I’m in Kuala Lumpur this week for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference #GIJC2025 If you’re attending and want to connect / talk about visual investigations, remote sensing, open-source methods, etc. definitely reach out!

Come for the incredible reporting, stay for the “I think I felt like shitting my pants or something”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfWy...

On a Saturday night I stumbled across something on the internet that made me feel like ****** my pants. A giant dataset of real surveillance operations targeting 1000s of people across nearly every country. Unraveling it and the mysterious company behind it has consumed 1.5 years of my life

Have you seen 3D animations from the IDF showing secret Hamas hideouts? According to Israel's +972 magazine, many have "serious spatial inaccuracies or prefabricated assets—sourced not from classified intelligence but rather from commercial libraries, content creators, and cultural institutions."

Last week we @citizenlab.ca published an investigation into a likely Israeli-directed AI influence op targeting Iranians citizenlab.ca/2025/10/ai-e... This superb analysis by @jacksapoch.bsky.social & colleagues of 43 official IDF videos found recycled 3D animations and spatial inaccuracies 👇

Disinformation, now in 3D.

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

Appears the same National Guard UH-72 Lakota 11-72212 that dusted protesters in downtown D.C. in 2020 (noted by @giancarlofiorella.bsky.social) is back in D.C.'s skies again. Not clear for what purpose, though did a similar route on Sept. 1. FlightRadar24 link: www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraf...

What’s the target, brother?

An impressive case study in the use of photogrammetry and satellite imagery to shed light on the logistics and procedures behind large scale atrocities (in this case in Assad's Syria)

Indian police dragged Hasan Shah from bed, blindfolded him, and put him on a boat to Bangladesh: "After 3 days at sea, they stood him on the edge of the vessel with a life vest, untied his hands, uncovered his eyes told him at gunpoint: "Jump into the water... If you look back, we’ll shoot you.""

Tidal changes over a 6 hour period in Rockport, Maine Video scraped today from a public municipal webcam, and played back at 500,00% speed

Someone spotted the CBP MQ-9 Reaper circling over Los Angeles tonight.

I'll be leading a workshop at @ire.org tomorrow on investigating border surveillance and deportation flights using online tools We'll dig into flight tracking methods, aircraft identifiers, etc. from an immigration enforcement lens schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind... Hope to see some of you there!

on the dozen+ agencies operating at the Los Angeles anti-immigration raids protests www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Messaging from the senior acting official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations today, claiming to "run the streets" of the country The OFO is the largest component within CBP, directing the activities of over 27,000 employees

Google Earth (originally released as Keyhole EarthViewer) turns 24 today! To mark it, I visualized 17,000+ imagery update footprints that were added to Google Earth b/w 2009 - 2014.

Seems like this CBP airborne asset over Los Angeles protests this weekend was using a L3Harris Wescam MX EO/IR system (judging by their software interface at least) Reference image via WESCAM MX-15D promo video: engage.l3harris.com/wescam-mx-se...

Recently released doc lays out detailed plans for a new permanent facility for CBP's Air & Marine Operations on Libby Field at Fort Huachuca, AZ CBP currently operates MQ-9B drones for border surveillance from a temporary facility on the field Doc: www.cbp.gov/sites/defaul...

🚨 Greek prosecutors have referred felony charges on 17 HCG officials over the Pylos shipwreck This includes the PPLS 920's captain (for causing a deadly shipwreck), the full crew (for complicity), & top figures like the ex-chief and SAR commanders (for failing to rescue) via rsaegean.bsky.social

A reconstruction of the destroyed Bijeli Potoci spomenik on Croatia's Plješevica mountain chain, along its border with BiH The monument, built in the 80s and ransacked in the 90s, marked the grounds of a secret hospital complex that served antifascist Yugoslav partisans during WWII

~180 Anduril Industries autonomous surveillance towers (ASTs) along the US/Mexico border Exported from QGIS w/ a custom python script and tower point data from @eff.org; compiled to video w/ ffmpeg Data: www.eff.org/document/us-...

A map of aerial SAR activity over the incident area today

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202... "A Bloomberg analysis of more than a decade of government data shows that 70% of immigrants detained in Louisiana and New Mexico end up deported, which is almost twice the rate of those detained in the Northeast, and is well above the national average of 53%."

Did the New England Patriots team plane just fly to Guantanamo? 👀

From a recent visit to the Spomenik hrabrima (Monument to the Fallen) in central Serbia near Čačak: I used Gaussian splatting to turn a set of still photos of the site into a rendered scene You can find out more on the monument here: www.spomenikdatabase.org/ostra

It's a tremendous privilege to have our Smoke and Lies investigation recognized by @ire.org this year In a moment when the governance of borders grow harsher and more opaque, investigations like this are one way to make the violence of these institutions harder to ignore.

Over the weekend, the White House posted a video showing a group of people being walked by CBP for deportation with “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” playing in the background. The footage can be geolocated to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge in Laredo, Texas 27.502239, -99.503324

A rough synchronization of 24 separate videos recording the crowd response to the use of alleged sonic weapons on the evening of March 15th in Belgrade

DHS Head Kristi Noem announced today new border wall construction in AZ, pointing to a 'gap' in the fence Geolocation shows her video was filmed in Coronado National Forest’s Pajarito Mountains - an ecologically sensitive area where previous wall plans were halted 31.3326, -111.0263

Exciting news! Our investigation Smoke and Lies has been shortlisted for the @cen4infores.bsky.social Open Source Film Awards. A collaboration with La Verdad Juárez & El Paso Matters. www.info-res.org/film-awards/...

Custom and Border Protection's multi-million aerostat surveillance balloon on South Padre Island, TX got taken out by the weather yesterday and is now among the missing. If you find it before they do, let them know. 🎈 Footage via Carol Savage/KRGV

Frame placement/stabilization of this clip showing a recent R9X strike outside of Keftin in Idlib

Excited to be heading to #NICAR25 in Minneapolis later this week! If you're also attending and want to connect - whether to talk open source / spatial investigations or just gab - do feel free to reach out!

My White Stork Migration Route map featured with a write-up on Maps.com today! This one was a personal fave, super cool to have it featured! www.maps.com/monochrome-m...

A look into some moments of daily New York life from over a century ago Exploring some digital restoration techniques with archival footage taken around NYC's Madison Square Park during a 1902 blizzard

Geo/chrono-location: This video shows A320-214 N289GX #A2F016 - owned and operated by Global X Airlines - being used for an ICE charter flight from Seattle's Boeing Field on Feb. 18 The plane took off shortly after and transported the detainees to El Paso, TX

Construction around Guantanamo's Migrant Operations Center has continued the last week, with around 50 additional tents set up between February 4 to 12 Approximately 100 tents were previously set up between January 30 to February 4

"Yambio received an email from Apple on 13 November seen by the Guardian, informing him he was being targeted by 'a mercenary spyware attack' that was attempting to 'remotely compromise' the iPhone associated with your Apple account." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

This plane is available for rent on the private jet charter broker Jettly: "It's just like Expedia®, but for private jets." jettly.com/fleet/n751gt

Abbott's gov. in Texas has doubled the length of the Eagle Pass floating buoy barrier on the Rio Grande—expanding from ~1,000 ft to ~2,000 ft

Another relevant GTMO observation: Since Trump's inauguration, the notorious Camp Delta has had it's Camp 2 completely deconstructed Built in 2002 for detainees from the War on Terror, it's unclear when/why the decision was made to demolish

Disappointing news today from Croatia regarding our 2021 @lhreports.bsky.social et. al. Masked Men investigation: The State Attorney's Office concluded (3+ years later) that there is no reasonable suspicion that the officers "tortured migrants or treated them cruelly" www.index.hr/vijesti/clan...

NEW: Satellite imagery shows recent changes around Guantanamo Bay's Migrant Operations Center consistent with large scale tent constructions Likely to house incoming troops, but potentially as well new migrants being flown to the island by the Trump administration, who has promised 30k detainees

Flight tracks the last days of US Navy’s P-8 Poseidon AE683E patrolling land & sea borders around CA + AZ. Odd to see a $200 million anti-submarine warfare jet on inland ISR—part of the new administration's border theatre h/t: @theintelfrog.bsky.social

Quick animation looking at ADS-B patterns of fire response flights during the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles Interesting to see how flight track overlaps often occur along natural topography lines like canyons

While a wildfire rages along the US-Mexico border, military transports—including C-130s and Ospreys—are landing near Otay Mesa, not to fight fires but to stage a show of force on the border for the Trump admin ADS-B data shows the collision of crisis response and border theatre

Really cool to see that our Desert Dumps collab. investigation was named as one of the 14 "(highly subjective) best of the best investigations selection from across the globe published in 2024" by @gijn.org www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-i...

Last week the Croatian Ministry of the Interior announced EU funding support for "trilateral patrols at the EU external border [of #Croatia]" with officers from #Italy + #Slovenia The funding support comes via the Integrated Border Management Fund mup.gov.hr/vijesti/pilo...

The last moments of Azerbaijan Airlines flight #J28243 visualized in 3D Demonstrates the heavy altitude swings of the plane as it limped over the Caspian Sea from Grozny before tragically crashing near Aktua, Kazakhstan ADS-B data recorded by @flightradar24.com; rendered in #b3d