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Welcome to S2 Underground, a freelance intelligence agency that brings real time intelligence reporting to the frontline fight against terrorism, fake news, and political tyranny around the world.

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  • Yesterday · 3 min

    The Wire - September 4, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z September 4, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: ENERGY CRISIS CONTINUES TO WORSEN AS GAS PRICES REACH ALL-TIME HIGHS. ANOTHER SABOTAGE ATTACK REPORTED IN GERMANY. RUSSIA AND UKRAINE CONTINUE TO ESCALATE TARGETING EFFORTS. IRANIAN TARGETING CONTINUES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: This afternoon Iran conducted more strikes around the region, allegedly targeting American bases in Jordan. The United States has disputed these specific launches, however locals have provided videos of the missiles in the air. Battle damage reports are expected by morning, when new satellite imagery products become available. Yemen: Clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces escalated as both sides conducted strikes on each other overnight. Fighting has being reported in western regions of the country and several missile launches have been reported throughout the night, though most missiles appear to have targeted locations inside Yemen. Germany: Yesterday evening another possible sabotage attack on an electrical substation was reported in Dormagen-Gohr. Local authorities responded to reports of at least one rocket launcher being emplaced near a substation, complete with copper wire and a timer mechanism. Separately, German police in Cologne stated that they received a letter from Vulkangruppe claiming credit for at least one of the attacks this week. Analyst Comment: Vulkangruppe is an infamous ecoterrorist organization that is well known for conducting sabotage attacks on critical infrastructure around the country. Whether or not this group actually is the culprit, will be a part of the investigation. Homemade rocket launchers trailing copper wire set up on timers is a level of sophistication that would be a big leap from what Vulkangruppe has conducted in the past, so they might just be taking credit for attacks that were committed by somebody else. Nevertheless, if it is ecoterrorists trying to conduct attacks, these incidents are taking place at a time of maximum pressure within Germany. Russia/Ukraine: Attacks continue to escalate by both sides, with Ukraine intensifying attacks on the Russian port of Sochi. Ukrainian drone boats carried out strikes targeting Russian shipping in the port, with at least one boat being intercepted. In the city of Adler to the south, Ukrainian drones successfully struck a Russian SAM system near the local airport. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: On the energy crisis front, the situation continues to deteriorate further. This morning the national average for diesel climbed to the all-time high of $5.85 per gallon. During the month of August, the national average for gasoline reached a high point never before seen in history, with the national average remaining over $4.00 per gallon every single day of the month. Spikes in gas prices due to sporadic targeting and market speculation notwithstanding, the energy crisis has crept into more serious territory as the war in the Middle East doesn't just continue, but continues to escalate. Over the past few days, the White House has touted the recent deal with Venezuela to take control of a portion of their oil industry, and provide access to 17 different oil fields, which are assessed to contain roughly 65 million barrels of crude. The main concern, is that it will take many years to actually get that oil out of the ground. Right now, Venezuela is assessed to be providing an absolute maximum of 1.25 million barrels of crude per day, all total. Due to the earthquake and the recent political upheaval in the wake of the capture of Maduro, investments in Venezuela have been rather tepid, with most American oil companies not being enthusiastic about ramping up operations during a time of uncertainly. Just from purely a numbers game, if Venezuela were to increase their output by ten times they would be able to make up a little more than half of the oil that transited through the Strait of Hormuz each day, before the war. At this point, every single barrel that can be reliably provided each day is valued greatly, but it's going to be several more years before Venezuela is able to even put a dent in the daily American demand for oil. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • Thursday · 2 min

    The Wire - September 3, 2026

    //The Wire//2000Z September 3, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: SABOTAGE ATTACKS CONTINUE IN GERMANY AND POLAND. IRANIAN ATTACKS CONTINUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. MASS SHOOTING REPORTED AT RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN MINNEAPOLIS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Overnight, Iran conducted another round of drone and missile strikes, mostly targeting American bases in Kuwait. Satellite imagery of the American bases in Jordan also indicate that some Iranian missiles evaded defenses to strike their targets, but full battle damage assessments will take some time, as high resolution imagery is not yet available. This afternoon, reports of more Iranian missile launches have emerged, and the situation continues to develop by the hour. Germany: This morning the sabotage attacks continued throughout the country. Two Bulgarian nationals were arrested in Munich after throwing a Molotov incendiary device at the headquarters for Rohde and Schwarz, a major defense contractor of communications and radar equipment. Poland: Local authorities have announced that they are treating an industrial fire that tool place over the weekend as a potential act of state-sponsored terrorism. The WB Electronics factory in Skarzysko-Kamienna reported a fire at their facility a few days ago, which is assessed by Polish authorities to be an act of sabotage caried out by foreign intelligence services. -HomeFront- Minnesota: Yesterday evening a shooting was reported at an apartment building, which resulted in multiple fatalities. Local authorities initially responded to reports of shots fired on an upper floor of Loring Towers, a Section 8 residential housing facility. Upon arrival, police were immediately engaged with small arms by at least one shooter. A total of three fatalities were reported as a result of the engagement, including the shooter and two unidentified individuals. Three officers were also severely wounded during the engagement. The suspect has been identified as Carlton Johnson II, who had a long history of threatening residents in this building with firearms. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: The shadow war throughout Europe has remained hot this week, and very few people seem to realize the severity of the situation. To be sure, there is a solid argument for thinking that at least some of the attacks in Europe might be false-flag attacks intended to draw the global west further into the war. However, just because an incident might be a false-flag attack, doesn't mean it isn't a genuine threat....At the end of the day, if you step on an IED while walking your dog in the German countryside, it doesn't matter who planted it there, the result to the victim is the same. Right now, the lines are blurred to the point that attributing cause or culprit is nearly impossible for most attacks, but the explosions continue nonetheless. Daily attacks/incidents in Germany (and now Poland) are probably going to continue for the time being, and regardless of who's actually behind the attacks. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • Wednesday · 4 min

    The Wire - September 2, 2026

    //The Wire//2100Z September 2, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: SABOTAGE ATTACK TARGETS SECOND GERMAN ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION. SHOOTING REPORTED BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN UKRAINE. IRANIAN ATTACKS CONTINUE OVERNIGHT, TARGETING AMERICAN BASES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Last night's attacks by Iran were somewhat successful, with strikes being reported at the airport in Erbil. An Iranian Shahed-type drone also took out the Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS) balloon at this location, in addition to striking the fuel point. In Bahrain, several Shahed-type drones targeted the former headquarters of 5th Fleet in Manama and Sheikh Isa Airbase to the south. Several locations were also targeted in Kuwait, with unknown success. As of this report, the United States has not yet responded to the round of Iranian targeting conducted overnight. Ukraine: Overnight a small arms skirmish was reported in Kiev, which reportedly involved two different Ukrainian governmental agencies engaging each other in the street. Allegedly, the Security Service of Ukraine (the SBU, which is like a uniformed and militarized version of the FBI) detained Stepan Kaplunov who was the deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit of ethnic Russians fighting on Ukraine's side during the war. Kaplunov was staying at a residential building in Kiev for Independence Day celebrations last week, when he was reportedly abducted for unknown reasons. After this kidnapping, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (the GUR, or the main military intelligence unit) launched an investigation into why the SBU took him, which resulted in a scuffle and subsequent shootout at the scene of the earlier abduction. One GUR officer is dead, and several others were wounded during the initial engagement. Analyst Comment: As one might expect, Ukrainian sources are downplaying this incident, and Russian sources are trying to amplify it, so determining the truth is challenging. However the incident did take place, and the small arms engagement in the street between these two agencies was captured on film. As it stands, video evidence from the time of the shooting indicates that tensions were high between the SBU and the GUR right before shots were fired. Both agencies were arguing with each other, with the SBU refusing to allow the GUR into the crime scene, and a standoff situation emerged. As the agencies continued arguing and fighting with each other, eventually the altercation became physical, and devolved into a shooting. After the shooting, the standoff situation continued throughout the night and the next morning. Eventually, the SBU ended up releasing Kaplunov, ending the incident. Several prominent Ukrainian leaders have called for an investigation into what happened, and for more details to be made public. Germany: Yesterday afternoon, another electrical substation was targeted by malign actors conducting sabotage operations. Locals observed an explosion and arcing at the Bergheim Power Station in western Germany, shortly before the power went out. Local authorities state that 6x rocket launch sites were located in a field near the second substation that was attacked, continuing the same attack vector as witnessed at a different power station yesterday. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In Germany, the attacks on electrical substations over the past two days have been substantial. In short, these attacks were probably not carried out by amateurs. Locals report that upwards of twenty separate rockets were launched over the top of the substation near Berlin. These rockets were not fireworks, but specifically constructed devices built for the task. These rockets were also trailing thin copper wire, which was intended to cause electrical shorts. This is not entirely a new tactic, after all the United States pioneered this tactic of taking out enemy substations with "blackout bombs" that operate very similarly. Cruise missiles were used to deploy such devices over Baghdad during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, with thin graphite wires being trailed over the top of exposed substation transformers and electrical connectors. More recently, an unidentified malign actor also attempted to target an electrical substation in Pennsylvania back in 2020, which resulted in widespread media coverage at the time. Malign actors using almost thirty rockets to achieve the same effect in Germany is a substantial escalation that is not likely to have been undertaken by non-state actors. Germany is infamous for having some of the more serious ecoterrorists around the world, who have conducted IED attacks, train derailings, and other similar attacks on electrical infrastructure. However, since no ecoterrorist organization has claimed credit yet, right now the leading theory is that these sabotage operations could be sleeper cells conducting attacks around the German countryside. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • Wednesday · 8 min

    The Wire - September 1, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z September 1, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: UNITED STATES LAUNCHES NEW WAVES OF ATTACKS IN MIDDLE EAST. IRAN RETALIATES BY STRIKING AMERICAN AIRBASES AND MULTIPLE TANKERS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ. RUSSIA CONFIRMS MATERIEL SUPPORT FOR IRAN. SECRETARY OF THE ARMY RESIGNS IN WASHINGTON. IEDS DISCOVERED AT ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION IN GERMANY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Overnight, Iranian targeting of merchant shipping continued, with a total of 3-4x vessels being struck since the targeting in the Strait of Hormuz re-ignited over the weekend. At least two of these targeting efforts involved VLCC tankers being struck as they attempted to exit the gulf. The M/T SIDR and the M/T SENEGAL PROSPERITY were hit by unidentified munitions (one of these ships was hit three times), with the effect of the targeting being a halt of their transit through the Strait. This afternoon, the United States conducted larger-scale attacks on Iran, continuing the strikes that kicked off the fighting again over the weekend. The United States struck targets on Qeshm Island, Sirik Island, the port of Chabarhar, and several other targets along the Iranian coastline. After these strikes took place, Iran launched more missiles at American bases throughout the region (mostly in Jordan and Kuwait). As of this report over 20x Iranian ballistic missiles have been launched, with the launches continuing into the evening. Europe: Over the past few days, the war in Ukraine has become increasingly more serious, as Russian and Ukrainian attacks on each others' infrastructure have intensified. Over the past two days, large-scale waves of drone and missile attacks have been reported, with Russia and Ukraine focusing on targeting Kiev and St. Petersburg respectively. Several dozen smaller cities on both sides have also reported missile and drone impacts within the past 48 hours. Germany: This morning several explosive devices were discovered near a electrical substation at the Jänschwalde Power Plant southeast of Berlin. Several IEDs were discovered at this location by workers, though the exact number and composition of the devices has not yet been disclosed. Analyst Comment: Details of what actually happened at this substation are very hard to come by. Initial reports suggested that workers found IEDs at the site, but throughout the afternoon other reports emerged indicating that these were actually warheads from improvised mortars/rockets, which landed at the substation and failed to explode and/or had a different purpose altogether. Some reports from local sources in the community claim that rockets were found that contained "conductive material" which were fired over the top of electrical transmission lines at this location. This undescribed conductive material caused an electrical short on two transmission lines, which took out the power for a few hours. If these details are accurate, this would be a deliberate infrastructure attack, though the culprits could be anyone from climate groups, to foreign nationstates. More details are expected as the situation develops. Kyrgyzstan: As part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for a series of press conferences and brief talks. During the media events, President Putin directly stated that Russia is providing resources to Iran to help circumvent the effects of the American blockade on Iranian ports. Analyst Comment: While this is certainly no big secret, Putin saying this openly is a message to the United States, which is probably a tit-for-tat response to the global west arming Ukraine for years. Though it is largely forgotten, Iran actually does share a border with Russia, but it's not by land...it's via the Caspian Sea. Russian boats can easily transfer large amounts of cargo to Iranian ports on the northern coast of Iran, in addition to the large-scale railway projects in the northern districts, which serve as vital logistical lines to Russia and China. -HomeFront- Mississippi: Yesterday afternoon, a major fire was reported at an industrial facility in Laurel, which began after a truck caught fire near a paint locker at the Howard Industries facility which produces electrical transformers. The initial fire sparked a much larger blaze that consumed much of the main factory complex as well as the storage yard for large transformers. Analyst Comment: The U.S. imports about 80% of the electrical transformers needed to keep the electrical grid functioning, and as recently as May of this year, the industry was facing a dire shortage of transformers (a shortage which has been problematic for years). Howard Industries is a major domestic US producer of transformers, producing over 10 million transformers that are still in service around the nation. This company has a total of 14 different factories around the state, but even just one facility being offline (and the stored transformers being lost in the fire) will probably negatively impact the nationwide shortage of these critically-needed components. Washington D.C. - Last night Dan Driscoll, the Secretary of the Army, reportedly tendered his resignation to President Trump. Dave Fitzgerald, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Army is also expected to resign sometime this week. Analyst Comment: These resignations are extremely important, and very significant during a time of war. Normally, the resignation of the Secretary of the Army during an active conflict is something that is a major indicator of things not going well in upper management circles, however the terms of Driscoll's resignation also add more fuel to the fire. Allegedly, Driscoll resigned due to clashes with SECWAR Hegseth regarding the operational readiness of the Army. Officially, Driscoll's resignation has not been confirmed from official sources, and he himself has not commented on the reasons for his departure, so until he does, it could be for any number of reasons. However, the timing of the resignation the day after the war reignites (and indications are growing of shaping operations being prepared), is quite coincidental for this to be unrelated. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: It will take a few more days before the dust settles and proper assessments of battle damage can be conducted regarding the latest rounds of targeting both in the Middle East and in Ukraine. As it stands right now, the war in Ukraine remains very hot and very active, and the war in the Middle East has ebbed and flowed as the United States adopts more of a "mowing the lawn" approach to the conflict (or at least, that seems to be the motivation for the latest round of strikes). Separately, time is running out on the petroleum front, and the attempts to mitigate the energy crisis have not been as effective as hoped for. The American operation to shuttle tankers back-and-forth through the Strait, to play a grand shell game of shuttling oil from ship-to-ship once in the Gulf of Oman has had some positive impact. How much impact is hard to say, because how the data is being counted can be framed in many different ways to support various contradictory arguments, but right now (as per Kpler) the bottom-line figure for how much oil is exiting the Gulf via the Strait is 8.6 million bbl/day (or at least it was during the lull over the past month). Since Kpler did not factor in the Saudi East-West pipeline for this figure, we have to add that critical resource to the overall total. However Kpler also confirmed that as of July, these two pipelines that are supposedly rated for allowing around 7 million barrels per day to bypass the Strait...were only resulting in a total export of 1 million barrels, a fraction of what the ecosystem is rated for. The reason for this, is the bottleneck at the ports. Even loading oil onto ships as fast as humanly possible, they can only manage to get 1 million barrels out per day. It doesn't matter how fast the oil flows through a pipeline, if it cannot flow onto ships at the same rate, and right now, the oil terminals on the Saudi coastline are the weakest link in the chain. These bottlenecks, combined with the Houthi attacks on the Jazan refinery, have sharply reduced the main alternative method for bypassing the Strait with at least some petroleum product. Around the region more optimistic reports indicate that, all total, as much as half of the world's pre-war needs have been met by the efforts to get oil out of the Gulf region. Even with all of the tricks we've tried (and factoring in Omani-shuttle operations AND the Saudi bypass pipeline), we're only reaching "half of normal", at best. As this 8.6 million bbl/day figure is the absolute maximum theoretical figure (due to much of this oil being secretly transferred between ships as part of the shell game), there is variance in the data. Regardless of how it's counted, 8.6 million barrels is most assuredly welcome, but it's still nowhere near enough to prevent the civilization-level energy crisis that the entire planet is experiencing at present. Now that the tit-for-tat strikes have resumed over the past few days, this absolute-best-case-scenario figure of 9 million barrels per day is likely to be reduced quite a bit. Looking forward over the next few weeks, this crisis will probably be complicated even further by a decline in demand; most major prediction models project a decline in demand due to the petroleum shortage going on for so long now. Also, the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) will be running dry soon, to the point that tank-bottom will be approaching within a couple of weeks, if the current rates of release continue. Now that the war has resumed somewhat (and oil prices are spiking), solutions d

  • Tuesday · 3 min

    The Wire - August 31, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 31, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: WAR REIGNITES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER AMERICAN STRIKES REPORTED IN IRAN. RETALIATORY STRIKES REPORTED IN JORDAN AND THE UAE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Over the weekend, the war resumed it's more kinetic phase as the United States carried out strikes on Iran. Larak Island was the primary target, with strikes taking place to target Iranian rocket launchers that were preparing to launch rockets suspected of carrying sea mines. Locals report that two launchers were struck, killing two soldiers. In retaliation, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles, all targeting US bases in the region. Jordan and the UAE reported strikes targeting airbases used by the United States, but the success rate is unknown. Initial imagery obtained via the Sentinel-2 sensors indicates a hanger and a barracks building might have been hit at Muwwafaq al Salti. Footage provided by locals indicates that at least two Iranian ballistic missiles were successfully intercepted, but it's likely that at least several got through missile defenses to strike at least two bases in Jordan. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Once more into the breach, so it seems. The grand question now is whether or not the weekend strikes will continue to escalate. The White House has stated that the US will respond to Iran's counterattack with a counter-counterattack, and as it stands, more targeting is likely. More broadly, the weekend targeting confirms several different lingering theories. For one, diplomacy is completely off of the table for now. Many people theorized that the past month of essentially very little fighting was a prelude to an exit strategy. However, conducting strikes during a lull in the fighting is not indicative of any kind of diplomatic intent to end the war. Secondly, conducting strikes targeting sea mine launchers also directly confirms that Iran has this capability. For years, it has been widely known that Iran has the ability to lay mines in the Strait via rockets (without ever sending boats out), but how effective they are at such has been hotly debated over the years. The fact that the US hit these launcher sites confirms that this capability and threat is genuine enough to warrant kinetic action. Also of note, President Trump posted two AI-generated videos on his Truth Social account last night, depicting the United States blowing up Kharg Island. As of this morning, Kharg Island (which is at the opposite end of the Gulf) has not been targeted during this latest round of strikes. The intent of posting AI-generated videos regarding kinetic targeting is not clear. This could be a classically flamboyant Trump post, or it could be intended to deceive people who might not understand that they are not real videos. Even more concerningly, President Trump himself might believe it to be a genuine video (or an AI approximation of a real-world event). One might think that this would be preposterous (because the videos are obviously AI), but the precedent has already been set in Congress....AI-generated content that claims to be real footage has already been used by members of Congress on the House floor several times over the past year. AI models are already blurring the line between fiction and reality, and now the line is blurred even further, if the White House is going to start providing AI-generated content of airstrikes that never happened. When it comes to corroborating what has been targeted via other governmental agencies, the picture is not so clear either: The CENTCOM social media page on X did not disclose the fact that strikes took place. However, CENTCOM did issue one of their infamous "fact check" posts, which indirectly confirms that they did conduct strikes in Iran (though they did not confirm the exact location of those strikes). Where we go from here is anyone's guess, but the truth of what's going on on the ground is getting harder to discern. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • Sunday · 22 min

    Intel Update - August 29 - Deception Abounds

    Research Notes/Bibliography can be found here: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground Common Intelligence Picture: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=204a59b01f4443cd96718796fd102c00 Border Crisis Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7f13eda1f301431e98a7ac0393b0e6b0 TOC Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ebe374c40c1a4231a06075155b0e8cb9/ 00:38 - Cyberattacks 01:38 - Secret Route? - No. 06:29 - Could it work? 11:16 - Ukraine 16:01 - Homeland Weirdness 20:16 - GhostNet Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Without your support, I simply could not do this work at all, so to those of you who chose to support my efforts, I am eternally thankful. Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/S2Underground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA

  • August 28 · 3 min

    The Wire - August 28, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 28, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: TARGETING CONTINUES IN UKRAINE. WAR IN MIDDLE EAST REMAINS AS BEFORE. ANOTHER COMMUNICATIONS INCIDENT REPORTED INVOLVING MARINE ONE IN WASHINGTON D.C.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Europe: Following yesterday's assassination in St. Petersburg, long-range Russian and Ukrainian drone attacks continued. Several more warehouses and logistical hubs were hit within Ukraine, and this morning Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a Tu-95 Bear H parked on the apron at Engels Airbase in Saratov. United Kingdom: This morning a large fire was reported at an industrial warehouse in London, near Wembley Stadium. Local authorities state that this facility was a waste processing facility located next to an Amazon warehouse (which was evacuated due to the fire). The cause of the fire is not known at this time. -HomeFront- Washington D.C. - This morning an incident was reported aboard the Presidential MARINE ONE helicopter, while President Trump was onboard. The tower at Reagan National experienced communications issues with MARINE ONE, which involved radio transmissions being dropped between the helicopter and the tower. Analyst Comment: As the protection and transportation of the President is a zero-fail mission, what would ordinarily be a minor issue becomes a mission-critical failure. Ordinarily, today's incident would be a minor issue for any other aircraft, as it's not uncommon for minor comms issues to be present within the world of aviation and not being able to contact the tower for a few seconds is hardly groundbreaking news in most other circumstances. However, little mistakes become big ones in D.C, especially considering the wider implications. If the most important aircraft in the country has to relay comms to the tower via other aircraft, that is a national security concern. If this were an isolated incident it would be nothing more than something to mention at a turnover briefing for the day, but Washington Tower has a long history of major incidents: From fistfights in tower last year, to the deaths of 67x people during the AA5342 disaster, and even the incidents involving MARINE ONE just a few weeks ago, the management of the personnel and communications systems at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport have been persistent issues that present very real risks to the National Capitol Region. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In the Middle East, the situation remains much the same as before, with a brief lull in the targeting efforts being undertaken overnight by Iran. This lull came to an end this afternoon, after another vessel was targeted in the Strait of Hormuz, with unknown success. On the American side, there's lots of rumor and talk behind the scenes regarding the overall strategic plan, most of which is only a loose indicator of how the war is going. This morning Axios leaked details pertaining to several Foreign Ministers around the Middle East being told by SECSTATE Marco Rubio, that the US is probably not going to resume kinetic targeting until at least after the midterms. While the sourcing of this is dubious at best, this does make sense based on how things have gone over the past month. Months ago, the war lasting until next year (at minimum) sounded laughably unlikely, but at this stage, this timeline seems realistic. The one determining factor is the underlying energy crisis, and what happens when a global maritime choke point remains in the conflict zone for this long. Uncharted territory is ahead, and in terms of the tactical situation on the ground, no indicators are present that suggest the conflict will reach a point of conclusion anytime soon. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 27 · 2 min

    The Wire - August 27, 2026

    //The Wire//2100Z August 27, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: CAR BOMB KILLS COLONEL IN RUSSIA. IRAN STRIKES TANKER IN HORMUZ. LARGE-SCALE CYBERATTACKS TARGET AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Overnight, Iran struck another tanker vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel has been identified as the M/T AL SALAM II, a Kuwaiti-owned tanker attempting to exit the Gulf. Analyst Comment: Claims are circulating that Iran conducted this strike using underwater drones, similarly to claims that were made last week regarding Iran using underwater drones to conduct attacks. There is no way to verify this either way, but if true, this would be the second such attack on a vessel this month. Russia: This morning an assassination was carried out in St. Petersburg, which took the form of an IED exploding inside the vehicle of a Russian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. The man (who has not yet been identified) was killed instantly, and his wife remains in critical condition following the blast. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Within the United States, various federal databases have been hacked by malign actors, including the systems used by high-level government agencies. The DoJ alleged that the Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company was responsible for compromising the systems used by the Federal Reserve, three different National Laboratories, the National Institute of Health, and several other unnamed agencies. On the same day, the ATF also disclosed that systems related to their gun registries were breached. The Chinese hacking group Qilin posted the ransomware disclosure on their website, claiming to have a trove of unspecified documents that they stole from the ATF. These confirmed cyberattacks continue the trend that has been building over the past few weeks. From the cyberattacks on water treatment facilities a couple of weeks ago, to federal agencies being hacked in undisclosed ways, the war on the cyber front is palpable. This cyberwarfare has not been confined to the United States either; at the exact same time that unknown hackers were taking out the water infrastructure in Minnesota, the United Kingdom reported that one of their power plants was hacked and taken offline for a total of four days. This afternoon, Manchester Airport Group announced that another major cyberattack has breached the data of over 8.7 million customers who traveled through three airports in the U.K. As the United States and Iran continue their latest stage of the war, and Russia and Ukraine continue their war, these cyberattacks are probably going to get a lot worse, both in the scale of what systems are affected, but also the types of targets selected. So far, none of the groups engaging in cyberattacks have demonstrated any hesitancy to avoid targeting civilian targets...these groups on all sides will exploit any vulnerability they find, particularly to target a civilian populace. As civilian critical infrastructure around the world remains vastly more vulnerable than government networks...when those government networks themselves are constantly proven to not be safe, much softer targets are very likely to be impacted more severely as global tensions continue. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 26 · 4 min

    The Wire - August 26, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 26, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: MAJOR FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES DEVASTATE TIBET AND NEPAL. STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS CONTINUE FOLLOWING CIA DIRECTOR VISIT TO RUSSIA. STABBING ATTACK REPORTED IN AUSTRALIA.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Europe: The war remains constant as Ukraine and Russia continue their targeting efforts. Overnight, Ukraine continued their strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, targeting the Lukoil Refinery in Kstovo. Similarly, Russia has continued striking gas stations within Ukraine. Both sides have also continued strikes on each others consumer industry, with Ukraine hitting Wildberries and Ozon warehouses, and Russia hitting shopping malls in Ukraine. Western Asia: This morning a major mudslide was reported in Tibet, after flash flooding throughout the region caused instability in the terrain. The small Himalayan town of Gyirong was nearly completely destroyed by mudslides, along with many other mountain villages. Analyst Comment: As this disaster took place mostly in Tibet, the administration of recovery efforts is complicated. China is the most capable entity in the general region, and has mobilized around a hundred soldiers that were already at the far-flung outposts on the border of the autonomous region. Chinese authorities have stated that this is a mass casualty event, and video footage of the mudslides confirm several dozen fatalities outright, with potentially hundreds of people being killed by the disaster. Australia: Yesterday afternoon, a stabbing attack was reported in Melbourne, after an African man attacked a 10-year-old boy randomly on the street directly outside the main entrance of the Victoria Police Headquarters. After attacking the child, the assailant stabbed the boy's mother with a pair of scissors. Several bystanders immediately counterattacked the assailant, subduing him while police responded from their headquarters building. The assailant has been identified as Jerry Sowood, a Liberian man who proudly confessed to the crime in court shortly after his arrest. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Strategic indications and warnings keep stacking up concerning American and Russian military assets, though right now it's not entirely clear what it all means. Shortly after Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow, a total of 5x E6-B MERCURY TACEMO aircraft took off and flew patterns over the American interior all at roughly the same time. This has happened a few times before during exercises, but it's not that common to see this many strategic communication aircraft airborne at the same time. This morning, a strategic Russian radio station was active again, repeating several coded messages for unknown recipients on 5135 kHz. This frequency has occasionally been used by strategic Russian assets in the past, and starting about two weeks ago this frequency began being used more frequently. Normally, messages that begin with the prefix DMITRI are higher priority messages, or at least that's a common theory among shortwave listeners. These transmissions repeated throughout the day, mostly conveying the same coded message. Normally, the movement of strategic aircraft or cryptic radio messages can't be pinned down to a singular event or cause, and the entire purpose of the whole strategic readiness posture is to make an exercise indistinguishable from a real-world event. However, when we add up the events of the past 48 hours, the situation is revealed to be more interesting than at face value. In isolation, an interesting plane flying around or a random radio message is not worthy of mention, but in aggregate these events become vastly more interesting, even though it's impossible to know why. More broadly, the very minute details and observances by planewatchers, shortwave listeners, and hobbyists alike are extremely early indicators of some kind of strategic event. These observances are at the very bleeding edge of what is possible to perceive within the open source world, and must be weighted accordingly. It is impossible to make decisions based on so little data, so right now all of this is just evidence supporting the hunch that strategic moves are being made. The CIA Director flying to Moscow at the same time 5x "Doomsday" communications planes are active in the US, and the Russians are more active on their own strategic radio frequencies...is all extremely coincidental to be nothing. Much more analysis will be needed to maybe determine what's going on but as it stands, high-level diplomatic and strategic moves continue behind the scenes, as both the war in Ukraine and Iran remain in the balance. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 25 · 5 min

    The Wire - August 25, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 25, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: CIA DIRECTOR CONDUCTS MYSTERIOUS VISIT TO MOSCOW. AMERICAN TRADE DISPUTE WITH CANADA DETERIORATES AS BOTH SIDES DIG IN AND ANNOUNCE MUTUAL TARIFFS. IRAN STRIKES ANOTHER TANKER IN HORMUZ.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Last night Iran struck another tanker vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, which resulted in the vessel being disabled just off the coast of Oman. The vessel has not been identified as of this report, however this is the first tanker vessel struck by Iran in about a week. Russia: This morning unique aviation traffic was observed, centered around a US Air Force C-17 which took off from Riga, Latvia bound for Moscow. The transport aircraft (Callsign REACH4555) took off from Riga, landing in Moscow a few hours later, with both the United States and Russia not acknowledging the movement. Russians in Moscow also reported seeing American vehicles with diplomatic license plates being escorted by Russian police in the vicinity of the Kremlin. Analyst Comment: So far, neither side has confirmed who this aircraft movement was related to, however this appears to be a visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who arrived for confidential talks with President Putin. This visit (particularly conducted in this manner) is highly unusual, and since all sides are ignoring questions about what was discussed, it will be quite interesting to find out what this visit was really about in a few days. The route taken by Ratcliffe's plane into Russia from Latvia was probably a hint regarding what the very short meeting was related to, but this can be interpreted in many different ways which are all speculative. Landing in Riga was not really necessary; the C-17 could have landed directly in Moscow without diverting to Latvia. Russia has been eyeing the targeting of NATO members for supplying Ukraine with munitions for a few months now, and though we have only complete speculation to rely on, it's possible that the visit was related to that. It could also be related to the rapidly escalating strikes on energy infrastructure throughout Russia and Ukraine. Both parties are slugging it out by destroying major petroleum infrastructure which is being made worse by the war in the Middle East, and the CIA Director would be the level of station that would be put on a plane to broker a miniature truce on that front. Whatever it was, it was certainly not without major importance. The last time the chief spy visited the Kremlin was five years ago, when Director Burns visited Russia to warn against invading Ukraine. That visit was largely kept a secret and only disclosed after the fact, whereas this morning's visit was telegraphed to the world to see very visibly. Canada: The trade dispute with the United States continues to deteriorate as both sides intensify hostile rhetoric on the economic front. So far, talks have stalled and both sides appear to be heading toward a return to mutual retaliatory tariffs. Over the past few days President Trump has threatened to impose a 50% tax on all automotive and auto parts imports from Canada, and this morning Canada announced a similar threats of tariffs on American imports. -HomeFront- Nevada: The Hawk Fire continues to demonstrate active fire behavior as weather conditions have allowed the fire's spread over the past 24 hours. As of this morning, almost 90,000 people are either in mandatory evacuation zones, or are in the "get ready" zones, preparing to evacuate. Good progress was made overnight by crews digging handlines, which have prioritized defending residences in Dog Valley. The weather forecast indicates an increase in conditions favorable for fire behavior over the next 24 hours, with the National Interagency Fire Center predicting the potential for the fire to make major runs to the Northeast and Northwest over the next few days. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Within the Middle East, another threat vector bears consideration as the United States and Iran engage in their economic-warfare phase of the conflict. Yesterday, the United States announced the start of this economic campaign, which began with no real solid and tangible tactics being disclosed. More generally, this plan is an economic version of "if you're not with us, you're against us", and is intended to force other nations that have been sitting on the fence, to choose to support the United States (or at least, not support Iran). The issue with this plan, is that Iran has publicly stated many times that they will not be engaging in tit-for-tat economic policies...they will be meeting economic targeting, with kinetic targeting. How serious they are about this, is anyone's guess; they may just be content to let the Americans continue the economic warfare, on the bet that it won't really affect them since they've been sanctioned for half a century already. However, if Iran does decide to use missiles and drones to respond to American economic targeting, this could get ugly. For instance, if the United States somehow seriously hurts their ability to work with Pakistan to export oil through their pipeline, the Iranians might strike a Chevron facility in Iraq. And they probably won't be hitting the storage tanks, but the office trailer where they know Americans are working. They could also hit the American-linked banking headquarters facilities with precision strikes in Dubai, as a message to both parties. Based on the rhetoric that has been flying all around, this would be an example of the next rungs on the escalation ladder that both sides are climbing by the day. Iran limiting their strikes to only valid military targets and petroleum facilities so far during this war, might lend one to have the false assumption that Iran has been striking the most significant targets they could find. In terms of risk management, if the Iranians have indeed been holding back, the only way that the US will find out that their assumptions are wrong, will be Iranian munitions landing at facilities that the US did not expect. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 25 · 21 min

    Intel Update - August 22 - Dangerous Freedom

    Toka Thread: https://x.com/JoshWalkos/status/2085785810754785715 Sensor Misuse Database: https://ij.org/the-ij-database-of-alpr-abuse/ Research Notes/Bibliography can be found here: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground Common Intelligence Picture: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=204a59b01f4443cd96718796fd102c00 Border Crisis Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7f13eda1f301431e98a7ac0393b0e6b0 TOC Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ebe374c40c1a4231a06075155b0e8cb9/ 00:00 - Global Strategic Concerns 02:15 - Turkey 03:32 - Mystery Meat 05:58 - New York 08:38 - Utah 16:17 - Dangerous Freedom 19:51 - GhostNet Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Without your support, I simply could not do this work at all, so to those of you who chose to support my efforts, I am eternally thankful. Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/S2Underground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA

  • August 25 · 3 min

    The Wire - August 24, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 24, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: BODY DUMP SITE LOCATED IN OREGON. MARITIME TRAFFIC IN MIDDLE EAST REMAINS STAGNANT AS HOUTHIS STRIKE SHIP IN RED SEA. RENO WILDFIRE CONTINUES TO THREATEN SUBURBS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Red Sea/HOA: This morning a merchant vessel was struck by an unidentified munition in the Red Sea, to the west of the port of Yanbu. The M/V AMZAN was struck by the Houthis while transiting the Red Sea, and as of this afternoon remains on fire. Ukraine: This morning a mass stabbing attack was reported at a monetary in Donestk. An unidentified group of assailants breached the compound of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra Monastery, and began attacking the clergymen living at the compound. This attack resulted in the murder of at least one monk, and the wounding of several others. An investigation is currently underway to identify the culprits of the attack. -HomeFront- New York: Over the weekend, Buffalo-Niagara International Airport ran out of jet fuel, resulting in aircraft diverting to other airports to refuel. Delays continued throughout the evening for some flights, with most flights returning to normal this morning. Analyst Comment: This is more of a localized issue resulting with problems internal to the airport. Initially, statements indicated that the problem was within the supply chain itself, as this airport is supplied by trucks carrying fuel and not a pipeline like many other airports. However this afternoon, the airport stated that the issue was due to an electrical wiring problem at the fuel point. Oregon: On Saturday, authorities discovered a body dump site at a rural home in Washington County. Local authorities initially responded to a fire at a residence on NW Otis Lane, after neighbors reported seeing a vehicle on fire at this location. Once firefighters arrived on scene, they discovered a series of human remains. All total, 5x bodies were found at this location, along with several deceased animals. Once police arrived on scene, the suspect was identified as Benjamin Charles Parker, who was tracked to an undisclosed location in Enumclaw, WA. At this location, Parker was discovered deceased in his vehicle. No further information has been provided on this incident, and the investigation into what actually happened continues. Nevada: Major wildfires continue to spread in the vicinity of Reno, with roughly 14,000 homes remaining under mandatory evacuation orders. Residential areas to the north and west of the city remain threatened as the Hawk Fire remains at zero-percent containment. Local authorities state that this fire was caused by human activity, though the exact point and circumstances of the origin has not yet been disclosed. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In the Middle East, maritime traffic throughout the region remains stagnant as the war of information continues. On Friday, reports circulated claiming that 40x ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz secretly, using the southern Omani route. In reality, this report is a complete fabrication. Not only is merchant traffic easily verifiable via a number of sources, but the UKMTO themselves (which work for USNAVCENT) stated that this entire week, the amount of traffic through the Strait has been in the "single digits" both ways. This report was almost certainly intended to manipulate financial markets once again, as Brent crude started climbing back up due to the announcement of the economic warfare campaign intended for Iran. TankerTrackers has stated that all total, over the past 7 days, the entire region has exported 6 million barrels of oil per day, though not all of such has transited the Strait (some has originated from Oman and the UAE, which have pipelines bypassing the Strait). This figure is also the totality of petroleum that has been exported to the global market; the exact amount of petroleum which has specifically been exported to the United States is not as easy to parse from the total. Nevertheless, the total figure is still much less than the pre-war average of roughly 20 million barrels per day, which is the main reason for why the United States continues to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 21 · 3 min

    The Wire - August 20, 2026

    //The Wire//1900Z August 20, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: U.S. MERCHANT MARINE VESSEL SINKING IN PACIFIC OCEAN DUE TO SHAFT SEAL FAILURE. PRESIDENT TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW ECONOMIC WARFARE CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: President Trump announced a new economic offensive against Iran, aimed at leveling sanctions on nations which are working with Iran. In his post on Truth Social, President Trump stated that economic sanctions will be used against third-party nations which are providing financial aid to Iran, are engaged in oil smuggling, or otherwise are benefitting from Iran's current status within the region. Analyst Comment: Choosing to engage in an "ECONOMIC D-DAY" is probably an acknowledgement that, at present, military options are not likely to achieve the intended effect. If a front is being opened up on the economic side of the war, the worse case scenario is that it probably won't make the situation much worse in the short term. However, if this economic effort is genuine, this is a major indicator that the war is expected to last for a long time, as economic wars of attrition rarely resolve quickly. Pacific Ocean: Last night an incident was reported onboard the M/V SLNC YORK after a mechanical error resulted in a catastrophic shaft seal break approximately 1,100 nautical miles northeast of Saipan. An emergency distress call was transmitted and the crew abandoned ship due to the uncontrolled flooding in the engine room. Another merchant vessel, the M/T PACIFIC TANTAI rescued the crew from liferafts, and a US Navy Destroyer also responded to the scene to take on the crew. The vessel remains adrift as she sinks, and salvage crews are reportedly moving to the vessel to stabilize the ship in hopes of preventing her sinking. United Kingdom: This morning the Home Office published a pamphlet for migrants, informing them on how to not rape British citizens. The brochure informs asylum seekers that they cannot rape random people and that they cannot own slaves. Per the documentation, if they were to do so, they could (not will) go to prison. Analyst Comment: As one could probably expect, a laminated brochure is unlikely to have the same effectiveness as hanging violent criminals from lampposts, but the Home Office seems keen to give it a try anyway. -HomeFront- USA: Concerns remain constant concerning the rise in public officials using Flock cameras illegally. After the initial concerns with Flock itself became mainstream weeks ago, concerns have been growing regarding other similar companies such as Axon. Over the past few weeks dozens of police officers have been fired and arrested for misusing Flock/Axon sensor suites. Many of these cases of misuse involve everything from stalking exes, to interfering with investigations and evidence tampering. Earlier this month in Charlotte, North Carolina, one police officer was arrested after his drug-dealer friend asked him to run a license plate through the Flock database, to check if his buyer was an undercover cop (which he was). -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: The SLNC YORK was not a random cargo ship, she was a part of the Maritime Security Program within the U.S. Maritime Administration. This vessel was working under contract for the US Navy, and frequently carriers military cargo between the United States and US military bases within PACOM. At the time of her crew abandoning ship, her exact cargo is not known, but it was probably logistical supplies intended for PACOM. This vessel sinking (along with the cargo) will probably make the already dire logistical situation within PACOM and CENTCOM worse, simply due to the logistical shuffle that will be needed to replace that capability. Concerning the damage itself, within the maritime community, a shaft seal failure at sea is an immediate threat to the vessel. This seal is essentially a large mechanical gasket which acts as a seal between the spinning propeller and the hull of the ship. The shaft seal allows for the propeller to spin freely, while also keeping seawater out of the vessel, and when it fails, it normally results in immediate catastrophic flooding in a compartment that is impossible to fully seal off (the engine room). This is not something that would be the result of hostile action or even sabotage, if the shaft seal did fail this would be a non-malicious catastrophic failure, but one which occurred at the worst possible time. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 21 · 3 min

    The Wire - August 21, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 21, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: FBI ARRESTS MENTALLY ILL INDIVIDUAL IN NEW YORK, WHO THEY PROMPTED TO CONDUCT A TERROR ATTACK. CONCERNS GROWING REGARDING SOCIAL IMPACT OF LINDSAY CLANCY TRIAL AND POTENTIAL COPYCATS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -HomeFront- Massachusetts: The Lindsay Clancy trial continues in Plymouth, which has resulted in localized protests in support of Clancy. For context, this murder trial is the result of Clancy murdering her three children in the family home in 2023, after her husband left her alone for a few minutes to run errands. Clancy has confessed to the murder, and is currently attempting to plead an insanity defense. Throughout the trial, the crowd of protesters supporting Clancy have grown in size outside Plymouth Superior Court, with hundreds of people lining the streets to show their support for her. Analyst Comment: Ordinarily the Clancy trial would be classified as social commentary that while a horrific murder trial, would normally be confined to the tabloids. However in this case, it's resulting in wider impact that is worth being aware of due to the future threats that are presented. Many supporters of Clancy have taken to social media to abuse their children for TikTok videos, to show their support for Clancy. These abuse videos (along with the millions of people supporting them) have increased to the point that this is now presenting real risks for copycat murders over the next few weeks. New York: Last night the DoJ announced the arrest of an alleged terrorist, who was allegedly planning to conduct an attack at the New York Capitol building. The FBI provided Jessica Bowie with $200 to buy acetone, nails, and electrical tape at Home Depot which she gave to undercover agents to create an explosive device. Once the IED (which was a fake) was provided back to Bowie for the attack, she was arrested. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: The arrest in New York was not a legitimate terrorism threat, this is a very clear case of the FBI plotting a terror attack themselves and getting some idiot to go along with it. Normally there's a bit of grey area in terms of how significant an arrest actually is, but in this case this is a Biden-era-style FBI investigation, which is embarrassing to have been such an overwhelmingly significant federal case. They put multiple active surveillance teams on this individual, with dozens of agents getting involved to orchestrate every single step of the alleged attack plans. Per their own documentation, they planned the attack themselves and targeted Bowie for an entrapment operation. At no point in the indictment did the DoJ ever allege that she was in communication with actual ISIS members; she was only talking to FBI agents who encouraged her to try some haphazard attack. Per the indictment, the FBI approached her first, after she posted pro-ISIS comments/posts online, and the undercover agent had to coach her on how to make the pledge to ISIS. As for Bowie herself, she does not appear to be a part of a legitimate terrorist organization, but a rather strange version of ISIS that she alone is allegiant to. Based on the indictment, she is very clearly mentally ill, and she did not know hardly anything about the variety of Islam that ISIS is known for (nor did the FBI agents investigating her, apparently). She did not even know how to spell "jihad" correctly, and most of her communications contained Arabic words that she probably heard on the internet. To be sure, she very clearly went along with the entire plot, and did desire to cause harm. However, the DoJ is pretending like they just stopped another major terror attack, and they most certainly did not. The worst part of the entire case is that the FBI almost got her roommate killed. While this entire saga was underway, Bowie was living with her roommate, and per the indictment Bowie verbally considered stabbing her roommate to death if the roommate were to discover the fake IED that the FBI had given her. In trying to make themselves look good, the FBI's entrapment case almost resulted in their mentally ill target murdering some random person. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 20 · 4 min

    The Wire - August 19, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 19, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: PRESIDENT TRUMP ANNOUNCES HALT TO DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS WITH IRAN. DUBAI CONFIRMS YESTERDAY'S MISSILE ATTACK ORIGINATED FROM IRAN. ISRAELIS STRIKE AIRBASE IN SYRIA. TAJIK NATIONAL FLEES MURDER CONVICTION IN UNITED STATES AFTER VIRGINIA ALLOWS HIM TO OBTAIN PASSPORT.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Persian Gulf: Following yesterday's missile warnings in Dubai, the culprit of the missile attack was revealed to be not the Houthis, but Iran. Two ballistic missiles were launched from within Iran, with one impacting in the Gulf, and the other landing somewhere outside the UAE. Emirati officials have stated that the missiles were not intended for them, and that the missiles were attempting to target merchant vessels within the Strait of Hormuz. Nevertheless, the UAE has allegedly halted trade and financial transactions with Iran, until further notice. Analyst Comment: Prior to the war, Dubai was Tehran's gateway to the west, and served as a major hub for trade, but especially for banking. If the Emirs have indeed shut down Iran's access to financial markets, this will probably have more significant impact than it seems at first. Syria: Last night Israeli forces conducted airstrikes at Al Duhur Airbase, targeting the runway and several maintenance facilities at the airfield. Analyst Comment: This is a message to Turkey. Turkish forces have been at this airfield for a few months, trying to fix the airstrip enough for it to open once again, which would in turn allow for the recreation of the Syrian Air Force, but also another place for Turkish forces to run operations out of. The Israelis striking this runway is probably an effort to put the Syrians back in their box, and also inflame tensions with the Turks even more, to prevent their expansion into Israel's back yard. -HomeFront- USA: Around the nation, the energy crisis continues to worsen as gas prices climb steadily higher. This morning, the national average for diesel rose to over $5.50, as reflected by the current global diesel shortage. This afternoon bond yields dropped after the Treasury Department announced that the US will be doubling the repurchases of debt. Washington D.C. - Yesterday President Trump stated that no diplomatic efforts with Iran are taking place, sharply reversing the months of prior rhetoric that the White House has become legendary for. Up until this statement, the official stance has been that indirect talks are occurring, and that Iran frequently calls the White House "wanting to make a deal". Yesterday's statement by President Trump is a very sharp reversal regarding the diplomatic efforts in the region. Virginia: Yesterday local authorities revealed that a Tajik man fled the United States last month following his detention in a mental facility. In 2019, Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda stabbed his landlord to death, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2022. He was sentenced to detention in a mental facility, before being deemed to be a candidate for early release last year. While serving his sentence, he was allowed by the prosecution to visit the Tajik Embassy in Washington D.C. where he was allowed to obtain a passport for his home country of Tajikistan. He was also allowed to have prison vacation time, when he could have two-day vacations outside the detention facility. During one of these vacation slots on July 6th, Toshpulodzoda used his passport to flee the United States. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In Utah, overnight more details have come to light regarding Monday's funeral shooting. The lead suspect at the moment is Afuhia Masiu Manatau, who pulled out a gun and attempted to kill an unidentified person at the funeral. At some point during the shootout, his son Tusi took his father's gun and continued to shoot at members of the Angilau family. Concerning the alleged victims, a correction to yesterday's report is needed as the fatality in this case is not the same person who was previously convicted of murder. The victim was Vilisoni Angilau (aged 18), and Vilisoni Angilau (aged 33) was previously convicted of crimes related to gang affiliation. Same exact name, same exact area, same exact family, same exact affiliation with the Ward, but different people. Turns out, the 18-year-old who was killed yesterday is also affiliated with the Tongan Crips, as evidenced by confirmed gang members and shotcallers mourning his death on Facebook. Local Tongans are claiming the victim is not affiliated with the gang, but social media posts indicate this is not true. The reason for why this matters is due to the elevated potential for a gang war to kick off, if it hasn't done so already. Clearly local police thought the same at the time, as they rolled way harder than they needed to in order to protect the hospital. Gang violence is very likely to continue to escalate within Utah over the next few weeks, and this is going to affect more people than just those in the gang. When the only Level 1 Trauma Center for hundreds of miles is locked down because hordes of Tongan Crips are trying to break down the doors after a gang shooting, this becomes more of a substantial concern than just some random gang war. Even in the legendary gang epicenters around the country, local hospitals don't have to worry about literally being overrun as if they were a forward-deployed military base in a foreign land. But in Salt Lake City, this is now a genuine concern that is all brought about by a demographic that comprises less than one percent of the population. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 19 · 8 min

    The Wire - August 18, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 18, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: KINETIC TARGETING CONTINUES WITHIN MIDDLE EAST AS HOUTHIS LAUNCH MISSILES TOWARD DUBAI. TONGAN CRIP THREAT REMAINS SIGNIFICANT IN SALT LAKE CITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: Iran struck two more ships in the Strait of Hormuz last night, continuing the trend of the past couple of weeks. This morning, the UKMTO retroactively admitted to a merchant vessel being struck on August 15th, with the ship sustaining damage and one crew casualty. This afternoon, Houthi forces conducted a ballistic missile strike on the UAE, with missile warnings being issued in Dubai, for the first time since May. No locals reported witnessing any interception, and government officials stated that one missile splashed down in the Gulf, and another landed outside their territory. Analyst Comment: On the rhetoric front, this morning President Trump continued claiming control of the Strait of Hormuz, posting a graphic which claims the Strait is now U.S. territory. Even though waterways traditionally can't be claimed as land territory, and while this may just be a more lighthearted meme, at the other end of the spectrum this could be more serious. If the White House is indeed serious about making a territorial declaration of some kind, this could be an effort to move the goalposts to allow for the use of more substantial weapons. If Hormuz is America, then the US can claim that Iran is attacking the homeland. Of course, this logic is a stretch at best, but it's exactly the kind of reasoning that would make sense for the White House to rely on at this stage in the war. -HomeFront- Utah: One suspect has been arrested in conjunction with yesterday's events in Salt Lake City. Afuhia Masiu Manatau was arrested for his role in yesterday's shooting at the Tongan funeral in Kearns. During the funeral, a fight broke out among the congregation, between his 17-year-old son, and several others. During the fight, Manatau gave a firearm to his son, which resulted in the son attempting to murder the others. Manatau's son (the shooter) was shot in the chest during the engagement, and Manatau himself has been arrested. Analyst Comment: Concerning casualties, so far one fatality was reported as a result of the funeral shooting. The victim has been identified as Vilisoni (Soni) Angilau, a confirmed Tongan Crip who was recently released from prison after murdering a member of a rival gang in 2013. Soni Angilau's immediate relative, Naisa Angilau, was also recently released from prison for a completely different shooting as well, after he attempted to kill a gas station clerk in 2009. Of note, Soni's brother Siale also met a violent end as he was also shot and killed during a high-profile shooting that took place inside the courtroom during his trial. Siale Angilau was shot and killed by federal Marshals after attempting to stab a witness to death during his trial for racketeering back in 2014. All of these family members have an extensive presence on social media, and all self-identify as Tongan Crips. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In Utah, additional details are helpful for understanding how serious yesterday's shooting actually was, especially considering the long history of similar murders. Despite assurances to the contrary, Intermountain Medical Center remained locked down throughout the evening last night, as the threats to the hospital remained constant. Many non-essential employees were escorted out of the hospital by SWAT, and patients' medical procedures were canceled due to the security threat. Intermountain Public Relations officials issued statements claiming that everything was fine and that there was no threat to the hospital, however employees within the hospital confirmed that these statements were not true. Intercepted radio traffic from 911 dispatch also confirms that the reason for the overwhelming police response at the hospital, was due to the Tongan Crip Gang attempting to breach the entrance to the Emergency department. At least one employee was assaulted and wounded in the ER, and a large crowd of Tongans also attempted to break through the Emergency Room entrance on the south side of Unit 4. After this breach attempt, local authorities responded in force, with SWAT officers responding immediately to reinforce the hospital and prevent the facility from being overrun. Snipers were deployed to the rooftops, and at least two Bearcat armored vehicles were posted at the Emergency Department to secure a perimeter around the facility. Concerning future threats, the circumstances of yesterday's funeral shooting are still unclear, with much of the eyewitness testimony being verifiably false as gang members seek to cover up the crime. The main question is whether or not this will result in a wider gang war, and right now the answer to that question is not so clear. The Tongan Crip Gang is known to engage in mutual combat within the gang itself, as rival factions settle internal disputes with violence and murder. Funerals are a common way for hostile TCG factions to meet up, and tensions flare. However, the Tongans also have many rivals locally which might also be inclined to stoke up a gang war. The TCG originally had a foothold in Inglewood, California, where the gang achieved it's extremely brutal reputation. After expanding this foothold to Salt Lake City, the TCG became one of the most legendarily violent gangs in the entire nation. Though small in numbers, they make up for their lack of footsoldiers with sheer violence. Even so, many locals prefer to call them "nice" and ignore this brutality, due to the affiliation this gang has within facilities owned by the LDS Church. This gang is known to murder people randomly without a second thought, and despite Tongans being less than one percent of the population of Utah, they make up over 13% of all gang member affiliation in the region. For those who want to make the argument that "not all Tongans" are causing problems, unfortunately in Salt Lake City specifically, this does not appear to be the case based on the case history and preponderance of evidence. During the Tongan Crip funeral murder at an LDS Ward back in January...not a single churchgoer came forward to name the killer. 100% of the congregants at the Ward where the murder took place, refused to speak to the police or provide a statement regarding what they saw. Police set up an anonymous hotline to protect witnesses, but among the hundreds of Tongans that witnessed that shooting, not a single person came forward to testify and the shooters were eventually charged based on evidence of the murder plans being found on their phones. Even the small handful of Tongans who are not documented gang members are extremely loyal to tribal allegiances; quite literally every single Tongan with a social media presence in Salt Lake County has expressed support for their guy who attempted to murder a gas station clerk with a shotgun. No one within this diaspora has condemned the actions of the man who's funeral even resulted in further bloodshed. The Tongan community has not tried to distance themselves from the frequent murders that are conducted within their areas, and most of the Tongan Wards within Salt Lake close ranks around those who commit violent murders. Concerning yesterday's shootings, posts on social media indicate that other family members of yesterday's deceased have been observed flashing Tongan Crip Gang signs and generally confirming their gang affiliation, specifically within the Tongan Wards. On Facebook, most of the Salt Lake Tongans don't wish each other a "Happy B-Day"...they change it to "C-Day" because the letter "B" is too closely affiliated with their arch rivals...the Bloods. This is a callback to their Inglewood origins...many of the TCG's rivals are much the same as in California. The Rose Park Bloods are their main external adversary within Salt Lake, as both gangs have been expanding into each other's turf. In the same area, the Rose Park Taliban (a gang formed from the children of refugees from the Middle East) also maintains some presence, and is allied with the Bloods. Back in March, a Rose Park Taliban member tried to murder a liquor store employee in Taylorsville (near Tongan Crip territory), so gang violence in southwest Salt Lake specifically from these gangs is a constant. As yesterday's "victim" had previously killed a member of the Baby Regulators gang, it's possible that this was a revenge killing that was unrelated to the other Angilau who's funeral was being held at the time. As a result of this complicated web of alliances and relationships between extremely violent gangs, more violence is expected. Despite the grass skirts, barbeques, and disarming smiles, most of these people are killers, and the killing is only likely to escalate. Since one person was killed during the funeral shooting, the funeral for that person will undoubtedly be another opportunity for another shooting, as the cycle of violence and vengeance continues. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 18 · 6 min

    The Wire - August 17, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 17, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: WAR IN MIDDLE EAST REMAINS STAGNANT. WHITE HOUSE SIGNALS SHIFT AWAY FROM PACOM AS PRESIDENT TRUMP ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH NORTH KOREA. TONGAN CRIP GANG SHOOTING REPORTED AT FUNERAL IN SALT LAKE CITY.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: The situation remains much the same, no major changes over the weekend. Iran did not conduct any major strikes over the past few days, and the Houthis have also not engaged any Saudi oil refineries since last week. Otherwise the situation remains as before. South Korea: Over the weekend President Trump announced a significant change to the American diplomatic position regarding the Korean Peninsula. Due to South Korea not participating in hostilities during the Gulf War, President Trump has ordered the United States to reduce American participation in ROK military exercises. Analyst Comment: This is a big deal, but one that has been boiling since the Gulf War began. Pinning American diplomatic efforts to whether or not nations supported us during the war highlights the priority the White House is placing on the conflict. Supplies and missile defenses have been taken from PACOM for months now, and this halting of joint exercises with South Korea is the latest development in the de-prioritization of all operational theaters in order to support the war. Similarly, the other effect of de-prioritizing South Korea, is to improve relations with North Korea, which in turn might lead to another round of diplomatic talks soon. -HomeFront- Michigan: More details have come to light regarding a series of small arms attacks carried out a few days ago. On Friday, authorities responded to a private residence in Missaukee County, where a mass shooting had occurred. 3x deceased victims and 1x severely wounded victim were located at the residence, with the suspect having fled the scene. At the scene, the immediate investigation resulted in the discovery of another fatality located at a different residence adjacent to the initial shooting site. The suspect was identified as Chad Hickman, and a large-scale manhunt was conducted throughout the area. Some time later, Hickman's vehicle was located near Whitlock Lake, where the remains of one additional victim and the deceased suspect were discovered. Analyst Comment: So far, no motive has been disclosed for this attack, but right now this looks like a domestic incident. The suspect's sister is reportedly among the casualties, and Hickman had also recently been involved in a messy divorce. Utah: This morning a riot and subsequent mass shooting was reported at an LDS Ward in Salt Lake City. Local authorities initially responded to the 13th Ward in Kearns, after a street fight involving 80+ people broke out during a Tongan cultural event and funeral. At some point during the fray, several people were shot as a state of mutual combat broke out between suspected members of the Tongan Crip Gang, and local rivals. After the initial shooting at the funeral, the wounded suspected gang members were transported to Intermountain Medical Center, where another skirmish possibly broke out in the parking area. Several reports of shots-fired were issued, and the hospital was locked down throughout the afternoon. No details have been provided on this second incident, or the status of the reported shootings at the hospital. However, ambulances are being diverted away from Intermountain Health, and armored police vehicles are reportedly parked at the facility providing security. Analyst Comment: These shootings are directly linked to a different shooting. This was the funeral for Ofa'tangikivaha Angilau, a Tongan man who was neutralized by Good Samaritans two weeks ago. On August 7th, Angilau attempted to purchase alcohol without showing ID at the Holiday Oil gas station in Riverton. After the clerk denied his purchase, he left the store and returned with a shotgun, and attempted to murder the clerk. Before Angilau could bring the shotgun to bear, he was promptly shot dead by two different bystanders in the store. His funeral was this morning, and due to the shooting breaking out during the funeral, this retroactively indicates that Angilau was probably affiliated with the Tongan Crip Gang. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: For wider context, the Tongan community has a major foothold in Salt Lake County, and have been running operations inside LDS Wards throughout the city for some time. The LDS Church has organized several different Tongan Stakes (districts) which serve as the administrative hierarchy solely for immigrants from the Pacific island of Tonga. Around 13,000 Tongans live throughout the Salt Lake County area, which is roughly a quarter of the entire Tongan population in the United States, and as a result the LDS Church has provided substantial resources for this community, including a few dozen cultural centers and dedicated Wards just for Tongans. At these facilities, no English is spoken and even the websites are in the Tongan language. Over time, the Tongan Crip Gang has emerged as a major threat to the local area. In many cases, the Tongan Wards within Salt Lake City are not really houses of worship, but actually safehouses for the Tongan Crip Gang, as demonstrated by gang colors being placed all around these structures, only gang members attending these wards, and the frequent shootings at these facilities. Due to the gang seeking refuge within LDS churches...in the heartland of where the LDS Church was founded...this rarely gets mentioned by local mainstream media sources, which in many cases have either been financially motivated (or even outright ordered) to ignore this major gang threat. Most outsiders are rather shocked to learn that a violent gang can not just occupy houses of worship, but be invited in to use the facilities to continue their criminal enterprises. But that's what's been happening in Salt Lake City for a long time, and as unpleasant as it is, this must be acknowledged as the body count keeps rising. The Tongan Crip problem has become so bad that local police pre-stage at Tongan funerals, because they assess with a high degree of certainty that there is going to be a shootout at some point. This morning's shooting is the second shooting this year involving a funeral for a Tongan Crip Gang member; back in January, nearly the exact same event took place. Tongan Crips were having a funeral for one of their leaders, and a rival gang showed up to conduct a shooting in the parking lot. This morning's shooting occurred under nearly identical circumstances. Also during both shootings, upwards of a dozen officers were already staged at these Wards with rifles, prepared for the active shooting, knowing that a small arms engagement would be occurring at some point. Nevertheless, nobody wants to ruffle any feathers when a faith-based organization is involved, even if that organization is knowingly and deliberately allowing a gang to operate within their facilities, so these shootings (but especially the Tongan Crip angle) will continue to be ignored by local media, politicians, and Church leadership alike. However, both today's shooting, and the prior one in January took place in close proximity to schools, where children could have been wounded or killed by the gunfights in the parking lots, so this is not merely an internal Church problem. Further investigation will be needed to truly determine how widespread the problem is, but this is probably more significant than most people realize, and pretending everything is fine is resulting in clear and present dangers being allowed to threaten innocent citizens. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 15 · 4 min

    The Wire - August 14, 2026

    //The Wire//2000Z August 14, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: DRONE SHOT DOWN OVER LATVIA. WASHINGTON CSG STEAMING WEST TO REPLACE LINCOLN CSG IN ARABIAN SEA. IRANIAN STRIKES CONTINUE IN HORMUZ. WHITE HOUSE AUTHORIZES CIVILIAN COMPANIES TO BEGIN OFFENSIVE CYBER OPERATIONS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Middle East: This morning at least one strike on a merchant vessel was reported in the Strait of Hormuz. The UKMTO published two separate nearly-identical reports under two different reporting numbers, 111-26 and 112-26, both of which took place in the same area. Analyst Comment: Iranian sources claim that these vessels were struck by submarine drones, which (if true) would be the first kind of attack conducted so far during this war. Iran absolutely has this capability, though it is probably more limited to the areas closer to the Iranian coastline. The UKMTO chart provided for the location of both attacks does plot the targeting effort closer to the Iranian coastline than most other attacks, but so far no comment has been made regarding the attack method yet. Red Sea/HOA: This afternoon another series of strikes was reported between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with the latter conducting another missile strike on an Aramco refinery/processing facility in Najran City, near the Yemeni border. A large fire was reported at this facility following this strike, and Saudi forces have conducted various strikes around Yemen in retaliation. Latvia: This morning NATO aircraft shot down a suspected drone over the Balvi region, near the village of Rugaji. Latvia stated that the incident was a stray drone that entered their airspace due to Russian electronic warfare measures. Only one drone was detected, which was engaged by fighter aircraft. Analyst Comment: This is a tacit admission that the drone was probably Ukrainian, continuing the now long-standing trend of off-course drones entering the airspace of third-party nations. With both Russia and Ukraine sending drone waves comprising of hundreds of drones during each attack, the high failure rate on both sides has resulted in dozens of runaway drone incidents throughout the continent over the past few years. -HomeFront- Washington D.C. - Late last night, President Trump signed an Executive Memorandum aimed at combatting cybercrime. The very first section of this order is to effectively privatize offensive cyberattacks on foreign actors. The order outlines a 60-day time limit for establishing a deconfliction process to coordinate attacks carried out by private companies versus those conducted by military forces. The memorandum specifically states that operations resulting in Critical Outcomes (i.e. operations which kill people or are classified as Use of Force) are not authorized. Analyst Comment: This EO is a big deal, as it essentially is a Letter of Marque for private companies to conduct military actions against foreign nationstates in the cyber realm. While this seems cutting-edge and forward thinking in terms of the ever-evolving battlespace...this removes a lot of protections for civilian companies when it comes to warfare. When civilian entities are authorized to engage in offensive military action against a foreign nation, they become lawful combatants. The caveat which states that companies can't kill people is not likely to result in much difference to any actor targeted under this program, and as it stands, any company that participates in this order will be a valid military target which will be targeted by foreign adversaries. In short, if companies want to play ball, they can now do so, but major cyberattacks on civilian targets are going to skyrocket over the next few weeks. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: In the Middle East, several logistical and leadership shakeups have settled in throughout the region. Within Iran, six new commanders have been officially promoted to new positions throughout the General Staff, most of whom are younger hardliners who are of the mind to continue the war. These promotions include Ahmad Vahidi, who has been promoted to the Commander in Chief of the IRGC. On the American side, the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN CSG is planned to move off station when she is replaced by the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CSG within a few days. This relief comes a few days after reports emerged regarding the deteriorating conditions onboard the LINCOLN. Over the past few days, reports of multiple sailors within this strike group attempting to take their own lives have hit the media, which CENTCOM has flatly denied. However, one day after these reports started circulating, the WASHINGTON was observed steaming through the Strait of Malacca. The LINCOLN was officially last reported in port in Guam on December 11th, 2025 and has not conducted a single port call since that time. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

  • August 15 · 22 min

    Intel Update - August 15 - Guns of August

    Research Notes/Bibliography can be found here: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground Common Intelligence Picture: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=204a59b01f4443cd96718796fd102c00 Border Crisis Map: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=7f13eda1f301431e98a7ac0393b0e6b0 TOC Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ebe374c40c1a4231a06075155b0e8cb9/ 00:00 - Global Strategic Concerns 01:36 - All Quiet on Drone Front 03:12 - French Fries 04:03 - Fuel Crisis 06:51 - Where's the Beef? 08:17 - The Bounty 13:05 - Houth-i of Cards 17:12 - Canary in the Coal Mine 20:43 - GhostNet Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Without your support, I simply could not do this work at all, so to those of you who chose to support my efforts, I am eternally thankful. Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/S2Underground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA

  • August 14 · 4 min

    The Wire - August 13, 2026

    //The Wire//2300Z August 13, 2026// //ROUTINE// //BLUF: EXPLOSION REPORTED AT ITALIAN MUNITIONS FACTORY. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY RESIGNS. IEA REPORT CONFIRMS OIL CRISIS INCREASES IN SEVERITY WORLDWIDE. PRESIDENT PUTIN VISITS CONTROVERSIAL ISLAND CHAIN IN FAR EAST.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events- Italy: This morning an explosion was reported at the KNDS munitions factory near the town of Colleferro. This facility produced artillery rounds and solid-fuel propellants for the Ukrainian military. No casualties have been reported, as the explosion took place during the summertime vacation season, when nobody was working at the factory. The cause of the blast has not yet been disclosed. Analyst Comment: Industrial accidents happen all the time, but it's not everyday that a factory making explosives for Ukraine suffers such a catastrophic blast, with no prior warning, and with nobody actually at the plant. Reading between the lines, most assumptions are that this might have been malign action related to the war in Ukraine, however nothing has been released regarding that theory yet. Far East: Overnight, Russian President Vladimir Putin conducted a surprise visit to the Kuril Islands, an island chain north of Japan which has a hotly-contested history originating back with World War Two. President Putin visited Iturup Island for the first time, and mostly conducted tours of the facilities, including a fish processing factory, a school, and a hospital. During the visit, Putin specifically mentioned the Japanese sanctions on Russia, which were imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, stating that Russia has no grievances against Japan. Putin also directly mentioned the fact that in Japan's latest military publications, Russia is classified as a source of major threat, which Putin denied. Analyst Comment: This sparsely-populated island chain is just north of Japan, and was initially gifted to the Soviet Union during the 1945 Yalta agreement (though Japan disputes the legality of this). In practice, Russia dominates the four main islands, and a few dozen of the smaller uninhabited islands. Putin visiting a small island north of Japan is a major signal that Russia is interested in what's going on in their backyard, and that their far eastern regions are certainly not forgotten. This visit was deliberately intended to pressure Japan to reexamine their sanctions, as well as to serve as a not-so-subtle reminder, that mainland Russia is much closer to Tokyo than the mainland United States is. -HomeFront- Washington D.C. - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced her resignation yesterday evening, which will come into effect at the end of the month. The reason for her resignation has been stated to be personal, to spend time with her family. Her replacement has not been officially announced, and most mainstream media is speculating that a replacement will not be named until after the midterms. Analyst Comment: The real reason for her resignation is probably for personal reasons, but vastly more personal reasons than anyone knows. The tabloids are running some rather juicy theories and rumors at the moment, most of which are related to the continuing scandal originating from the Air Force One plane swap incident in Turkey last month, and the details of who was selected to join the President onboard the covert plane...and who was left on the decoy. -----END TEARLINE----- Analyst Comments: Overnight, the International Energy Agency's report for the month of August was published, which provides more fidelity on the energy production throughout the Middle East. Based on the IEA's report, the situation is dire and now the sheer lack of oil is a problem. Even with all of the efforts to open the Strait, and with the brief ceasefire which resulted in a surge of tankers (before the Strait closed again), we still have a global shortage of 8.3 million bbl/day. This is roughly 8% of the entire planet's oil demand, which remains offline due to the war. As the energy crisis is firmly an emergency situation at this point, the biggest impact to the American people right now will take the form of Diesel prices rising higher, until eventual shortages begin. When the shortages will begin, is anyone's guess, but since the war has dragged on for so long, the second and third order effects are already well underway. Right now, the problem is not just a shortage of crude...it's also a problem of getting the right type of crude, to the right type of refineries. The complicated mess of secondary and tertiary disruptions has resulted in bottlenecks along the whole process, and since Hormuz, the BAM, Suez, and the Black Sea are all negatively affected in some manner by effectively three wars, roughly 20% of all global maritime diesel exports are effectively cut off. As a result, the biggest immediate problem for the U.S. is refining diesel at the scale needed to avoid shortages, which is why many people have been surprised to see diesel prices starting to creep up again over the past couple of weeks nationwide. The US can turn the tap and drain the SPR all we want, but that will not solve the immediate problem of the dwindling diesel supply in the short term. Analyst: S2A1 Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269 Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report. //END REPORT//

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