Good morning! Today is Wednesday, June 10th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Phillip Linderman argues the Manuel Rocha espionage case is the worst diplomatic betrayal since Alger Hiss, and urges Trump to require any U.S. official holding a security clearance to renounce dual citizenship. Day 102 of the Iran war finds President Trump openly feuding with Prime Minister Netanyahu, telling the Financial Times "I call the shots" as Israel pounds southern Lebanon and the Lebanese death toll since March climbs to 3,666. U.S. Central Command has launched strikes on Iranian air defenses in what Trump called a "very strong" response to the downing of an Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. and now for the details. The Department of Justice has filed suit to revoke the naturalized citizenship of Manuel Rocha, the former senior American diplomat exposed in 2023 as a long-running spy for Communist Cuba. Rocha, Colombian-born, was recruited by Cuban intelligence before his naturalization and steered into a career in the U.S. Foreign Service. Writing for The American Conservative, Phillip Linderman argues that the Rocha case is the most serious diplomatic betrayal since Alger Hiss, but that the deeper issue it raises is the question of divided loyalty in an age of mass immigration and dual citizenship. Linderman notes that roughly 25 million Americans today are naturalized citizens, and that between 200,000 and 300,000 holders of U.S. security clearances are believed to carry a second citizenship — though no one knows the exact number because records aren't kept. He traces how, in the early Republic and as late as the 1930s, the Bancroft treaties and the plain text of the naturalization oath required immigrants to renounce all prior allegiances. That standard, he writes, was gutted by the Warren Court in the 1960s, opening the door to permanent dual loyalty. Linderman credits the Trump administration for moving against birth tourism and birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, and he urges the president to open a second front: requiring any U.S. official seeking or holding a security clearance to renounce any second citizenship. The Rocha case, he concludes, shows that espionage will always be a threat, but Washington should not compound it by encouraging confused allegiances inside its own national security bureaucracy. The war with Iran has now entered its 102nd day, with Israel continuing its military campaign in Lebanon — a key sticking point in stalled ceasefire negotiations. The Financial Times and other outlets report growing friction between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Trump telling FT, quote, "I call the shots. I call all the shots. Netanyahu doesn't call the shots," and predicting the Israeli leader, quote, "won't have a choice" but to accept a deal with Iran. As Harrison Berger reports for The American Conservative, Israeli outlets describe the U.S. and Israel as fully coordinated on recent strikes in Beirut and on retaliatory exchanges with Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio said to have played a significant role in convincing Trump to back Israeli retaliation. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein has reported that the Pentagon quietly deployed elements of an 82nd Airborne battalion to Israel in April, tied to joint contingency plans for seizing Iran's Kharg Island. On Monday, a U.S. Army Apache helicopter went down in the Strait of Hormuz; Trump said both pilots were unhurt. The Israeli military issued fresh displacement orders for villages around the ancient southern Lebanese city of Tyre before bombing it, killing at least eight. Lebanon's Health Ministry now puts the toll from Israeli strikes since March at 3,666 dead. Brent crude traded above $91 a barrel, with the national average price of regular gasoline at $4.16. In a developing story, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday evening that American forces had launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of that Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM called the mission, quote, "a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression." President Trump told ABC News the response, quote, "should be very strong, very powerful, and that's what this one is." As Andrew Day reports for The American Conservative, initial accounts suggested an Iranian drone had struck the helicopter, though it was not clear whether the impact was intentional. Trump, however, wrote on Truth Social that Iran had shot the aircraft down and that the United States, quote, "must, of necessity, respond." Open-source intelligence reported strikes in southern Iran beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, with U.S. officials telling Fox News that targets included Iranian air defenses. Those are today's highlights. For the full stories and more, visit theamericanconservative.com. Thank you for starting your morning with us.
