Gordon Lubold retweetledi
It seems the U.S. and Israel… ran so far away from this secret plan to install Ahmadinejad.
nytimes.com/2026/05/19/us/…
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Gordon Lubold
7.3K posts
Gordon Lubold
@glubold
natsec reporter @NBCNews [email protected], DM for Signal. Ex WSJ, Defense One, CSM, FP, Politico, Marine Corps Times, Fairfax Journal, (LA) Herald Exam
Washington, D.C. Katılım Kasım 2008
2.3K Takip Edilen16.4K Takipçiler
Gordon Lubold retweetledi
After all the media manipulation on issues of war and peace in recent decades — and even recent weeks — the headline and framing obscure what appears to be a critical fact: U.S. officials reportedly are concerned Cuba would respond with UAVs if attacked. That context appears only well into the story, while the headline and opening grafs suggest a looming offensive threat from Havana. Whether in or out of government, I’ll always want reporters to be skeptical of such claims, demanding evidence and carefully vetting and phrasing rather than merely offering transcription for access. axios.com/2026/05/17/us-…
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
The careless decision to reduce our force posture in Europe, along with moves by Pete Hegseth and his political henchmen to force out some of our finest general officers is amateur hour at best and deadly at worst.
Hegseth continues to surprise and disrespect our greatest allies and some of our best military professionals with impulsive decisions not grounded in reality or good judgment. If the rumors are true that Hegseth is trying to sideline General Chris Donahue, one of our nation’s finest warfighters, by downgrading U.S. Army Europe-Africa to a 3-star command, he is taking another step down a dangerous path. A step that is not in the best interests of our nation or our servicemembers.
General Donahue has dedicated his entire career to upholding the high standards and warrior ethos that Hegseth claims he is restoring to our ranks. Gen. Donahue has led Soldiers at all levels in Airborne (including Ft. Bragg’s 82nd) and Mechanized units, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and our most prestigious special operation units. He deployed over 20 times in support of Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, New Dawn, Inherent Resolve, Atlantic Resolve, Freedom’s Sentinel, European Assure, Deter and Reinforce, and in support of the Sudan crisis.
Hegseth would do well to surround himself with more patriots like General Donahue and to get his henchmen, who are not qualified to carry Donahue's bag, out of the Pentagon. Keep your word, Mr. Secretary: choose meritocracy over your mediocre yes-men.
notus.org/defense/pentag…
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Two out of three Americans think President Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war with Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
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I know you think you are special @johnkonrad and I am sure you have special and valuable insights I just think a little humility n would help. But anyway welcome to the world of reporting. New media old media there is always a process
John Ʌ Konrad V@johnkonrad
Y’all don’t know the half of it. I met with the recently fired Secretary of the Navy before his confirmation, and I had repeated contact with his staff. The reforms they planned were revolutionary. The day before he was fired, he held a press conference. I was deliberately excluded. The owner of the most-read maritime and Navy website in the world, and his most vocal supporter, frozen out. And not just from his remarks. His staff pushed me out of everything. People who left naval journalism years ago were invited to host panels at the conference. I’m honestly surprised my press pass wasn’t canceled. My Pentagon press pass has been rendered nearly worthless. The NYT lawsuit forced SECWAR to kick every reporter out of the press corridor. When the pass was issued, we were told the whole point was to get reporters out of the building and onto the bases, talking to actual sailors and troops. How many ship visits have I been able to arrange since? One. And only because I was traveling with the SECWAR himself. I’m working on another project I can’t discuss publicly. A simple advisory gig. I was asked in early February. It is now May, and I am still in administrative hold. In the last few weeks I’ve spoken with Tata, Elbridge Colby, Hegseth, and the SecNav team about it. Nobody can budge “the process.” The other people I’m supposed to be working with have been sworn to secrecy, so we can’t even compare notes. A few months ago, I helped an active duty senior officer work through an assignment. The bureaucratic sludge got so bad he gave up. Last week, that same officer was asked to serve as assistant secretary under a different cabinet member. That was handled in days. He has the straight up approval from the White House but, of course, his chain of command won’t approve a TDY, so he needs personal signatures from both SECWAR & SECNAV. I am nobody. But this officer is absolutely vital to our shipbuilding effort: active duty, in good standing, top eval reports. Times were dark for me under Biden. NCIS opened a full investigation on me. I was literally pushed off the stage at the big Navy conference. They watched me closely. But I could still get things done. I could still help Democratic friends land appointments & push bipartisan agendas across the line. Every corner I turn now is blocked. I have traveled with @PeteHegseth. I have friends in very senior positions throughout the Navy & the Pentagon. Everyone takes my calls. Everyone wants to help. There’s no shortage of admirals willing to help either, which genuinely surprised me. But there is always “a process.” And everything I have worked on has stalled inside it. Just entering the building or scheduling a meeting has become its own ordeal. Meanwhile, the literal worst reporter at CNN just filed from an active exercise. And the worst part? I can’t even complain, because the transformation is real. Hegseth, Tata, Colby, Michaels, Doge & Hung Cao are doing excellent work. They are working their asses off to get the warfighters what they need. The operational & procurement reforms are real. But the more I praise them for it, the more “partisan” I get labeled & the bigger the pushback from the blob. I have been reporting on the Navy for almost twenty years. I have never seen anything like it. It is simultaneously the most ambitious operational reform I have ever witnessed & the worst bureaucratic obstruction I have ever encountered on structural change. And Hegseth’s team should prioritize the people on the front line. My concerns are secondary. All I’m saying is Dort is right. The blob has been suppressing everything. That’s their trick. They don’t say no. They don’t block you. They just take days to respond to simple requests. Someone loses your paperwork. The process eats you. I’m dying to share more details but anything negative I say will be used against Hegseth and Cao even though they are fighting tooth & nail to solve these problems.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Gentleman and scholar Sebastian Gorka was asked today if Trump's war in Iran might create new terror threats. Dr. Gorka responded: "You are testicularly challenged" if you don't support this war. "That's a low T approach"
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Absolutely thrilled to share that I’ve been promoted to senior national security reporter with @CNN covering the Pentagon!
Covering the military, US troops and their families, and issues that matter to them is the best job there is, and I’m ecstatic to get to do it alongside such a phenomenal team.
As always you can send any news tips securely on Signal — username hhb.50
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US troops were on the two commercial vessels that transited the Strait of Hormuz per @ckubeNBC
nbcnews.com/news/us-commer…
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Bravo to @hannah_natanson, whose Pulitzer Prize reporting overcame an outrageous and chilling FBI raid on her home, a threat to journalism in this country
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
I’m not sure the U.S. Navy would appreciate being called pirates, least of all by their commander in chief.
Acyn@Acyn
Trump on US Navy Seizing Ships: It’s a very profitable business. We’re like pirates.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Steve "Bucky" Butow as Senior Advisor to Director Owen West and member of DIU's Executive Committee.
In this new role, Bucky will contribute his ten years of experience to align DIU's path forward with the most urgent priorities of the Joint Force, solving operational problems we are uniquely suited to tackle as a team.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
What a DESPICABLE guy Hegseth is. Frustrated that he can’t remove his Real Nemesis, the Army Secretary, He Fires the NAVY Secretary, has him “walked out of the building” by security. But this was NOT an Urgent matter. Could have given the SECNAV a month, maybe 2 weeks notice. You know, The DECENT thing to do. Instead this Insecure FAKE, who Lied and Conned his way thru Life (see Mom) and the Trump admin (see ‘confidential settlement’ ie Blackmail of accuser #1) Blows up Someone Else’s life bc he can’t Handle his own. Not CUTE anymore.
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This would make almost every CENTCOM commander before Cooper blush
U.S. Central Command@CENTCOM
For the first time in decades, three aircraft carriers are operating in the Middle East at the same time. Accompanied by their carrier air wings, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) include over 200 aircraft and 15,000 Sailors and Marines.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Overnight, U.S. forces carried out a maritime interdiction and right-of-visit boarding of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T Majestic X transporting oil from Iran, in the Indian Ocean within the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.
We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.
International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors. The Department of War will continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Trump has extended the ceasefire. Iran has seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz. So are we looking at more diplomacy – or more war?
1. Probably some of both. The fight has moved from the air and land to the sea. It’s no longer a matter of drones versus interceptors but rather blockade versus blockade. An economic war, focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
2. Blockading Iranian ports and denying oil revenue to the IRGC is, for the U.S., far better than the President’s oft-invoked threats to bomb power plants and bridges. It’s hard to parse who is in charge of what in Tehran, but IRGC hardliners clearly have significant sway right now. And it’s a decent bet that they care more about their own access to resources than the suffering of their people. It’s telling that Tehran’s chief demand right now is an end to the blockade.
3. The problem is that Iran has leverage too, and knows it. Its grip on the world’s economic jugular produces pain everywhere, especially in Asia. Tehran bets that it can endure the pain of a blockade longer than the world can. That may or may not be right.
4. As it turns out, Iranian control over the Strait is more useful for Tehran than its nuclear program. It generates immediate leverage, can be dialed up and down, and takes little military resources to effectuate. Where the nuclear program generated potential threats, controlling the strait produces actual ones, and with economic results in hours.
5. That lesson won’t go unnoticed elsewhere. Does Beijing conclude that it can best generate leverage in a Taiwan crisis by blockading its exports of semiconductors? At a minimum, the old notion of key geographic choke points – the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca – will get a new look by military planners everywhere.
6. Lesser noticed right now are the UK and French efforts to assemble a coalition that keeps the Strait open after an enduring ceasefire. This is a key element in the ultimate solution here. The U.S. – and the world – cannot simply leave an Iranian sword of Damocles hanging over the waterway. For all the President’s complaints about U.S. allies, they are mobilizing to play a vital role.
7. Beyond reopening the Strait, the U.S. will necessarily focus on Iranian enrichment and the uranium stockpile. The VP had it right in shifting the discussion from Iran’s purported right to enrich to whether Tehran is actually enriching. The latter matters most.
8. Getting a permanent deal with Iran that addresses all U.S. concerns is impossible. Critics of the JCPOA long said that a better deal was always possible, if the U.S. had only pressured more, or negotiated harder, or been smarter and tougher. Now’s the time to show it. Yet count on Iran to remain intransigent on key issues, even after its leadership has been killed, its defense industrial base destroyed, and its country ravaged.
9. The U.S. must weigh the war’s global consequences, beyond the economic. Running down missile and interceptor stocks, for instance, and focusing military resources on the Middle East, means less for Asia and Europe. Russia and China will have an enduring interest in keeping it that way, including by helping Iran recover.
10. Completely lost at this point is how it all started: the Iranian regime, just months ago, killing thousands of protestors who wished nothing more than a better, freer life for themselves and their families. Help, it turns out, wasn’t exactly on the way. And, at least in the near term, the Iranian people will be the biggest losers in this fight.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
Question: The president has not been shy about setting Iran deadlines. Why not now?
@KristenhCNN: “I think we know why not now, because every other deadline that he has set, he has blasted through. I mean, just yesterday in the morning, he said he didn't want to extend the ceasefire deadline one more time. And then he ended up not only extending it but extending it indefinitely.“
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
It was an honor to convene a second roundtable with our close partners from the GCC and Jordan today at the Pentagon. We at the Department of War greatly value our relationship with these critical partners. We had a very useful discussion of the situation in the region and ways to continue strengthening our collective defenses.
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Gordon Lubold retweetledi
NBC News: A Pentagon intelligence agency assessment says Iran still has significant military capabilities.
Reported by @ckubeNBC and @glubold nbcnews.com/politics/natio…
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