Russia said it was responding to…
Cybersecurity
Key Taiwanese websites experienced intermittent outages Tuesday due to some minor cyberattacks just ahead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan. The attacks hit at least four websites — those of President Tsai Ing-wen, the National Defense Ministry…
A California man has been found guilty(Opens in a new window) of hacking into T-Mobile systems to unlock cell phones from the mobile carrier, which he turned into a multi-million-dollar business. Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, originally owned a T-Mobile store in the Eagle…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Last year, during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden pledged his administration would not allow the new Taliban-led regime to make the country a safe-haven for terrorists. The remarks were intended to indicate that, as far as…
At a 2018 rally in Sacramento, hundreds of Californians called for a national divorce, citing "irreparable and irreconcilable differences." "Ultimately, the best people to govern California are us Californians," Louis Marinelli, the founder of the secessionist group Yes California…
Transnational Organized Crime
More than a dozen alleged members of a highly sophisticated criminal group tied to a series of murders, attempted murders, violent armed robberies and shootings in Manhattan over the last year are charged in a 90-count felony indictment out of Manhattan and face RICO…
At dawn, police and federal agents with cover from helicopters flying overhead raided a large ranch nestled among the mountains of northern Guatemala, not far from the border with Mexico. Unlike the ranch’s impoverished neighbors, inside authorities found horse stables…