On the first day of the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in Iran, a strange short-wave radio signal began broadcasting a message in Farsi. A man’s voice repeatedly announced, “Tavajjoh! Txavajjoh!” (Attention! Attention!), followed by a string of numbers. As of late last week, the voice has broadcast the seemingly random numbers nearly 10 times.

The mysterious broadcast immediately sparked concern. Some have suggested it is someone outside Iran trying to reach inside the country. The federal government appears concerned that it may be a person or agency inside Iran communicating a message “intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside of Iran.”

Given Iran’s history of malicious operations outside of its soil, that concern is unsurprising. Long before this current conflict, Iran has engaged in terrorist attacks, targeted assassinations, cyberattacks, and information operations—and it uses a network of proxies and spies to amplify its reach, including within the United States.

This time, however, there is one crucial difference. In previous administrations, hundreds of national security professionals across agencies relentlessly pursued answers and took action to thwart attacks during international conflict, respond, and hold the perpetrators accountable. But the Trump administration has gutted this capacity through firings, forced resignations, and slashed budgets at agencies such as the FBI, the Justice Department, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and more. The public servants who remain are already stretched thin, and many have been assigned to other White House priorities like immigration enforcement and Epstein document review.