The Wire - November 7, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z November 7, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: POTENTIAL CHEMICAL/BIOLOGICAL WEAPON MAILED TO JOINT BASE ANDREWS, 7X BASE PERSONNEL HOSPITALIZED BRIEFLY. SCHOOL SHOOTING IN INDONESIA HIGHLGHTS GROWING CONCERNS OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM ORGANIZATIONS. WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES FURTHER COOLING OF THE TRADE WAR WITH CHINA AS ECONOMIC DEALS CONTINUE TO BE STRUCK.//

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-International Events-

Indonesia: A school shooting was reported at a high school in Jakarta. A student at the school conducted a complex attack by detonating explosives inside the school's Mosque, before conducting a small arms attack on his fellow students at the school. 54x students were wounded in some manner during the attack, though most casualty figures are unclear at this time.

Analyst Comment: This attack is interesting as it highlights a relatively new type of terror threat that has cropped up over the years, which is useful to have an understanding of. This type of attacker is now being described with rather niche terminology: Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE). This label (and a few other similar labels) have become a popular way to describe these types of attacks in the counterterrorism community, which have gone from nearly non-existent to comparatively common over the past few years.

Caribbean: This afternoon the Pentagon announced another kinetic targeting strike in the region, so far the tenth strike during this campaign. Three individuals were killed during this engagement.

-HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - This morning the White House announced another stage in the cooling of the trade war with China, which involves both parties backing down from their hardline tariffs and export controls. China will halt some (not all) of the export controls on minerals the US needs, and the US will halt some of the retaliatory tariffs in exchange.

Analyst Comment: This has happened before; the trade conflict between the US and China has ebbed and flowed since January. However, as both parties have mutual interest and aren't ready for a more kinetic conflict right now, both seem to be interested in striking a deal. Though, who comes on top of this arrangement will be a point for debate in due time.

Maryland - This morning 7x people were hospitalized after opening a package filled with white powder at one of the National Guard facilities on Joint Base Andrews. The building where the discovery was made was evacuated, and several employees were briefly examined to determine if they were exposed to any chemical/biological agent. The base itself was also locked down for a short time while the situation was investigated.

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Analyst Comments: Initial reports this morning suggested that political messages were also found in the package with the powder discovered at JB Andrews (as is extremely common), but no word yet on what any of those documents said. Regarding the medical situation, it is standard procedure for all parties involved with a suspicious package to immediately be hospitalized to determine if they have been exposed to anything. However, several news media outlets specifically stated that several people actually "fell ill" as the package was opened. All were released very quickly from the hospital, so whatever the substance was it wasn't a genuine threat. Since it is sometimes quite traumatic to experience a potential biological/chemical terror attack, it's very common for those in the room to have an emotional reaction that can be mistaken as some kind of reaction to a biological agent. 

In this case, everyone turned out to be fine, so this looks to be a hoax. Most of the time these incidents are indeed hoaxes, but it only takes one genuine threat for a major incident to occur. Better safe than sorry, and now that the domestic terrorism threats presented by thousands of ideologies and cultures ar