On Wednesday, high-level sources within the U.S. Army confirmed to investigative journalist Laura Loomer that Nicholas Waytowich, the lead scientist for the Human-Guided Machine Learning Branch at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland, has been “immediately suspended” following her bombshell exclusive report published the previous day. Laura Loomer also confirmed that the Army has launched an internal investigation to determine if any criminal laws were violated in connection with Waytowich’s development of the “Red Dot” app, a tool designed to track and alert illegal immigrants about the locations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The suspension comes amid heightened concerns over the app’s potential to endanger federal law enforcement personnel, particularly in light of recent violent incidents targeting ICE officers.
Nicholas Waytowich’s resume from his now deleted website resume showed that he has held his position at the Army Research Laboratory for the past 10 years. Evidence linking Waytowich to the app is clear Florida’s SunBiz business registry records, accessed on September 30, 2025, list Binary Brains, LLC, a company registered in Florida in August of 2025, as the developer of Red Dot. The records identify Nicholas Waytowich as the CEO listing a principal address, mailing address, and CEO address all matching the Baltimore, Maryland, residence listed on Waytowich’s personal resume from his now deleted website.
Red Dot is an application explicitly marketed as a “community-driven safety tool that helps protect immigrant communities through anonymous, real-time ICE activity reporting and alerts.” Screenshots from the Apple App Store reveal the app’s features, including 100% anonymity with no account required, real-time alerts for ICE activity in users’ areas, nationwide monitoring mode, aggregated intelligence from verified sources, multilingual support in English and Spanish, privacy-focused design with zero data collection or tracking, and auto-expiring reports after five hours. Users are instructed to “see ICE activity? Tap ‘Report’ or tap the map to alert your community,” with anonymous alerts instantly notifying nearby members.
One of the more chilling facts to emerge is that the app’s name, “Red Dot,” carries a particularly alarming connotation. It evokes the red dot sights used on firearms to enhance targeting accuracy. This detail raises questions about its intent, especially in an era of elevated political violence against ICE agents and Trump supporters.
Further scrutiny of Waytowich’s online presence reveals his deeper involvement in similar projects. His GitHub profile lists contributions to two ICE-tracking repositories: “red-dot-website,” described as an HTML-based public project updated the previous week, and “ICEBlock,” a public repository updated on July 4, 2025. ICEBlock was founded by Joshua Aaron Feinstein, whose wife, Carolyn Feinstein, was previously employed at the U.S. Department of Justice until her termination several months ago following exposure of her ties to the app’s registered agent address.
In the wake of Laura Loomer’s Tuesday report, Waytowich took swift actions indicative of an attempted cover-up. By Wednesday, his X account, @NickWaytowich, was deleted. His personal website also redirected to a 404 error page on GitHub which states, “there isn’t a GitHub Pages site here.” Additionally, the Red Dot app, previously free, was updated to charge $0.99 on the Apple App Store, as shown in a screenshot from that day. Laura Loomer noted that she had archived all relevant materials, including his resume and GitHub page, prior to these deletions, ensuring evidence remains available for authorities.
The controversy brings up broader questions about tech industry accountability. In early September, President Trump hosted a high-profile dinner at the White House with top tech CEOs, including those from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others, to discuss American AI dominance and how it’s critical to the American economy. Despite attempts from tech moguls to appease the White House and sever ties with radicalism, Red Dot remains available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This is a tense as officials from ICE and the FBI confirmed last week that the shooter in a September 2025 attack on ICE agents in Dallas, Texas, utilized a similar ICE-tracking app to target officers with lethal force. Recent political violence targeting ICE agents makes it clear that by hosting such apps, these platforms endanger law enforcement and undermine the Trump administration’s push for rule of law. This app actually does worse, it aids and abets felonies.
Waytowich’s suspension from the Army means he will be able to spend more professional time with his pro-open border colleagues. In addition to his Army role, Waytowich serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in Catonsville, Maryland, and Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in Arnold, Maryland. There he teaches courses in machine learning, engineering, and computer science. On a related note, on February 5th, 2025, UMBC’s Vice President and General Counsel issued a statement outlining a clear anti-ICE procedure for handling federal law enforcement on campus. They framed the protocol as a measure to protect privacy and ensure compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) but many see it as a ruse to stifle ICE. The guidance includes recommendations for students and staff to contact campus police immediately upon sighting ICE agents, potentially setting up standoffs between campus police and federal agents.
Nicholas Waytowich represents the latest example of a leftist federal employee who wrongly believed they could undermine the duly elected President of the United States. This trend and the fact that it’s always up to Laura Loomer’s investigative team to catch these acts is very disturbing, particularly amid this ongoing crisis of political violence. It is however at least commendable that Waytowich is being held accountable through suspension and investigation. Will this set a precedent to prevent future embarrassments and mitigate heightened threats to America’s national security? We’ll see.
