This is the Intelligence Feed.
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 Israel and Lebanon concluded the third round of U.S.-brokered direct negotiations at the State Department on May 14 and 15, with a senior State Department official characterizing the eight-hour first session as "productive and positive," but substantive gaps over Hezbollah's disarmament remain unresolved [1][2]. The talks, the highest-level direct…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 — CIA Whistleblower Alleges Agency Obstructed DNI COVID Origins Review A senior CIA operations officer testified publicly before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on May 13, 2026, accusing the agency of obstructing a congressionally relevant review of its COVID-19 origins assessments and illegally surveilling personnel assigned…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 Saudi Arabia conducted undisclosed airstrikes against Iran-linked militia targets inside Iraq during the broader 2026 regional war, and rockets were launched from Kuwaiti territory into southern Iraq on at least two separate occasions, according to a Reuters report published May 14. The sourcing for both sets of strikes includes…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 The Senate on Wednesday rejected, for the seventh time since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, a motion to discharge a War Powers Resolution from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, falling short on a 49-50 vote. [1][2] Three Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on May 13, 2026, for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first visit to China by a sitting U.S. president since Trump's own 2017 trip. That earlier visit produced a "state visit-plus" featuring a private dinner in the Forbidden City…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 – The **Daniel Zimmerman signing claim** comes only from the Financial Times (per POLITICO) and was disputed by the Pentagon as "false." I cannot corroborate it independently through search results, so I will attribute it to POLITICO/FT inline and note the Pentagon's denial. – The **Toledo, Ohio testing site**…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 The Pentagon announced May 1 that it will withdraw approximately 5,000 troops from Germany within the next six to 12 months, a decision Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell framed as following "a thorough review of the Department's force posture in Europe." [1][2] The drawdown, which President Donald Trump subsequently…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 The Department of Defense is simultaneously deploying Anthropic's restricted Claude Mythos Preview model to scan government networks for software vulnerabilities and executing a court-ordered phase-out of all Anthropic products, a posture that under secretary Emil Michael, the Pentagon's chief technology officer and under secretary of Defense for research and…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 Pakistan's position as the designated intermediary in U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations came under direct congressional challenge this week after CBS News reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials, that Islamabad had permitted Iranian military aircraft to park at Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan, a major air mobility installation outside Rawalpindi, in…
Dispatch Washington · May 16, 2026 Pentagon Puts Iran War Price Tag at $29 Billion as Base Costs Remain Excluded Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules W. Hurst III told House and Senate appropriators on May 13 that the cost of U.S. military operations against Iran has risen to $29 billion, an increase of $4 billion from…