The Rise and Fall of the Puntland Security Force
Washington spent most of two decades building a counterterrorism force in northern Somalia. A dispute between Mogadishu and Puntland took the Puntland Security Force (PSF) apart in two days.
CIA
CIA is Sunsetting The World Factbook
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) announced the retirement 1 of The World Factbook on February 4, 2026. The Factbook has long been one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) most valuable public reference products. For many years, going back to […]
OSS Anniversary – Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
The OSS anniversary is observed on June 13th each year. The Office of Strategic Services was created on June 13, 1942, in the early days of World War II to provide an intelligence service to the United States. Prior to […]
Book Review – The CIA War in Kurdistan
A recent book, The CIA War in Kurdistan, details the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in northern Iraq before and during the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in early 2003. The main ground effort of OIF would […]
Counterterrorism Targeting – Head shots or Body Shots?
By Thomas G. Pledger. Current United States counterterrorism strategy concentrates on retribution over network targeting. These different lines of effort, retribution and network targeting, compete for limited resources on an ever-expanding battlefield. Not only do these lines of effort compete […]
Special Operations News Update 20180409
SOF News Update 20180409 – Philippine’s AFP Socom is back, new cdr for 193rd SOSFS, pilots killed in Ft Campbell chopper crash, SOCOM’s WMD mission, how the assassins got their name, Marine Raider receives Silver Star, French SOF, GMV 1.1 […]
Intelligence Update
Intel Update 20180315 – importance of OSINT, Amazon’s ‘Secret Region’, new CIA director nominated, first sighting of AK-47 (CIA), DIA Director’s reading list, language training, UK’s spy poisoning drama, Virginia Hall – OSS agent, Navy sailor pardoned by Trump, Hayden […]
Special Operations News Update 20180305
SOF News Update 20180305 -PSYOP and Consumption Theory, SFABs, OSS Gold Medal, CT strategy, Confederate SF, OSS X-2, spies in Boston, Niger SF mission, and more. PSYOP, TAs, and Theories. A member of the 5th PSYOP Battalion at Fort Bragg, […]
Intelligence Update – News, Articles, Papers, Books, and More
Intel Update 20170726 – Book review on Dulles and WW II, Russian mafia and spies, CIA program to arm the Syrian rebels, forget James Bond – there are better spies, CIA anniversary, CIA’s “Acoustic Kitty”, Agent 110, ‘Five Eyes’ and […]
Syria Update 20170721
Syria Update 20170721 – CIA to halt support to Syrian rebels, armored vehicles continue to move into Syria, Turkey unhappy, Russian air campaign, offensive to take Raqqa, and more. Raqqa. The Islamic State continues to hold on to the city […]
Special Operations News Update – 20170720
SOF News Update 20170720 – Iraq’s CTS, Taliban have SOF FN SCAR, Australian SAS and war crimes, Wahlberg and Luttrell team up in video, CIA program in Syria halted, SWOWF Golf Tournament, Turkey reveals SF locations in Syria, Australia’s SAS […]
Intel Update 20170109 – CIA flights, spy gadgets, and more
Intel Update 20170109 – gadgets that spies use, questions to be posed during CIA confirmation hearings, Trump to revamp Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), a CIA contract aircraft’s final flight, a partisan CIA, Trump and Intel, and […]
Intelligence Update – CIA, Spies, Bay of Pigs, and More
Intelligence Update 20170102 – CIA and the Bay of Pigs, “The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell”, CIA art calendar, ancient spying in the Middle East, and More. Bay of Pigs and What Type of CIA Should We Have. There were (in the […]
Intelligence Update – News, Pubs, & Analysis
Intelligence Update 20161218 – LTG Flynn’s views of the CIA, Flynn sharing secrets inappropriately while in Afghanistan, CIA’s classified cloud, America’s ‘Top Spy Catcher’, an Intelligence Officer’s guide to dissent, Trump and the intelligence community, and more. CIA’s Classified Cloud. The […]
“The Take” – New action movie about the CIA
The Take is a newly released action movie about a Central Intelligence Agency operator who teams up with (an unwilling) pickpocket to take on the bad guys. Watch the movie trailer below. www.thetakemovie.com