Lauren C Anderson
@lcandersonintl.bsky.social
Former #NatSec #FBI exec who spent nearly three decades running toward the crises most people run from. Member @CFR.org co-host #TheSteadyState Sentinel co-host #Fearless
Reflections on the use of force - it's a last resort. In 29 years in the #FBI sometimes the most powerful decision we could make was not to use force. @thesteadystate.org @spytalker.bsky.social @justiceconnection.bsky.social @thebulwark.com @smerconish.bsky.social
Is it okay that the Dept of Defense fired the top people at #StarsandStripes? They started by firing the ombudsman, a congressionally designated role to safeguard the paper's independence. A move I've seen in authoritarian countries. @thesteadystate.org www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes leaders who criticized DOD’s interference
The Defense Department earlier this year railed against the publication, which has long enjoyed editorial independence, as “woke.”
washingtonpost.com
A hallmark of authoritarian leaders is to silence your critics. A new report concludes that the deployment of National Guard troops in US cities has had little effect on reducing crime. @thesteadystate.org @johnsipher.bsky.social @breefram.bsky.social #FirstAmendment www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/u...
Trump Threatens Defamation Suit Over National Guard Report, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic
It was the latest example of President Trump’s bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
nytimes.com
Delighted to have had this conversation with @spytalker.bsky.social and #KarenGreenberg. @thesteadystate.org @johnsipher.bsky.social @breefram.bsky.social @womensmediacenter.bsky.social
MSW Media@mswmedia.com · 3w agoFormer FBI executive Lauren Anderson @lcandersonintl.bsky.social on the Director’s China, Russia outreaches. New #SpyTalk 🕵🏼♀️ podcast with hosts @spytalker.bsky.social & @misikoff.bsky.social #KarenGreenberg #MSWMedia Listen: redcircle.com/shows/d7fabf...
Extraordinary. Doesn't matter where you stand politically. Iran has a demonstrated history of probing/penetrating/attacking US financial & infrastructure systems going back more than 13 years. Know your history and know your enemies. @thesteadystate.org @breefram.bsky.social @johnsipher.bsky.social
The Steady State@thesteadystate.org · 4w agoJust think about this. A State governor says Iran has attacked his State. The President of the United States says -- no -- you are just incompetent. Iran is fine. Go away.
The FBI director does not own the FBI. He doesn't own the people. He doesn't own the resources. Bipartisan and bicameral questions from Congress make this clear. substack.com/@laurencande...
Security vs vanity. The country and #POTUS would have been better served by speeding up the completion and delivery of the new US Air Force 1 vs taking the Qatari jet and trying to retrofit it too quickly. It's clear it wasn't the plane POTUS should have been on. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/u...
Inside the Rushed Effort to Get Trump His New Air Force One
A New York Times investigation found that President Trump’s push to speed delivery of the aircraft led to ballooning costs and trade-offs in safety features.
nytimes.com
My new favorite piece of artwork, courtesy of the #AmyKaslowGallery and artist #MikeLuckovich @ajc.com #RespectRuleOfLaw #Constitution #Accountability @thesteadystate.org
Law enforcement accountability and public trust matter-always. A witness to the ICE shooting in Maine said he didn't trust sharing what he observed with the FBI. Whether you agree or not with that, the lack of trust should be troubling to all of us. #RuleOfLaw #Constitution #NationalSecurity
The Steady State@thesteadystate.org · last mo.Lauren C. Anderson is an expert on this. She's concerned. You should be too. #steadystate #holdfast #ICE #FBI #democracy @lcandersonintl.bsky.social
Are we ok with #DOJ doing this? Ex 1: no prosecution for writing bad checks and getting a federally guaranteed loan when unqualified. Ex 2 $200 million in sales in pharmaceuticals chemicals, + equipment potentially to make illicit drugs. @thesteadystate.org www.wsj.com/finance/regu...
The Justice Department Is Pulling Back on Prosecuting Corporate Crime
Prosecutors have declined to charge businesses in a number of recent cases—despite believing that senior employees were involved in wrongdoing.
wsj.com
If taxpayer dollars are involved, accountability should be too. Bipartisan demand for answers involving D/FBI Patel's use of taxpayer money should matter to everyone. Former FBI Exec/NatSec expert, and member of The Steady State, @lcandersonintl.bsky.social, explains. #FBI #holdfast #accountability
Why should you care about how the #FBI Director spends FBI money? Because it's not his money. It's your money - the taxpayer.j www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8GwmGLU/
If taxpayer dollars are involved, accountability should be too. Bipartisan demand for answers involving FBI Director Kash Patel's use of taxpayer money should matter to everyone. Former FBI National S...
TikTok video by The Steady State
tiktok.com
This is shameful. Absolutely no one deserves to be so in fear for their life that they have to don bullet-proof vests to travel to and from their work serving this country. And no 12 year old should have to fear for his mother’s life. Dear God what are we becoming.
SCOTUSblog@scotusblog.com · 2mo agoAlthough the focus of the justices’ testimony was the court’s budget, Kagan and Barrett discussed a wide range of issues, from security and enforcement of the court’s ethics code to its emergency/interim docket.
Booker: Okay, but this is the thing that really bothers me. He’s telling me, “I am concerned about Ghislaine Maxwell’s safety” But I am not even going to meet with the victims to get them the justice they deserve. It is so disqualifying for this man to have sat there today and said that to me.
Government ethics rules exist for good reasons. Will FCC officials be held to the same standards as every other government employee? FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals. @thesteadystate.org www.propublica.org/article/para...
FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals
Accepting tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala compromised the commissioners’ impartiality, ethics experts told ProPublica. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been gifted at least $63,000 worth of ticket...
propublica.org
Todd Blanche testified today in the Senate. We should all should oppose his confirmation. He refused to say that #ICE will not be deployed at voting locations. In fact he said they hadn't been deployed when in fact they confronted a poll worker in Syracuse, NY www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
ICE agents confront New York poll worker during voting, as state prosecutors review incident
“They knew I was a poll site worker and still came in."
democracydocket.com
Targeting journalists, lawyers, adversaries,non profits, academia. We all need to speak out against injustice. This piece is about Nicaragua but some of this is happening here. #MoralCourage #HoldFast #Democracy @thesteadystate.org apnews.com/article/nica...
Nicaragua strips lawyers from practicing in ongoing crackdown on dissent
Nicaragua's government has stripped many lawyers of their licenses to practice, according to a United Nations expert.
apnews.com
The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is one of the Intelligence Community's least-known assets. I worked closely w/them for nearly 2 decades at the FBI. Their independence makes our intelligence stronger+is a sign of a healthy democracy. open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...
How the Secretary of State Degraded his Own Intelligence Agency
One year after the State Department’s purge, a former INR analyst explains why he resigned and how the loss of expertise is making America less prepared for the crises ahead.
open.substack.com
The headline is about fed gov employees - it details stories incl the murder of a young boy whose mother was deported, despite pleading that she be allowed to take him w/her. Six-hour polygraphs, forced reassignments: inside homeland security’s campaign of fear www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Six-hour polygraphs, forced reassignments: inside homeland security’s campaign of fear
The ruthless gutting and reforming of the Department of Homeland Security has traumatized both workers and the most vulnerable immigrants
theguardian.com
"The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/b...
Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media
The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.”
nytimes.com
POTUS ordered FBI Dir to the WH for a leak investigation re press reptg on change of Air Force 1 aircraft The Director ran this from the WH for 8 hrs. A bypass of institutional firewalls which have held for 50+ years. Unprecedented in modern history. It should trouble all of us @thesteadystate.org
This week's murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was horrifying. Pursuit in unmarked vehicles w/o use of lights/sirens would frighten anyone, including me, in any setting—urban, suburban, or rural. And I'm a former #FBI agent. @thesteadystate.org www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Migrants who saw man killed by ICE in Houston say he did not ram officers
Three men who were in the vehicle alongside Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting.
washingtonpost.com
The world is watching and taking note. We must hold #ICE accountable. Pursuing anyone in unmarked vehicles w/o lights and sirens is a gross error by law enforcement officers in this instance. Not only did they kill #LorenzoSelgadoAraujo - they endangered the lives of every person in the vicinity.
onpolitics.news@onpolitics.news · 2mo agoHouston killing of Mexican man by ICE reignites debate over US immigration agency - Le Monde #politics #justice #immigration
Important news and the key point? #DOJ is now 0 for 12 in its efforts to obtain unredacted voter registration lists. @thesteadystate.org @johnsipher.bsky.social
Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · 2mo ago🚨BREAKING: Federal Court DISMISSES Department of Justice lawsuit to obtain an unredacted copy of New York's statewide voter registration list. A big victory for Elias Law Group and our Client the NAACP. DOJ is now 0-12 in these cases. ELG is undefeated. www.democracydocket.com/cases/new-yo...
This should concern every one of us. Because of First Amendment protections, the standards within the #FBI and the #DOJ necessarily, and appropriately, require a much higher level of legal scrutiny when it concerns journalists. The question is -are they adhering to this? @thesteadystate.org
CNN@cnn.com · 2mo agoFour New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding a Qatari-gifted jet serving as the new Air Force One have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, the news outlet reported Friday. https://cnn.it/4f7Jjyb
Lauren C Anderson@lcandersonintl.bsky.social · 2mo agoThis isn't how the FBI is supposed to work. A judge questioned the legal basis for the investigation. Departing FBI leaders questioned something bigger. The kind of institutional integrity question @smerconish.bsky.social has explored. @johnsipher.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/laurenca...
I am proud to be a signatory to this letter in opposition to the nomination of Todd Blanche to be the Attorney General of the United States. @thesteadystate.org @johnsipher.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/justicec...
1,200+ Former DOJ Employees Oppose Todd Blanche’s Nomination
The Senate must not give its seal of approval for Blanche’s degradation and politicization of the Justice Department’s career workforce.
open.substack.com
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.” abcnews.com/US/administr...
Administration sharing info about asylum seekers with Iranian government, lawsuit claims
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund has filed suit alleging the administration has been sharing information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.
abcnews.com
This isn't how the FBI is supposed to work. A judge questioned the legal basis for the investigation. Departing FBI leaders questioned something bigger. The kind of institutional integrity question @smerconish.bsky.social has explored. @johnsipher.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/laurenca...
This Isn't How The FBI Is Supposed To Work
A federal judge questioned the investigation. Departing FBI leaders questioned something bigger.
open.substack.com
