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"In recent months, President Donald J. Trump has increasingly mused about nixing Office of the DNI completely. In The White House. there have been discussions about folding its mandate into CIA or another agency." Rachael Bade, Amy Mackinnon, Felicia Schwartz, John Sakellariadis politico.com/news/2025/06/1…

"Kurilla has an influence unseen in other administrations. One of the people familiar with the dynamic btw the U.S. Central Command commander & Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said they never saw Hegseth turn down a single Kurilla request for more military assets." Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary politico.com/news/2025/06/1…

Follows on the heels of their hack yesterday against IRGC-affiliated Bank Sepah. x.com/ShalomLipner/s…

"Intelligencer", no less.

"After years of secretive development, the U.S. Air Force last week provided its first look at a nuclear cruise missile expected to be wielded by B-52 bombers." Colin Demarest Coincidence? I think not. axios.com/2025/06/18/lrs…

Like a game show.

Adds his assessment that Netanyahu has "been very unfairly treated by his country." Netanyahu would agree, certainly.

Symbiosis at work here. Prime Minister of Israel wants space to continue. The more progress Israel makes at dismantling Iranian nuclear/ballistics infrastructure, the more inviting it becomes for President Donald J. Trump to swoop in and save the day at Fordow.

Meanwhile... Turkey-Israel front heating up again.

And still - for better and worse - who can be sure that this is (or isn’t) just a President Donald J. Trump negotiating tactic?

Question is whether there are any AMERICAN negotiators waiting to meet them there? (On the assumption that the Iranians are not about to accept Trump's invitation to the White Hoise right now.)

"The USS Ford Carrier Strike Group is expected to be deployed to Europe next week, near the Middle East, putting a third aircraft carrier in close proximity to the conflict between Israel and Iran." Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky cnn.com/world/live-new…

"Netanyahu’s son called him “Churchill of our time”... but change could end many different ways, for the region & for Israeli politics. Churchill won the war only to be rejected by voters. The same could happen to Netanyahu." My latest for Foreign Policy. foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/18/net…

שלום החכם. בנו של נתניהו הכתיר את אביו - צ'ירצ'יל של זמננו." רק אולי לא לקח בחשבון מה קרה לצ'ירצ'יל לאחר סיום המלחמה. נכנס לסםרי ההיסטוירה ויצא מ-10 דאונינג. Shalom Lipner Foreign Policy

"Iran’s 902 lbs of HEU — enough to produce 10 nuclear warheads — should theoretically be secured under IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ seal at an underground facility at Isfahan. But Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday its whereabouts are now unclear." JONATHAN TIRONE, annmarie hordern bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

"The June 17 proposal was submitted by Witkoff to the Iranian side, [which said] the doc would be studied & given response “within hours.” Iran's response was described by a high-ranking source as “a polite no, but with a good explanation.”" amwaj.media/en/article/exc…

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been thinking about bombing Iran’s nuclear program for a long time. But will it be enough to secure his political future, much less his legacy?" My latest via Foreign Policy. foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/18/net…

Back in the bomb shelter...

"President Donald J. Trump' openness to a more forceful approach also stems from his feeling that the isolationists in and around the administration haven’t given him enough options and that he had tried their way." Felicia Schwartz, Eli Stokols, Dasha Burns politi.co/441whwI via POLITICO

"President Donald J. Trump told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear program." Alex Ward, Lara Seligman, Michael R. Gordon wsj.com/politics/natio…