LOS ANGELES – A Northern California man has been arrested on a federal criminal complaint for allegedly flying a drone over and taking photographs of Vandenberg Space Force Base, the Justice Department announced today.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood, is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
Zhou was arrested Monday at San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight and made his initial appearance Tuesday in United States District Court in San Francisco.
Zhou remains in federal custody pending prosecutors’ appeal of a federal magistrate judge’s decision to release him. No plea was taken and his arraignment is expected to be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
“This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photos of the base's layout, which is against the law,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “The security of our nation is of paramount importance and my office will continue to promote the safety of our nation’s military personnel and facilities.”
According to an affidavit filed on December 8 with the complaint, on November 30, 2024, drone detection systems at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base. The drone systems detected that the drone flew for nearly one hour, traveled to an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, and originated from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base. Base security personnel went to the park, spoke to Zhou and another person accompanying him, and learned that Zhou had a drone concealed in his jacket – the same one that flew over the base.
Agents later searched Zhou’s drone pursuant to a federal search warrant and saw several photographs of Vandenberg Space Force Base taken from an aerial viewpoint. A search of Zhou’s cellphone showed Zhou conducted a Google search approximately one month earlier for the phrase “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and messaged with another person about hacking his drone to allow it to fly higher than it could otherwise.
Zhou is a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States, most recently returning to the United States from China in February 2024. The person accompanying Zhou at Ocean Park most recently entered the United States from China on November 26.
A complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
If convicted, the defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of four years in federal prison.
The FBI is investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Kedar S. Bhatia of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Trial Attorney Benjamin Koenigsfeld of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Contact
THE SCOOP: Russia warned the US of an incoming ballistic missile strike on Ukraine shortly before Thursday’s attack, a US administration official told Semafor.
“The United States was pre-notified briefly before the launch,” the official said.
The US also briefed Ukraine and other allies in the days leading up to the attack about Russia’s possible use of an experimental medium-range ballistic missile “to help them prepare,” the official said.
Russia and the US typically inform each other if they plan to launch ballistic missiles, however it was unclear whether or not Moscow had done so this time.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov later said there were ”no notifications, because Russia has no such obligation with intermediate-range missiles,” the Russian news agency TASS reported.
On Thursday, Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Dnipro; while Ukrainian officials initially accused Russia of using an intercontinental ballistic missile, Western officials have disputed that, saying it was an intermediate-range missile.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said it was a new medium-range ballistic missile called “Oreshnik,” adding that the attack was in response to Kyiv’s use of US and UK weapons to strike Russian territory.
“We are carefully analyzing the missile and the implications for Russia’s arms control obligations and for NATO’s deterrence and deference posture,” the US official said, adding that Russia likely only possesses “a handful” of this kind of missile.
KYIV, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, Kyiv's air force said, in what would be the first use in war of a weapon designed to deliver long-distance nuclear strikes.
The launch, if confirmed, highlights rapidly rising tensions in the 33-month-old war after Ukraine fired U.S. and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.
"Today there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics – speed, altitude – are (of an) intercontinental ballistic (missile). An expert (investigation) is currently underway," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video statement.
The Ukrainian air force said the missile was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700 km (435 miles) from Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine. It did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.
Asked about the air force statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to contact Russian military for comment. During a weekly briefing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova received a phone call in which she was told by an unidentified man not to comment, video footage showed.
he RS-26 is classified as an ICBM under a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia, but it can be seen as an intermediate-range ballistic missile when used with heavier payloads at ranges below 5,500 km, CSIS said.
The Russian missile attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the air force said.
Ukraine's air force did not say what the ICBM targeted or whether it had caused any damage, but regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.
Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.
'TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED'
The NATO military alliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. European Command said it had nothing on the reported use of an ICBM and referred questions to the U.S. Department of Defense.
"If true this will be totally unprecedented and the first actual military use of ICBM. Not that it makes a lot of sense given their price and precision," Andrey Baklitskiy of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research posted on X.
German security expert Ulrich Kuehn posted: "It looks as if Russia has today used an intercontinental ballistic missile in a war for the first time in history, against the civilian target Dnipro."
Some military experts said the ICBM launch, if confirmed, could be seen as an act of deterrence by Moscow following Kyiv's strikes into Russia with Western weapons this week.
"An ICBM launch can certainly be seen as a threatening gesture, potentially in response to the lifting of restrictions on ATACMS and Storm Shadow. It’s a means of deterrence," said a European military source.
Russian war correspondents on Telegram and an official speaking on condition of anonymity said Kyiv fired British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine on Wednesday.
Russia's defence ministry, in its daily report of events over the previous 24 hours on Thursday, said air defences had shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles but did not say where. Britain had previously let Ukraine use Storm Shadows within Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine also fired U.S. ATACMS missiles into Russia on Tuesday after U.S. President Joe Biden gave the all-clear to use such missiles, two months before he leaves office and Donald Trump returns to the White House. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks.
Trump has said he will end the war, without saying how, and criticised billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine under Biden. The warring sides believe Trump is likely to push for peace talks - not known to have been held since the war's earliest months - and are trying to attain strong positions before negotiations.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow's February 2022 invasion.
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Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold in Brussels, Mark Trevelyan and Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Timothy Heritage
Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.
"Any day we can publicly say that is a good day," the FBI's Houston field office said on social media.
Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in federal district court in Texas.
Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he allegedly planned the attack, the FBI said, noting that he allegedly bragged that he would commit "a 9/11-style" attack if he had the resources.
Said allegedly told federal agents that he created propaganda for the terrorist group, considered attacking members of the U.S. military and discussed researching the location and physical layout of local synagogues and the Israeli consulate in Houston, federal court documents show.
Said allegedly sought to understand the security measures at those sites and "openly acknowledged that he wants to fight against and kill proponents of Israel," the documents state.
According to a detention memo filed in the case, Said had been posting pro-ISIS messages or buying its propaganda since 2017.
Federal agents interviewed numerous times about his desire to travel to Lebanon, where he is from, and his “affinity" for Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a former ISIS spokesperson, according to the documents.
When the FBI interviewed him in March 2019, the documents state, Said told the agency he no longer consumed radical Islamic propaganda and used the internet only for schoolwork and sports.
But federal agents allegedly discovered recently that he continued to use Facebook accounts and encrypted messaging applications to create and disseminate propaganda that glorified ISIS violence, the documents state.
After his Nov. 8 arrest, Said initially refused to comply with law enforcement agents but later detailed his alleged support for the terrorist group, according to the detention memo.
"He tried several times to travel to join ISIS and stated he would readily move back to Lebanon if he were released," the documents state.
Said also allegedly told federal agents that he'd ask members of the military that he'd see near his work if they supported Israel; if they'd been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq; and if they'd killed Muslims.
"If they said yes, those are the persons he would kill," the documents state.
In an email, a lawyer for Said he is focusing on the allegation that his client provided material support by producing videos and propaganda for ISIS.
"Despite allegations that my client made statements to government agents regarding proposed terrorist acts, the indictment does not currently allege any planning, or acts, of terrorism," said the lawyer, Baldemar Zuniga. "This appears to be a lengthy investigation and it will take some time to sift through all of the evidence.
An Intelsat communication satellite built by Boeing has exploded and broken up in geostationary orbit. Intelsat confirmed the news in a press release, declaring the satellite a "total loss." The US Space Force said it is tracking around 20 associated pieces but "has observed no immediate threats" to other satellites so far (Roscosmos said it was tracking 80 fragments). The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but the news is another blow for Boeing following Starliner's failed crew test flight, problems with the 737 Max and delays to the 777x.
Intelsat said it's working to move customers to its other satellites or third party spacecraft. "A Failure Review Board has convened to complete a comprehensive analysis of the cause," the company wrote. The satellite was uninsured, a spokesperson told SpaceNews.
The explosion fragments could still pose a risk to other satellites. "The problem is that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the orbits of these fragments at the moment," said a spokesperson for Spaceflux, a UK company that tracks objects in orbit. "They can be potentially dangerous for other satellites but we do not know that yet."
Intelsat 33e is one of six "EpicNG" satellites built by Boeing, and uses the latter's 720MP satellite platform equipped with 16 hydrazine-powered engines built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. The type is widely used for telephone, internet and satellite TV/radio broadcast services.
It entered service three months late due to an issue with its primary thruster, and another propulsion issue reduced its service life by 3.5 years. The first EpicNG satellite, Intelsat 29e, was declared a total loss in 2019 after just three years in service, reportedly due to a meteoroid impact or wiring flaw.
BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated late on Wednesday afternoon across Lebanon's south and in Beirut's southern suburbs, a security source and a witness said, further hiking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group's pagers. At least one of the blasts took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country and wounded many of the group's fighters.
The group, which was thrown briefly into disarray by the pager attacks, said on Wednesday it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first strike at its arch-foe since blasts wounded thousands of its members in Lebanon and raised the prospect of a wider Middle East war. The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought, said a security source. Israel's spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil, planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
The death toll rose to 12, including two children, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday. Tuesday's attack wounded nearly 3,000 people, including many of the militant group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.
A Taiwanese pager maker denied that it had produced the pager devices which exploded in an audacious attack that raised the prospect of a full-scale war between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. Gold Apollo said the devices were made by under license by a company called BAC, based in Hungary's capital Budapest. There was no immediate word on when Hezbollah had launched its latest rocket attack, but normally the group announces such strikes shortly after carrying them out, suggesting it fired at the Israeli artillery positions on Wednesday.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts. The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October, fuelling fears of a wider Middle East conflict that could drag in the United States and Iran. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of pushing the Middle East to the brink of a regional war by orchestrating a dangerous escalation on many fronts. "Hezbollah wants to avoid an all-out war. It still wants to avoid one. But given the scale, the impact on families, on civilians, there will be pressure for a stronger response," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center. Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East, said in a statement it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and Israel should await a response to the pager "massacre" which left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalised or dead. One Hezbollah official said the detonation was the group's "biggest security breach" in its history. Footage from hospitals reviewed by Reuters showed men with various injuries, some to the face, some with missing fingers and gaping wounds at the hip where the pagers were likely worn. The plot appears to have been many months in the making, several sources told Reuters. It followed a series of assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas commanders and leaders blamed on Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
BEIRUT: VARIOUS SOURCES — Dozens, maybe hundreds of people were wounded in Beirut’s suburbs and other parts of Lebanon after their handheld pagers exploded Tuesday, Lebanese state media and security officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear if people were killed.
A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.
The Associated Press reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment.
Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices. A Hezbollah official told Reuters news agency it constituted the "biggest security breach yet" since hostilities with Israel escalated 11 months ago in parallel with the Gaza war.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. However, the events come hours after Israel’s security cabinet made the safe return of residents to the north of the country an official goal of the war in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly warned it could launch a military operation to drive Hezbollah away from the border.
UPDATE: Unconfirmed reports suggest that Israel hacked communication devices held by Hezbollah members, causing their batteries to explode.
Explosions reportedly occurred in a southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, according to Reuters news. NNA reported that “hacked” pager devices exploded in the towns of Ali Al-Nahri and Riyaq in Lebanon’s central Beqaa valley, resulting in a significant number of injuries. All three locations are Hezbollah strongholds.
The Israeli military, which has engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza last October, said it would not be commenting on the incident.
Health workers across Lebanon were asked to report urgently to work given the “large number of injured people being transferred to hospitals” following the pager explosions, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Officials also called for people to donate blood in anticipation of increased need.
UPDATE: BEIRUT (AP) — A Hezbollah official tells The Associated Press that “several hundred” people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when their handheld pagers exploded.
He said a few Hezbollah fighters were also wounded in Syria when the pagers they were carrying exploded.
Dozens of people, including Iran’s ambassador, were wounded in Beirut’s suburbs and other parts of Lebanon after their handheld pagers exploded Tuesday, according to media reports and security officials. It wasn’t immediately clear if people were killed.
A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.
The Associated Press reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, close to the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, said on its Telegram channel that Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon, has a superficial injury and is under observation at a hospital. Meanwhile, another semi-official Mehr news agency, also on its Telegram channel reported that Amani was wounded by a pager explosion.
Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.
AP photographers at area hospitals said the emergency rooms were overloaded with patients, many of them with injuries to their limbs, some in serious condition.
The state-run National News Agency said hospitals in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs — all areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence — had called on people to donate blood of all types.
The news agency reported that in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas “the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported.”
A Hezbollah official said that at least 150 people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when the pagers they were carrying exploded. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the explosions were the result of “a security operation that targeted the devices.”
“The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident,” the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.
Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590 C (1,100 F).
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.
The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal. ___
Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Josef Federman, in Jerusalem, contributed to this report.
Russia and the United States have agreed to swap prisoners in an extraordinary multipart deal, according to a senior Biden administration official.
The swap will allow the two wrongfully detained American citizens held by Moscow, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, to return home.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested by Russian authorities in March 2023 for espionage, a charge he and U.S. officials flatly deny, with President Joe Biden saying Gershkovich was targeted for being a journalist and an American.
After an unusually hasty trial that played out behind closed doors, Gershkovich was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in December 2018 while traveling on an American passport in Russia and also accused of espionage.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations denied the allegation against Whelan. He was convicted on the charges in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, ultimately serving five.
The White House, State Department and CIA did not immediately return a request for comment.
When asked about the movement of Russian prisoners on Wednesday, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said, "I don't want to speculate on any reasoning. What I can say is that the United States continues to be focused on working around the clock to work to get our wrongfully detained American citizens home. And that continues to be the case, but no updates beyond that."
Speaking earlier this month at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration was "determined" to make a deal happen for Americans in Russia.
"[W]e are determined to make it happen," he said on July 19 in response to a question about Gershkovich. "And I will consider it one of the most important things between now and the end of the year, and especially now at the end of the month, for us to try to get something done where we can get him home."
Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was taken into Russian custody while on assignment in Yekaterinburg March 2023. Russian authorities charged him with espionage, drawing immediate condemnation from the U.S. government, which determined Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained.
In July, Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian court. The U.S. called his hurried trial "a sham." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Updated July 23, 2024 at 12:04 p.m. EDT|Published July 23, 2024 at 10:41 a.m. EDT
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, telling staff that she took “full responsibility,” according to a copy of a letter sent to agency staff obtained by The Washington Post.
“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director,” wrote Cheatle, who has been under intense pressure to resign from lawmakers of both parties.
“This incident does not define us,” Cheatle told staff. “I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission.”
The attack was the first against a U.S. leader on the elite protective agency’s watch in more than 40 years. Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, had called the security failure involving a gunman shooting from an apparently unsecured roof at a Trump presidential campaign rally July 13 unacceptable and acknowledged that “the buck stops with me.”
She initially had said she would not resign and would cooperate with investigations into the shooting.
But during a House oversight hearing Monday, Cheatle faced withering scorn from Republicans and Democrats alike. Lawmakers took turns criticizing her for declining to answer detailed questions about what went wrong at the Trump rally.
Johnson calls Secret Service director resignation 'overdue' 1:42
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on July 23 said Congress would need to rebuild "trust" in the Secret Service after Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director. (Video: The Washington Post)
After Cheatle’s resignation, Oversight committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) took credit for pushing her out and pledged “there will be more accountability to come.”
“Egregious security failures leading up to and at the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally resulted in the assassination attempt of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” Comer said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service in support of the House Task Force to deliver transparency, accountability, and solutions to ensure this never happens again.”
A failed tech update grounded flights throughout the country after US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike initiated a faulty software update. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” said CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz. “This is the first time in recent modern times we’ve seen something like this happen at this scale,” said New York City’s chief technology officer, Matthew Fraser. The graphic below is a 12 hour timelapse of Delta, American Airlines, and United flights as shared by @US_Stormwatch.
In the state of Georgia, the Department of Driver Services said its computer systems were down at more than 60 offices statewide. The department was still giving road tests, but wasn’t issuing licenses to people who passed.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority said problems had caused service reductions on its rail system earlier in the morning, but that full rail service had been restored.
However, the system’s website, service information systems and online ticket sales remained disrupted.
Banks and health care providers saw their services disrupted and TV broadcasters went offline as businesses worldwide grappled with the ongoing outage. Air travel has been hit hard, too, with planes grounded and services delayed.
At the heart of the issue is Texas-based cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike. On Friday, the cybersecurity firm experienced a major disruption following an issue with a software update.
CrowdStrike is what’s known as an “endpoint security” firm as it uses cloud technology to apply cyber protections to devices that are connected to the internet.
This differs from alternative approaches used by other cyber firms, which involve applying protection directly to backend server systems.
“Many companies use [CrowdStrike software] and install it on all of their machines across their organization,” Nick France, chief technology officer of IT security firm Sectigo, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.
“So when an update happens that maybe has problems with it, it causes this problem where the machines reboot, and people can’t get back into their computers.”
CrowdStrike’s software requires deep access to a computer’s operating system to scan for threats. In the case of Friday’s outage, machines running Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashed due to a fault in the way a software update issued by CrowdStrike interacted with Windows.
“We have been made aware of an issue impacting Virtual Machines running Windows Client and Windows Server, running the CrowdStrike Falcon agent, which may encounter a bug check (BSOD [blue screen of death]) and get stuck in a restarting state. We approximate impact started around 19:00 UTC on the 18th of July,” Microsoft said in an update at 5:40 a.m. ET.
“We can confirm the affected update has been pulled by CrowdStrike. Customers that are continuing to experience issues should reach out to CrowdStrike for additional assistance,” the company added.
“The challenge here is that security software — because it’s doing its job to protect organizations — it has to have more privileged access to these machines,” he said.
So, while people may be seeing their IT issues as a problem with Windows, “it’s not actually a Windows issue, it’s related to a faulty or bad update from those security software,” Narang added.
CrowdStrike is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” CEO George Kurtz said Friday in a update on social media platform X. He added that Mac and Linux hosts are not affected.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” Kurtz said.
That fix could be hard to implement, though. Andy Grayland, chief information and security officer at threat intelligence firm Silobreaker, said that in order to implement a fix, engineers would have to go into each individual data center running windows.
They’d then have to log in, navigate to a certain CrowdStrike file, delete it, and then reboot the entire system, he said.
“Where machines are encrypted, complex encryption keys also need to be entered manually. Unless Microsoft and CrowdStrike (if they are involved) pull something miraculous out of the bag, this could be painful to recover from.”
A B-21 Raider conducts flight testing, which includes ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The B-21 will interoperate with our allies and partners to deliver on our enduring commitment to provide flexible strike options for coalition operations that defend us against common threats. (Courtesy photo)
Enough with the fuzzy videos (or for that matter) crystal clear videos with no provenance, no chain of evidence, wiped of meta-data and have no source who is willing to step forward, that video of a dancing light or black jet means nothing without confirmable data.
Many will say they choose anonymity because they are afraid of being silenced by the MIBs or claim they've been threatened. I think that's the fallback excuse for fakers and internet trolls.
This author has been seeking out, listening for and investigating the black world since the mid- 1980s and so far the only contact I've had with government agents were FBI investigators looking into an incident where someone intercepted the (then) analog cordless phone call of a member of the U.S. house of Representatives who was trying to bed a woman by promising to take her on a junket to the Bahamas. After several interviews with the Feds and the U.S. District attorney for the Northern District of Texas (including telling them how it was done) the real person stepped forward and claimed making the recording of the Rep who was his neighbor.
Since then I've written hundreds of articles, books, done dozens of TV interviews and posted photos of those unknown flying things that I've clicked away at without as much as the Feds driving past my house.
In that time I have never been denied access to Air Force Bases or government facilities when on a legitimate news assignment and in fact I've asked and been given permission to fly in military jets, tankers, fighters, bombers and even V-22C Ospreys with Special Forces Teams.
photo (C) Steve Douglass
I have also done thousands of interviews with government officials, governors, senators, law enforcement officials, Feds, DEA agents, Homeland Security and even President Donald Trump submitting my credentials and bona fides to the Secret Service with only 12 hours advanced notice of wanting an interview.
I've also been allowed to photograph on and over many military bases, test ranges, bombing ranges, military contractor facilities and much more, including getting permission to fly a drone over one of the most highly guarded nuclear weapons facilities in the country. In fact I've been the ONLY one outside the government to be allowed to do so.
Not to mention (and this is not a humble brag) I am a fully-authorized owner of a UAS remote pilot certificate as well as a being a licensed by the FCC as a amateur radio operator.
There are some that say that just goes to prove I am somehow in cahoots with the Feds or a dis-infomationist myself, but I can assure you that's not the case.
For example, after I photographed a trio of triangular craft flying over my city (and even after an expensive attempt by the USAF to cast doubt on those photos by staging a very public dog and pony show, in the end they only succeeded in affirming what I had captured was real. It's impossible to debunk the truth, only cast a little shade on it, especially backed by research, good solid investigation and expert peer review.
As such, I've never trespassed on government property, taken photos where by law I can't or divulged classified information. Everything I've written about, all that has been published, intercepted or photographed has been through purely legal ways, using open sourced information.
That can't be said of most "UAP IVESTIGATORS" who have published leaked documents, pressured those with classified clearances to talk and stepped over the legal line to obtain information of a Top Secret classification.
All that being said, I'm also not afraid to reveal my methods - techniques UAV/UFO investigators should use to get the proof they seek, but only if that's what they are really after.
Most "true believers" only want affirmation to an answer they've already accepted.
Anyone whose pre-conceived beliefs are threatened (even with logic) that that their "proof" is based on not only incomplete data or bad or (faked) data, is a bad investigator or not really one at all. Videos and photos by themselves is not proof of anything.
What they lack is a solid foundation of peer-reviewed data that brings us no closer to the truth. Always seek a second opinion and especially from someone who will do a critical analysis even if it proves you are wrong.
So here are my top methods, tools and techniques I use BEFORE going viral with a claim.
1: Seek a second opinion, one you trust to REALLY investigate the facts behind the claims.
2: Reject the anonymous. If you can't trace it back to a real person who can give you verifiable proof its legit, REJECT IT.
3: Ask questions. Where and when was the photo/video taken? What were the exact circumstances, time, date and other things like, location, direction (on a compass) lighting conditions, sky conditions. Ask for other images taken immediately before the sighting? Ask questions about the equipment used to take the video or photo?
4: Ask for the RAW images, not a copy, not a screenshot but the actual raw images as they are on the device. Then look at the METADATA and compare it to the story. If they don't match REJECT it. If they won't give it to you (especially if they claim the government is out to silence them) REJECT it.
GLOBAL ADS-B EXCHANGE which will show you a real-time view of aircraft squawking ADS-B in any given area. If you subscribe you can even go into past recording of what was flying (both civil and most military) in the airspace in question. Don't expect to see a "UAP/UFO" on ADS-B exchange but aircraft diverting to avoid colliding with it will be.
You can search through their archives of Air Traffic Control communications and listen for yourself the incident you are investigating was reported to ATC.
Or do (as in my case) set up your own communications monitoring post. Yes, it's expensive and requires mastering a set of technologies but the payoff can be well worth it. I've been able to break hundreds of local, national and international news stories (including those involving UAPS) which are backed up with real-time recordings.
Just enter your location and track satellites in your sky. Is that light in the sky a UAP or just a Starlink satellite or an Iridium flare? If it's a manmade moon, you can track it. It's good to use the process of elimination to rule out all manmade space vehicles, including the I.S.S.
Other links of interest:
Was it a rocket launch? Check to see launch schedules here:
The most comprehensive resource on America's most secret non-secret base. You can even join the discussion on all things Area 51 related.
In closing, if you REALLY want to get to the truth, be skeptical, ask questions, do your research and question everything. Network with experts in communications monitoring, astronautics, aviation and military matters.
Don't surround yourself with YesMen. Be an independent thinker and don't just regurgitate what you read online without questioning it. It gets you no closer to the truth. If someone claims to know "the whole truth" question them and ask them where's your proof?
Approach your research like an intelligence analyst would, dis-compassionately, without pre-conceived bias or based on what you WANT TO BELIEVE.
Expect to be disappointed most of the time but the knowledge you gain will aid you in future investigations. Post your conclusions along with your sources and data that others can examine. See if they come to the same conclusions you do. Don't help them, let them arrive at the answer independently. Your bias could corrupt the result.
Encourage discourse, welcome skeptics, and don't dismiss them if they question your work. Only then will you be taken seriously. Once you have established yourself as a no-bullshit investigator, doors will open.
With apologies to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle always remember, when you have eliminated the impossible ( and the fakery) whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”
A new Defense Department report released reveals that while the U.S. has not found any evidence of life on another planet, the feds had considered a program that would research mind reading and how to reverse-engineer any alien spacecraft. Of particular interest were possible impact from UAPS on nuclear weapons storage facilities.
The program, dubbed Kona Blue, was proposed to the Department of Homeland Security and would restart UFO investigations, “paranormal research (including alleged “human consciousness anomalies”), and reverse-engineer any recovered off-world spacecraft that they hoped to acquire,” the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office’s report said.
Here are the recently declassified documents detailing the project. Federally funded wild stuff:
"To date, AARO has not discovered any empirical evidence that any sighting of a UAP
represented off-world technology or the existence a classified program that had not been
properly reported to Congress. Investigative efforts determined that most sightings were the
result of misidentification of ordinary objects and phenomena. Although many UAP reports
remain unsolved, AARO assesses that if additional, quality data were available, most of these
cases also could be identified and resolved as ordinary objects or phenomena."
ABC NEWS: A shooting followed by an explosion were reported at Moscow's Crocus City Hall -- one of the biggest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia -- on Friday evening, according to Russian state media. Russia's foreign ministry called the shooting and explosion a "terrorist attack."
Most of the building is engulfed in fire and the roof partially collapsed, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
More than 70 ambulance teams were sent to the sight of the attack, the governor of the Moscow region reported.
Several gunmen burst into the concert hall and opened fire with automatic weapons, state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.
Attackers then threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, starting a fire in the hall, according to Russian state media.
No official numbers on deaths or injuries have been released.
In Podolsk, near Moscow, public events were canceled due to the incident at Crocus City Hall, the head of the district said. The mayor of Moscow also cancelled all "sports, cultural and other mass events," in Moscow for the weekend.
The White House is aware of the incident in Moscow but has limited information as of now, according to National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby.
"The images are just horrible. And just hard to watch, and our thoughts, obviously, are going to be with the - the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack," Kirby said.
Kirby also reiterated the State Department's warning that all Americans in Moscow should avoid large gatherings, saying "they should stay put where they are, and stay plugged into the State Department for any additional updates and information."
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a warning on March 7, advising U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours, saying extremists have "imminent plans" to target large scale gatherings in Moscow.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
UPDATES: News outlets on social media app Telegram posted graphic videos that appeared to show several people being killed by the unidentified men and cited unverified death tolls several times higher than the FSB’s. Videos from outside the building showed an enormous blaze engulfing the roof, sending smoke billowing out into the night sky.
Officials described the attack as an act of terrorism. Some of them speculated that Ukraine, the country Russia launched a full-scale invasion against two years ago, was responsible, without providing any evidence.
Kyiv immediately denied any involvement. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and current deputy chair of Russia’s security council, demanded the “total elimination of the terrorists and repressions against their families”. “If it is determined that these were the terrorists of the Kyiv regime [ . . . ] they must all be founded and mercilessly destroyed as terrorists, including officials from the country behind this evil deed,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration, said “Ukraine certainly has nothing to do with the shooting/explosions in the Crocus City Hall”, in a post on X. “It makes no sense whatsoever.”
Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak has stated that Ukraine had nothing to do with the Terrorist Attack on the Crocus Concert Hall tonight in the Russian Capital of Moscow.
Last week, the U.S. State Department, through the embassy there issued a notice to all Americans in Moscow to avoid any large gatherings, concerts, obviously shopping centers, anything like that, simply for their own safety."
The U.S. has repeatedly urged its citizens to leave Russia amid growing tensions between the two countries over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago and the United States’ support of Kyiv in the war.
The embassy’s warning came on the same day that Russia’s Federal Security Service said it foiled a plot by an Islamic State-linked group to attack a synagogue in Moscow.
“A stop was put to the activity” by the group, Wilayat Khorasan, in Russia’s Kaluga region, just southwest of Moscow, the Federal Security Service said in a statement, Russian news agency TASS reported.
The statement also said the terror group “put up armed resistance to Russian FSB staff and as a result were neutralized by return fire."
It’s not clear if that incident and the U.S. warning are related.
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