Oh, look — Ray Powel, again, the CIA operative messing around the SCS dispute???

Apparently, I’m living rent-free in the head of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel turned “maritime gray-zone investigator” who thinks the Philippines, China, ASEAN, and the entire South China Sea revolve around his newly invented fantasy threat matrix. Let me make this absolutely clear:

Ray Powell mentioning me — twice now — is A BADGE OF HONOR!! Because if a CIA-adjacent operative (yes, Ray, we all know how “Air Force Attachés” function abroad), working hand-in-hand with Washington’s geopolitical machinery, has me on his radar, it only means one thing:

I’m saying something true enough, loud enough, and inconvenient enough to rattle him.

Imagine Being Ray Powell (CIA), Terrified of Peace, Diplomacy, and a Filipina

Related:

Updated: The War of Ideas in the Indo-Pacific

Two names that Powell brings up in his written testimony are Anna Maligdog-Uy and Rommel Banlaoi. Anna is with the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), along with Herman Tiu Laurel, Adolfo Paglinawan, and Rod Kapunan (who are mentioned in the Reuters article linked below, as well as Banlaoi). I originally heard of Ray Powell and what was initially Project Myoushu, now SeaLight, through their Asian Century Journal. I have documented and verified their claims about SeaLight and summarized them in my article that was published back in November. Powell also mentioned the August 11th incident, but he left out one important aspect—the KBBM program (see below).

Note that they’re now referring to the “transparency initiative” as “assertive transparency.” One Filipino told me that they refer to it as the “assertive transparency initiative.”

What’s Really Going On In the South China Sea Between the Philippines and China

Powell, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a former Defense Attaché (the Defense Attaché System is part of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the “Pentagon’s top spy agency”), is the team lead of SeaLight, at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation (GKC).  The creation of Stanford University’s GKC was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), an organization within the Department of Defense.  Stanford University has contracts with the U.S. government.  The center’s goal is to assist the U.S. government in rethinking how it approaches “national security” matters.  

Who’s Zoomin’ Who in the South China Sea?

Powell anticipates the question: “Ray, aren’t you also a foreign influence?” He calls it fair, then quickly dismisses it — presenting himself as a private U.S. citizen and non‑profit director who simply advocates for transparency in the South China Sea. But what he leaves unsaid matters just as much as what he admits.

On his own About page, there’s no mention that the Department of the U.S. Navy sponsored Stanford’s Gordian Knot Center, where he directs programs — nor that the Center holds contracts with the U.S. government. He also omits his work with Stratbase in the Philippines, an organization that convenes seminars for the U.S. government and its allies.

So when Powell frames himself as a neutral advocate, readers should ask: whose transparency, and on whose terms?