Ryan Evans
Thomas R. Anderson (Cynical Publius) decided to become a special government employee without disclosing it to his followers while he continued to opine on defense, domestic policy, primary electoral contests. These are his choices and he is suffering the consequences of them in the court of public opinion in the form of media criticism and complaints. Last night, he posted an absurd X article about me in which he accuses me of being part of a deep state plot against him. Aside from getting details of my career wrong, he raises (again) a false accusation against me and War on the Rocks: that he was 'doxxed' by us earlier this year. This has become central to his personal grievance narrative. Look at how many times he mentions it in his posts since March. But it doesn't make it true. The truth is this: Thomas disclosed his identity on a podcast hosted by his friend at the beginning of this year (screenshot below). Further, on Feb. 24, on this website (screenshot below) he said he would start using his own name on March 17. On March 14, we published an article rebutting his 'American Greatness' article on professional military education. The rebuttal was professional and serious. We identified Thomas as the author of the piece we were responding to because readers should know whose arguments are being challenged and what relevant experience or expertise that person brings to the subject. In this case, that meant identifying Anderson as a former Army officer and an attorney. His identity was directly relevant to understanding the debate, particularly because his argument concerned the military profession and professional military education. We did not publish his address, phone number, workplace location, employer, family information, or any other private personal information. We identified the author of a published argument by the name he had already publicly disclosed. Despite having committed to using his name himself on X 3 days later, Thomas accused us of 'doxxing' him. But all we said was his name, which he already used and said he would start using regularly. Why? My opinion: he tried to make hay out of this for more attention from his followers/MAGA. It quickly spiraled into a mass electronic harassment campaign targeting Brad Duplessis, his family, my employees, and me. We were actually doxxed. Not fake doxxed like Thomas claims. His followers on X posted our home addresses, including a photo of my front door, photos of Brad's home/family, our office location, photos of my junior employees. Then there were dozens of physical/death threats. Brad - an Army veteran who served his country honorably - had to temporarily move his wife and son out of the state. After their continued harassment, he was fired from his job. At War on the Rocks, we spent thousands of dollars upgrading our office security posture and had to turn to the police. We have reason to believe that Thomas and Jennica Pounds (DataRepublican) and others were coordinating this electronic harassment campaign in terms of messaging themes, but more on that another time. My understanding is that he received one death threat, which he shared. Even one is inexcusable of course. From the start I said that I would not tolerate any of that from my followers. And it does not appear to have been one of my followers. We got scores. It took a negotiation with him to make him say the same -- to call of his dogs -- once it had clearly spiraled out of his control and he -- I believe -- realized the legal liability he had created for himself. But this was after his rabid followers threatened us with violence for days. (Side note: with the help of some friends in OSINT we identified many of these people). And again, all we did was share a name in an article on March 14 that he himself said he would start using on March 17. In a DM I asked him why all the fuss given he said he was going to start using his name. No response. No remorse. In his new X article he says this fake 'doxxing' is part of why he had to leave his old job at the law firm, when in fact, as you can see from the screenshot, he announced this decision weeks earlier. Now he accuses me of being a part of a deep state plot against him, which I expect to provoke fresh threats. The reality is that Thomas is just full of shit. He is a liar who sells hate to people on X. It was shocking that when something like this finally happened to us, it was not Russia, China, or jihadists, but fellow Americans. War on the Rocks is non-partisan. I am a political independent. We exist to foster, stoke, and provoke debate on national security policy and strategy among a community of professionals. That won't change. Our contributors include people who serve in this administration, and served in the last one.
