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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · 12d

None of the people who spoke with The Post could recall a defense secretary ever ordering so many of the military’s generals and admirals to assemble like this. Several said it raised security concerns.
"People are very concerned," one told me. "They have no idea what it means."

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Hegseth orders rare, urgent meeting of hundreds of generals, admirals

The Pentagon has summoned military officials from around the world for a gathering in Virginia. Top generals and their staffs don’t know the reason for the meeting.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Aug 22

BREAKING: Hegseth fires head of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Hegseth fires head of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the latest national security senior officer to be purged.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Aug 22

Former intelligence analyst Joseph Francescon is named NSA deputy director. “Francescon has an understanding of the mission and would be able to champion the workforce to carry it out,” said a former senior NSA official.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Former intelligence analyst is named NSA deputy director

Joseph Francescon, a former intelligence analyst and counterterrorism aide at the White House, will be the new NSA deputy director.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 14

US scrambles to bring back VOA’s Persian service amid Iran-Israel conflict politi.co/3HHsTQ4, via @politico.com

US scrambles to bring back VOA’s Persian service amid Iran-Israel conflict

President Donald Trump ordered the service to shut down in March.

politi.co

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 6

Former Manhattan U.S. attorney Damian Williams leaves Paul Weiss, which cut a deal w the Trump administration, for Jenner & Block, which didn't and chose to fight. wapo.st/3HIdsXK

Former U.S. attorney Damian Williams leaves Paul Weiss for Jenner & Block

The former prosecutor is leaving a firm that made a deal with the Trump administration for one that fought it.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 6

The MAGA faithful celebrate the end of the Trump-Musk bromance. Patrons of the pro-Trump Butterworth’s Restaurant hope that a feud that broke out between the two men marks the end of Musk’s influence in Washington.

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The MAGA faithful celebrate the end of the Trump-Musk bromance

Patrons of the pro-Trump Butterworth’s Restaurant hope that the feud between the two men marks the end of Musk’s influence in Washington.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 5

NEW: DNI Gabbard has placed a top adviser inside the ODNI’s watchdog office, U.S. officials say. The move potentially compromises the integrity of the Intelligence Community Inspector General as it is conducting an investigation of Signalgate, they say.

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Gabbard placed top adviser inside the ODNI’s watchdog office, officials say

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard installed one of her top advisors within the office of the inspector general of the intelligence community, compromising the watchdog office’s integrity...

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 4

Beyond air bases, U.S. energy grids, transportation hubs, shipyards and civilian critical infrastructure in general are also vulnerable to unconventional attacks using unmanned vehicles.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Jun 4

NEW: “Any country that has strategic bombers, strategic missiles and silos, or strategic nuclear submarines at port is looking at [Ukraine's drone] attack and thinking the risk to our arsenal from a containerized set of drones disguised as a semitrailer poses a real risk."

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Ukraine’s surprise drone strike underscores vulnerability of U.S. defenses

The audacious attacks on Russian airfields highlight the power of unconventional, asymmetric warfare — and the threat to U.S. strategic bases and ports, experts say.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 28

“Some of our best recruits aren’t going to tell you what Xi Jinping thinks,” a former senior U.S. intel official said.“They work in communication departments & have access to those key systems.That’s why we target them.''
NEW: CIA faces stiff test in bid to revitalize human spying.
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CIA chief faces stiff test in bid to revitalize human spying

CIA Director John Ratcliffe wants to rebuild the agency’s diminished ranks of spies and foreign agents. But have espionage’s golden days passed?

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 20

Officials also tell WaPo that they have no plans to revoke a Biden-era executive order on spyware, though they might modify it. Any modifications, they say, however, will not be aimed at doing any favors for NSO Group.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 20

NEW: The WH has rebuffed Pegasus spyware-maker, NSO Group, which is in town this week, in its effort to get off a trade blacklist that has dented its financial fortunes.

U.S. officials tell WaPo they are not seeking to get NSO off the Entity List.

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Pegasus spyware maker rebuffed in efforts to get off trade blacklist

Executives from NSO Group, the controversial Israeli manufacturer of Pegasus spyware, are in Washington this week for meetings with Republican officials.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 17

Trump’s actions are pushing thousands of experts to flee government. NIH. FAA. Treasury. First round saw 75k fed workers leave. Second round could potentially hit hundreds of thousands, reports hannahnatanson.bsky.social and colleagues.

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Trump’s actions are pushing thousands of experts to flee government

The U.S. DOGE Service’s push for early retirement and deferred resignation is leading to a federal brain drain, longtime staffers fear.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 12

Trump is repeatedly bypassing Netanyahu on urgent issues like Iran nuke talks, Houthi rebels conflict, hostage talks with Hamas, stoking dismay among Israelis.Trump is visiting 3 countries in the MidEast this week - Israel is not among them. WaPo's Gerry Shih reports from Jerusalem.
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Trump repeatedly bypasses Netanyahu, stoking dismay among Israelis

Netanyahu has long trumpeted his ties to Trump. But the president is sidelining him on urgent issues like the Iran nuclear talks and the conflict with Houthi rebels.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 11

Qatar is discussing with the Pentagon donating an aircraft for POTUS to use as his new Air Force One, an idea that ethics experts say violates the Constitution.

No final agreement has been reached. Trump will visit Qatar on his Middle East trip this week.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trump administration in talks with Qatar over plane gift

A deal on a plane that would become Air Force One has not been reached, but ethics experts say accepting it from Qatar would violate the Constitution’s emoluments clause.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 9

NEW: How a little-known Japanese American battalion freed Jews from a Nazi death march 80 years ago.

Some of the soldiers had been in relocation camps in the U.S. In Europe, they helped liberate prisoners on a Dachau death march.

Their example resonates today.

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How a little-known Japanese American battalion freed Jews from a Nazi death march

They were Japanese American soldiers, part of a storied military unit that faced down prejudice and suspicion to fight Adolf Hitler’s armies in Europe.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 9

What became known as the “Nye initiative” affirmed America’s military commitment to Asia and the U.S.-Japan alliance as a bulwark against China and North Korea.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 9

Joseph Nye, who extolled ‘Soft Power,' died this week. “Seduction is always more effective than coercion,” he said in 2005. “And many of our values, such as democracy, human rights and individual opportunity, are deeply seductive.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/u...

Joseph Nye, Political Scientist Who Extolled ‘Soft Power,’ Dies at 88

www.nytimes.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · May 6

SCOOP by @mradamtaylor.bsky.social: Trump team urged Ukraine to take U.S. deportees, documents show --an extraordinary request of a nation at war & dependent on U.S. military & financial support. w/ Sarah Blaskey and @siobhanogrady.bsky.social

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Trump team urged Ukraine to take U.S. deportees amid war, documents show

The extraordinary request illustrates the administration’s aggressive bid to identify willing partners who will accept people expelled by the U.S.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 29

NEW: FBI, security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts as part of what current and former officials say is a crackdown that is creating a climate of fear and intimidation -one that jeopardizes national security.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

FBI, national security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts

Current and former officials say the crackdown at the FBI, the Pentagon and Office of the Director of National Intelligence is creating a climate of fear and harming national security.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 26

Bondi rescinded a Biden-era policy that prevented officials from searching reporters’ phone records when trying to identify government personnel who have leaked sensitive information to news organizations.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 26

WaPo Exec Editor Matt Murray on AG Bondi's new media guidelines: "The 1st Amendment is central to our democracy & an enshrined constitutional right for all Americans.Any govt effort to subpoena reporters and their records threatens those constitutional rights for the indpt press."

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Reporters’ phone records could again be searched, Justice Dept. says

Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland barred U.S. prosecutors in 2022 from seeking court orders for reporters’ phone and email records in leak investigations.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 26

The 21-year-old son of a senior CIA official and an Iraq war vetran was killed last year fighting with Russian army in Ukraine. The young man, passionate about saving the environment, struggled with mental illness. His family is devastated. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

CIA official’s son killed fighting with Russian army in Ukraine

Michael Gloss, 21, the son of a senior CIA official and an Iraq War veteran, suffered from mental illness. He died in April 2024 in eastern Ukraine.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 21

It is unclear precisely when Musk will leave; his status as a special government employee is expected to expire at the end of May. He is tired of fielding what he views as a slew of nasty and unethical attacks from the political left, a source tells @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

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The ‘5 things’ emails are going by the wayside as Musk readies his exit

U.S. agencies maintain an inconsistent patchwork of policies relating to the DOGE leader’s demand that all federal employees submit weekly emails listing their accomplishments.

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Ellen Nakashima @ellenwapo.bsky.social · Apr 20

SCOOP by @gregjaffe.bsky.social: Hegseth said to have shared Houthi attack details in a second Signal group chat - only this group chat is one that he set up.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u...

Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat

The defense secretary sent sensitive information about strikes in Yemen to an encrypted group chat that included his wife and brother, people familiar with the matter said.

www.nytimes.com

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