January 27, 2026

MINNESOTA’S SIGNALGATE: The Anatomy of a Domestic Insurgency.

A puzzled reader might object that activists have long monitored police activity, that legal observers carry cameras, that communities organize to protect their neighbors. All true, in isolation. The question is not whether any single act is novel. The question is whether the aggregate pattern exhibits features that distinguish protest from organized obstruction. Research from counterinsurgency studies provides a useful vocabulary. Early stage insurgencies rarely announce themselves with bombs. They begin with infrastructure. They build command structures. They specialize roles. They develop intelligence capabilities. They seek to deny the state freedom of movement while remaining sub kinetic.

By that standard, Minnesota displays a striking resemblance to the organizational phase of an insurgency. Recruitment and cadre formation occur through ICE Watch training sessions organized at local schools, NGO facilities, and even HUD provided meeting spaces, converting civic infrastructure into intake and indoctrination nodes. Encrypted Signal networks, colloquially dubbed SignalGate, are divided by geography and capped at roughly 1,000 participants per zone. Membership is vetted through the use of voter rolls, with applicants screened to exclude anyone listed on Republican voter rolls. Chats are deleted on a daily rotation. Roles are assigned. Some participants act as spotters, scanning neighborhoods for federal vehicles. Others are plate checkers, logging make, model, color, location, and timestamp into a shared database known as MN ICE Plates. Dispatchers monitor the feed and direct mobile chasers to intercept targets. The reporting format mirrors SALUTE, size, activity, location, unit, time, equipment, a method taught in military intelligence.

This matters because intelligence collection is not expressive conduct. It is operational. When information is persistently gathered, verified, stored, and acted upon, it becomes a parallel intelligence system. In multiple instances, vehicles later confirmed not to belong to ICE were nonetheless tailed for hours after being flagged. That persistence reveals intent. The goal is not merely to warn neighbors. It is to degrade federal operations by denying surprise and freedom of movement.

The involvement of political officials further sharpens the picture. Leaked chats show participation or coordination by elected figures and senior staff. Minnesota Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan appears under aliases such as Flan Southside. City Council Member Aurin Chowdhury is linked to administrative roles. Former Walz adviser Amanda Koehler is identified as an organizer. Journalists affiliated with MPR and NPR appear in groups where federal locations and movements are discussed in real time. The line between observation and participation blurs when presence inside an operational channel confers access to intelligence and legitimacy to the network.

Read the whole thing. What happens next? Kurt Schlichter has some thoughts:

Related: Alex Pretti Committed Previous Felony on Officers Before Deadly Attack.

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll