The Ice Man

A Jump 20 group 3 Unmanned Aerial System prepares to land during flight operations aboard San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio As always, to support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. The longer the war with Iran drags on, the more the once-shocking attacks closer to our shores fade into memory.

(Left, David Trinks; Right, Scottsdale Mint. Public Domain images via Unsplash) As always, to support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. When a federal magistrate judge ordered David Rush jailed without bond pending trial, I wondered if the judge took that extreme step because Rush, a former CIA official found with $40 million in gold bars, had spied for a foreign country. It turns out I was wrong. Rush apparently didn’t breach the CIA’s secrecy.

This undated photo of an Iraqi man appears to have been captured through a SEAL sniper scope in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006. It’s unclear why this photo was taken or what happened to the target (Source: SEAL Team Three, Charlie Platoon Ramadi deployment video) To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you.

David Rush's official Navy service record reveals a career that bears no resemblance to the one he apparently told the CIA he had. David John Rush To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. David Rush washed out of Navy Special Warfare training in the summer of 2001, days before September 11.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. Correction Appended James Erdman testifies on Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In April 2025, DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced a new task force charged with restoring transparency and accountability to the Intelligence Community. Less than a year later, the panel was shuttered after it managed to smear an innocent woman as the January 6 pipe bomber.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo, questions Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about his relationship with attorney Tim Parlatore. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, had a question for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: What do you actually know about the man you made your Pentagon advisor? Hegseth didn’t have many answers, and the clip of their heated exchange is going viral.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (Photo by New America, licensed under Creative Commons) Senator Ron Wyden has been trying to warn you about something for years. The government won't let him say what it is.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. Eric Swalwell’s political career ended in three days. On Friday, The San Francisco ChronicleandCNN detailed sexual misconduct allegations from four women, including a former staffer who said Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice while she was too intoxicated to consent.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks at a White House press conference on Monday, April 6. (Source: The White House) At a press conference on Monday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe disclosed that the agency had used “exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses” to find and rescue the second American airman shot down in southern Iran.

To support my reporting and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. From left to right: Dale Comstock, Abraham Golan, and Isaac Gilmore. (Source @officialamericanbadass/Instagram) About a year ago, I spoke with Dale Comstock about a fight that never happened. Comstock, a retired Army master sergeant and Delta Force veteran, had been scheduled to fight a Navy SEAL Team Six officer in what was billed as the ultimate special ops showdown—Delta vs.