The Wire - December 19, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z December 19, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTER ALLEGEDLY FOUND DEAD AFTER BRIEF MANHUNT. STABBING ATTACK STRIKES TAIWAN. NEW YEARS CELEBRATIONS CANCELED IN MANY NATIONS WORLDWIDE DUE TO TERRORISM CONCERNS.//

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-International Events-

Global: Several nations have canceled or reduced their New Year's celebration events for many major cities. Paris, Hong Kong, Venice, Belgrade, and Tokyo have all canceled fireworks, concerts, and public gatherings due to terrorism concerns.

Taiwan: This afternoon a complex terror attack was captured on video in downtown Taipei. One assailant began the initial phase of the attack by throwing a smoke grenade into the MRT Taipei Main Station (the central subway station in Taipei). During this initial incident, at least one citizen attempted to stop the attacker, however after a scuffle the citizen had either a medical emergency or sustained blunt force trauma (reports vary), and later died at a hospital. A few minutes after the attack began, it became clear that this initial incident was a diversion, and that the main attack was to be conducted at the Zhonshan Station a few blocks to the north. At some point after the first smoke grenade incident, the attacker moved to the second attack site and began stabbing people on the street right outside the Zhonshan Station subway entrance.

The assailant also attempted to ignite a large incendiary device at some point during the attack, which was comprised of a bag full of Molotovs. Concerning casualties, 3x people were killed during the stabbing phase of the attack, and 9x others wounded. Eventually, the attacker took his own life by jumping from a high rise building during a foot pursuit by police, though the details of exactly how this happened remain unknown at the moment. The assailant was later identified as Chang Wen, however no details were provided regarding his motive for the attack.

Australia: All seven of the suspects arrested during yesterdays counterterrorism investigation have been released from detention, even the suspects who were reportedly on terrorism watchlists. Authorities state that there was no reason to hold them, so they let them go.

Analyst Comment: Analytically speaking, it's not usually a good idea to theorize just on gut instinct that a terror attack will take place, however if there ever were to be a time for such it would be right now. The intelligence value of letting known terrorists escape (so as to reveal the location of their buddies) seems like a good idea at first. However, the value of this investigative technique is negligible when the terrorist cell has reached the final stages of attack planning and have moved into the operational phase. By the time a group of terrorists are maneuvering into the objective area to obtain their weapons before an attack, the other cells have usually already cut contact for security reasons. These guys now know that they are being watched, and the element of surprise is gone at the same time they are walking free.

-HomeFront-

Rhode Island: Yesterday evening the Brown University shooter was identified by authorities as Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who was a former student of Brown University. Authorities state he committed the shooting at the Barus and Holley engineering building, before egressing to Boston. At some point during this trip, he is claimed to have swapped the license plates on his vehicle to evade detection. Once in Boston, he is suspected of murdering MIT professor Loureiro, whom he had worked with in back in Portugal some years ago. Last night Valente was allegedly discovered deceased in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.

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Analyst Comments: Regarding the Brown University shooting, many details still remain to be ironed out. Most of the details are sketchy at best