In the late hours of May 1, 2011, a quiet garrison town in Abbottabad became the stage for one of the most consequential covert operations in modern military history. Known as Operation Neptune Spear, the mission ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden—the architect of the September 11 attacks—and reshaped the global fight against terrorism.
Continue reading “Operation Neptune Spear: The Night the Hunt Ended”
Originally posted in 2020:
Last week, I came across an announcement that Scott O’Grady had been nominated by President Trump to be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. When I heard the news, I was transported back to my junior officer days in the mid-1990’s. If you were alive and old enough at the time, you probably remember Scott O’Grady. He came to International attention in June 1995 when the F-16 he was piloting was shot down over Bosnia. Back in those days, Scott O’Grady was an Air Force junior officer enforcing the no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the American contingent supporting of NATO’s Operation DENY FLIGHT.
“Terrain ahead. Pull up!”
It’s a command that should only be heard in a disaster movie or flight simulator. But pilots and aviation experts say such warnings have been increasingly sparking alarm in cockpits as bogus signals from global positioning satellites hit commercial flights.
Continue reading “How electronic warfare is sowing confusion in cockpits”
In the spring of 1975, as the South Vietnamese military crumbled under North Vietnamese attacks, a relative handful of NSA employees m Saigon continued to provide SIGINT support to the Americans still m country, mostly m the U.S. embassy.
Continue reading “Bittersweet Departure: The Final Days of NSA in Saigon”
Steve Jauregui joined the Navy as a young Seaman in 1942. His career spanning nearly 30 years took him to WWII duty in the Pacific, through the Cold War, and ultimately a commission and leadership of one of SECGRU’s premier programs. His success in shepherding WATERBOY (submarine WLR-6) through a maze of technical and programmatic obstacles was legendary and well documented in William Hadley’s series. But few outside SECGRU’s small engineering community know that after retiring from the Navy in 1970, he went on to an equally impressive second career.
Continue reading “Honoring Dr. Stephen Jauregui Commander (Ret) and Professor”
Somewhere inside an Israeli military intelligence facility, an autistic corporal is eight hours into his shift, scanning satellite imagery on multiple monitors. He does not find this tedious or boring; it’s actually quite relaxing.
Continue reading “The Military’s Untapped Advantage: Neurodivergent Talent”
Station HYPO 