The Wire - October 24, 2025 - Priority

//The Wire//2300Z October 24, 2025//
//PRIORITY//
//BLUF: U.K. MISTAKENLY RELEASES MIGRANT THAT SPARKED THE EPPING RIOTS, MANHUNT UNDERWAY FOR THE FUGITIVE. BRITISH DIGITAL ID SCHEME TO TARGET CITIZENS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE. VEHICLE RAMMING ATTACK REPORTED AT COAST GUARD BASE IN CALIFORNIA. USA TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA TERMINATED AS CANADA LAUNCHES PROPAGANDA AD CAMPAIGN.//

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-International Events-

United Kingdom: In an interview regarding the Digital ID scheme, PM Starmer revealed that the penalty for not getting and using a Digital ID will be a fee of £85 for every instance of financial transaction that would ordinarily require an ID under this new plan.

This afternoon, a separate situation developed as a major police operation was declared in Essex after the Epping Hotel attacker was allegedly mistakenly released from prison. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was released by police this morning, rather than being deported. Currently a manhunt is underway, and local citizens are urged to be on the lookout for the violent criminal. Local police have not provided a description of Kebatu other than his mugshot, however a local citizen posted a video on social media after they spotted a man matching his description carrying his belongings in a clear trash bag. This footage was taken before the wanted notice went out, and the grey sweat/tracksuit he was wearing matches the description that court reporters visually saw him wearing earlier that day in court.

Geolocation of this video evidence places Kebatu's last known location outside a cafe at Number 84 on the High Street in Chelmsford. The video cuts off before Kebatu's destination could be confirmed, but his last known azimuth places him traveling North up High Street, toward the bus station.

Analyst Comment: Kebatu is an Ethiopian national who assaulted a child and a woman in Epping back in July, prompting the now-infamous Epping Riots. He had only been detained for roughly a month, and was supposed to be deported as a way of the British government showing that they do indeed deport violent criminals. However this shining example of good faith has been dashed, and the already dismal public sentiment on the issue is about to get a lot worse.

To put it lightly, it is in Mr. Kebatu's very best interest for the *police* to find him as soon as possible. On the one hand, it is true that the British government let a violent criminal out of jail. But on the other hand that also means that he is no longer under police protection, he has no documentation, doesn't speak English, and no one knows where he is. Anyway, a few protests and demonstrations are well underway in Epping, and time is of the essence to find him, before the trail goes cold.

Canada: The United States has suspended trade negotiations with Canada due to the discovery of a propaganda campaign targeting Americans. The government of Ontario ran a $75 million ad campaign featuring a speech by Ronald Reagan, in which he spoke negatively about the idea of tariffs. This speech, however, was a fabrication using clips and words selectively cut from Reagan's 1987 address in order to make it look like Reagan was not in favor of tariffs...when the actual uncut speech was actually in favor of tariffs.

Analyst Comment: There's a saying in the world of psyops...a deception campaign can never fail. Even if discovered, the deception effort will cause doubt as to what's real, so there will always be some level of effectiveness. In this case, Canadian officials thought they were being cute by playing fast and loose, but this was not simply a harmless meme or something obviously fake. The content that was produced was fully intended to take the place of true information, and when carried out by a nationstate to manipulate the internal sentiment of a foreign nation, this a very serious charge. The sheer scale of this propaganda campaign is also significant...this wasn't just some local TV ad, it was a multi-million-dollar national ad campaign. As such, this one act has severely damaged relations with the United States, so Canada is going to have to make a gargantuan move of good faith in the international arena to get back to a baseline from which to negotiate. As of this afternoon, PM Carney spoke to the Premier of Ontario, which agreed to pause the ad campaign, but the damage has already been done.

-HomeFront-

USA: Several vehicle ramming attacks on federal authorities have been reported over the past few days. In California, an unidentified individual attempted to ram a US Coast Guard checkpoint at the base in Alameda. Base security opened fire on the vehicle (which was a U-Haul truck), causing a brief small arms engagement. After being hit with many rounds, the driver of the vehicle was able to drive away from the base, and the vehicle was later found abandoned on an adjacent street. The driver of the vehicle remained at large for some time, but was later arrested with a gunshot wound to their abdomen. Two other rioters were wounded during the engagement, but are expected to survive.

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Analyst Comments: Regarding the attempted vehicle ramming attack in California, some may be confused as to why this individual used their vehicle in the manner that they did, as in, why did they try to ram a vehicle checkpoint by reversing into it? Right now, all we have is speculation, but there are a few doctrinal reasons that might help explain why this seemingly unique situation developed.

Firstly, this is a common attack vector, especially among ANTIFA militants. Plausible deniability is the name of the game with many ANTIFA "Direct Action" attacks, and they are exceptionally good at it. In this case, standing before a judge, the driver can say "your honor, I was just backing up my vehicle to turn around and leave the area, and they started shooting at me". This manipulative and subversive line of thinking is the bedrock of most "black-bloc" ideologies and has worked out extremely well for them both in court, and among the mainstream media.

Secondly, there is a practical element to this as well...it's harder to shoot and kill the driver if the vehicle is attacking in reverse. The driver can't be seen easily, and as proven by this engagement, security forces can mag-dump into the vehicle all they want, and the rear of the vehicle will provide some level of protection. Particularly if there is something solid in the cargo space in the back. ISIS militants in Syria, for example, also learned that vehicles attacking in reverse, while slow and hard to drive, also offered greater protection for the engine block, so that a vehicle could get closer to a checkpoint before being stopped. Similarly, practice runs for future VBIED attacks are commonly carried out in this manner by any number of insurgent groups.

In this case, there's no telling what the driver was trying to do. This facility had been targeted all day long by ANTIFA militants, who had attempted to lay siege to the bridge leading to this island complex. ANTIFA intelligence networks had identified ICE personnel using the Coast Guard base as a staging area for operations in San Francisco, thus prompting the initial confrontation that eventually resulted in the ramming attack and shooting. However, at the time of the attack, most of the demonstrators/rioters had departed the area, proving once again that it's not over until it's over, and that complacency while an event is winding down might be fatal. Thankfully in this case the situation remained a limited small arms engagement, and didn't escalate into a wider attack.

Regardless of the information warfare and deception tactics being used here, what is unquestionable is that this attack (and the countless others like it) are a deliberate action. Not just a deliberate attack itself (or preparation for a future attack), but also efforts are intentionally carried out with the goal of manipulating the media coverage of an attack. This makes the truth hard to verify in the heat of the moment, and most dangerously, might cause hesitation or delay on the part of security forces when an attack is underway. This is the overall goal of this type of action, to cause hesitation and buy a few seconds time for the attacker to make good on their plans.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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