The Wire Special Report - April 30, 2024

//The Wire//1400Z April 30, 2024//
//SPECIAL REPORT//
//BLUF: SECURITY INCIDENTS INTENSIFY AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.//
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-HomeFront-
California: As the protests at UCLA continue, an incident occurred last night at the main encampment on campus when an unknown individual approached the site, and placed an open backpack full of mice in the vicinity of the main encampment structures. Many sources on the ground claim that the mice have round unidentified red marks on their backs, possibly indicating the use in some sort of scientific research. In any case, the released mice are the breed commonly used for research purposes. Photos and videos of the incident corroborate these claims, however the quality is not good enough on most of the media to determine any solid details of the markings on the mice. It is not currently known if faculty have reported any mice missing that were part of any research projects. Visual geolocation of the raw video evidence provided on social media indicates that the backpack was placed in the vicinity of grid: 11SLT6697371102.
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Analyst Comments: Though details are extremely sketchy and unconfirmed, this incident is worthy of close and immediate attention (even without knowing all of the details) due to the potential for this to be a serious biological incident. This incident also raises many questions and highlights many concerns regarding the potential for very serious incidents to occur elsewhere at this time of heightened risk.
Unfortunately, almost all of the sources for content surrounding this incident are protesters living at the UCLA encampment, and therefore not the most reliable or trustworthy sources for information. Much of the raw data making the rounds on social media is also circular reporting, and therefore not helpful. Nevertheless, the potential impact of this action presents a potentially exceptionally grave risk to national security, and is absolutely worthy of investigation by CBRNE specialists at the first opportunity. Local protesters indicate that authorities are aware of the incident, and at least two security guards witnessed the act in its entirety.
In any case, this act is not something one normally does in the spirit of good fellowship, and tends to raise the pucker-factor considerably, considering all factors. Many people are put-off by the nature of the protests all around, forgetting the national context and high tensions that mandate the more severe possibilities being considered. If mice were indeed injected with a mystery substance, then set loose intentionally into a protest encampment, this incident could rapidly become a very serious problem. Therefore, as terrifying as the prospect seems, assuming the worst-case scenario (while hoping for the most likely scenario) is always operationally prudent, until more information becomes available to put minds at ease. The potential for serious incidents occurring at these encampments is exceptionally high, and compounded by the fact that demonstrators have cornered themselves as unreliable sources, and police are not inclined to help them or break any speed records during an investigation of activities within the encampments. UCLA is not publicly known to conduct infectious disease research using lab mice. However, nothing suggests the mice actually came from a lab at UCLA. This would be the first common-sense assessment at any other time, but considering all facts and currently developing situations, we must remember the recent discovery of illegal CCP-linked biolabs in this exact region of the country. Consequently, this exact nightmare scenario should be taken more seriously even considering the extremely minimal (and often circular) reporting on the incident.
Militarily speaking, the constant movement of people living in close (and unsanitary) quarters, and a population which has raised the ire of local authorities, almost all of which are students which will probably be traveling back home to locations all around the United States in a couple of months creates a nearly perfect situation where the absolute worst-case scenario can occur relatively unnoticed, with potentially dire consequences. In all likelihood, this entire situation could be a prank, or some mildly-devious actions by students who disapprove of the protest encampment. As a reminder it was in fact pro-Palestinian protesters who first implemented the idea of releasing mice and rats in fast food restaurants as an act of protest at the start of the conflict in Gaza. However, it is precisely because of the more nefarious potential that we dedicate much time and consideration to these incidents, again until proven otherwise. There is a massive difference between someone going to a pet store, buying a few dozen mice, and releasing them in a McDonalds, and someone taking research subjects from a laboratory that have obviously been injected with something, and releasing them into a crowd of people at the time of maximum effectiveness for a variety of disease transmission vectors. The former scenario is usually seen as a disrespectful nuisance. The latter scenario may be the beginning of a much larger national incident. Unfortunately, encouraging citizens to recognize these threats often falls on deaf ears as people pick the side they want to support, or generally remain complacent and apathetic.
Even the most basic CARVER analysis strongly indicates that these encampments are extremely soft-targets that present hundreds of vulnerabilities to malign actors. The more nefarious of which is challenging to discuss in a casual manner.
Of course, calm and reason win the day in any situation. However, voicing concern and investigating with a sense of urgency due to the time-sensitive nature of the issue, purely with the goal of putting minds at ease, is also a highly desirable goal. So far, this has not happened and there are few indicators that authorities are taking these increasingly vulnerable situations seriously. One does not have to personally care about the protesters or their cause to see the risks that these incidents bring to the entire nation, solely from the potential of a major incident occurring without anyone noticing. Yesterday it was a backpack full of mice…as the unrest continues, future backpacks may have different contents. Considering the nearly infinite list of malign actors seeking to sew discord in the United States, one must absolutely rise above personal grievances with social movements to see the larger more strategically vulnerable picture.
At minimum, it is imperative for the average citizen to remember that the precarious situations going on around the country provide absolutely perfect cover for malign actors and those seeking to conduct false-flag operations. Things are already getting out of hand rather quickly nationwide, and the risks for any number of nefarious actions conducted by a wide variety of malign actors (to include nationstates), have never been higher.
Analyst: S2A1
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