Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 29th, 2026: Iran’s Secret Weapons Supply Lines & Homeland Security’s Massive Data Breach

Transcript

PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 29th, 2026: Iran’s Secret Weapons Supply Lines & Homeland Security’s Massive Data Breach · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Thursday,
• 0:12
  the twenty-ninth of October.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 0:16
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:17
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:20
  All right,
• 0:21
  let's get briefed.
• 0:22
  First up,
• 0:22
  Iran's military has been significantly degraded.
• 0:25
  Its weapons factories have been bombed,
• 0:27
  and
• 0:28
  its supply lines are under severe pressure.
• 0:30
  Yet the regime is still replenishing its missile and drone arsenals.
• 0:35
  Now a new investigation may have uncovered how they're doing it.
• 0:38
  Later in the show,
• 0:39
  another massive cyber breach within the US government,
• 0:42
  this time at the Department of Homeland Security,
• 0:45
  with the exposure of more than 41,000 employees and contractors,
• 0:49
  including
• 0:50
  undercover investigators.
• 0:51
  Now at this point,
• 0:52
  are there any US federal employees who haven't had their identities exposed?
• 0:57
  But first,
• 0:58
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 1:00
  Iran has spent the past 8 months under some of the heaviest military and economic
• 1:04
  pressure that the US has ever brought against
• 1:06
  the Islamic Republic or really any nation.
• 1:09
  American and Israeli forces have hit missile sites,
• 1:12
  drone factories,
• 1:13
  launchers,
• 1:14
  air defense systems,
• 1:15
  and
• 1:15
  military infrastructure across the country.
• 1:18
  Washington has also imposed a naval blockade,
• 1:20
  tightened sanctions,
• 1:21
  and tried to cut Iran off from the international financial system.
• 1:25
  And yet Iran is still firing missiles and drones.
• 1:29
  So how is Tehran continuing to replenish their weapons stockpiles?
• 1:33
  Well,
• 1:34
  a new Reuters investigation may have found an answer.
• 1:37
  According to Reuters,
• 1:38
  Iran has spent years building a massive,
• 1:40
  largely hidden international procurement system
• 1:43
  tied directly to Iran's defense ministry.
• 1:47
  At the center of that system are more than 5000 numbered military agencies.
• 1:52
  Now their names begin with the letters MOD,
• 1:54
  that would be for Iran's Ministry of Defense,
• 1:57
  followed by a string of numbers.
• 1:59
  Reuters says those agencies have helped Iran import
• 2:02
  at least $2 billion worth of military-related hardware,
• 2:06
  explosives,
• 2:06
  chemicals,
• 2:07
  and heavy duty vehicles since January of this past year.
• 2:12
  Now I'll bet the citizens of Iran
• 2:14
  probably could have used that $2 billion for,
• 2:17
  I don't know,
• 2:18
  schools and roads and quality of life resources.
• 2:21
  That's just a thought.
• 2:22
  Now within this group of 5000,
• 2:24
  1 agency alone appears to be doing business on an extraordinary scale.
• 2:29
  It's called MOD
• 2:30
  346-428.
• 2:32
  That's a very catchy name.
• 2:34
  Reuters says that single entity imported
• 2:36
  roughly $2.3 billion worth of military hardware
• 2:40
  between January 2025 and June of this year.
• 2:44
  The purchases included ingredients used in rocket propellant,
• 2:47
  explosives,
• 2:48
  detonators,
• 2:49
  aircraft,
• 2:50
  engine parts,
• 2:50
  titanium,
• 2:51
  electronics,
• 2:52
  and
• 2:52
  sophisticated industrial machinery.
• 2:55
  Iran also imported hundreds of heavy duty trucks
• 2:58
  that can be converted into mobile missile launchers
• 3:01
  or used to transport drones and other military equipment.
• 3:04
  Of course,
• 3:05
  the regime can argue that many of those
• 3:07
  individual items have possibly legitimate civilian uses,
• 3:11
  but taken together,
• 3:12
  weapons and sanctions experts who reviewed the records
• 3:15
  told Reuters that the materials could
• 3:17
  obviously support the industrial scale production
• 3:20
  of missiles and drones.
• 3:22
  And this system is not something that Iran just threw together after the war began.
• 3:27
  Most of the number of agencies appear to date back more than a decade,
• 3:31
  when the Iranian regime was already struggling under international sanctions.
• 3:36
  The agencies in question
• 3:38
  share the same Tehran address as Iran's Ministry of Defense and
• 3:42
  Armed Forces Logistics.
• 3:43
  Well,
• 3:43
  that's convenient.
• 3:44
  Some are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
• 3:47
  the IRGC,
• 3:48
  and to the powerful quasi-government foundations known as
• 3:52
  bonyads that control major pieces of Iran's economy.
• 3:56
  The agencies then work through front men and shell
• 3:58
  companies overseas to purchase goods on Iran's behalf.
• 4:02
  And here's one of the more interesting parts of this.
• 4:05
  Reuters says that 97% of the shipments it reviewed
• 4:09
  were settled without a conventional international money transfer.
• 4:13
  Instead,
• 4:14
  money earned from illicit Iranian oil sales
• 4:17
  was apparently held outside the country.
• 4:19
  Trusted intermediaries
• 4:21
  could then use that money
• 4:23
  to purchase equipment abroad and ship it back to Iran.
• 4:26
  Though that allows Tehran to avoid one of
• 4:28
  the places where Western sanctions are strongest,
• 4:30
  and that would be the international banking system.
• 4:33
  Former Treasury official Miyad Maliki described the arrangement this way,
• 4:37
  quote,
• 4:38
  This is the complete ecosystem of the Iranian military's trade business,
• 4:42
  end quote.
• 4:43
  And the system appears to have continued functioning even
• 4:46
  after the war began on the twenty-eighth of February.
• 4:49
  While Iranian military imports did fall sharply
• 4:51
  during the first month of fighting,
• 4:53
  Reuters says they began increasing again by May.
• 4:56
  Equipment continued entering Iran by cargo ship
• 4:59
  across the Caspian Sea from Russia.
• 5:01
  There's a surprise,
• 5:02
  by freight aircraft from China.
• 5:04
  Oh,
• 5:04
  another surprise,
• 5:05
  and by truck through Central Asia.
• 5:08
  Some shipments were also recorded as originating in the UAE
• 5:11
  and European countries.
• 5:13
  A June shipment from Russia included $1.9 million worth of detonators
• 5:18
  that could be used to trigger explosives,
• 5:20
  of course,
• 5:20
  in missile and drone warheads.
• 5:23
  Materials recorded as originating in China
• 5:25
  included titanium,
• 5:27
  nitro cellulose,
• 5:28
  and chemicals in categories that include ingredients
• 5:31
  used in rocket propellant.
• 5:33
  Now China
• 5:34
  says it's unaware of the shipments.
• 5:35
  We have no idea what's going on.
• 5:38
  Described by Reuters and rejects with a straight face,
• 5:41
  claims that China is supporting Iran's war effort.
• 5:44
  Russia did not respond to Reuters' questions.
• 5:48
  The findings create an interesting contrast with comments
• 5:50
  that President Trump made earlier this month.
• 5:53
  On October 12th,
• 5:54
  Trump said he did not believe China or
• 5:56
  Russia were providing meaningful support to Iran,
• 5:59
  which is White House speak for,
• 6:02
  well,
• 6:02
  I'm sure they're providing support,
• 6:04
  but I really don't want to make an issue of it with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
• 6:08
  He added that if they were
• 6:10
  providing support,
• 6:11
  the US would know about it very quickly.
• 6:14
  OK,
• 6:14
  well,
• 6:15
  somebody should inform the White House that
• 6:17
  Russia and China have been supporting Iran.
• 6:20
  Do we have any PDB listeners in the Oval Office vicinity?
• 6:24
  Reuters investigation now shows that military-related materials originating
• 6:28
  in both countries have continued reaching Iran.
• 6:31
  And then there are the trucks.
• 6:34
  Iran has imported hundreds of Iveco heavy duty vehicles and
• 6:38
  thousands of Toyota pickups and SUVs through this procurement system.
• 6:43
  Iranian forces have modified commercial vehicles like these
• 6:46
  into mobile missile launchers,
• 6:48
  drone transports,
• 6:49
  and weapons platforms.
• 6:51
  CEO footage released in March showed an American strike
• 6:55
  destroying what the military described as a disguised Iranian
• 6:58
  mobile missile launcher mounted on an Iveco truck.
• 7:02
  Reuters could not determine whether that particular vehicle
• 7:05
  came through the agency MOD 346-428,
• 7:09
  but analysts at Jane's confirmed that it was the
• 7:11
  same type of truck that Iran has been importing.
• 7:15
  And here's another interesting finding.
• 7:17
  Reuters says it could find no evidence that any of
• 7:20
  the thousands of numbered MOD agencies uncovered in the investigation
• 7:24
  have themselves been individually sanctioned by Western governments.
• 7:28
  So while Washington has spent years targeting Iranian military organizations,
• 7:32
  banks,
• 7:32
  shipping companies,
• 7:33
  and front businesses,
• 7:35
  much of the machinery behind Iran's procurement system
• 7:38
  appears to have remained largely out of sight.
• 7:41
  Well,
• 7:41
  that brings us back to the larger military problem.
• 7:43
  The US and Israel can destroy Iranian missile factories,
• 7:47
  launchers,
• 7:48
  warehouses,
• 7:48
  and production facilities,
• 7:50
  but Iran's ability to rebuild those systems depends on
• 7:54
  whether it can continue importing the chemicals,
• 7:56
  the metals,
• 7:57
  machinery,
• 7:57
  and vehicles needed to replace them.
• 8:00
  One expert who reviewed the data described what Reuters uncovered
• 8:04
  as an industrial scale effort to rebuild or expand Iran's missile and drone forces.
• 8:10
  Which means the question is no longer simply
• 8:12
  how much of Iran's arsenal the US can destroy,
• 8:16
  it's whether Washington can destroy it
• 8:17
  faster than Tehran's hidden procurement network
• 8:20
  can replace it.
• 8:22
  All right.
• 8:23
  Coming up,
• 8:24
  Homeland Security is dealing with what one
• 8:26
  former ICE director calls a nightmare scenario.
• 8:29
  Hackers have exposed information on more than 41,000 employees and contractors,
• 8:34
  creating a searchable database that could put undercover
• 8:37
  investigators and ongoing criminal cases at risk.
• 8:40
  I'll be right back.
• 8:42
  Hey,
• 8:42
  Mike Baker here.
• 8:43
  Now,
• 8:44
  every AI expert,
• 8:45
  and there are a lot of them,
• 8:47
  seems to recommend something different these days.
• 8:49
  When starting a new project,
• 8:50
  it's easy to end up asking,
• 8:52
  uh,
• 8:53
  should this tool be used for research or should that one be used for writing.
• 8:57
  Before long,
• 8:58
  anyone can find themselves bouncing between 5 different AI tools
• 9:01
  just to complete one simple assignment.
• 9:04
  Too much time gets wasted
• 9:05
  managing AI software
• 9:08
  instead of actually getting real work done.
• 9:10
  And that's why Perplexity Computer stands out.
• 9:13
  Instead of locking users into a single model,
• 9:16
  Perplexity Computer orchestrates all the leading AI models behind the scenes,
• 9:20
  automatically selecting the best one for every specific task.
• 9:25
  Whether the job calls for analyzing market trends
• 9:27
  or comparing competitors or building entire slide decks,
• 9:31
  it's as simple as dictating the project goals
• 9:33
  and letting the computer take over.
• 9:35
  It connects directly with Slack and Gmail,
• 9:38
  automated.
• 9:38
  Follow-ups and keeping the work moving forward
• 9:41
  until the entire project is finished.
• 9:43
  For a limited time only,
• 9:44
  our PDB listeners can try Perplexity Computer for free.
• 9:48
  Head over to PPLX.AI/PDB. Once again,
• 9:52
  that's PPLX.AI/PDB to try
• 9:57
  Perplexity Computer today.
• 9:59
  Most AI tools are just busy answering questions,
• 10:02
  while Perplexity Computer,
• 10:04
  well,
• 10:04
  they're busy completing projects.
• 10:07
  Hey,
• 10:07
  Mike Baker here.
• 10:08
  Now you may have heard about the upcoming US midterm elections,
• 10:12
  right?
• 10:13
  Well,
• 10:13
  they're right around the corner and they are heating up,
• 10:15
  that's putting it mildly.
• 10:17
  Congressional control,
• 10:18
  possibly Senate control,
• 10:19
  and President Trump's agenda are all on the ballot and up for grabs,
• 10:23
  and every new poll,
• 10:24
  every piece of campaign news has the potential to shift the odds.
• 10:28
  C,
• 10:29
  America's number one prediction market platform,
• 10:31
  lets you trade those predictions in a live market.
• 10:34
  Now one race worth watching is in Michigan,
• 10:37
  where Democrat Abdul El Sayed is facing Republican
• 10:40
  Mike Rogers for an open Senate seat.
• 10:42
  Right now on Calci,
• 10:43
  El Sayed is trading at 69% to win,
• 10:46
  while Rodgers is sitting at 31%.
• 10:49
  But the polls actually show a much closer contest.
• 10:52
  According to Real Clear polling.
• 10:54
  El Sayed leads Rodgers by less than 2% points.
• 10:57
  Calci traders,
• 10:58
  however,
• 10:58
  are pricing their chances of winning
• 11:00
  much differently.
• 11:01
  And with Election Day coming up November 3rd,
• 11:04
  those numbers could continue to move.
• 11:06
  You can follow Michigan and other major races across the country.
• 11:09
  On Calci.
• 11:10
  On Calci,
• 11:10
  you're trading against peers in a live market,
• 11:13
  meaning there's no house,
• 11:14
  and the probability changes.
• 11:16
  Well,
• 11:16
  you can buy in and out of your position.
• 11:19
  Download Calci,
• 11:20
  that's K A L S H I.
• 11:22
  Use the code PDB to get $25
• 11:25
  when you trade $25.
• 11:27
  Once again,
• 11:28
  that's CalSci.
• 11:29
  Trade.
• 11:29
  What's next?
• 11:30
  18 and older only.
• 11:32
  Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply.
• 11:34
  Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors.
• 11:39
  Calci products are not available in all jurisdictions.
• 11:42
  Prices,
• 11:42
  values,
• 11:43
  and available markets may differ from those mentioned.
• 11:46
  For more information,
• 11:47
  see Calci.com/regulatory.
• 11:51
  Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 11:55
  A massive breach at the US Department of Homeland
• 11:57
  Security has exposed more than 41,000 employees and contractors,
• 12:01
  and the danger
• 12:02
  goes beyond just stolen records.
• 12:05
  Their identities and contact info are now in a database that anyone can search,
• 12:10
  including
• 12:10
  the gangs and cartels that these investigators are pursuing.
• 12:14
  The Washington Post examined the database published Wednesday and
• 12:18
  checked the information with current and former DHS officials.
• 12:21
  Among those identified are undercover investigators.
• 12:25
  The records span Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
• 12:27
  Customs and Border Protection,
• 12:29
  and US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• 12:32
  So
• 12:33
  how was that information accessed?
• 12:35
  Well,
• 12:36
  a group calling itself the Department of Peace
• 12:38
  claims it got into secure DHS databases
• 12:41
  through the single sign-on service
• 12:43
  that employees use
• 12:45
  to access internal agency systems.
• 12:48
  Now,
• 12:48
  that name,
• 12:49
  the Department of Peace,
• 12:50
  has surfaced before.
• 12:51
  Back in March,
• 12:52
  the group claimed responsibility
• 12:54
  for leaking DHS contracting records,
• 12:56
  which were also published by distributed denial of Secrets.
• 13:00
  That's a nonprofit that publishes leaked and hacked materials.
• 13:04
  The message it sent the department at the time was blunt,
• 13:06
  quote,
• 13:06
  How does it feel to be hunted?
• 13:09
  This time,
• 13:09
  the group shared personnel records,
• 13:11
  including employees' offices and assignments
• 13:13
  with that same nonprofit and a Swiss hacker known online
• 13:16
  as Maya Arson Crime.
• 13:19
  Now Crimeu then took those records and
• 13:21
  organized them into something called Ice Pick,
• 13:23
  and that's the database
• 13:25
  that makes the information searchable.
• 13:27
  And there's some history here too.
• 13:29
  Back in 2021,
• 13:31
  US prosecutors indicted Crime on charges including conspiracy,
• 13:35
  wire fraud,
• 13:35
  and aggravated identity theft
• 13:38
  over alleged intrusions into corporate and government systems.
• 13:41
  Those charges were allegations,
• 13:43
  not a conviction.
• 13:44
  Crime has described previous hacking activity as quote,
• 13:47
  fun anarchism.
• 13:49
  Oh,
• 13:49
  well,
• 13:49
  there's nothing more fun than anarchism,
• 13:51
  but for the impact of DHS personnel,
• 13:53
  the potential consequences are serious.
• 13:56
  Now there are limits to what we know about these records.
• 13:58
  The publishers acknowledge that the database is incomplete
• 14:01
  and may contain inaccuracies.
• 14:03
  The reporting also does not establish that every record is current.
• 14:07
  Even with those limitations,
• 14:08
  though,
• 14:08
  current and former DHS officials
• 14:11
  told the Post that they'd seen nothing on this scale in the agency's history.
• 14:15
  Former acting ICE Director John Sandweck,
• 14:18
  who served during the Obama administration,
• 14:20
  called it a nightmare scenario.
• 14:23
  He warned that exposing officers and agents' names put
• 14:26
  them in great jeopardy and could endanger criminal investigations
• 14:30
  into gangs and drug cartels.
• 14:32
  That warning comes as DHS continues to
• 14:35
  carry out President Trump's mass deportation agenda.
• 14:38
  Now we've talked about the backlash endured by DHS workers before,
• 14:42
  such as protests and attacks on officers.
• 14:45
  Some DHS personnel began wearing masks last year
• 14:48
  to conceal their identities amid concerns about retaliation.
• 14:52
  Now information published online
• 14:55
  threatens to undo the anonymity that those officers
• 14:58
  were trying to maintain in the field,
• 15:00
  which is obviously the intent of the Department of Peace
• 15:03
  and hackers like Crimea.
• 15:05
  The hackers have made their political motivation clear.
• 15:08
  The Department of Peace pointed to Homeland Security
• 15:10
  Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen's 17 July statement.
• 15:13
  That he was turning up the heat.
• 15:16
  Well,
• 15:16
  the group answered with quote,
• 15:17
  this is what happens to ICE when you do that.
• 15:20
  The organizations behind the release are presenting their
• 15:22
  hacking and data breaches as government oversight.
• 15:25
  Ah,
• 15:26
  they claim IC Pick offers a first ever look into DHS's organizational structure
• 15:31
  and lets the public research individual agents and officers.
• 15:34
  Now this gets to a long standing dispute.
• 15:37
  ICE and other agencies have withheld some
• 15:39
  employee identities for national security reasons.
• 15:42
  Activists argue
• 15:43
  that the secrecy can shield misconduct,
• 15:46
  but putting sensitive personal information into a searchable database
• 15:51
  also makes it available to a wide variety of criminal organizations,
• 15:54
  cartels,
• 15:55
  and gangs.
• 15:56
  So the so-called oversight as described by the hackers
• 15:59
  does nothing to protect the officers whose identities have been exposed.
• 16:04
  So
• 16:04
  you ask
• 16:05
  what is DHS doing to protect the people affected?
• 16:08
  Well,
• 16:08
  the department said Wednesday night that it was quote aware of a potential breach,
• 16:13
  end quote.
• 16:13
  Well,
• 16:13
  that's nice.
• 16:14
  It also said we take all security
• 16:16
  threats against our employees and officers seriously
• 16:19
  and we'll work to ensure
• 16:20
  all are properly protected.
• 16:23
  Now there was an internal warning too.
• 16:25
  A former ICE official told the Post that the
• 16:26
  Homeland Security Investigations Intelligence Unit had issued an alert
• 16:31
  for DHS.
• 16:32
  The immediate task is to establish whose information was compromised,
• 16:36
  whether
• 16:37
  investigations have been affected,
• 16:38
  and what protection exposed personnel
• 16:41
  may require.
• 16:43
  And that my friends is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday,
• 16:46
  the 29th of October.
• 16:48
  Now,
• 16:48
  if you have any questions or comments,
• 16:49
  just reach out to me at PDB@hefirstv.com
• 16:53
  and to listen to the show ad-free,
• 16:55
  it's very easy to do.
• 16:56
  Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief
• 16:59
  by visiting PDBpremium.com.
• 17:02
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 17:04
  Until then,
• 17:05
  stay informed,
• 17:07
  stay safe,
• 17:08
  stay cool.
• 17:23
  Hey,
• 17:23
  Mike Baker here.
• 17:24
  I wanna take a moment to tell you about a great
• 17:27
  company out there making amazing hoodies and rain jackets and coats.
• 17:30
  I'm talking about Bearskin,
• 17:32
  that's B A E R
• 17:34
  S K I N,
• 17:35
  Bear skin.
• 17:36
  Now,
• 17:37
  we've all been caught outside at times in sudden bad weather,
• 17:40
  you know what I'm talking about,
• 17:41
  and without the right outdoor gear.
• 17:43
  The weather doesn't wait for you to be ready,
• 17:45
  right?
• 17:45
  One minute it's clear and
• 17:47
  Next,
• 17:47
  the temperature drops and rain moves in.
• 17:49
  Well,
• 17:49
  Bearskins hoodie and rain jacket combo,
• 17:52
  for example,
• 17:52
  ensures that you are always prepared.
• 17:55
  Their variety is fantastic.
• 17:56
  The quality is excellent.
• 17:58
  Look,
• 17:58
  I was out walking my retriever Hendrix.
• 18:00
  He's a wonderful dog,
• 18:01
  not the brightest,
• 18:02
  but a wonderful dog the other morning
• 18:04
  when the clouds rolled in and the sky opened up.
• 18:06
  But no worries.
• 18:07
  I had my bear skin gear on.
• 18:09
  They're micro fleece.
• 18:10
  is warmer than standard hoodies,
• 18:12
  wind resistant,
• 18:13
  and incredibly light and functional,
• 18:15
  right?
• 18:15
  When the heavy rain hit,
• 18:16
  I just zipped the rain jacket directly onto the hoodie.
• 18:19
  It's that simple,
• 18:20
  one seamless system
• 18:21
  with total
• 18:22
  protection.
• 18:23
  Plus it features 12 pockets,
• 18:25
  including a secure inner pocket
• 18:26
  for your cash and cards.
• 18:28
  It's no wonder over a million have been sold.
• 18:30
  That's right,
• 18:31
  a million,
• 18:31
  with more than 40,000 5-star reviews.
• 18:34
  Use
• 18:34
  on Trustpilot.
• 18:35
  Right now,
• 18:36
  you can buy any two Bearskin hoodies and get the rain jacket thrown in for free.
• 18:40
  Just text PDB to 36912 and Bearskin will send you a link.
• 18:45
  Again,
• 18:45
  text PDB to 36912.
• 18:48
  And if you're on the move,
• 18:49
  well,
• 18:49
  they'll hold the deal,
• 18:50
  so it's there when you're ready.
• 18:52
  Text PDB
• 18:53
  to 36912.
• 18:56
  Check them out,
• 18:56
  Bearskin.