Latest news with #OfficeoftheDirectorofNationalIntelligence
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Reportedly Freezes Out His Defense Secretary in Iran Planning: 'Nobody Is Talking to Hegseth'
As Donald Trump edges closer to a decision on whether to strike Iran 's nuclear facilities, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been reportedly been excluded from high-level deliberations. "Nobody is talking to Hegseth," an official told The Washington Post. Hegseth was confirmed as defense secretary earlier this year alongside Tulsi Gabbard, who now leads the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Despite early involvement, Hegseth's role appears to have diminished over time, especially following the fallout from "Signalgate"—an incident in which he reportedly shared sensitive information regarding an incoming attack against Yemen's Houthi rebels in a group chat that had mistakenly included a journalist. Now, as Israel bombards Iranian nuclear facilities and Trump weighs joining the offensive, Hegseth is out of the team is advising him: Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine. These four officials, described by insiders as "Tier One," have taken the role as the president's primary military and intelligence counselors, the Washington Post added. Although the Pentagon has claimed Hegseth remains closely involved, three current U.S. officials confirmed that key briefings and war planning are being led by Generals Kurilla and Caine, with no operational coordination involving Hegseth or his staff. "Nobody is talking to Hegseth," one official said. "There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all." With the U.S. deploying additional forces to the Middle East and tensions with Iran rising, Trump has relied increasingly on military brass and gut instinct over his formal Cabinet. Gabbard, too, has reportedly fallen out of favor, her recent video warning of nuclear conflict was said to have angered Trump, further fracturing her influence within the national security circle. Originally published on Latin Times
Newsweek
a day ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Putin is Close to Losing His Grip on the Middle East
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered himself as a Middle East mediator to end Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" against Iran, but for Moscow the escalating conflict could also see another instalment of what could be termed "Operation Falling Influence." Six months after the ousting of his Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, Putin now sees another Moscow friendly regime teetering, as Donald Trump weighs up joining Israel's targeting of the Islamic Republic's nuclear capabilities. "If the Assad regime was like an appetizer, the loss of the Iran regime in the Russian orbit would be the main course," Andrew Borene, a former senior staff officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told Newsweek. Six months after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin now sees another Moscow friendly regime teetering, as Donald Trump weighs up joining Israel's targeting of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Six months after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin now sees another Moscow friendly regime teetering, as Donald Trump weighs up joining Israel's targeting of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva "We're not going to have clarity until the chaos settles, but if the Iranian regime were to collapse, I have a hard time seeing a future in which Russia is not diminished in its influence in the Middle East," Borene said. That process of Moscow's waning regional clout comes even as state media in Russia accentuated the positives in the current situation, like the rise in the price of its key commodity oil. But an op-ed in Russian newspaper Kommersant by political scientist Andrei Kortunov acknowledged Israel's military operation presents "serious risks" for Russia. "Russian Middle East policy has been put on its head," Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum told Newsweek. As well as Syria and Iraq, Russia is losing any influence it had in Iran, he said. "Regarding traditional actors in the Middle East, where the Russians have tried to cast their eye and get their influence—that era has ended," Roman said. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 17, 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 17, Cold War Clout During the Cold War, Moscow funded and armed Arab states like Egypt, Syria and Iraq while the U.S. held sway in NATO member Turkey, Israel and other parts of the Middle East region. But the U.S. stole a march on Russia's regional clout following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. By 2010, every country in the Middle East had a positive relationship with the United States, except for Iran and Syria, the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted in 2017. The Syrian civil war that started in 2011 saw Putin's forces intervening in the following years, reinforcing Moscow's military foothold in the country centered on the naval facility at Tartus and the air base at Khmeimim. However, after Assad fled to Moscow after being overthrown by opposition groups led by Sunni Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, Moscow's grip on the region, which included naval access to the Mediterranean, has weakened. Borene, executive director for global security at private threat intelligence firm Flashpoint, said the consequences of the Israel-Iran conflict will be more far-reaching than if it had taken place during the bipolar Cold War era of Moscow and Washington's spheres of influence. "It is a constellation of regional powers," he said. "If Russia is eroding and the European bloc stay united and start investing in defense capacity as themselves, not as NATO proper, then we will see a reduced Russia and an increasing European base." Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen on a poster in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 8, 2022. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen on a poster in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 8, Treaty Russia has turned to Iran for help in the invasion of Ukraine, using its Shahed "kamikaze" drones in repeated strikes that have devastated Ukrainian infrastructure. Moscow has now used this know-how to produce many of the Iranian drones domestically, but the countries' security and defense relationship was cemented by the Russian-Iranian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed on January 17 and touted by Putin. Absent from the deal was a mutual defense clause which Roman said showed how Moscow had made it clear that it would never defend the Iranians militarily. This leaves the diplomatic option but Putin is struggling to be heard. The Russian foreign ministry's denunciation of Israel's attacks as "unprovoked military strikes on a sovereign UN member state" could describe Moscow's own actions in Ukraine. Trump suggested as much in referring to the conflict Putin started in its neighbor rebuffing the Russian leader's peacemaker offer, saying he should end his own war first. Smoke billows in the distance from an oil refinery following an Israeli strike on the Iranian capital Tehran on June 17, 2025. Smoke billows in the distance from an oil refinery following an Israeli strike on the Iranian capital Tehran on June 17, has been taken by surprise by Israel's strikes on Iran whose exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, called for a revolution to oust the regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who he said had gone into hiding "like a frightened rat." Even if the regime remains, Moscow faces the prospect of having a strategic partnership with the conflict's loser. Roman said that while Russia still has its interests in the Middle East, there is a new phase in its engagement in the region with Moscow selling arms to Egypt and stepping up its activities in Libya and further afield in North Africa. "But in terms of strategic partnerships and state-to-state relations it can rely on for military aid or for the deployment of Russian military assets— that chapter is on its way to close."
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CIA releases declassified documents on Robert F Kennedy assassination
The CIA released 54 declassified documents related to the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) on Thursday, providing an additional 1,450 pages of material for the public to scour through for answers to their conspiracies. CIA Director John Ratcliffe released the documents in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and RFK. According to the CIA, the latest batch of documents complements the thousands of pages the agency provided to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of their public releases related to JFK earlier this year. The most recent release shows for the first time that RFK, as a senator, shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with the CIA while reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country. 'Light On The Truth': Gabbard Announces Rfk Files Released Months After Trump's Order "Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest," Ratcliffe said. "I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people." Read On The Fox News App Along with sharing information about RFK's Soviet Union experiences, the files also dive into the psychological assessments of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed RFK in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. In a personality assessment memo on July 8, 1968, federal authorities declared that "under no circumstances would we have predicted that [Sirhan] was 'capable' of doing what he did." Gabbard Says Rfk, Mlk Jr Records 'Ready To Release' In Days, Has 'Hunters' Looking At Fbi, Cia For More Files In the same memo, the feds said the odds of Sirhan being successful were "tremendous." "Obviously, we cannot see him as part of a conspiracy," the memo read. "He could be a tool of a conspiracy in the sense that the attempted assassin of Secretary of State [William] Seward and the assigned assassin of Vice President Andrew Johnson [George Atzerodt] were tools of the [John Wilkes] Booth conspiracy. It is very likely, however, that he could have effectively acted under precise instructions." It goes on to say that most people of the type of attack Sirhan was accused of at the time attack their mother or their girlfriend. "Occasionally they will lash out against an employer or colleagues (a case in point is the recent Pennsylvania case of the 'quiet' man who killed his car pool and then himself)," the memo read. "Sometimes they will pick public figures and make abortive attempts to get at them. Essentially, we see Sirhan as being more like the impulsive assassins of [former presidents James] Garfield and [William] McKinley than the calculating assassins of [Abraham] Lincoln and President Kennedy." Lawmakers Cheer Trump's Jfk Files Release: 'Restoration Of The People's Trust' The file release is what the CIA said was a collaborative effort directed by Trump and led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard with coordination from the CIA, Department of Justice, FBI and NARA. "Today's release is another important step in fulfilling President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency. Thank you to those at the CIA, ODNI, and NARA who worked hard to locate, review, and digitize these documents, many of which have never been released publicly before," Gabbard said. "We will continue coordinating with our partners across the Intelligence Community to fulfill President Trump's promise of maximum transparency." The documents are available to the public and can be viewed by visiting and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a guest on Fox News' "The Story" on Thursday and told host Martha MacCallum that he did not know his father was reporting back to the CIA during his trip to the Soviet Union in 1955, when he was a Senate aide. "My mother was on that trip," RFK Jr. said. "She joined him in St. Petersburg, and she actually was working for the CIA at that time, and she was wearing a carnation in her lapel that was attached to a little bubble where she could take pictures." RFK Jr. continued by saying the Soviets had brought artwork back to now-St. Petersburg after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Germans, he explained, had confiscated the artwork from some of the Jewish families and that the CIA was interested in that. "I don't think it was anything of grave national security interest, but it was, you know, it's an interesting fact that I didn't know about my dad," he said. Fox News Digital's Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this article source: CIA releases declassified documents on Robert F Kennedy assassination
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tulsi Gabbard's Team Fed The JFK Assassination Files Into AI To Figure Out What To Declassify
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has admitted to using an artificial intelligence program to help determine which of the documents to declassify about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Addressing a technology conference Tuesday, Gabbard championed the use of AI in helping America's intelligence services save time and money. Coming into the role earlier this year, she said, she was confronted with 'a deluge of day-to-day tasks and churn' that can 'quickly suck up all of the time in the day.' She argued deploying AI to scour top-secret files has been 'a game changer.' In particular, she cited how AI was used by her department to decide which documents should be made public, and used the example of the material related to the assassinations of President Kennedy and his brother New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. In January, President Donald Trumpsigned an executive order to declassify documents related to both assassinations, as well as the killing of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., making good on a campaign trail promise. Past attempts to release the records were stymied by internal reviews and redactions. 'We have released thousands, tens of thousands of documents related to the assassinations of JFK and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy,' Gabbard told the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington, per a transcript on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's website. 'And we have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously, which is to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages.' She added the AI tools were looking for issues 'that might be sensitive for living family members to be made aware of.' Gabbard continued that the intelligence service has been able to aggregate data more quickly by using AI. She pointed to how 10,000 hours of media now takes one person just an hour to process, rather than eight people spending 48 hours combing through the same information. Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress who switched parties last year, coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies. In March, Trump signaled 80,000 pages related to President Kennedy's death would be released The vast majority of the files posted on the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's website were previously publicly available. Some of the unredacted documents released included sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers. President Kennedy's fatal shooting in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, has spawned countless conspiracy theories. Police arrested 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald, who had positioned himself on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone and that there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that did little to curb the alternative theories floated ever since. People Named In JFK Files Upset Their Personal Info Was Released Tulsi Gabbard Fires Officials After Assessment Finds Trump's Tren De Aragua Claims False Senate Confirms Tulsi Gabbard As Trump's Director Of National Intelligence
News18
11-06-2025
- Health
- News18
What Is Fentanyl? UPSC Aspirants Must Know As ‘US Works With India'. There's China Link Too
Last Updated: The FBI has been working with the Indian government to address the fentanyl crisis in the US. The US government has recently flagged the health crisis surrounding the illegal use of fentanyl, which has led to multiple cases of overdose and addiction. The number of fentanyl- and other opioid-related deaths has been on the rise since 1999, with distinct waves of increase in cases. However, what has driven the crisis? As per a new US intelligence report, India has emerged as a growing player in the illicit fentanyl trade. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that can be more dangerous than morphine and is counted among the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths in the US. Creating a crisis in the country, fentanyl has become a top priority issue for the Trump administration. China has been the largest source of both legal supplies of the drug as well as illicit supplies of precursor chemicals, which are processed in Mexico before being smuggled to the US. According to a 2025 Annual Threat Assessment (ATA) report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 'Nonstate groups are often enabled, both directly and indirectly, by state actors, such as China and India, as sources of precursors and equipment for drug traffickers. China remains the primary source country for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment, followed by India." India And The US Working On the Fentanyl Crisis While the US government is trying to tackle the crisis, FBI director Kash Patel has recently opened up on how the Trump administration has been working with the Indian government to address the matter. During his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Patel explained how both countries have collaborated to dismantle the network, which uses India as a transit point for smuggling the chemical precursors from China to the Mexican drug cartels. 'They're going to places like India, and I'm also doing operations in India. You don't hear fentanyl deaths in India. You don't hear fentanyl deaths in England, Australia, New Zealand, or Five Eyes partners in Canada," he said while accusing the Chinese communist party of using fentanyl as a weapon against the US. Patel also went on to detail how the FBI has maintained direct communication with the Indian authorities to tackle the issue. 'I just got off the phone with the Indian government. We're going to find these companies that buy it, and we're going to shut them down," he continued. Fentanyl Topic For UPSC Students With the United States intensifying its fight to disrupt the global fentanyl network, it can be perceived as a major topic in the UPSC examinations under the segment of current affairs. What Is Fentanyl? Fentanyl is an opioid drug, just like morphine and heroin, made entirely in laboratories without any natural ingredients. Though it has been approved as a prescribed pain medicine, most of the fentanyl has contributed to the current overdose. Being more powerful than any other opioid, a small amount of fentanyl can cause a fatal overdose or changes in brain activity if used repeatedly. Speaking of its impact, a recent study found that the use of fentanyl has 'nearly quadrupled" among people between the ages of 15 and 24 from 2018 to 2022. First Published: June 11, 2025, 13:54 IST
