Sean D. Naylor's Avatar

Sean D. Naylor

@seandnaylor

Co-founder of @thehighside.bsky.social; author of "Not a Good Day to Die" and "Relentless Strike;" previously a staff writer at Army Times, Foreign Policy and Yahoo News; other work in The New York Times and Newsweek.

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27.02.2025
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Latest posts by Sean D. Naylor @seandnaylor

Years ago my team at CNA did a review of the US use of proxies.

A pertinent finding: “Policymakers & the US military should restrict the use of proxies to irregular warfare activities against states or other nonstate armed groups & avoid any temptations to use them as surrogate conventional armies”

06.03.2026 04:09 👍 176 🔁 31 💬 3 📌 0

No, it’s worse.

It’s a war without a political objective.

Plenty of wars have opened without a clear plan to reconcile desired ends with available means, we may be the first country to go to war without even a basic concept of victory.

War for the memes. War for the vibes. War for the Warriors.

05.03.2026 12:54 👍 793 🔁 203 💬 37 📌 15
Trump Says 'I Guess' Americans Should Worry About Iran Retaliating on U.S. Soil: 'Like I Said, Some People Will Die' In an interview with 'Time,' President Donald Trump acknowledged the possibility that Iran retaliates with attacks on U.S. soil, saying, 'We think about it all the time. We plan for it'

people.com/trump-says-i...

06.03.2026 00:19 👍 13 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1

Just a lie

04.03.2026 21:18 👍 20 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 1
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Sounds like Israeli SOF may be operating inside Iraq (presumably setting up FARPs and the like for aircraft that en route to/from Iran or ground launched munitions)—and some of them may have gotten into a shootout with Iraqi forces

04.03.2026 21:41 👍 172 🔁 51 💬 5 📌 13
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Ex-NSA leader, OpenAI board member calls out Anthropic-Pentagon fight "This is not a good space for our nation," Gen. Paul Nakasone said at a conference in the Bay Area.

Gen. Nakasone, former head of the NSA & an OpenAI board member, called out the Pentagon's move to designate Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" at a conference in Sausalito last night.

"This is not a good space for our nation."

more @axios.com:
www.axios.com/2026/03/03/n...

03.03.2026 17:00 👍 17 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
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who made this

02.03.2026 14:51 👍 11317 🔁 5166 💬 493 📌 471
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U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

What in the ever loving fuck is this shit? If this is true it means there is a literal god damn doomsday cult in the military.

jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-...

03.03.2026 04:13 👍 73 🔁 22 💬 12 📌 5

Striking Hegseth press conference. In his effort to insist war is limited and bounded, he frames war aims almost entirely around Iranian missiles, essentially ignoring everything Trump has said about regime change. Naturally, he insults and belittles journalists who quote Trump's 4-5 weeks comment.

02.03.2026 16:15 👍 154 🔁 31 💬 11 📌 0
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There are at least 10,000 Amcits in Qatar alone, and the US government is saying we are on our own

03.03.2026 06:28 👍 1391 🔁 518 💬 52 📌 64

Hooo boy. There we go. It was about domestic surveillance after all.

01.03.2026 16:40 👍 1450 🔁 450 💬 14 📌 12

A core finding of my forthcoming book on the history of US CT in Afghanistan is that you cannot, in fact, just kill people you think are bad and have it all be fine 🙄

02.03.2026 03:26 👍 73 🔁 14 💬 4 📌 0
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Tune in next week for The Apprentice: Tehran!

02.03.2026 13:56 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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a close up of a man 's face with a serious expression on his face . ALT: a close up of a man 's face with a serious expression on his face .

For context, in the wake of 9/11, it took the George W. Bush admin 18 months to launch two regime change operations (AFG & IRQ)

This admin has now launched two regime change operations in the absence of any precipitating crisis in the past 1.5 months

28.02.2026 15:22 👍 145 🔁 37 💬 5 📌 4

Cash money baby

28.02.2026 16:29 👍 30 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
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This aged well. Note the author.

28.02.2026 13:27 👍 16070 🔁 6221 💬 547 📌 359
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Washington DC has always been a place full of hypocrites but this group has elevated hypocrisy to an art form

28.02.2026 17:58 👍 30 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 0
Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster

The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two photos. The first shows Catturd tweeting: Name one US inspired regime change that hasn't ended in absolute disaster The next tweet shows him posting an AI illustration of Khamenei turned into a pile of dust. It says "I'm eliminated."

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion."

The next tweet says: Today is a great day. 

Our military is amazing. 

@PeteHegseth
 is an absolute killer. 

Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. 

It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. 

He actually gets it. 

God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Laura Loomer promoting her show, where she says "A message has been sent that we are not interested in going back to the way politics were prior to Donald Trump, prior to 2016. We don't want warhawks. We don't want any more Neocons. We want American First. Period. End of discussion." The next tweet says: Today is a great day. Our military is amazing. @PeteHegseth is an absolute killer. Now you see why the Deep State worked so hard against him. It’s great having a Sec War who has Infidel literally tattooed on his body. He actually gets it. God bless him.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position.

The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Will Chamberlain tweeting: The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars. If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position. The next tweet shows him posting "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead." The tweet has a USA flag attached.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could.

He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran.

I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. 

The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran!

He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! 

Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

Two tweets. The first shows Gunther Eagleman tweeting: "Warmonger Lindsey Graham just rushed to Fox to advocate for U.S. involvement as soon as he could. He is also pushing for a US-backed regime change in Iran. I would like to renominate Graham to get a one-way ticket to the frontlines of every war he wants America involved in." There's an attached video of Graham speaking. The next shows Eagleman tweeting: UST IN! President Trump is HARD AT WORK all weekend after the massive strikes on Iran! He’s already on the phone with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte! Trump is a machine!" There's an attached video of a news segment about the war in Iran.

manufacturing consent through lowly paid influencers

28.02.2026 20:20 👍 6916 🔁 1541 💬 92 📌 76

An excerpt from my article on @thehighside.bsky.social expanded in We Defy, about Green Light has been published in a 82nd airborne newsletter.

www.the-canopy.org/archives/202...

01.03.2026 14:00 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
28.02.2026 17:03 👍 89 🔁 21 💬 1 📌 0
In Iran, air power alone will not reshape the regime. Since WWI, dozens of U.S., Israeli & allied air campaigns have tried to force political change — none installed friendly governments. None! They strengthen nationalism and intensify resistance.

In Iran, air power alone will not reshape the regime. Since WWI, dozens of U.S., Israeli & allied air campaigns have tried to force political change — none installed friendly governments. None! They strengthen nationalism and intensify resistance.

the guy who wrote the literal book on this stuff is dunking on the admin:

28.02.2026 13:58 👍 2137 🔁 556 💬 18 📌 47
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The first US strikes on Tehran look to be TLAMs launched from USN ships in the Gulf.

28.02.2026 07:55 👍 53 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 2
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28.02.2026 13:08 👍 784 🔁 223 💬 10 📌 6
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28.02.2026 13:00 👍 684 🔁 201 💬 18 📌 9

The most “chickens coming home to roost“ moment in post-9/11 geopolitics imaginable.

27.02.2026 05:59 👍 32 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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Terrific to get this sort of endorsement from a former intelligence officer. Thank you, Stephen! If you want to read the stories that prompted him to become a paid subscriber and endorse us, click here: TheHighSide.substack.com. cc @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social

26.02.2026 19:27 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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30 years.

This video should be on every network.

26.02.2026 13:27 👍 15894 🔁 8443 💬 1008 📌 912
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Exclusive | Spy Agency Blocks Congress From Seeing Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office rejected Democratic efforts to see all the underlying material about a foreign conversation that discussed Jared Kushner.

News: The Trump administration told Congress it won’t share the classified underlying intelligence—a conversation two foreigners had about Jared Kushner—that led to a whistleblower complaint against U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, citing claims of executive privilege. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

25.02.2026 15:13 👍 424 🔁 209 💬 28 📌 22
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Zeroed Out: How JSOC’s Omega teams enabled the CIA’s Afghan militias The joint CIA/JSOC hunter-killer teams stalked Afghanistan for nearly twenty years

The JSOC teams that worked alongside the CTPTs’ CIA handlers, providing the link to air support, were called Omega or ANSOF teams, which @seandnaylor.bsky.social and @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social of @thehighside.bsky.social have reported on in detail here:

thehighside.substack.com/p/zeroed-out...

23.02.2026 17:50 👍 32 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0