The Wire - August 5, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z August 5, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: DHS DELETES ISRAELI MANDATE FROM DISASTER AID CONDITIONS, NO EXPLANATION GIVEN. SECOND EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEW YORK. CANADIAN WILDFIRES CONTINUE.//

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-International Events-

Canada: Significant wildfires continue to burn throughout Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which has prompted air quality concerns for much of the American northeast and the Great Lakes regions, due to the smoke.

-HomeFront-

New York: Another earthquake struck New York City earlier this morning, which reached an estimated magnitude of 2.7. No major damage was reported.

Missouri: Overnight an arson attack was reported in Clayton, with multiple vehicles set on fire outside of the residence of an Israeli soldier (who is a dual citizen living in the US). Various anti-Israeli graffiti was also observed spray painted in the street at the scene.

Washington D.C. - Following the fallout of yesterday's scandal, the Department of Homeland Security has re-updated their Terms and Conditions to remove the inflammatory language. No explanation was given for why the language was ever included in the first place.

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Analyst Comments: Concerning yesterday's saga involving the DHS covertly changing their Terms and Conditions for disaster aid, the following general timeline may be helpful for understanding the sequence of events as they unfolded. This is important to document for the historical record, if nothing else, since the old version of this PDF has been deleted from public view.

1. On April 18th, 2025 the Department of Homeland Security updated their Terms and Conditions that all 50 States must abide by in order to get federal aid (specifically, purchases of equipment with federal grant money).

2. In these Terms and Conditions, a single line item was added, mandating that if states want FEMA grant money, they have to pledge allegiance to Israel and promise to not boycott Israeli companies.

3. Nobody notices this policy change for several months.

4. Yesterday morning (August 4th, 2025) Reuters finally notices this change, and pushes the news story out, as they do.

5. Immediately, the reaction on social media is that this story is fake, due to how incredulous it sounds and the already poor reputation of most media groups.

6. A few hours after the story went viral, the actual PDF file on the DHS website was altered and re-uploaded…with the sections pertaining to Israel missing. No outward changes were apparent on the website; the file name, version number, and upload date were all the same. However, the content was different.

7. As time elapsed (and as people heard about this story), anyone who checked the DHS website  after exactly 4:30pm (when the file was changed) saw the updated PDF file, which had no mention of Israel.

8. This led many to think that the whole story was fake, not knowing that a change had occurred.

9. Subsequent analysis of the metadata of the NEW file, and archived copies of the OLD file confirm that shenanigans are afoot, and the file was changed, last being edited by a senior attorney who works for the DHS.

10.  A few hours later, the DHS (speaking directly to journalists) confirmed that the policy change did occur. The DHS did not provide any explanation as to why this policy was ever in effect in the first place, or who made the decision to include this policy change.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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