The Watch Floor with Sarah Adams

She hunted the world’s most dangerous terrorists. Now, former CIA Targeter Sarah Adams breaks down global news and emerging threats, helping everyday people stay informed. prepared, and ready.

Latest Episodes:

U.S. Commandos Join the Raid in Ecuador Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Before dawn on September 24, Ecuadorian police launched a major counter-narcotics operation against a cocaine-trafficking network. More than 320 Ecuadorian police took part, but this raid was different. About 50 personnel from U.S. Southern Command and the Drug Enforcement Administration joined the operation, with images showing U.S. personnel wearing Marine Raider insignia.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, I break down why that matters, what the U.S. brought to the operation, and how the American role in Ecuador appears to be changing. We look at the raids in Samborondón and other areas, the use of drones, night vision, communications equipment and rapid exploitation of seized devices, and the broader effort to disrupt trafficking networks moving cocaine through Ecuador’s ports.

The key question is whether this was a one-off operation or the start of a more direct U.S. role alongside Ecuadorian forces against transnational criminal organizations.

The FBI Breach Is a Counterintelligence Problem Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

The FBI is investigating a breach tied to FBIJobs.gov and the possible exposure of employee personally identifiable information. Hackers connected to ShinyHunters claim they stole terabytes of data covering current and former FBI personnel, applicants, medical information, background investigations, and other sensitive systems.

Some of those claims remain unverified. But reporters have already reviewed thousands of records containing names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, family contacts, employee identifiers, and details pointing to sensitive FBI assignments involving China, Russia, human intelligence, surveillance, cartels, and other national security work.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams breaks down what is actually confirmed, what the hackers are claiming, how the breach may have happened, and why this is much more than an identity-theft problem. When personnel records can be combined with family information, assignments, travel indicators, and other breached data, they can become a map of an organization and a valuable counterintelligence tool.

We also look at the comparison to the 2015 Office of Personnel Management breach and the biggest unanswered question: who else may already have this information?

The UVU After-Action Report: Lessons in Protective Security Sep 28, 2026

Show notes

Utah Valley University released its independent after-action report on September 25, 2026, examining the September 10, 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk. The report identifies a number of security failures, but the biggest lesson is broader than any single missed rooftop or breakdown in communication.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, I walk through what the report says about venue selection, elevated positions, the missed joint security walkthrough, camera monitoring, mutual aid, emergency messaging and protective intelligence. The focus is not on hindsight for the sake of criticism. We look at after-action reports to understand what failed, what should have happened differently, and how to keep the next team from making the same mistakes.

The central lesson is simple: reacting to individual security concerns is not the same thing as running a protective-security operation. Security has to work as a system.

See Something, Say Something: What to Look For Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

Writing

“See something, say something” leaves out the hardest part: what are you actually looking for?

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams explains the behaviors that can appear before an attack, from repeated surveillance and security testing to unusual questions about access, possible preparation near home or work, and warning signs at an airport. She explains why context and patterns matter, what details make a report useful, and whom to tell when something needs attention.

How Russia Outsourced an Assassination in America Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

A Russian intelligence-linked network allegedly recruited people already inside the U.S. to surveil a prominent Russian dissident in the Washington, D.C., area. The price was up to $1,500 for photographs and videos. The offer to carry out the murder was $40,000.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams breaks down how the operation moved from Russia through Cuban and Venezuelan intermediaries to a Brooklyn resident, why the completed surveillance matters, and how the same network was allegedly tied to assassination and sabotage operations across Europe.

The plot reveals a model that is cheaper, harder to trace, and designed to place distance between the Russian government and the person closest to the target.

The assassination was not carried out. The pre-operational surveillance was.

The AI Warning Is Information. It Is Not a Conclusion. Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

Artificial intelligence is moving from answering questions to taking actions. In controlled tests, advanced AI models have deceived operators, attempted blackmail, concealed information, recognized when they were being evaluated, and taken steps researchers describe as self-preservation behavior.

Those findings have produced extraordinary warnings about where AI may be headed. But a warning is information. It is not a conclusion.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams walks through four questions: What can these systems actually do? Can we reliably control them? What is driving companies and countries to move so quickly? And if there is a problem, who gets to decide what the response looks like?

We look at the emerging AI threat picture, the difference between capability and intent, the race for technological advantage, the national-security competition with China, and the competing concern that AI safety could also become a justification for concentrating enormous technological power in the hands of a small number of companies and institutions.

The goal is not to tell you what to think about AI. It is to separate the warning from the assessment, understand what the evidence actually shows, and ask better questions about what comes next.

The German Cell in Benghazi Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

For fourteen years, most of the Benghazi debate has focused on what happened after the attack began. This episode looks at what happened before.

In May 2026, Dave “Boon” Benton and I returned to Benghazi, where we were briefed on a completed Libyan investigation into the terrorists and networks behind the 2012 attacks. One part of that investigation followed a German terrorist cell that moved from Europe through Turkey and Egypt into eastern Libya.

Twenty German citizens reached Libya as part of the network. Fourteen members of the cell ultimately participated in the attacks on the U.S. Consulate and CIA Annex. Some of the same terrorists later surfaced with ISIS.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, I break down how they got there, what their movement tells us about the networks behind Benghazi, and why the story of an attack has to begin long before the first shot is fired.

Read the full investigation: The Hidden History of One Benghazi Cell: The German Terrorists Who Joined the Attack at SOFREP.

https://sofrep.com/news/the-hidden-history-of-one-benghazi-cell-the-german-terrorists-who-joined-the-attack/

Hamza bin Laden Is Alive. Why Is al-Qaeda Showing Him Now? Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Hamza bin Laden is alive. On September 10, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, al-Qaeda released A Quarter Century After the September 11 Raids, Part One, featuring Hamza in three separate scenes.

But the footage was not new. Hamza recorded it on August 13, 2021, in Kandahar, as Afghanistan was falling to the Taliban. Al-Qaeda held that footage for more than five years.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, Sarah Adams breaks down what the video actually shows, the 2019 deception that led the U.S. to announce Hamza bin Laden was dead, how al-Qaeda concealed his survival and eventual rise to emir, and why the decision to reveal him now matters.

The most important question is no longer whether Hamza survived.

It is why al-Qaeda spent years hiding him, only to begin showing him now.

The threat did not disappear. It evolved.

The 10 Warnings Buried in Congress’s New 9/11 Report Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the House Intelligence Committee went back and reviewed what the United States fixed, what it never finished, and where new intelligence gaps may be forming.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, I break down ten of the most important warnings buried in the committee’s new bipartisan report, including unfinished biometric exit screening, counterintelligence stovepipes, the debate over CIA paramilitary authorities, the growing role of OSINT and AI, the risk of losing regional expertise, and why the next strategic surprise may look nothing like 9/11.

The report’s message is clear: the national-security system is stronger than it was in 2001, but some old gaps remain and new ones are emerging.

The Oil War Behind the Headlines Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

Oil is back at the center of geopolitics, but the biggest story may not be where everyone is looking.

In this episode of The Watch Floor, I look at what is happening around the Strait of Hormuz, why that narrow stretch of water still matters so much to the global economy, and how the pressure on energy markets connects to a very different development much closer to home: Venezuela and its enormous oil reserves.

This isn't just a story about the price of a barrel of oil. It's about who controls supply, who controls the routes that move it, how much leverage the United States actually has, and what happens when energy becomes part of the battlefield.

Because while everyone is watching the headlines, there is another fight taking place underneath them.

This is the oil war behind the headlines.

The Watch Floor

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Watch Floor with Sarah Adams

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected