The Wire - July 16, 2024

//The Wire//2200Z July 16, 2024//
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//BLUF: HOUTHI ATTACKS CONTINUE TO ESCALATE IN RED SEA. USSS UNDER SCRUTINY FOR SECURITY CONCERNS EXPRESSED IN THE WAKE OF TRUMP SHOOTING.//
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-International Events-
Red Sea/HOA: Houthi attacks on commercial shipping continue to escalate. Yesterday afternoon, Houthi forces successfully attacked the M/V CHIOS LION, a Liberian flagged tanker. This attack was carried out via an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) in a similar manner as the M/V TUTOR which was sunk a few weeks ago. AC: The status of the LION remains unclear, however the Houthis released a video of the attack, showing the detonation of the USV against the hull of the LION. From this footage, it is likely that the LION suffered extremely severe damage during this attack.
Admin Note: As a reminder CENTCOM and other US government agencies have modified the term “Unmanned Surface Vessels” to be “Uncrewed Surface Vessels”, due to the DoD’s policy on gender-neutral language. This policy to modify doctrinal warfare terms has been in place for some time, but frequently causes confusion among those who are unaware of the stripping of the suffixes “-men” or “-manned” from certain terms. Most of the time the acronym remains the same, however keyword searches throughout military doctrine are made more challenging by the altering of such language. This should be considered when conducting independent research.
-HomeFront-
USA: CNN has claimed that President Trump’s security detail has been increased due to an alleged Iranian plot on his life. AC: This is overwhelmingly likely to be a lie intended to detract from the security concerns observed over the past few days.
Texas: Recovery efforts continue in the wake of the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl. Crime has increased substantially in some areas as many linemen have reported being attacked while trying to conduct repairs to electrical transmission lines.
Pennsylvania: Questions remain unanswered regarding the Trump assassination attempt, with what little information that has been released resulting in even more questions. For instance, the Director of the USSS has provided more information regarding the reasoning behind why no security presence was on the roof occupied by the shooter. USSS Director Cheatle stated that the pitch of the roof presented a fall hazard risk so it was not occupied by security forces before the incident, even though it was identified as a security risk.
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Analyst Comments: Over the next few weeks, the USSS will likely seek to engage in narrative shaping to prevent the truth from coming to light. For one, the claims of the pitch of the roof occupied by the shooter being too steep and presenting a fall hazard are almost certainly false as that roof was less steep than an adjacent rooftop already occupied by a USSS CAT team.
While the old adage of “never attributing to malice what can be ascribed to incompetence” is certainly true, we must ensure that the inverse is not attempted by the USSS within the information space. Over the past few years, it has become clear that the knee-jerk reaction by most federal agencies when faced with scrutiny is to lie, even regarding easily verifiable information. This, while not surprising, unfortunately influences the lessons learned by the average person who seeks to reduce the risk of tragedy occurring again.
Though purely speculative, it must be considered that lying so openly and deliberately about a roof pitch being too steep would bring about complaints of DEI practices, incompetence, etc….anything but malice. Somewhat ironically, the USSS lying to make themselves seem like incompetent diversity hires, because that narrative is somehow more palatable than the truth, is a concerning detail that is likely to be overlooked as all sides express the (somewhat justified) outrage over practices observed during the incident.
Analyst: S2A1
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