Watchtower Intel

Click the button below to subscribe via Apple Podcasts:The most dangerous leader you’ll ever work for isn’t incompetent; they’re actually competent enough to advance their career while caring about all the wrong things. Mission and people become tools for personal gain.In this episode, I break down:* What a careerist bureaucrat actually is (and why they’re so hard to spot)* The trap: how good people get caught optimizing for a bad leader* When to recognize you’re in it — and when to get outThis is a case study in institutional failure. It’s also why I’m leaving active duty Air Force Intelligence. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rileyblanton Contact: [email protected] on X: https://x.com/therileyguyThe gram: https://instagram.com/therileyguy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit watchtowerintel.substack.com

This week I appeared on Scott Ryfun Straight Talk — coastal Georgia’s most-listened-to talk radio show — to cut through the noise on the Iran ceasefire extension.We covered:* Why the “indefinite ceasefire” shows how the IRGC has consolidated power* The strategic difference between operational success (obliterating Iran’s conventional military) and impossible problems (securing nuclear material without boots on the ground)* Why flippant commentary about “just solving it” ignores the actual cost in American lives* The moral question nobody’s asking: How is a radical Islamist theocratic regime with nuclear weapons different than North Korea, Russia, or China?Scott gets it; he’s rightly skeptical of the hot-take industrial complex and wants to understand what’s actually happening, not telling his audience what to think about it.(This is why Watchtower Intel exists: to bridge the gap between how military operations are planned and executed, and the circus happening in the commentary class.)-Riley This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit watchtowerintel.substack.com

On March 27, Iran struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia — damaging KC-135 tankers and an E-3 Sentry AWACS. That last one is a big deal. The E-3 is one of the highest-value assets in the theater. It doesn't get hit by accident. So how did Iran know where to look?In this video, I break down what actually happened at PSAB, why the precision of these strikes point to something bigger than Iranian capability alone, and what the Washington Post, CNN, and Bloomberg have all now confirmed about Russian intelligence sharing — and what China may be providing on top of that.Read my full piece with sources: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit watchtowerintel.substack.com