Feb 2023: Hersh alleged US Navy planted C-4 under exercise cover. Biden: 'we will bring an end to it.' No country blamed.
“Hersh says US blew up Nord Stream. Biden said it on camera.”
What they said vs. what the evidence shows
“Complete fiction.”
— White House · Feb 2023
SourceFrom “crazy” to confirmed
The Claim Is Made
This is the moment they called it crazy.
On February 8, 2023, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a detailed account alleging that the United States Navy had deliberately sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022. According to Hersh's reporting, divers planted C-4 explosives beneath the pipelines during a NATO military exercise called BALTOPS 22, acting on orders that traced back to the White House.
The claim was explosive—literally and politically. Hersh reported that President Biden had publicly committed to ending Nord Stream in February 2022, telling reporters at a press conference: "If Russia invades Ukraine, we will...bring an end to it." The journalist's account suggested the administration had moved from rhetoric to covert action, executing a significant act of sabotage against critical European infrastructure during wartime.
Western governments and mainstream media outlets responded with swift dismissal. U.S. officials denied involvement entirely. European leaders, while calling for investigations into who destroyed the pipelines, carefully avoided pointing fingers at their American ally. Most major news organizations treated Hersh's reporting with skepticism, citing his unnamed sources and the inability to independently verify his claims through traditional reporting channels.
Yet Hersh's reporting contained specific operational details that proved difficult to simply dismiss. He named the exercise—BALTOPS 22—which was documented as occurring in June 2022. He identified the timing with precision: early September, just days before the actual pipeline explosions detected on September 26, 2022. He described the technical means—underwater demolition using C-4, placed at specific depths. These were not vague allegations but granular claims that could theoretically be investigated.
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Source: Hersh: US Navy sabotaged Nord Stream under BALTOPS 22 - Biden said 'we will end
What lent credibility to Hersh's account was his track record. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist had exposed the My Lai massacre, the secret bombing of Cambodia, and NSA mass surveillance programs. His sources were typically credible former intelligence or military officials with direct knowledge of operations. He had staked his reputation on the story, and his methodology—while reliant on confidential sources—followed established investigative practices.
The broader context added weight to the allegations. Biden's explicit public threat about Nord Stream, combined with the documented strategic benefit to U.S. interests, established clear motive. The United States opposed the pipelines politically, viewing them as increasing European dependence on Russian energy. Germany and other NATO allies had turned against Russian energy after the invasion of Ukraine. From a geopolitical perspective, sabotaging Nord Stream served American interests and aligned with Biden's stated position.
Months of investigation by the German government yielded no definitive findings, though German prosecutors reportedly examined the sabotage as a potential crime. The U.S. government maintained its denial. No formal accusation was ever leveled against American officials. The claim remained in a liminal space—neither conclusively proven nor thoroughly debunked.
What matters most about this unresolved claim is what it reveals about institutional credibility. When major world powers conduct covert operations but deny them, and when journalists report on those operations using confidential sources, how do citizens assess truth? Hersh's allegations exposed the limits of official denials in an age where governments routinely conduct classified operations. Whether his specific claims prove accurate, his reporting raised fundamental questions about transparency, accountability, and whether the public can trust official narratives about military actions.
Beat the odds
This had a 1.3% chance of leaking — someone talked anyway.
Conspirators
~1,000Large op
Secret kept
3.2 years
Time to 95% exposure
500+ years
