James Meek, an Emmy-winning journalist with ABC News who was writing a book about President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, has reportedly vanished after an FBI raid on his apartment.
Rolling Stone's Tatiana Siegel broke the story earlier this week. Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, Siegel suggested that Meek was the target of an FBI raid at Siena Park apartments on the morning of April 27. While the bureau refused to comment on the matter "due to an on-going investigation," a federal magistrate judge in the Virginia Eastern District Court signed off on the search warrant the day before the raid, according to the Rolling Stone reporter. Siegel surmised that the FBI ransacked Meek's apartment in connection with having classified material on his computer.
"Meek has been charged with no crime. But independent observers believe the raid is among the first — and quite possibly, the first — to be carried out on a journalist by the Biden administration," wrote Siegel.
What’s even more suspicious is that none of Meek's Siena Park neighbors interviewed by Rolling Stone have seen him since the raid’s aftermath. His apartment also appears to be vacant. When asked about the Emmy-winning reporter's whereabouts, Siena Park management declined to confirm that he was gone, citing "privacy policies." Likewise, Meek's ABC News colleagues told Rolling Stone that they had no idea about what had happened to the investigative journalist. According to an ABC representative, Meek "resigned very abruptly and hasn’t worked for [the broadcaster] for months."
"It is unclear what story, if any, would have put Meek in the FBI’s crosshairs," Siegel remarked in her article, adding that Meek used to work on a host of sensitive topics, including a 2017 Daesh* (ISIS) ambush on US Green Berets in Niger, Blackwater operations, and high profile terrorists.
His latest story was President Joe Biden's chaotic pullout from Afghanistan in August 2021. According to Rolling Stone, in the months before the raid, the investigative reporter was wrapping up work on a book titled "Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans Who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promise in Afghanistan." Meek co-authored this book with Lt. Col. Scott Mann, a retired Green Beret.
The book was published in August 2022 with Lt. Col. Mann mentioned as the only author of the "edge-of-your-seat thriller," according to Simon & Schuster’s official website. Rolling Stone has drawn attention to the fact that after April 27, Meek's bio and credentials were scrubbed from all of the publisher's press materials related to the book.
When asked about Meek's abrupt disappearance, Mann responded that the investigative reporter contacted him in the spring, and "was really distraught." Meek told Mann that "he had some serious personal issues going on and that he needed to withdraw from the project." The veteran said that he hadn't heard from Meek since.
Meek’s last public statement was a tweet from April 27, in which he wrote one word: "Facts." The tweet was in response to former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos’ notion with regard to Russia's special military in Ukraine.
Polymeropoulos commented on The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe tweet which cited an unnamed US defense official describing a "bonanza of information the American military has gleaned about Russian 'tactics and procedures' by watching 'how they performed in combat'" since the beginning of the February 24 special operation.
The former CIA agent wrote in response to Lamothe: "Actually, it started [a] long time ago… we learned this between 2014-2022. Not just now. It was an 8 year lab experiment on Russian TTPs. On EW. On everything. This is why Ukrainians (with our advice/assist) [are] doing so well. Ask those in IC and UW communities. We learned a sh*t ton." Rolling Stone has failed to decipher the acronyms used by Polymeropoulos.
Judging from the Twitter exchange, one cannot rule out that Meek could have also been informed about the US' longstanding military cooperation with Ukraine and alleged examination of Russian military capabilities since 2014.
Following the US-backed February 2014 coup d’état in Kiev, Washington stepped up training and arming of Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions. The US has provided $2.5 billion in support of Ukraine’s military between 2014 and September 2021, according to the White House. Coupled with the recent funding packages, the US overall military assistance has totaled more than $19.6 billion.
In March 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense presented Ukrainian military documents obtained in the course of the special operation which kicked off on February 24. Judging from the order signed by Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Col.-Gen. Mykola Balan on January 22, 2022, the US-backed Kiev regime covertly prepared for a large-scale offensive on the Donbass region scheduled for March 2022. Russia's special military operation disrupted the Ukrainian plans and hijacked the initiative, according to the MoD.
*Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) is a terrorist organization banned by Russia and many other countries.