The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | December 20th, 2025: New Year’s Eve Terror Plot Foiled & Gaza Ceasefire Tested
20 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the TVB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, federal authorities stop a coordinated New Year's Eve terror plot, arresting multiple suspects accused of planning bombings in and around Los Angeles. We'll be joined by former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative Eric O'Neill for more on that.
Later in the show, the Gaza ceasefire holds for now, even as Israel strikes Hamas leadership. Ben Cohen from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies joins us to break down what comes next. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. Federal authorities say they disrupted a coordinated domestic terror plot just days before New Year's Eve, one that could have turned very deadly.
Multiple suspects are now in custody, accused of planning bombing attacks across Southern California and the Los Angeles area. Investigators say this went well beyond online rhetoric involving operational planning, explosive materials, and clearly defined targets.
Authorities are also pointing to the ideology behind the alleged plot, an extremist worldview that rejected peaceful protest and democratic processes altogether, framing violence as necessary and justified. It's a stark reminder that domestic extremism doesn't always look the same, but the threat, nonetheless, is always very real.
Joining me now is former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative Eric O'Neill. He's also the founding partner of the Georgetown Group. Eric, thanks very much for joining us here on The Situation Report. Mike, thanks for having me back on. Well, we've got a number of things to talk about.
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Chapter 2: What was the New Year’s Eve terror plot that was foiled?
Let's start with this bomb plot in and around Southern California. What can you tell us about this?
Well, it's a pretty amazing story. You have a group that calls themselves the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which comes from this idea that if you flip the map of the United States, it looks like a turtle. It looks like an island that looks like a turtle. And so the original indigenous name was Turtle Island, which has no bearing in historical fact.
And so that capitalism is bad and all of this ideology.
Let me interrupt you right there. How stoned do you think the guys were that came up with this name?
It's crazy. The whole thing is crazy. The plot is the thing that's scary. This idea that capitalism is bad and the United States is bad and we stole it from indigenous people and so that we need to blow up buildings in Los Angeles in order to to restore it. I don't know what their goal was other than absolute chaos. And that's what you see in many of these terrorist cells.
But it shows that the investigation, which was a class act by law enforcement and the FBI, shows that there was coordination, there was planning, and that they might have been able to pull this off if the FBI hadn't learned about the plot and surveilled and infiltrated and then caught them before they could build these pipe bombs.
Do we know, without giving up sources and methods, of course, but do we know how they first became aware, I mean, the authorities, how they first became aware of this plot and of this group?
Yeah, we don't know, but it's typically one or two ways. Either someone in the group has a little bit of a conscience and rats them out. That happens a lot in counter-terror. When I was operating, you would see somebody in the cell who didn't feel comfortable or got angry at their fellow terrorists and provided an anonymous tip.
The other way that the FBI could have learned about them is digital surveillance, looking for people in chat rooms, in different areas of the internet, talking about these things. And what we're learning from the investigation is they were doing a lot of talking. There was a lot of chatter and coordination ahead of the attack.
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Chapter 3: How did federal authorities disrupt the terror plot?
Actually, it's a rather complex question because it depends on what medium of communication the group is using. For example, there are different services like Discord, which is used by gamers all over the world. That's really what it was... created for, and it's basically a virtual chat room. But when you are having voice chats, it's completely encrypted.
You can set up a private server and then delete it when you're done. That's not the only one. There are other apps like that, which makes it very hard for law enforcement to come across it.
Now, of course, if the terrorists or the bad actors are using sort of traditional chat rooms and message boards that can be monitored easily or are being monitored by the main social media companies for these sort of things, then it makes it a little easier for law enforcement. So as with so many questions, it really does depend on how savvy they are and how well they understand cybersecurity.
Okay. Yeah. Very good point. Now, the target selection was interesting on the part of the Turtle Island group. Yeah.
Turtle Island Liberation Front is what they called themselves.
If that's going to be their name, you're just going to have to deal with some criticism, right? Well, especially if your acronym would be Red Brigade or the Japanese Red Army. You look at that, Shining Path, and you think, okay, it sets you up to be very serious-minded. But when you hear the Turtle Island Bombing Association or whatever they were or are,
But again, I'm not making light of the seriousness of it, but I spent a lot of time overseas in past years working against anarchist groups. And you learn to have a real level of disdain for the violent anarchist world. But anyway, I digress. Their targeting was interesting.
Yeah, well, they're targeting corporations and buildings, and they were going to use pipe bombs, which can cause serious damage and are not very difficult to build. And the interesting thing is the FBI took them down on a raid as they were in the desert building these pipe bombs, presumably to fulfill their plans and detonate.
Yeah. So, this was not, as you pointed out earlier on, this was not some theoretical exercise. They had gone into the operational- Yes. They'd gone and they were involved in the logistics.
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Chapter 4: What insights does Eric O'Neill provide about domestic extremism?
Law enforcement has to be incredibly aware, not only preparing ahead of the celebrations, which are usually large crowds. New Year's Eve draws large crowds, and there is always the opportunity for chaos in large crowds. So there has to be great preparation ahead of time.
And then, of course, you have to have your law enforcement assets on the ground and ready to act in a moment's notice to follow any plots that they weren't aware of or that spring up. So it's a very difficult time for law enforcement. It's not an easy time or a real fun time of year.
This is a little bit, I suppose, a little bit off topic, but how would you describe the current staffing of the Bureau in terms of focusing on counterterrorism? Obviously, they've got to address all sorts of issues across the board as an organization, but to what degree, from what you've seen, is the Bureau properly staffed up and prepared for this type of effort?
Yeah, I think the Bureau has made great strides in counterterrorism. I was actually hired into the FBI to work undercover in counterterrorism under, I think, Bill Clinton's counterterrorism bill, and ended up doing a lot of spy hunting counterintelligence while I was at it. But the FBI has always been excellent at counterterrorism, which is just counterintelligence to catch bombers.
since the events of 9-11. It's a critical goal of the FBI. And look, this case against this Turtle Beach Liberation Front, Turtle Island, sorry, Liberation Front, is a great example of how successful they are in foiling these kinds of plots, because that could be devastating. Pipe bombs going off during New Year's in Southern California, that's a scary thought.
And is it fair to say that they've publicized this one, this takedown, but is it fair to say that the public generally doesn't hear about successful operations and thwarting potential terror attacks?
Yes. There's a little bit of an eyebrow raise that they publicized it. That's not typical. Usually the FBI goes in and does the work, isn't looking for accolades, isn't looking for a pat on the back, just goes in, takes down the bad guys and moves on to the next one.
Okay. Yeah. Well, we've got a lot more to cover here, Eric, but I want to be mindful of time. We've got to take a quick break. So Eric O'Neill, if you could stay right where you are, don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more of the Situation Report. Stand by. Hey, Mike Baker here, PDB host and, of course, fashion icon. Now, I want to tell you about a great clothing company out there.
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Chapter 5: What is the current status of the Gaza ceasefire?
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Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. Joining me once again is former FBI counterintelligence operative and founding partner of the Georgetown Group, Eric O'Neill. Eric, thank you very much for sticking around. Appreciate it. Well, we've been talking about the foiled bomb plot in Southern California. I want to switch over to the other side of the country, if I could.
What is your assessment of the investigation regarding the Brown University shooting that took place?
Right. And so Brown University is very difficult for law enforcement here. There's a pretty powerful interagency task force of local law enforcement, FBI, other assets from the federal government in a manhunt looking for someone that they only have identified as a person of interest, what we would have called an unsub, unknown subject back in the day.
Now, they're very confident that this person of interest, an individual wearing black, about 5'8", a little heavy set in a mask and a cap, so it makes it very hard to see their facial features, is the person who did the shooting.
There was just a very recent press conference where law enforcement, where the police chief said that the victim, the survivors of the shooting identified that image in the video that they put out. They believe to be the person who committed the violent act. So that gives them confidence that this person of interest is something they really want to apprehend.
The problem is that without being able to identify the person's face, or they use camera surveillance, things like ring camera and traffic cameras and those sort of things to track his behavior. egress from the building where he committed the shooting into a car with a license plate or a residence or something like that. It's very difficult to identify.
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Chapter 6: What challenges does Israel face with Hamas during the ceasefire?
But I assume that the authorities, that's what they're doing right now. And it's very labor intensive, but they're trying to piece together to the degree possible all that footage as this individual is moving from Brown.
Yes.
The authorities have just released a video which shows an actual pretty impressive tracking. Using backdoor cameras and ring cameras on front porches and a few traffic cameras, the person of interest activity is starting around one o'clock all the way through and after the shooting that shows the different areas and streets that he was walking on.
He did a lot of pacing around for hours before he went in and committed that act, allegedly. And so that's a pretty good job by law enforcement piecing together that digital trail through using cameras. And it does give them an idea of a map of where he was and where he was walking. Which at least gives them some idea of an area that they want to focus their hunt.
Because it's possible since he walked that he's a local and that he's somewhere in that area. They don't know that, but that would be one area of investigation. But what they're really hoping is that someone recognizes him and gives them a tip.
What about, you said there have been great advances in recent times on facial recognition capabilities, even when somebody is wearing a mask. Yes. So I would assume that's at play here, but talk to me a little bit about that. I mean, have you seen facial recognition play a role in a situation like this?
Well, facial recognition is getting better, especially with AI. Now, of course, you have to have an image in the database for it to be able to do its work. AI can also be used to enhance a face, even with some of the blurry images that they have. But look, the images aren't great. They're kind of grainy. They're from people's ring cameras and traffic cams, which aren't real high fidelity.
I haven't seen anything that shows that he was captured by video in the building or around the building. That doesn't mean that they don't exist. It just hasn't been released. And without a better image than what we've seen, it's going to be difficult. So that's why I said they're relying. I think that they're really focusing on hoping there's a tip. from citizens that live there.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the ceasefire for humanitarian aid in Gaza?
Because look, even if one of your friends that you've known for a long time or a family member is wearing a cap and a mask and they walk along in front of you, you're still going to recognize them, right? So I think they're hoping by gate recognition and the image that someone will call and say, I know that person. You know, and that's not such a big hope.
It worked in the Charlie Kirk shooter, if you remember. They put out images and then I think his family member recognized him, his family, and convinced himself to turn himself in.
No, that's exactly right. It's interesting what you said about there has to be an image to cross-reference in a database, but people shouldn't imagine that that has to be okay. Well, there's got to be a mugshot or the person has to have had prior running with law enforcement. It could be a DMV photo. It could- It could be a DMV photo. Yes, it could be-
Your driver's license? Yes. Yes, exactly. But you do need a little bit better than what they have. I mean, the eyes do tell an amazing story, but you have to have a decently clear image of that face in order to reconstruct more of it. And in here, unless they have better video, that's going to be difficult.
Are you surprised that, look, I would assume if they've been releasing this existing footage, that what that means, they don't have anything better because you would, I mean, logic would say that's, if you're turning to the public for help at this point, you would use your best images. Is it surprising to you that Brown University doesn't have better camera systems in place?
Certainly, with the number of school shootings that happen across the United States or the fact that it's always a potential threat, you would want to have better cameras. I just don't know. It's hard to speculate because we haven't really seen a lot about what kind of camera systems they have. One of the questions I would have if I was looking at it as a security specialist is,
Is where your cameras, are they static or are they monitored? Are they the sort of camera system where after an event you can replay versus you're actively monitoring to try to prevent threats from happening? Those would be a lot of the questions that I would ask. And I just can't say because no one knows. Well, people know, it just hasn't been released to the public.
Hasn't been released to the public yet. Yeah.
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Chapter 8: How does the international community view the situation in Gaza?
Yeah, I will say I wasn't overly impressed with one of their recent press conferences. It didn't seem like it was particularly well thought.
I can understand law enforcement in that moment. They are stressed and you have somebody who is unhinged enough to take a firearm and shoot up a school and that is... walking around the area or it might be in the area or at least out in the wind. And that's a scary thing.
And law enforcement, nobody wants to catch this guy faster than those law enforcement officers that are working night and day to do it.
Yeah, 100% agreed on that one. But I would say, look, you know, if... you know, there's always some hot washer lessons to be learned after any incident. Certainly. This one, you would hope that every university out there, and look, Brownson, it's a little bit of a tough situation, right?
It's kind of open access, and it's, you know, it's not like you can ring fence and, you know, have limited numbers of points of entry, but it behooves every school, kindergarten all the way through universities, to... take the time and periodically think about this process. I think you're exactly right.
And in security, in both physical and cybersecurity, which is where my expertise is today, the worst thing you can do is say, it can't happen to me. Because these sort of things can happen to everyone. And the fact that it's happened in the past predicts that it could potentially happen in the future. So you always have to plan ahead of the pressure event and just assume that it won't happen.
I'm not saying that's what Brown did, but in general, we all have to take responsibility for our own security.
Right. And then look at every incident and say, okay, is there anything different here that I haven't thought about? Is there something here that happened that I'm not prepared for? For whatever your facility or your concerns are, it never stays the same. It's like crisis management planning, right? You've put together a plan.
But if you don't review it, if you don't exercise it, if you don't think about how things have changed from time to time, then it's fairly ineffective. It's just gathering dust up on the shelf. But listen to us. Listen to you and me talking like we're two security professionals.
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