The Wire - August 26, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z August 26, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON CHINESE STUDENT EXPANSION AS RESEARCHER IN TEXAS IS CHARGED WITH STEALING SECRETS FOR CHINA. WAVE OF FAKE ACTIVE SHOOTER REPORTS SWEEPS THROUGH AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. SYRIAN MIGRANT WHO ATTACKED AMERICAN IN DRESDEN RELEASED FROM CUSTODY, BUT RE-ARRESTED AFTER PUBLIC OUTRAGE.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-International Events-

Germany: Following Sunday's knife attack in Dresden, one of the individuals involved in the attack of an American tourist was released from jail. Sunday morning, two illegal immigrants from Syria were harassing two women on a tram in Dresden. John Rudat, an American tourist visiting the city intervened during the altercation, and was stabbed in the face by one of the assailants, resulting in extremely severe lacerations. The other assailant (not the man who stabbed Rudat, but a different attacker) was captured while trying to escape, but was released from custody yesterday, only to be re-arrested after public outrage pressured the prosecutor's office to act. The man who stabbed Rudat remains at large.

-HomeFront-

USA: Over the past few days, many different universities and institutions have been the victim of hoaxes which have taken the form of someone calling in a fake active shooter threat. What began as one or two reports has spread to about a dozen different institutions.

Analyst Comment: Right now, it is not known who is calling in these fake reports, but extreme caution is warranted. The theories of why this is happening vary widely, but this could also be a desensitizing effort that precedes a legitimate attack at some other institution. As such, vigilance is recommended to avoid slipping into complacency, just in case this turns out to be a legitimate threat at some point.

Washington D.C. - President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have doubled-down on statements supporting the import of 600,000 Chinese students, further reiterating the intent to stick to this policy at present, with President Trump stating multiple times that he is "honored" to have these students taking up seats at American universities.

Texas: Yesterday afternoon Dr. Yunhai Li, a researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was formally charged with stealing roughly 90gb of research material. Li was arrested on Friday before attempting to board a flight to China, after uploading the stolen research data to a Chinese government cloud storage platform. Li had personally been granted both NIH and Department of Defense grants to conduct undisclosed research.

Maryland: The first human case of New World Screwworm was reported by the CDC yesterday afternoon, which was contracted by a person who traveled to El Salvador. The USDA has stated that this case doesn't pose any threat to livestock at present, however a 20-mile surveillance zone has been established around the individual's location as a precaution.

California: More details have come to light regarding a car fire that was reported at the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka over the weekend. Local authorities have stated that a man drove his vehicle onto the lawn of the courthouse, before setting the car on fire.

Analyst Comment: So far, this incident appears to be an elaborate form of protest, though at present no clear ideology could be discerned from the evidence at the scene. Some people report that they saw various messages written in chalk on the sidewalk, and that hand-written papers were found scattered about the scene. All of this points to this being more of a mental health incident than anything else at this time.

North Carolina: The victim of a murder on the Blue Line rail system in Charlotte has been identified as Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee. Zarutska was stabbed to death on the train by Decarlos Brown Jr. on Friday night.

Mi