Daily Intel Brief
Russian military to add 137K troops, The U.S. is actively defending against foreign interference and influence in midterms, and Mexican authorities arrest mastermind behind journalist killing...
Counterterrorism
The Taliban says it has not been able to find the body of al Qaeda terrorist leader Ayman al Zawahiri after a U.S. air strike hit the home he was staying at in Afghanistan. The U.S. said it killed al Zawahiri with a drone strike in the Afghan capital of Kabul in July. The al Qaeda…
Military prosecutors on Thursday filed an indictment against a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad member whose arrest at the beginning of the month sparked a round of fighting between Israel and the terror group in the Gaza Strip. Bassem Saadi’s indictment included charges…
Military & Defense
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered the Russian military to increase the number of troops by 137,000 to a total of 1.15 million amid Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Putin’s decree, which takes effect on Jan. 1, didn’t specify whether the military will…
China's defence ministry on Thursday said it was firmly opposed to any third party "meddling" in the border issue and hoped India will abide by the bilateral agreements not to hold military drills near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the very pacts it has been accused…
Cybersecurity
The Department of Treasury and the Israeli Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday a bilateral agreement formalizing and enhancing the cybersecurity partnership between the countries. The agreement follows Deputy Secretary of the Treasury…
US military and intelligence officials are stepping up their efforts to defend the electoral process from foreign hacking and disinformation as the November midterms approach, officials said Thursday. Officials are “actively defending against foreign interference and…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
There have been a dozen or more incidents of FBI agents reporting strange brain symptoms on U.S. soil, but investigation remains relatively quiet. The issue first made headlines after American diplomats and spies in Havana experienced puzzling brain injury symptoms in…
Three journalists from Finland's largest daily are expected to appear in a Helsinki court on Thursday, suspected of publishing classified defence intelligence in an unprecedented case for the Nordic country renowned for its press freedom. Two journalists at Helsingin Sanomat…
Transnational Organized Crime
A California man pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday in a wildlife smuggling case that included entering the U.S. with reptiles hidden in his clothes. More than 1,700 wild animals were illegally imported, most of them brought into the U.S. from Mexico, according…
Mexican authorities have arrested an alleged drug trafficker accused of masterminding the killing of a photojournalist in the northern border city of Tijuana in January, the government said Thursday. The killing of Margarito Martínez — and that of a second journalist in…