The Wire - January 30, 2026

//The Wire//2300Z January 30, 2026//
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//BLUF: NEW FED CHAIR ANNOUNCED. ANTI-ICE GROUPS REORGANIZING AFTER SIGNAL CHAT LEAK TEMPORARILY DISRUPTED OPERATIONS IN MINNEAPOLIS.//

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-HomeFront-

New Jersey: Governor Mikie Sherrill announced the creation of a government database to track ICE agents throughout the state. Residents have been encouraged by the Governor herself to conduct intelligence collection of ICE operations, and upload reports to a government-created web portal. 

Analyst Comment: This portal had not been released yet, however it's expected to be launched soon. This follows similar efforts from around the country, as counter-ICE organization becomes sanctioned by many state governments.

USA: Around the nation, various protests and demonstrations were carried out today, largely centered around anti-ICE causes. In Minneapolis, crowds formed again at City Hall and the Whipple Federal building, which has seen a persistent (albeit dwindling) turnout over the past few days. Other demonstrations were also carried out in Maine (where ICE surge operations are coming to an end), as well as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

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Analyst Comments: In Washington, the timeless tradition of dumping information on a Friday has continued with several different developments. On the economic front, this morning President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. In addition to naming a new Fed Chair, a few more names have dropped as well, mostly in the form of a few million pages of Epstein files being released. Around 3 million allegedly new documents and thousands of videos have been posted online by the Department of Justice, however it will obviously take some time to determine if any of this information is truly new, or helpful for determining the national security implications of this case.

On a related note, indications and warnings are mounting regarding another round of strikes in Iran. Nothing is certain at the moment, and rhetoric has been flying all around, but the US is moving a lot of military aircraft into the region at an increasing rate. Al-Udeid Airbase (the facility that is the chief target for Iranian retaliation) still has not been evacuated yet, however, there are currently a few exercises involving aircraft movement throughout the region...exercises that provide a convenient reason to stage forces throughout the area. In any case, it's all speculation at the moment and only time will tell as to if the United States is going to follow through on the rhetoric to conduct strikes once again.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report.
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