Editor’s note, Oct. 23, 2026: For our full investigation, including verified quotes from all 11 recordings and what their proposed new constitution would look like, see The Illegitimacy Playbook: Inside the Private Plans for America’s “Refounding Moment.” This earlier analysis covers the red-lines document, NSL4A’s endorsements and the legal questions.
Analysis. Two weeks before the midterms, a newspaper report and a set of private recordings raise a question most Americans never thought they’d have to ask.
Imagine a group of retired generals, former diplomats, and activists on a private call. The topic is the elected federal government of the United States, and the question on the table is when it should stop being treated as legitimate.
They discuss “red lines.” They mention a memo for governors, describing a scenario in which governors would “become the leading governing authority.” They talk about building a “situation room” for the 2026 and 2028 elections. One speaker says governors would need plans to reach out to foreign governments. Another adds, “this is not a concept for a secession.”
According to recordings published this week by independent researcher DataRepublican, that call happened on August 13.
The day after those recordings surfaced, The Washington Post reported something related. About ten current and former national security officials have been quietly advising governors and lawmakers in about ten states on how to respond if federal troops show up near polling places. Some still work for the federal government. They told the Post they acted outside their official roles.
The short version
- A network of former military and intelligence officials, National Security Leaders for America, published a public guide for local officials on what to do if troops are deployed during the election. The guide tells officials to stay calm, keep voting going, and let courts sort out the legal questions.
- Separately, the private recordings capture organizers who say their work is “led under” that same network. They discuss criteria for declaring the federal government illegitimate and a plan for governors to step into federal roles.
- The written criteria, now visible in full, are narrower than the summaries circulating online. They cite overturned elections, refusing to leave office, defying courts, and using troops against voters. The open question is who decides when those lines are crossed.
- The network calls itself nonpartisan. Of the 14 candidates it has endorsed this year, 13 are Democrats and one is an independent. None are Republicans.
- Some of the people advising states are current federal employees, and nobody has said who they are.
What we know, and what we don’t
Documented: the public guide, the Post’s reporting, the endorsement record, the criteria document, and the words spoken on the recordings.
Not established: whether the current federal employees in the Post story are the same people drafting the “red lines”; whether any governor agreed to anything; whether the recordings are complete; and who wrote the criteria document.
Those gaps are exactly why this deserves a closer look. When unnamed officials, some still on the federal payroll, are working alongside networks that write rules for when the government stops counting, the public has a right to know who they are and what they have agreed to.
Here is the full story: what each piece of evidence shows, where the claims stop, and who has the authority to get answers.
Two stories, one day apart
On October 20, The Washington Post reported that roughly ten current and former national security officials, many with Defense Department experience, had spent months privately advising governors, election administrators, and lawmakers in about ten states. Their subject was how to respond if the Trump administration deploys troops or federal agents near polling places, or seeks to nullify results based on fraud claims.
The advisers spoke anonymously. In an NPR interview, reporter Noah Robertson said they feared retaliation from the administration. The Post does not name the officials or the states. Members of the group say the work occurred outside their official capacity and drew on public statements rather than government intelligence. With lawmakers, especially Republicans, the advisers focused on recognizing potential interference and preparing to oppose it publicly.
A day earlier, DataRepublican began releasing “The Democracy Files,” a set of recordings, transcripts, and documents from private calls and briefings involving retired officers, former diplomats, and civic organizers (Part 1, Part 2). In one August 13 recording attributed to a Renew to Thrive / Renew American Democracy session, speakers discuss an “acute legitimacy crisis,” “red lines” for deeming the federal government illegitimate, an options memo for governors, and coordination that could include outreach to foreign governments. One speaker says the effort is “being led under” National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A).
How the material was obtained is disputed. DataRepublican has described the criteria document as coming from “thousands of docs I scraped.” A video commentator separately described the audio as AI-notetaker files published to the web, and other accounts have described an insider leak. Full originals have not been independently authenticated by major outlets.
NSL4A and its toolkit
NSL4A is a real, public network of roughly 1,600 retired military, intelligence, and diplomatic officials founded by Rear Adm. Michael E. Smith (Ret.). Its endorsement materials describe it as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. In mid-October it released a Toolkit for Elected Officials: Managing Potential Military Intervention in the Midterm Elections, developed with partners under the Horizons Project. The toolkit is open for download and addresses two scenarios: Insurrection Act deployment after civil unrest, and military seizure of voting equipment after a claimed foreign attack on election systems.
What the toolkit actually says:
- Treat any deployment as lawful unless a court rules otherwise; do not declare it illegal on the spot.
- Do not confront troops or stage protests at polling places.
- Protect chain of custody: finish tabulator printouts and secure memory devices before equipment leaves officials’ control.
- Stand up a Joint Information Center linking election officials, police, lawyers, and “trusted messengers” from faith, labor, business, veteran, and civic groups, and hold frequent press conferences.
- Build a public record that local police, courts, and government are functioning, to undercut the legal basis for federal troops.
- Maintain an Election Day support team in Washington to connect local officials with experts.
The toolkit does not urge violence. It stresses non-confrontation and court challenges. Critics note that the Joint Information Center and public-record provisions create a pre-positioned response network. Supporters call them ordinary emergency management. Both readings come from the same text. NSL4A’s public toolkit page embeds an information-session video; whether it is the same video DataRepublican circulated has not been confirmed.
The recordings and the “illegitimacy” language
Speakers below are as identified by DataRepublican and outlets reporting on her material, including Daily Headlines. Speaker boundaries in the published audio are not marked.
- Danielle Reiff, Renew to Thrive co-lead, anticipates a “breakdown moment” that could be leveraged for “big structural reform” or a “refounding.”
- Paul Zeitz, co-lead, says the United Democracy Alliance, described as a coalition of the “blocking movement,” has red lines that are being refined into indicators and is building a situation room for 2026 and 2028. He states the effort is “being led under” NSL4A and describes an options memo for governors.
- A speaker who appears to be Zeitz says the memo reached Governors Safeguarding Democracy, which was “reviewing it and considering it,” and that outreach was attempted to the governors of Wisconsin, Utah, and Washington.
- John Mongan, identified as a former State Department official, says California and Illinois were interested if another state took the lead, and Massachusetts declined. He describes governors needing plans to assume federal functions, coordinate with one another, and reach out to foreign governments, adding, “this is not a concept for a secession.”
No governor’s office has publicly confirmed these contacts in any reporting reviewed for this article. Utah’s governor is Republican Spencer Cox, now in his second term; any outreach there complicates a purely partisan reading of the effort.
Governors Safeguarding Democracy, the forum said to be reviewing the memo, was founded in 2024 and is co-chaired by Democratic Govs. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado. At its launch, Polis said no current Republican officeholders were members. Illinois is one of two states described on the call as interested in the memo. NSL4A endorsed Pritzker’s reelection on October 9.
What the “red lines” document actually says
DataRepublican posted an image of the criteria, along with her own plain-English version. The author and date of the document, and whether any group formally adopted it, have not been established.
The document opens by defining democratic legitimacy as a government’s recognized authority resting on the consent of the governed, expressed through free and fair processes. It then warns of its own risk: a term that everyone can invoke and no one has defined, it says, “becomes a weapon for whichever side is losing.” It goes on to list conditions under which a federal government “crosses the threshold into illegitimacy,” as determined under standards the published excerpt does not show.
| What the document says (summarized) | DataRepublican’s plain-English version (summarized) |
|---|---|
| Elections are manipulated or suppressed, or results overturned outside the processes prescribed by law, so the government no longer reflects the certified will of the electorate | Any investigation of election fraud makes the government illegitimate |
| A sitting executive keeps exercising power after the constitutional end of the term, or acts to stop a lawfully elected successor from taking office | No equivalent in her list |
| A legislature is populated through manipulated elections, intimidation, or excluding members who hold state-issued certificates of election | Delaying a new member of Congress over cheating, or Republicans winning too many elections, makes the government illegitimate |
| The executive defies final court orders, or removes, arrests, or intimidates judges until the judiciary can no longer act as an independent check | Any action against activist judges makes the government illegitimate |
| The executive uses the military, federalized Guard, federal law enforcement, or paramilitary forces against voters, election officials, opponents, the press, or peaceful assembly in ways that make democratic participation impossible | Any action against peaceful protesters makes the government illegitimate |
Read in full, the criteria are narrower than the viral summary. Each describes conduct that most Americans in either party would call a breakdown: overturning certified results, refusing to leave office, defying final court orders, using troops to make voting impossible. The paraphrase that spread online does not match the text, and readers should judge the document on its own words.
The harder question is not the list but who applies it. The document says illegitimacy is determined under set standards, but the published excerpt does not say who makes that determination. Several of its terms, such as “manipulated,” “intimidates,” and “captured,” leave room for judgment. Meanwhile, the recordings describe a private network refining indicators, building a situation room, and preparing governors to act on such a finding. The document’s own warning about an undefined term becoming a weapon applies to whoever holds the pen.
The NSL4A briefing video
As described in available transcripts, the video covers an in-person tabletop exercise; a slide listing nine states (Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas); an assessment that the administration might judge the political cost of troops worth holding the Senate; outreach to Senate staff so that a senator would publicly say “I have not seen this intel” if the president cited a classified foreign threat; and a “war room” for Election Day. Speakers include Adm. Smith and Horizons founder Julia Roig, who stresses nonviolence and a nonpartisan goal of “protecting the process.” The video states that the Q&A would not be recorded for security purposes. DataRepublican’s materials, as relayed by Hot Air, also claim Smith leads a Horizons Project “Insurrection Act Working Group”; that claim has not been independently verified.
The Post says its advisers consulted officials from 10 states and does not name the group. The NSL4A slide lists nine. DataRepublican has suggested the Post’s group overlaps with NSL4A but acknowledged the mismatch. Whether they are the same people is unconfirmed.
Who is behind the groups
NSL4A calls itself nonpartisan and says its endorsements are not based on party. Its record invites scrutiny. In 2024 it released a letter signed by 741 former officials endorsing Kamala Harris; signers included Republican former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Cohen. Its 2026 slate, drawn from the group’s endorsement site, looks like this:
| Candidate | Race | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Roy Cooper | U.S. Senate, North Carolina | D |
| James Talarico | U.S. Senate, Texas | D |
| Adam Hamilton | U.S. Senate, Kansas | D |
| Ben Ray Luján | U.S. Senate, New Mexico | D |
| Dan Osborn | U.S. Senate, Nebraska | I |
| J.B. Pritzker | Governor, Illinois | D |
| Keisha Lance Bottoms | Governor, Georgia | D |
| Eileen Laubacher | U.S. House, Colorado 4th | D (former Republican) |
| Don Coover | U.S. House, Kansas 2nd | D |
| Eliott Rodriguez | U.S. House, Florida 27th | D |
| Aaron Gies | U.S. House, New York 23rd | D |
| Don Davis | U.S. House, North Carolina 1st | D |
| Raymond Smith Jr. | U.S. House, North Carolina 3rd | D |
| Anita Earls | N.C. Supreme Court | D |
The group says it backs candidates in competitive races who face opponents it considers a threat to constitutional principles. Four of the nine states on the briefing slide (Georgia, Kansas, North Carolina, and Texas) are also states where NSL4A has endorsed candidates. Both efforts focus on competitive races, so the overlap is not by itself evidence of coordination. Whether the election-protection outreach and the endorsement program share staff, members, or funding is a question the group should answer. Whether any current federal employee took part in the endorsement work is the Hatch Act question.
The Horizons Project (Julia Roig, Maria J. Stephan) launched in 2021 with funding from Humanity United and moved in 2022 to the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. It bridges peacebuilding and democracy work. Stephan co-authored Why Civil Resistance Works with Erica Chenoweth and previously worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the State Department. In a 2023 interview published by Beyond Intractability, Roig located the danger to democracy in what she called an “authoritarian infection within the Republican Party.”
Renew American Democracy / Renew to Thrive (Reiff, Zeitz) promotes structural reform and citizen-led constitutional renewal. Zeitz’s book, Hit Refresh on the U.S. Constitution, calls for a peaceful “Second American Revolution” through rewriting the Constitution, and his recent writing describes a “Third Founding.”
Context that cuts both ways
- President Trump told The New York Times in an interview earlier this year that he regretted not having the National Guard seize voting machines after 2020, according to the Post.
- The Justice Department charged 28 green-card holders in California on October 19 under “Operation Protect the Vote” and says it has charged 113 people in 20 states with illegal voting or registration offenses in recent weeks. It sued California to block counting mail ballots from about 20,000 registrants it flags as likely noncitizens; California disputes the evidence.
- On July 21, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) disclosed that a motor-vehicle software error registered about 6,600 people who said they were not citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, and that some voted.
- The FBI seized more than 650 boxes of Fulton County 2020 ballots under warrant on January 28.
- On April 30, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a senator’s question about seizing ballots a “gotcha hypothetical” and would not say whether such an order would be illegal.
- Gen. Dan Caine said in August that the military had no plans to place troops at polls or seize voting records; DHS has denied plans for immigration operations at polling places.
- Federal statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 592 and 593) generally bar troops at polling places except to repel armed enemies of the United States. Any Insurrection Act or foreign-attack invocation would likely be challenged in court.
- White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told the Post that the administration is prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure, and protecting voters from fraud and coercion.
Three separate bodies of evidence
Three strands exist on the public record. They have not been shown to form a single structure.
- The Post’s anonymous advisers. The only source involving current federal employees acting outside their chain of command.
- NSL4A’s public toolkit. Nonconfrontational; tells officials to treat deployments as lawful until a court rules otherwise.
- The Renew to Thrive recording and criteria document. The source of the “illegitimacy,” “refounding,” and governors-assuming-federal-functions language. The link to NSL4A rests on one speaker saying the effort is “being led under” NSL4A.
No public evidence yet shows the current employees in the Post story overlap with the people drafting illegitimacy criteria. Establishing whether they do is precisely what an inquiry should determine.
Legal and investigative questions
- Who decides? The criteria document says illegitimacy is determined under set standards, but the published excerpt does not identify who makes that call or how.
- Ethics rules. Are any current federal employees violating outside-activity or ethics rules? Names, agencies, and whether approvals were sought remain undisclosed.
- Hatch Act. Does it apply if current employees took part in NSL4A’s endorsement or campaign work? The law is enforced by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
- Tax-exempt status. Did the joint toolkit project keep 501(c)(3) resources separate from NSL4A’s 501(c)(4) endorsement activity, particularly in states where NSL4A endorsed candidates? In the briefing video, Roig describes the work as “C3 action” not aimed at winning a particular election. Compliance falls to the IRS.
- The governors’ memo. What is its exact text, and did any governor’s office act on it?
- Foreign outreach. What was planned? The Logan Act is a DOJ matter, but no one has ever been convicted under it and no indictment has been sought since 1852. Compact Clause questions are constitutional and resolved in court; the clause is not a criminal statute.
- The United Democracy Alliance. Does it exist as a coordinating body over groups such as Indivisible and 50501? No independent outlet has confirmed the full structure.
- Sedition. Seditious conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 2384) requires a conspiracy to overthrow or oppose the government by force. Published materials stress nonviolence and court challenges. No evidence of planned force has surfaced.
Even without evidence of planned force, the activities described on these recordings are extraordinary: private networks drafting criteria for when an elected federal government becomes “illegitimate,” a memo contemplating governors assuming federal functions, and situation rooms and war rooms built around those scenarios. That warrants investigation whether or not the strands prove connected.
Why the connections deserve a formal inquiry
Supporters of these groups argue they are doing what emergency managers do for floods: planning for a low-probability, high-impact event. They cite the president’s stated regret over not having the National Guard seize voting machines in 2020, and a Post-ABC-Ipsos poll finding that about 70 percent of Americans, including 36 percent of Republicans, lack confidence he would accept a Republican midterm loss. NSL4A’s toolkit supports that reading, and the criteria document itself describes serious breakdowns rather than ordinary political defeats.
The recordings are a different matter. There, organizers who say their work is led under NSL4A discuss a coming “breakdown moment,” indicators for declaring the federal government illegitimate, and a memo positioning governors to “become the leading governing authority.” Separately, the Post reports that some current federal employees have advised states outside their chain of command. No public evidence yet shows these are the same people. That gap is the reason for an inquiry, not a reason to dismiss one.
The Office of Special Counsel should determine whether any current employee’s involvement crosses Hatch Act lines. Agency inspectors general and designated agency ethics officials should review whether outside-activity rules were followed. The IRS should examine whether charitable resources were kept separate from candidate endorsement activity. The House Administration and Oversight Committees, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rules Committees, should seek the full recordings, the criteria document and its authors, the governors’ options memo, communications with governors’ offices, and any planned contact with foreign governments.
The public is entitled to know whether this is preparedness or the scaffolding of a post-election challenge to constitutional authority, and above all, who would decide. Claims of a full “control plane,” governor buy-in, or foreign coordination remain unconfirmed until that work is done.
Sources
- The Washington Post, Oct. 20, 2026
- NPR interview with Noah Robertson
- The Deep Dive, summary of the Post report
- NSL4A Midterm Election Military Intervention Toolkit
- NSL4A, Protecting Elections During Potential Military Intervention
- NSL4A 2026 endorsements
- DataRepublican, The Democracy Files, Part 1 and Part 2
- LifeZette, full text of the Democracy Files posts
- Daily Headlines, quotes from the Aug. 13 call
- Governors Safeguarding Democracy launch
- PartnersGlobal, Horizons Project origins
- New Venture Fund, 501(c)(3) status
- PBS North Carolina, Raymond Smith Jr.
Top photo: The U.S. Capitol at sunrise. Andy Feliciotti / Unsplash.