Everlasting Consequences.

A new window into the universe.

“If I could only open one thing each morning it would be John Ellis’s News Items newsletter.” — Larry Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

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1. A new window into the universe is about to open. On Monday (June 23), the Vera C. Rubin Observatory — a joint project between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy — will release its very first images in a live broadcast. The livestream begins at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) and will be simulcast on Space.com as well as on the Rubin Observatory's official channels. Viewers will get a first look at the magnificent images taken by the observatory's 3,200-megapixel camera — the largest digital camera ever built. (Sources: space.com, rubinobservatory.org)

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2. Cipher Brief:

Operation Midnight Hammer was a highly classified mission that delivered precise U.S. strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities. Very few in Washington were briefed on the mission before it was carried out.

Before U.S. aircraft entered Iranian airspace, “a U.S. submarine launched more than two dozen tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets,” according to the Department of Defense.

U.S. B2 bombers dropped multiple GBU massive ordinance penetrator bombs on nuclear sites, dropping a total of approximately 75 precision guided weapons.

U.S. officials assess that determining the final extent of damage from the operation will take some time, but initial estimates suggested “extremely severe” damage and destruction. (Source: thecipherbrief.com)

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3. General David Petraeus (Ret.):

On the Military Mission: The mission demonstrated overwhelming U.S. military precision with no Iranian resistance, but it remains unclear if Iran’s nuclear capabilities were completely destroyed until thorough bomb damage assessments (BDA) are completed.