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New in SpyWeek: Startling New Details on Maduro Raid as Trump Hints More Covert Action to Come—Without Tulsi's Help

Gabbard is out of the loop as Trump also eyes Cuba, Iran, even Greenland following masterful Maduro intel op, putting the future of NATO in question.

Jeff Stein's avatar
Jeff Stein
Jan 11, 2026
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U.S. spy and communications satellites played a key role in the lightening fast assault on Venezuela and capture of Nicholas Maduro and his wife. (NRO)

Lights Out: “Delta Force didn’t arrive in the dark. The dark arrived first,” writes our SpyTalk colleague Seth Hettena about the Maduro raid on his own special ops-focused Substack, The After-Action Report. Fascinating and comprehensive, Hettena’s story details how U.S. electronic warfare specialists, interconnected with advanced U.S. spy and communications satellites, knocked out everything from city lights to Russian and Chinese missile defenses and radars, enabling the Delta Force team to sweep in and take out Nicholas Maduro and his wife with virtual impunity. Bottom line: the future of war is now.

Sound Weapon and Fury: A MAGA tweeter on X, meanwhile, got a lot of people, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, excited about his dodgy report on an unnamed Maduro “security guard” who claimed U.S. raiders killed “hundreds of us” and disabled others with “a very intense sound wave.” He said, “Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move,” adding, “I’ve never seen anything like it. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was.” The super efficient raid has stunned all of Latin America into submission, he also claimed. Sounds like someone has a Havana Syndrome jag. Or was it real? Tweeted Leavitt: “Stop what you’re doing and read this.”

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