Bob Price

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered all state agencies to stop funding local law enforcement Flock camera purchases and operations. The move comes shortly after the Texas Tribune announced an investigation into $30 million provided to local police departments for Flock cameras.

The order from the Texas governor came Thursday, shortly after an investigation published by the Texas Tribune came online. The investigation revealed that the State of Texas added a $1 fee to car insurance policies. That money was then distributed to local law enforcement agencies to help reduce catalytic converter thefts.

Texas funding led to the purchase of about 2,000 Flock Cameras by the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Board, the Tribune reported. The State funded an additional $15.9 million to Texas DPS to purchase an additional 1,200 cameras.

Abbott’s Communications Director, Andrew Mahaleris, told the Tribune, “To the extent that cities get any funding for those cameras, most of it comes from the federal government. To the extent any funding comes from Texas agencies, those agencies are clarifying that those funds cannot be used for Flock cameras.”

Despite their success in solving many crimes, including the kidnapping of children, the surveillance camera systems have come under massive scrutiny after concerns of abuse of civil liberties arose.

The Tribune reported that the number of Flock cameras purchased by the insurance policy fee may be on the low side, as they had difficulty obtaining complete information from agencies.

Many Texas legislators expressed concern about the excessive use of electronic surveillance through the AI-driven Flock system.

One legislator, State Representative Mitch Little (R-Lewisville), told the Tribune, “The sheer volume of information captured is not something that is entertained, in my view, by the Fourth Amendment.”

In an interview on Bloomberg’s Balance of Power, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) expressed strong disapproval of the threat of over-surveillance posed by these systems.  Cruz stated:

I’ll tell you what a Ted Cruz would make of it, which is I don’t like Flock cameras. I don’t like government surveillance, I don’t think the government should be surveilling innocent citizens. We should use law enforcement to go after criminals. But we have a presumption of innocence. And I think the surveillance state — China has built an espionage and surveillance state. I don’t want to see America the same way. I think these Flock cameras really invite abuse, and I’m hopeful the political process will constrain it.

State and local law enforcement praise the technology and its impact in solving or reducing crime. The Dallas Police Department’s Major Felony and Vehicle Recovery Division said the department uses hundreds of cameras to track suspects involved in violent offenses, hit-and-runs, and auto thefts. The clearance time for many of these crimes fell from days to hours, the department stated.

Texas DPS also reports the use of automatic pings to intercept stolen vehicles, fleeing felons, and human smuggling operations along major highway corridors.

Governor Greg Abbott’s abrupt freeze on state funding for Flock cameras highlights a growing collision between law enforcement technology and constitutional privacy rights in Texas. While police agencies credit the AI surveillance network with drastically cutting crime clearance times and recovering stolen property, the revelation of millions in state-funded grants—drawn from auto insurance fees—has catalyzed broad bipartisan pushback.

With state lawmakers questioning the program’s Fourth Amendment boundaries and Abbott shutting off the state spigot, local departments will likely face increased scrutiny and tighter legislative guardrails if they choose to continue funding these automated tracking networks using local or federal dollars.

[…]

Via https://www.breitbart.com/border/2026/08/29/texas-governor-orders-halt-to-state-funding-of-flock-cameras/

Automated license plate reader cameras scanning traffic in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Miami Independent

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that state agencies are removing Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader cameras from state rights-of-way, stepping up his campaign to curb what he called an out-of-control surveillance system spreading throughout the Sunshine State.

“Pull ’em down,” DeSantis told reporters at the press conference following his announcement, noting that all of the Flock Safety cameras on state rights-of-way will be removed by state agencies. The governor said that the cameras, which are used by various state agencies, are being removed following his remarks at Florida International University in Miami earlier in the week regarding the Flock Safety cameras and their use as a mass criminal surveillance system with little to no oversight.

Locally, surveillance on roads across South Florida has been the focus of Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers installed by participating state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies. In this region, state troopers used the system to support the federal immigration sweeps of Operation Tidal Wave. Statewide, Reason magazine reported that more than a third of those arrested had no prior criminal history. 404 Media first reported last spring that Florida wildlife officers were accessing the system using the accounts of other law enforcement agencies, including to run immigration related queries, totaling 38 such looks in a single month, without Flock Safety contracts of their own.

Most Flock Safety cameras are owned by thousands of local police and sheriff’s departments, but DeSantis is asking for an accounting of all the cameras that state agencies have and how they are using them. The governor said he is also looking at New Hampshire’s approach to limiting the placement of such cameras on state property as a model for Florida legislation.

“Surveillance state is not where I want to go. The legislation they attempted to pass – that was stalled, a Bill of Rights related to AI – was excellent. It passed the Senate, it died in the House, largely because the Speaker doesn’t want to do anything about it. So it needs to be taken up by the Legislature and I’m willing to support a bill of rights with respect to surveillance by AI.”

This is an issue that is beginning to manifest in the race for Governor, with Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee to succeed DeSantis as Governor calling for a total halt to new Flock contracts throughout the state. Democratic nominee for Governor, David Jolly, is calling for a requirement of a warrant before any information from these surveillance cameras can be pulled by police. Also, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has initiated a Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigation into how Flock Safety collects and disseminates this information throughout the country.

[…]

Via https://miamiindependent.com/business/2026/08/29/report-desantis-orders-state-agencies-to-pull-down-flock-surveillance-cameras-from-florida-rights-of-way/

Even those who experienced adverse reactions described their treatment as beneficial. – Image credit: PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com © IFL Science

By Benjamin Taub

In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to approve the use of psilocybin therapy, and new data suggests that the psychedelic drug is being used to great effect at state-regulated clinics.

Among those accessing legal psilocybin therapy in Oregon, the majority report significant improvements in mental health, wellbeing, and life satisfaction in the three months after treatment, with very few patients experiencing adverse events.

Since 2023, more than 20,000 people have legally accessed psilocybin therapy in Oregon, with 26 treatment centers currently holding licenses to administer the drug. Using data from 24 of these clinics, researchers analyzed the experiences and outcomes of 346 patients, all of whom underwent treatment between November 2024 and March 2026.

“Most participants were highly satisfied with their psilocybin experience, would recommend their licensed service center and facilitator, felt the experience was beneficial, and that their goals for seeking services had been met,” write the study authors.

One month after taking the drug, 92.2 percent of individuals stated that they had benefited from their treatment, with 58.6 percent ranking the experience among the 10 most meaningful events of their life.

Prior to treatment, 63 percent of participants said they were satisfied with their lives, yet this figure rose to 82.3 percent three months after taking psilocybin. On average, scores on a standard test that measures wellbeing rose from 22.1 at baseline to 25.3 at the three-month follow-up.

In terms of mental health benefits, average depression scores fell from 9.3 before treatment to just 5.2 three months later, with anxiety scores decreasing from 10.1 to 6.0 across the same period. Post-traumatic stress scores, meanwhile, dropped from 14.1 at baseline to 10.4 three months after undergoing psilocybin therapy.

In total, just four participants reported experiencing adverse effects requiring medical attention in the three months following their treatment. Interestingly, however, the researchers explain that three of these individuals still described their psilocybin experience as “highly meaningful”, while two claimed that their therapy was “goal-fulfilling”.

According to the study authors, these findings highlight “the complexity of defining harm in psychedelic contexts.”

The study represents the first multi-site analysis of the safety and efficacy of psilocybin therapy administered at legal, state-regulated clinics.

In the years since Oregon approved the use of the psychedelic, other states including Colorado and Mexico have moved to expand access to the drug in therapeutic settings, while the federal government has also recently thrown its support behind psychedelic therapies.

A considerable amount of research into the effectiveness of these substances is still needed before any widescale rollout of psychedelic treatments can become feasible, although the results of this Oregon-based study are sure to bolster the growing support for psilocybin across the US.

The study is published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

[…]

Via https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/mindandbody/20-000-people-in-oregon-have-now-received-legal-psilocybin-therapy-and-the-outcomes-are-overwhelmingly-positive/ar-AA2b7axU

Various programs, meetings, and publications of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Photo: facebook.com.

By Jeremy Kuzmarov  –  Aug 26, 2026

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a CIA off-shoot that was founded in 1983 with the purpose of advancing political propaganda and U.S. regime-change operations.

The NED routinely supports dissidents and highlights human rights abuses occurring in countries that are geopolitical rivals of the U.S., like China, Iran and Russia, or socialist countries that have tried to assert control over their natural resources, like Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.

Meanwhile, the NED is silent about the human rights abuses that occur in countries like Ukraine, Israel, Bangladesh, Kenya, Rwanda, Syria or others whose governments are supported or have been installed by the U.S.

Many of the dissidents that the NED honors advocate for sanctions, bombing and war on their own countries. Some were even indicted for inciting insurrection or terrorist acts.

The NED’s function as a front for CIA covert operations was apparent in February when NED President Damon Wilson—who was invited to give the 2026 commencement address at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy—bragged to a House committee about the NED’s aggressive efforts to spark unrest in Iran, including by smuggling Starlink terminals (a satellite technology to ensure secure communication) and fashioning anti-Iran narratives for the media.

Before he could finish the sentence, Wilson was cut off by the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Lois Frankel (D-FL), who told Wilson: “You know what, I’m going to interrupt you—we’d better not talk about it.”

In the same congressional hearing, Wilson appeared to take credit for the election of a right-wing government in Bolivia to “prevent lithium from falling under Moscow’s control” and revealed that NED is funding and training media in Nicaragua with an eye toward undermining the country’s socialist-oriented Sandinista government.^[1]

Continuing the long history of intimate ties between the CIA and academia^[2], many students at prestigious universities, sadly, will be taught by professors this academic year who are affiliated with the NED.

Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) has on its faculty, for example, Larry Diamond, the editor of the NED’s in-house Journal of Democracy, who was also a former senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, and Francis Fukuyama, a neo-conservative ideologue and former State Department staffer who was on the NED’s Board, edited and frequently contributed to the NED journal and received the NED’s 2010 Democracy Service Medal.

At least seven additional faculty who teach at FSI are, or have been, affiliated with the NED,^[3] including Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State during the Iraq War who served on the Journal of Democracy’s editorial board,^[4] and Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia who currently sits on the Journal of Democracy’s editorial board. Like Rice, McFaul is known for his hard-line positions towards Russia and has advocated for the censorship of anyone who questions U.S. military and economic aid to Ukraine.^[5]

In 2025, Stanford’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center gave an award to NED-backed media outlet Netra News, a media outlet that helped advance a regime-change operation in Bangladesh that ousted a leader who had established strong relations with China and resisted U.S. efforts to establish a military base on a strategic island off its coast.

Stanford’s ties to the NED, unfortunately, are no anomaly in higher education today. A review of the NED’s current Board of Directors finds that three are deans at elite universities:

a) Amaney Jamal of Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs; b) Alyssa Ayres, Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington (one of her predecessors in that position, Harry Harding, was on the editorial board of the Journal of Democracy in the 1990s); and c) Scott Taylor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, which has a history of employing CIA agents as professors.^[6]

Two NED Board members are also professors: Victor Cha, Georgetown University, and Minxin Pei, the Pritzker Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.

Additionally, Elizabeth Economy is a senior fellow and co-chair of the Program on the U.S., China, and the World at the Hoover Institution at Stanford^[7] and, until May 2026, was on the Board of Managers at Swarthmore College.^[8]

NED Board member Victoria Nuland, a key figure in the 2014 U.S. backed Maidan coup in Ukraine that empowered far-right extremists and led to a deadly war with Russia, was appointed in March 2024 as a Professor of Practice of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute of Russian, Eastern Eurasian and Eastern European Studies.^[9] Covert Geopolitics called Nuland the “Lady Macbeth of perpetual war,” who “promoted a foreign policy of intervention, coups, proxy wars, aggression, and occupation…in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.”

A review of the scholarship of past and present NED Board member faculty shows that it dovetails with the worldview and agenda of the NED, presenting biased analysis that demonizes American geopolitical adversaries and offers support for capitalist and imperialist policies.

Minxin Pei,^[10] for example, spotlights crony capitalism, political autocracy and alleged totalitarianism in China, while Scott Taylor emphasizes the importance of big business and private sector investment in Africa.^[11]

Director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) under George W. Bush, Victor Cha is a hawk on North Korea whom the former Foreign Minister of South Korea accused of advancing a “simplistic history” of the Korean conflict that demonized North Korea.^[12]

Alyssa Ayres worked for the CIA-linked Asia Foundation and McLarty & Associates and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs; while Amaney Jamal is a protégé of CIA-linked Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington, an arch-conservative and imperialist targeted by student protesters during the Vietnam era who lectured frequently under the NED’s aegis in the 1990s and wrote for The Journal of Democracy.^[13]

Elizabeth Economy fits in well with the NED professors in advancing anti-China themes in her writings, and in supporting a U.S. military buildup in the Asia Pacific and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a corporate-friendly free trade agreement introduced as a pillar of Obama’s “pivot to Asia” policy that excluded China and intended to isolate it economically.

Andrew J. Nathan is a former NED Board member and member of the editorial board of the NED’s journal, who is the Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

He is the former chair and current board member of Human Rights in China, an NED funded group that uses human rights as a political weapon against China (causing China to sanction it), and, with Larry Diamond, a member of the board of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, which supported a U.S.-backed color revolution against China in Hong Kong.

An article that Nathan wrote for the Journal of Democracy characteristically examined China’s supposedly deleterious effect on democracy around the world and manipulative nature of its global propaganda effort.

Founded in 1990, the NED’s Journal of Democracy^[14] generally advances the NED/State Department line on global affairs.

Obscuring the aggressive U.S. drive to control natural resources and expand its network of military bases, its articles routinely vilify left-wing governments and celebrate U.S. regime-change operations for their democratizing potential and governments that were empowered by them.

A February 2026 article, “Venezuela’s Best Chance for Democracy” characteristically made it seem like the Trump administration’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—in a brazenly illegal act that killed more than 100 people—brought new hope for Venezuela’s democratization.^[15] A previous Journal of Democracy article written by Javier Corrales, Dwight W. Morrow 1895 Professor of Political Science at Amherst College,^[16] and Dorothy Kronick, assistant professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley,^[17] aims to affirm CIA/NED/State Department talking points that Maduro stole Venezuela’s 2024 election and that Edmundo González, whose CIA links and extreme right-wing background is not discussed in the article, won in a landslide, which does not appear to be true.^[18]

Advancing a cartoonish view of world affairs, the Journal of Democracy makes it seem like the world is divided between good U.S. backed democrats and bad authoritarians—as American Cold Warriors saw things in the 1950s McCarthy era. The sanctions and covert warfare that the U.S. adopts are rarely if ever discussed or blamed for causing hardships in targeted countries whose problems are solely blamed on their own leaders.^[19]

Most of the articles are rooted in an ethno-centric, “end of history” worldview,^[20] which assumes that U.S. and other Western governments are morally superior and that countries that adopt different political systems that draw on their own traditions and are designed to overcome the legacies of Western colonialism and neo-colonialism will only show progress if they become more like the U.S.^[21]

The two editors of the Journal of Democracy are: Harvard Professor of Government Steven Levitsky, and University of Toronto^[22] political scientist Lucan Way, who holds the title of distinguished professor of Democracy ironically enough.

In 2022, Levitsky and Way co-authored a book called Revolution & Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press), which analyzes countries that fall into the crosshairs of U.S. foreign policy like Cuba, China, Vietnam, Iran and Soviet Russia. Echoing their depiction by the U.S. State Department and CIA, the revolutions that took root there are presented negatively, with little attention to their success in overcoming colonialism and neo-colonialism, in fueling industrialization and in combating poverty, advancing women’s rights and improving living standards.

Levitsky and Way also fail to adequately address how U.S. counter-revolutionary policies and subversion helped facilitate more authoritarian methods and how the durability of the regimes that they analyze was in part linked to the establishment of local governing councils and community projects that enhanced citizen political engagement at a time this was markedly declining in perceived model Western democracies.^[23]

In a piece centered on Latin America, Levitsky characterized Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as authoritarian states, though the latter two countries had elections that were internationally sanctioned and these were countries that adopted leftist policies designed to redistribute wealth and to establish control over their natural resources.

For his part, Lucan Way promotes the right-wing theory that, “when economic resources are concentrated in the hands of the state, autocracy becomes more likely”—an argument favored by U.S. corporations which do not want their assets nationalized.^[24]

Way’s extreme views were apparent in his condemnation of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel for an allegedly “soft response to Russia’s 2014 invasion” of Ukraine that, Way says, “paved the way to the current horror in Ukraine.”

A big problem with this statement is that Russia did not invade Ukraine in 2014, rather, Obama and Merkel supported what the private intelligence agency Stratfor called a coup in Ukraine at that time. The latter eventually precipitated Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine to assist the beleaguered people there who were subjected to violent Ukrainian government attacks carried out with U.S weapons that Way fervently supported.^[25]

Way claims that the Ukraine war has given Western democracies a “renewed sense of unity” and holds the potential for weakening the emerging “authoritarian international”—which somehow does not include Ukraine when its government banned 17 parties, killed its opponents, censored the press and held an estimated 20,000 political prisoners. ^[26]

Adopting the language of the new McCarthyism, Way wrote on X that Pope Francis was a “Russian stooge.” Way happens to be best friends with Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former Deputy Prime Minister, who is the granddaughter of a Ukrainian Nazi and helped get Canada to become a major weapons supplier to Ukraine.

Amazingly, for someone who claims to champion democracy, Way co-wrote an article in May 2024 in the Journal of Democracy entitled “Why Ukraine’s Elections Can Wait.”^[27] Four years earlier, Way wrote an article in the same journal praising a color revolution in Belarus whose support from the NED and other U.S. government agencies he predictably failed to mention.

[…]

Via https://orinocotribune.com/large-number-of-faculty-at-elite-us-universities-linked-to-the-national-endowment-for-democracy-a-cia-cut-out-specializing-in-propaganda/

By Alan McLeod

From Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian to Jennifer Aniston and Lionel Messi, celebrities across the world are hiring teams of Israeli bodyguards made up of former Shin Bet, Mossad, and Israeli special forces.

But how safe is it to entrust your life and most intimate details to agents from spying agencies with a long track record of infiltrating, surveiling, and blackmailing foreign targets?

MintPress explores how Israeli security took over Hollywood and the world.

In High Demand

Israeli Secret Service agents do not die or fade away, writes The New York Post. Instead, they move to Hollywood. The Tel Aviv-to-Tinsel Town pipeline has been well established over decades, and there are now a myriad of Israeli security agencies, both in Los Angeles and across the world, guarding many of the planet’s richest, most famous, and influential figures.

Inter Miami soccer superstar Lionel Messi – who, in 2020 became the face of an Israeli A.I. company staffed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spies –  is accompanied by an select force of former Israeli agents everywhere he goes.

Hollywood royalty Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are known to have relied on the services of Israeli security, as have pop stars, Madonna, Pink, and Jennifer Lopez.

Actress Lucy Liu, meanwhile, is followed around everywhere by a troupe of Israeli minders.

And Canadian singer Justin Bieber’s relationship with Israeli security came to public attention in 2013, after he allegedly beat up his ex-IDF handler Moshe Benabou, the CEO of Israguard Security Services.

In short, Israeli bodyguards are highly sought after. “There’s demand around the world, and rightly so. Israeli security is like Coca-Cola,” said Roman Tukh, the co-founder of Guise Security, “You don’t have to advertise yourself – you have a name. The question is whether you manage to maintain it or not. That’s why it’s easier for us as Israelis.”

Bodyguards do not come cheap. The services Tukh and others like him provide cost between $125 and $1,500 per hour, depending on the level of security needed.

Two other famous names well acquainted with Israeli security dispatches are Bill Maher and Charlie Kirk. In a 2025 conversation, the former revealed that he spent his entire European vacation “wedged between these two giant Israeli bodyguards the whole way.” “When I went to Europe in 2015, I had like two Israeli bodyguards and my security person,” he told the conservative influencer. “If you want security, the Israelis know what they are doing,” Kirk responded, knowingly.

Maher edited this conversation out of the video he released to the public. It only exists as a reaction video on Kirk’s official channel, which appears to be unmaintained since his death.

Only a few months later, Kirk would be publicly assassinated. His death, and his precise relationship with Israel and Israeli security, has triggered all manner of speculation online.

Stars and Spies

One of the pioneers of the pipeline was Moshe Alon. A former longtime IDF officer and Israeli Secret Service veteran, Alon came to the United States in 1984 as head of the security team protecting Israeli athletes at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

He never left, setting up Professional Security Consultants (PSC) the next year and bringing over large numbers of former colleagues to protect Hollywood royalty. Today, PSC is licensed in over 40 states and employs more than 4,000 people across the country, and Alon himself provided security for Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Armand Hammer, and Goldie Hawn.

Many bodyguards come from top-tier units in the Israeli military or national security state that have carried out major war crimes in Gaza and beyond. Yet these allegiances are not seen in the U.S. as a mark against them, but rather a selling point.

Kfir Goldin, director of Safe Security and bodyguard to Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra, boasts of his past as a member of the elite IDF unit, the Givati Brigade. The Givati Brigade is known for its mass bulldozing and torching of civilian Palestinian homes. “In every place where [our] soldiers walk, the place turns into scorched earth,” declared Givati commander, Avraham Zeriviv.

Meanwhile, before he was a bodyguard to the stars, Lior Raz served in the notorious Duvdevan Unit of the IDF, an elite group of spies who live deep undercover in Arab communities, secretly spying on them. Raz moved to the U.S. and became the personal bodyguard of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. He later created “Fauda,” a TV series glamorizing the lives and work of Duvdevan operatives.

“Israel is branded around the world as a counterterrorism success, so that catches on overseas. The question is what happens in practice, what’s the product you get. Duvdevan is something that people flaunt because of ‘Fauda,’” said Yechiel Salomon, an Israeli Special Forces veteran whose company, BHS Security, protects the likes of Helen Mirren, Michael Douglas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. “People want bodyguards ‘like in “Fauda.”’ It’s great marketing,” he added.

Another Duvdevan operative turned bodyguard to the stars is Aaron Cohen. Born in Canada, Cohen made Aliyah at 17-years-old and served for three years in the Duvdevan, where he learned Arabic and participated in over 200 missions infiltrating Arab communities.

Coming from a screenwriting family, he moved to Los Angeles and founded IMS Security Consultants, and provided security for a host of stars, including Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Brad Pitt.

And after she was robbed at gunpoint in 2016, Kanye West tasked Cohen with revamping his then-wife Kim Kardashian’s security. Given West’s political trajectory, it is remarkable that, less than 10 years ago, he was paying an armed former Israeli spy to follow his every move, entrusting his life to him.

But one does not have to descend to Ye’s level of paranoia to raise serious concerns about the problematic relationship between Israeli spies and the world’s celebrity elite.

The Duvdevan is an elite Israeli spying force who are charged with going deep undercover in enemy territory for years, passing themselves off as friends or as one of their targets. All the while, they are secretly collecting information and data on these marks, in order to control, extort, blackmail, or even kill them. Why any celebrity would want an individual such as this near them – especially a foreign national from a country known for their international espionage operations – is an open question.

National Security Threat

It is often said that one never truly retires from the spying business. Cohen’s case is of particular note, as he called his security firm “Cherries” – the English translation of the Hebrew word, duvdevan.

Is it unfair to ask to whom – state or celebrity – these former Israeli commandos owe their allegiance? This question was put into sharp relief in 2023, when, after the October 7 attacks, a spate of high-profile security guards quit their American jobs to rejoin their units.

The most notable of these was Taylor Swift’s bodyguard, who discussed his reasons for rejoining his IDF unit with local outlet, Israel Hayom. “I have a pretty great life in America, a dream job, great friends and a comfortable home. I didn’t have to come here, but I couldn’t stand by while families were slaughtered and burned alive in their homes… I couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” he said.

Another example is Oded Krashinsky, the founder of Advanced Security Concepts and Nicole Kidman’s personal bodyguard. Krashinsky previously served for many years as an officer in an unnamed IDF Secret Service operations unit. In 2023, he dropped everything to fight for Israel. “I came here to help my unit. The morale is tense. The main threat is invasion — we have to deflect it, fight it, and protect against it,” he said, “I am who I am because I came from here. At the end of the day, it’s about experience, decision-making, tactics, and leadership — that’s what I felt I could bring and that’s what I do now.”

The individuals and companies Hollywood stars trust with their lives and their most intimate secrets come from some of the same organizations infamous for creating and spreading malware and spyware targeting tens of thousands of notable figures, including political leaders, journalists, and royals. Former agents of elite IDF group, Unit 8200, launched Pegasus, software that attacked the devices of heads of state, giving the Israeli government intimate knowledge of the ongoings of both their enemies and their allies. Known victims include President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan, and Iraqi president, Barham Salih.

Authoritarian governments around the world used Pegasus to suppress their enemies. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi used the software to dig up dirt on his personal opponents. Meanwhile, the government of Saudi Arabia targeted Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi before dismembering him with a bone saw.

IDF spooks also spy on Palestinian Arab populations, reading their texts and listening to their calls for the purposes of blackmail and extortion. If a target was found to be homosexual or cheating on their spouse, that information would be used against them. One IDF whistleblower revealed that, as part of their training, they were assigned to memorize different Arabic words for “gay” so that they could listen out for them in conversations.

Hollywood itself, though, has been bastion of support for Israel. A MintPress News investigation based on leaked emails published by Wikileaks found top movie producers coordinating with Israeli government and military officials on how best to promote the country in the United States and how to stamp out pro-Palestinian voices within the industry.

Therefore, it should hardly come as a shock that many in Tinseltown see little problem in hiring former Israeli operatives to provide security services. Perhaps more surprising, however, is the amount of ex-secret agents from a foreign country the United States allows to live and operate within its own borders.

If this were any other country, it would doubtless be considered a massive security risk. Given how quickly the United States and Israel are beginning to merge, however – the House of Representatives just passed a $1.5 trillion bill integrating the two countries’ militaries – it is likely that we will see more of the same in the future.

That individual celebrities do not see the risk in entrusting their most intimate security to foreign nationals from agencies infamous for undercover surveillance and extortion of high-value targets, is deeply concerning.

[…]

Via https://www.mintpressnews.com/from-lionel-messi-kanye-west-to-taylor-swift-celebrities-are-protected-by-israeli-security-teams/291117/