The StoneZONE with Roger Stone - May 08, 2025


Colonel John Mills ｜ 05-07-25

Topics
mass surveillance
Hosted by
Roger Stone Troy Smith Jake Novak
Mentioned
Donald Trump Thomas Matthew Crooks Pete Hegseth Ryan Ruth Biden Anna Paulina Luna John F. Kennedy Rental Family John Mills Roger Martin Luther King Corey Comparatore Brendan Fraser Robert F. Kennedy Robert Mueller Crook Crooks Scott Besson Jeb Bosberg Chris Pine Susan Rice and 6 more
Joe Pags ｜ 05-05-25 Calley Means ｜ 05-08-25

Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

143.36

Word count

2,985

Sentence count

214

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Colonel John Mills is a national security professional with service in five eras in American history: The Cold War, the peace dividend, the Great Power Showdown, and now the Great power showdown. He s a former Director of Cybersecurity Policy Strategy and International Affairs at the Center for Security Policy, and he writes a lively column for The New York Times.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:01:00.000 Welcome back.
00:01:01.440 We're back in the Stone Zone.
00:01:03.040 And now I'm joined by one of my favorite guests, Colonel John Mills.
00:01:07.320 Colonel Mills is a national security professional with service in five eras in American history.
00:01:13.720 The Cold War, the peace dividend, the war on terror, and the world in chaos.
00:01:18.920 And now, of course, the Great Power Showdown.
00:01:21.200 And he has been active in the fight to save our republic.
00:01:25.420 He's a former director of cybersecurity policy strategy and international affairs at the Department of Defense.
00:01:32.900 And today, Colonel Mills is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy.
00:01:38.300 And he writes a lively page on Substack.
00:01:42.020 Colonel Mills, welcome back into the Stone Zone.
00:01:44.820 No, thank you, Roger.
00:01:47.200 Always an honor to be on the show.
00:01:49.520 Thank you so much.
00:01:50.560 So here is some breaking news I want to get your reaction to.
00:01:54.460 Congresswoman Anna Polina Luna has announced that she is introducing the American Privacy Restoration Act to fully repeal the Patriot Act
00:02:05.060 and strip rogue intelligence officers of their extraordinary mass surveillance powers.
00:02:11.860 Since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in the aftermath of 9-11, she says,
00:02:18.180 the intelligence agency officials have used their mass surveillance tools to settle personal scores, interfere in elections, and spy on untold numbers of innocent Americans.
00:02:30.840 Colonel Mills, what is your reaction to this news?
00:02:35.060 Well, we've gone through this so many times about mass surveillance.
00:02:42.260 And, oh, my gosh, I think it's the Section 702, which was introduced in 2008.
00:02:51.020 I worked on that original package.
00:02:52.780 At the time, it seemed to make sense.
00:02:55.560 It seemed logical.
00:02:56.920 It was targeting foreign terrorists.
00:02:59.760 And then guess what?
00:03:01.100 It was used against us.
00:03:02.940 It was used against you, Roger.
00:03:04.760 It was used against me.
00:03:05.920 It was used against many people.
00:03:08.180 The unmasking episode.
00:03:10.340 Susan Rice, who unmasked people. 1.00
00:03:13.260 The fraud of Russiagate, essentially, had mass surveillance elements to it.
00:03:21.140 So this is what they do every time it comes up for renewal.
00:03:25.100 People say, ah, we don't want it.
00:03:27.960 We don't want it.
00:03:28.700 And then, you know, essentially the intelligence agencies, essentially the big three, depending on certain things, it would be NSA, the FBI, NCI, JTF, and DHS.
00:03:39.980 They come together and they give a dog and pony show to Congress, and they reveal the magic of what can be had.
00:03:48.300 And the collection capabilities have just grown exponentially.
00:03:52.180 I'm no longer behind the curtain, don't know what their current status is.
00:03:55.320 But I can assure you the capabilities from when we started in 2007 grew exponentially, and it's intoxicating.
00:04:06.380 When the members of Congress get these briefs, most of them are almost drunk with what they receive, and they go, oh, boy, not only do I like it, I want more of it.
00:04:19.280 And this is the problem.
00:04:22.000 So it has to be tailored.
00:04:24.980 It has to be tailored to each situation.
00:04:28.280 We need a FISA warrant for each event.
00:04:30.260 And they say, oh, things happen too fast.
00:04:32.020 We can't do this.
00:04:33.200 We need broad surveillance.
00:04:34.340 And, again, they give these briefings that blow the socks off of these members of Congress, and they cave and fold and say, oh, yeah, this is, oh, yeah.
00:04:44.640 It's intoxicating when they are exposed to the powers of what can be done.
00:04:49.840 But all magic comes with a price, and just because we can do it doesn't mean we should.
00:04:55.360 Yeah, look, I admit that I was not always a supporter of Congresswoman Anna Polina Luna.
00:05:00.780 In fact, I was a critic, but I'm also a big enough man to admit that I was entirely wrong.
00:05:06.540 She has turned out to be a MAGA firebrand. 0.92
00:05:09.220 I think she's done an excellent job at trying to figure out what the government is holding back regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King.
00:05:22.400 We talked extensively on this show about the fact that the disclosures from the National Archives have been limited to the JFK assassination records collection, but that there's substantial information, for example, still at the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the IRS, the Army Intelligence, and other places.
00:05:46.460 Again, she today is right on the money.
00:05:51.560 The Patriot Act has been abused.
00:05:53.540 It's not incidental that Judge Jeb Bosberg, the same judge who said Donald Trump does not have the constitutional authority to deport violent illegals who are in this country, is the same judge who oversaw the FISA court's warrants that were used to spy on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
00:06:17.500 How incredibly coincidental.
00:06:20.520 So, I think this is a necessary move.
00:06:24.880 I know there are neocons in the Republican Party who will not be comfortable with this.
00:06:31.120 Yesterday, I saw Congressman Stubb from Florida also commenting on the fact that nobody from our intelligence agencies, not the Secret Service, not the FBI, has briefed him and other members of the House Intelligence Committee
00:06:47.760 regarding what they know about the two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump, where, to my mind, we still have far more questions than we have answers.
00:07:00.500 We can go through the questions, but they're mind-boggling.
00:07:04.560 How is it that the state police, the local police, Homeland Security, and the Secret Service are aware that there's a man with a gun who's been seen with a rangefinder within the sealed perimeter of Trump's event for 92 minutes,
00:07:24.880 but nobody informs President Trump's direct security detail, and therefore he was not evacuated as would have been the protocol?
00:07:35.320 How is it that the state, local, and federal authorities are on three separate radio frequencies and cannot speak to each other?
00:07:46.620 Why would they immediately hose down the roof where the man they claimed was the shooter shot from, destroying any DNA evidence?
00:08:00.440 This list goes on and on.
00:08:02.480 What is your take on this, Colonel Mills?
00:08:04.000 Well, going back to, you know, in Butler, you know, Pennsylvania, President Trump was willfully getting economy minus level of protection.
00:08:18.600 There's different tiers of support.
00:08:20.660 They clearly were intentionally going on the cheat to give him maximum exposure.
00:08:25.780 People forget.
00:08:26.460 We still have not totally, to the best of my knowledge, captured all these Iranian assassins that are inside the country. 0.99
00:08:33.160 And the Biden team was intentionally giving economy minus protection in the tiers of protection to President Trump.
00:08:39.780 It was shameful, and we need accountability for this, but that's what was going on.
00:08:45.080 And remember, it was Dr. Jill who just, for whatever reason, had to go to Pittsburgh that day, which drew even more resources away.
00:08:54.060 So definitely, we were not getting, President Trump was not getting the best attention.
00:08:59.540 This was intentional.
00:09:00.880 They couldn't have cared less if he'd been shot.
00:09:03.340 They, they, that's, so we need accountability on, on everything that was going on.
00:09:07.220 And this is the cooperation.
00:09:08.240 We don't have all these findings, these, these mysterious backgrounds.
00:09:13.720 I mean, we're finding, uh, uh, uh, uh, out, um, uh, the FBI coverup.
00:09:19.480 Oh my gosh, what was the coverup, uh, just exposed on, um, um, uh, but the, it's, it's willful on what is going on here with the, uh, with the FBI and their dismissive, uh, dismissals of motives that are, they're important.
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00:10:05.800 Uh, I find the, uh, the attempted assassination in West Palm Beach even more troubling.
00:10:12.960 Hard for me to believe that the, that the suspect, Ryan Routh, uh, who they tell us is indigent, they tell us he's behind in his, uh, in his rent payments, behind in his alimony, uh, lives, uh, in Hawaii.
00:10:29.620 How does he afford to fly to the United States?
00:10:33.160 How does he afford to fly to all these European capitals?
00:10:37.860 How does he afford to, uh, fly to Ukraine where we've seen video footage of him?
00:10:44.060 How does he obtain a gun when he's in Florida?
00:10:47.380 How does he hide for some 18 hours outside Trump's West Palm Beach, uh, golf club, uh, undetected?
00:10:55.680 Uh, it just seems highly unlikely that the, that the, uh, intelligence agencies have no knowledge of Mr.
00:11:04.520 Ralph, uh, and his background.
00:11:06.840 Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:08.820 Uh, I mean, this, this, these are important details.
00:11:13.680 They say no political motive.
00:11:15.540 Are you kidding me?
00:11:16.740 Uh, you know, they just, and, and back to the Butler shooting, same thing.
00:11:21.380 They don't, they just, this superficial level of introspection, uh, and investigation into these matters.
00:11:30.240 Yeah.
00:11:30.780 Right.
00:11:31.140 Uh, roof in, uh, uh, Palm Beach.
00:11:33.560 I mean, come on, that guy was on the golf course.
00:11:37.360 I mean, it wasn't until the last moment he was noticed.
00:11:40.700 How did this happen?
00:11:41.980 This is, uh, this was intentional setups, uh, to, uh, uh, uh, they were trying to get President Trump out of the race one way or another.
00:11:51.500 So this is just unacceptable, but this is, this is the, the absolute politicalization weaponization of these, uh, of these agencies.
00:12:00.020 And we've just, you know, from, um, uh, all of these personalities through the years back to Russiagate, you know, we, we just had extremely toxic.
00:12:11.980 Um, uh, uh, personalities that were involved with this.
00:12:15.720 And this allows these sick people to penetrate.
00:12:18.700 But again, uh, with Ruth and West and Palm Beach, I mean, come on, look at this guy's travel history and his background, uh, for Ryan here.
00:12:27.240 I mean, it's just unbelievable.
00:12:28.840 It seemed to me that the, the intelligence agencies and law enforcement tell us that they cannot get into the encrypted information in the cell phone of Thomas Matthew Crook.
00:12:41.980 That's the man that they say, uh, shot at, uh, President Trump and killed, uh, Corey Comparatori, the brave firefighter who died shielding his wife and daughter that day.
00:12:54.680 It really aggravates me to see people on social media claim that nobody was shot that day, that the whole thing was a PSYOP. 0.97
00:13:03.400 It particularly aggravates me when people said that I somehow arranged it, which shows that they're truly mentally ill.
00:13:09.460 Uh, but it's interesting that Apple has refused to turn over the contents of Crook's phone saying it would be a violation of his privacy.
00:13:18.540 Yet Apple was more than happy to turn over the contents of my phone to Robert Mueller and his thugs without even getting a subpoena.
00:13:28.620 Uh, talk about the so-called double standard.
00:13:32.060 Uh, and then, as I said earlier, uh, hosing down the roof of the building that Crook Crooks allegedly shot from before testing for DNA reminds me when they hosed out the back of the limousine in which John F. Kennedy was shot, uh, within an hour of that murder.
00:13:52.500 I mean, it's the fact that this is a cover-up is, I think, extraordinarily easy to see.
00:14:01.480 What I wonder is whether President Trump himself or his FBI director have demanded answers from the Secret Service because the public story really defies credibility.
00:14:14.480 That Crook's acted alone seems unlikely to me.
00:14:17.340 We've seen video footage of him and still photos of him talking on the telephone.
00:14:23.140 Who is he talking to?
00:14:24.620 Obviously, somebody.
00:14:27.020 Uh, we also know that just average citizens see him on the roof, uh, with a gun.
00:14:33.700 They're shouting about it.
00:14:35.240 Yet those in law enforcement take no action.
00:14:38.460 And then it's pretty clear that the government's counter sharpshooter has Crooks or whoever was shooting from the roof, uh, in their sights.
00:14:49.000 But instead of shooting and killing him, which is what the protocol would require in the case of a, of a presidential candidate, uh, who's a protectee of the Secret Service, they wait until he gets off eight shots before he's killed.
00:15:03.060 Uh, I find that deeply troubling.
00:15:05.800 Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:08.280 It was the San Bernardino shooting from years ago where Apple, the public story is Apple would not help.
00:15:16.080 I, I tend to believe I have a different view of it, but there's also, uh, now there is a lawsuit from the San Bernardino case where the FBI was able to get support to unlock the phone, uh, of the San Bernardino, uh, shooter from years ago.
00:15:33.560 Okay.
00:15:34.040 This was like 2016, uh, there was an Australian form firm named Asimus that it looks like the FBI contacted, uh, to unlock the phone.
00:15:44.520 Again, I, I still think, uh, Apple may have, uh, uh, unlocked the phone themselves and, uh, that they wanted to play dumb and pretend they didn't do it.
00:15:54.400 But, but come on, look, this is, we, we unlocked the San Bernardino shooter.
00:15:58.280 Why have we not done the same routine to unlock, um, you know, Crook's phone in Butler, Pennsylvania?
00:16:05.260 I mean, this is just, uh, we got a long list of, uh, gigs we got to go through, uh, at all these three letter agencies, but I mean, this should be at the top of the stack to figure out, uh, you know, who, who, who, you know, but what was going on in Butler?
00:16:21.020 What was going, uh, on the, uh, Mar-a-Lago golf course, what was going on here and who knew what and when did they know it?
00:16:28.400 Uh, what's going on in China today?
00:16:30.260 What is this power struggle that you have written about?
00:16:33.620 Oh, horrendous power struggle going on inside of China.
00:16:38.360 And this is the tariffs have punched the communist Chinese in the face. 0.77
00:16:43.840 Now, uh, fake news would have it.
00:16:46.920 Oh boy, it's so horrible in America because of this, these tariffs.
00:16:51.880 Uh, look, yeah.
00:16:53.560 I mean, yes, maybe we're not getting inexpensive slave labor product from China.
00:16:58.700 Most Americans can put up with that and see the villainy of what's going on from China, but China needs us far more than we need them. 0.97
00:17:08.820 And, and the tariffs have brought factories to a absolute standstill.
00:17:16.000 There's just a bazillion containers that have been left behind on the docks that didn't meet the April 9th cutoff.
00:17:24.680 Uh, sailings have been canceled.
00:17:27.340 Uh, mass layoff unrest in the street and she is replacing his generals and admirals. 0.99
00:17:36.180 I can't even keep it's faster than the Israelis knock out the IRGC commanders. 0.96
00:17:41.420 I can't even keep track.
00:17:42.520 Uh, and he's, uh, so massive, massive unrest inside of China.
00:17:48.340 Uh, we have the cards when it comes to tariffs with China. 0.81
00:17:53.120 And that is a, an absolute, uh, uh, punch to the face.
00:17:58.540 Uh, and that's because president Trump is a businessman and he has great people working for him.
00:18:04.900 Uh, uh, Scott Besant and, uh, uh, others that know the power of our tariffs, uh, on shaping the behavior of communist China.
00:18:13.660 Uh, Pete Hegseth, uh, in the meantime, has been talking about reorganizing, uh, our Defense Department.
00:18:20.020 Let's listen to Pete Hegseth.
00:18:21.500 More pronouns.
00:18:23.840 No more climate change obsession.
00:18:26.440 No more emergency vaccine mandates.
00:18:30.640 No more dudes in dresses.
00:18:34.000 We're done with that.
00:18:35.040 Uh, Colonel Mills, we got about, uh, a little more than a minute.
00:18:43.520 Uh, your assessment of the Secretary of Defense.
00:18:46.860 Oh, this is, uh, Secretary Hegseth is doing an absolutely fantastic job and all his staff.
00:18:52.460 This is, look, this is real.
00:18:55.660 The absolute destructive, corrosive, cancerous nature of DEI and CRT cannot be understated in its, its horrible effect in, uh, uh, reducing combat effectiveness of the Department of Defense.
00:19:14.220 We are, uh, under Biden, we spent more than ever before and the military shrank and was less ready than ever, but we spent more than ever, but the military was less ready than ever.
00:19:24.920 This is absolutely crazy.
00:19:26.840 And I, uh, a, uh, former friend of mine, a general was just shooting his mouth off on, uh, LinkedIn today, and it shows the heinous nature of so many of these generals and admirals that, uh, they, they think nothing about what, uh, the Biden team was up to.
00:19:45.620 And they, they applaud DEI and CRT, but how dare Donald J. Trump and MEGA transform the military into, back into its constitutional parameters.
00:19:58.240 I mean, this is, we got, it's, we got a lot to do, but we're absolutely on the right path with Hegseth and we got to just jump on the gas pedal.
00:20:06.620 All right, we have to leave it there.
00:20:08.300 I want to thank our guest, Colonel John Mills.
00:20:10.500 Also thank, uh, our many listeners out there in the Stone Zone.
00:20:14.460 Uh, thank you for joining us and until tomorrow, God bless you and Godspeed.
00:20:19.320 Thank you for joining us and we'll be here with you and we'll be here with you and we'll be here with you and we'll be here with you.