The Ice Man

As always, to support this publication and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. Omar al-Bayoumi, following his arrest by British police in September 2001. I moved to San Diego a few months before 9/11 to work for The Associated Press, and I still remember the mystery that settled over the city after the attacks that surrounded a 42-year-old local Saudi man named Omar al-Bayoumi.

This Substack has become one of the few places where Navy SEALs engage publicly with critics. To support this ongoing dialogue and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. A West Coast-based Navy SEAL during land warfare training at an undisclosed location. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Paolo Bayas) Editor’s note: Bradley Geary is a retired Navy SEAL captain who served 25 years in the Teams.

As always, to support this publication and keep it free for everyone, you can become a paid subscriber. Thank you. The author and John Chapman in December 2001. This is the last photo of the two of them together. Editor’s note: The following is a first-person guest essay by Lori Longfritz, sister of Air Force Combat Controller Master Sgt. John Chapman.

Members of a SEAL delivery vehicle team during a training exercise. Photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Andrew McKaskle. Last September, freelance journalist Matthew Cole and New York Times reporter David Philipps revealed one of the most highly classified military missions in a generation: a 2019 SEAL Team Six operation in North Korea that killed civilian fishermen, fell apart before it could be completed, and was apparently never disclosed to Congress.

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.