The High Side

Delta Force training for their counter-proliferation mission at the Nevada Test Site (courtesy photo, provided to The High Side). For more than three months, a Joint Special Operations Command task force has been standing by in the Middle East, prepared to execute what some insiders say would likely bethe most dangerous mission the command has ever been assigned: recovering highly enriched uranium from underground facilities in Iran.

A screenshot taken from video circulating on social media of one of the three F-15E Strike Eagles shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 March 1.

Hey folks, hope you’ve been enjoying the recent articles on The High Side. We’ve got more coming at you this summer. In the meantime, Sean Naylor, Zach Dorfman, and myself (Jack) have appeared on a couple podcasts recently that we wanted to draw your attention to. The first is an episode of Eyes On which is the sister podcast of The Team House, featuring geopolitical analysis with former military and CIA officers but this one has the three authors of our most recent article about JSOC spies on it.

The growing challenge of putting operatives under commercial cover When the elite forces of Joint Special Operations Command sprang into action in April to rescue a downed F-15 weapon systems officer in Iran, it created countless headlines. But it was far from the first time this century that JSOC (pronounced “jay-sock”) personnel have conducted daring missions into that country.

Source: “Ceres Air C31 Payload Test” on YouTube The sophisticated theft of 15 crop-spraying drones last month in New Jersey has the FBI worried as experts warn of “ridiculously bad” consequences and “a potential nightmare scenario” if terrorists get their hands on the machines. The unsolved theft has revived fears rampant in the post-9/11 years that terrorists might use crop dusters to disperse biological or chemical weapons with the aim of inflicting mass casualties inside the United States.

Iranian militiamen pose with the boxer shorts that played a key role in the rescue of an American airman. (Photo from @MahdiBaladhi on X.) The Air Force weapon systems officer whose daring rescue by special operations forces captivated the United States over the weekend signaled to his saviors by waving his stars-and-stripes-patterned boxer shorts, a defense contractor familiar with the mission told The High Side.

U.S. troops patrol in Afghanistan in a scene from “Bodyguard of Lies.” “Bodyguard of Lies” is a documentary about the Afghan war that grew out of The Washington Post’s “The Afghanistan Papers” project and Post reporter Craig Whitlock’s similarly-titled book.

Most military veterans can relate to the experience of watching an action movie and getting completely irritated with the inaccuracy of the weapons and tactics in the film. Many a spouse is certainly sick and tired of hearing us rant about bad gunplay in the movies. The same goes for video games, which are even more over the top, with heroes and villains alike able to absorb an entire belt of machine gun fire before going down.

Cuba’s armed forces honor the 32 Cuban troops killed in the U.S. raid on Caracas to capture President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. (Cuban government photo) Social media reports of U.S. forces using a “sonic weapon” that caused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s bodyguards to vomit blood during the January 3 raid on Caracas are not true, but U.S. forces do have a secret directed energy weapon that produces differenteffects, sources told The High Side. On Jan.

Imagery of MH-60 and MH-47 helicopters over Caracas, Venezuela. (Posted by users on X) A bold nighttime raid in Caracas executed by Delta Force and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment with an air package overhead totaling more than 150 aircraft captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores last night.