Sean D. Naylor
@seandnaylor.bsky.social
Co-founder of @thehighside.bsky.social; author of "Not a Good Day to Die" and "Relentless Strike;" previously a staff writer at Army Times, Foreign Policy and Yahoo News; other work in The New York Times and Newsweek.
Pinned
Sean D. Naylor
@seandnaylor.bsky.social
· Mar 10
‘Lambs to the slaughter’ (Part 1)
How the CIA failed its officers in Cuba and the FBI failed them at home
thehighside.substack.com
Burglaries, surveillance, state-actor-level phone hacking. Havana Syndrome victims returned to the USA, only to be targeted again in an intimidation campaign that the FBI and CIA seemed to have little interest in solving. By @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and me
thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t...
thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t...
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Bari Weiss this morning on the 60 Minutes segment: "We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera."
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
December 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Bari Weiss this morning on the 60 Minutes segment: "We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera."
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
Of course, most journalists know that oftentimes people who are the subject of negative reporting don't want to speak on camera or on the record.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Need the perfect present for the intel and/or special ops aficionado in your life? Affordable ($5 a month!) gift subscriptions to @thehighside.bsky.social, at: thehighside.substack.com/gift, include access to all our past articles by @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social, such as:
Subscribe to The High Side
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TheHighSide.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Need the perfect present for the intel and/or special ops aficionado in your life? Affordable ($5 a month!) gift subscriptions to @thehighside.bsky.social, at: thehighside.substack.com/gift, include access to all our past articles by @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social, such as:
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
When you get interviewed multiple times over the course of a year and the interviews are recorded and you sit for formal photographs with a well known national magazine you definitely know it’s on the record.
December 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
When you get interviewed multiple times over the course of a year and the interviews are recorded and you sit for formal photographs with a well known national magazine you definitely know it’s on the record.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
The bureaucrats paid for with your tax dollars are inexperienced and unqualified for the jobs they have. Is this a good thing? We just don't know, maybe we'll flip a coin and find out.
This is a real headline on the New York Times website.
Support independent media.
Support independent media.
December 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
The bureaucrats paid for with your tax dollars are inexperienced and unqualified for the jobs they have. Is this a good thing? We just don't know, maybe we'll flip a coin and find out.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
There's no rule of journalism that says you have to show a president telling lie after lie – uncorrected – many times a day. That's a decision that corporate media are making for purposes other than delivering the truth to the public.
December 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM
There's no rule of journalism that says you have to show a president telling lie after lie – uncorrected – many times a day. That's a decision that corporate media are making for purposes other than delivering the truth to the public.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Look what I found when I went digging in some digital archives for Dr. Seuss political cartoons! I love archives so much. 🥰
December 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Look what I found when I went digging in some digital archives for Dr. Seuss political cartoons! I love archives so much. 🥰
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
And then there’s the story about Alex Karp’s not-at-all-weird interview (for lack of a better word) with Oswald Mosley’s grandson for a senior position at Palantir.
December 13, 2025 at 1:41 AM
And then there’s the story about Alex Karp’s not-at-all-weird interview (for lack of a better word) with Oswald Mosley’s grandson for a senior position at Palantir.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela
JetBlue pilot calls incident ‘outrageous’ and says US military refueling tanker didn’t have transponder turned on
A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path ... They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 14, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
I once helped teach an experiential learning class about the Israel-Palestine conflict to UC Berkeley students that culminated in a trip to the region. Traveling overland from Jordan to Israel, Arab-American students were subjected to this sort of treatment. I’ll never forget it.
It's not just social media. Looks like visitors to the US from Europe and other countries that are part of the visa waiver program will have to submit an enormous amount of data about themselves and their families, including DNA, if proposed new rules are accepted
December 12, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I once helped teach an experiential learning class about the Israel-Palestine conflict to UC Berkeley students that culminated in a trip to the region. Traveling overland from Jordan to Israel, Arab-American students were subjected to this sort of treatment. I’ll never forget it.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Deep Cover: A Secret History (2027)
We need more stories about heroic bureaucrats tbh
December 12, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Deep Cover: A Secret History (2027)
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Nothing good comes out of governments building databases like this.
NEW: Five years of social media history is only a fraction of what the US Government will shortly demand of overseas visitors.
The full requirements will end tourism in the United States.
Below is the full, mind-blowing list.
🚨THEY. WANT. YOUR. DNA.🚨
1/
The full requirements will end tourism in the United States.
Below is the full, mind-blowing list.
🚨THEY. WANT. YOUR. DNA.🚨
1/
December 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Nothing good comes out of governments building databases like this.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Days after FIFA awarded Trump a fake peace prize, DOJ moves to drop charges in FIFA corruption case www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/n...
U.S. Moves to Drop Charges in International Soccer Corruption Case
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Days after FIFA awarded Trump a fake peace prize, DOJ moves to drop charges in FIFA corruption case www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/n...
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
3. The “travelers” issue is indeed an interesting one, and once again goes back decades. At various points can report that known RIS operatives have flown into Mexico, shaken surveillance, and gone to suspected sources meets—US intel always feared with important American sources.
Interesting story. A few thoughts:
1. Mexico City a RIS hub for a v long time. Lee Harvey Oswald futzed around there, later Boyce/Lee case centered on embassy there.
2. There’s a bit of a goose/gander issue that isn’t raised. CIA’s Mex City station has been at points one of largest in world.
1. Mexico City a RIS hub for a v long time. Lee Harvey Oswald futzed around there, later Boyce/Lee case centered on embassy there.
2. There’s a bit of a goose/gander issue that isn’t raised. CIA’s Mex City station has been at points one of largest in world.
The U.S. Gave Mexico a List of Russian Spies. Mexico Let Them Stay.
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:45 PM
3. The “travelers” issue is indeed an interesting one, and once again goes back decades. At various points can report that known RIS operatives have flown into Mexico, shaken surveillance, and gone to suspected sources meets—US intel always feared with important American sources.
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
New: Alleged traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were not heading toward the US, Adm Bradley told lawmakers yesterday, per people briefed.
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...
Exclusive: Boat at center of double-tap strike controversy was meeting vessel headed to Suriname, admiral told lawmakers | CNN Politics
The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east ...
www.cnn.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
New: Alleged traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were not heading toward the US, Adm Bradley told lawmakers yesterday, per people briefed.
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...
Instead they were heading to link up with another vessel that was bound for Suriname. www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/p...
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
Full pardon for the convicted drug trafficker who helped move 400 tons of cocaine. Death by airstrike for the guys on the boat www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Ex-Honduras president, convicted of drug trafficking, freed on Trump pardon
A former DEA agent called the release “devastating”: “It means any attempt to work your investigations to the highest levels is meaningless.”
www.washingtonpost.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Full pardon for the convicted drug trafficker who helped move 400 tons of cocaine. Death by airstrike for the guys on the boat www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
In California, no less?
December 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
In California, no less?
Another happy paid subscriber to @thehighside.bsky.social. @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I are interested in "super-secret ninja black ops stuff" too, Shea! E.g., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... (JSOC/Israel) and thehighside.substack.com/p/red-menace... (Green Berets' backpack nukes).
December 5, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Another happy paid subscriber to @thehighside.bsky.social. @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I are interested in "super-secret ninja black ops stuff" too, Shea! E.g., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... (JSOC/Israel) and thehighside.substack.com/p/red-menace... (Green Berets' backpack nukes).
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
This is a must read. Some in the military thought COSVN was little more than a myth. Frank says one of the CIA's most prolific spies during the war was in that command, and was handled by John Stockwell at one point.
CIA Okays Release of the “Last” Vietnam Spy Story
open.substack.com/pub/snepp/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/snepp/p/...
CIA Okays Release of the “Last” Vietnam Spy Story
CIA censors are known to work in slow and wondrous ways, even when the subject is ancient history.
open.substack.com
September 1, 2025 at 1:21 AM
This is a must read. Some in the military thought COSVN was little more than a myth. Frank says one of the CIA's most prolific spies during the war was in that command, and was handled by John Stockwell at one point.
The main @thehighside.bsky.social article @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I discuss in the podcast: thehighside.substack.com/p/hunting-bi...
Others include: thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t..., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... and thehighside.substack.com/p/in-the-kil...
Others include: thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t..., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... and thehighside.substack.com/p/in-the-kil...
New Eyes On podcast with me and @seandnaylor.bsky.social discussing our recent article about the CIA potentially having positive identification of Bin Laden in 2005.
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
Bin Laden Sighted in Pakistan in 2005
YouTube video by EYES ON GEOPOLITICS
youtu.be
December 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The main @thehighside.bsky.social article @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and I discuss in the podcast: thehighside.substack.com/p/hunting-bi...
Others include: thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t..., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... and thehighside.substack.com/p/in-the-kil...
Others include: thehighside.substack.com/p/lambs-to-t..., thehighside.substack.com/p/gaza-hosta... and thehighside.substack.com/p/in-the-kil...
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
New Eyes On podcast with me and @seandnaylor.bsky.social discussing our recent article about the CIA potentially having positive identification of Bin Laden in 2005.
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
Bin Laden Sighted in Pakistan in 2005
YouTube video by EYES ON GEOPOLITICS
youtu.be
December 4, 2025 at 3:04 PM
New Eyes On podcast with me and @seandnaylor.bsky.social discussing our recent article about the CIA potentially having positive identification of Bin Laden in 2005.
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
youtu.be/1gOcnn2d2_A
Reposted by Sean D. Naylor
"In many ways McChrystal, Flynn, McRaven, and their subordinates had designed and built the perfect hammer for the National Command Authority. The risk was that as a result, successive administrations would continue to view too many national security problems as nails."
From Relentless Strike
From Relentless Strike
November 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM
"In many ways McChrystal, Flynn, McRaven, and their subordinates had designed and built the perfect hammer for the National Command Authority. The risk was that as a result, successive administrations would continue to view too many national security problems as nails."
From Relentless Strike
From Relentless Strike