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Transcript: Tucker Carlson Interviews USS Liberty Survivor Bryce Lockwood

The following is the full transcript of Marine Staff Sergeant Bryce Lockwood’s interview on The Tucker Carlson Show, July 10, 2026.

Editor’s Note: In this compelling interview, Bryce Lockwood, a survivor of the 1967 USS Liberty attack, recounts the harrowing details of the day his intelligence ship was struck by Israeli forces. Lockwood challenges the long-standing narrative of “mistaken identity,” arguing instead that the assault was a deliberate, well-planned operation that the U.S. government ultimately covered up. He calls for a long-overdue, open Congressional investigation to finally uncover the truth behind the incident that claimed the lives of 34 Americans.

INTRODUCTION

TUCKER CARLSON: Mr. Lockwood, thank you very much for joining us.

BRYCE LOCKWOOD: My pleasure.

TUCKER CARLSON: Tell us, the USS Liberty — many people have heard the name, they’re aware there’s a controversy about what happened to the ship in 1967. If you wouldn’t mind starting at the beginning and telling us the story of the USS Liberty.

The USS Liberty: Background and Mission

BRYCE LOCKWOOD: USS Liberty was a spy ship back in the 1960s. Several of the sub-Saharan African countries had just won their independence from Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France. There was a heavy influence both from the Soviet Union and from Cuba. Cubans had a lot of troops around the area. That entire area is very wealthy in natural resources, precious metals, and the United States wanted to keep track of what was going on over there. Mind you, this is when satellites were pretty rudimentary, so the best way to gather that information is get close.

The USS Liberty was a World War II Victory-class freighter. She was originally commissioned as the SS Simmons Victory. She saw service as a cargo carrier during the Second World War, mothballed, brought back out of mothballs for the Korean War, ammunition carrier for the Korean War, back into mothballs. And in 1965, when the National Security Agency decided they needed vessels of that type, her hull was probably in the best condition of almost any of them that were in the ghost fleet or the mothball fleet.

She was brought out of commission. The U.S. government spent $26 million in 1965 money equipping her with the latest in intelligence collection. We could suck up literally every frequency that was being used. We had aboard her the world’s largest mobile computer — the Univac 500, at that time the world’s largest. You could likely do about as much with your cell phone now, but technology has come a long ways in the last 60 years. She was equipped with linguists, cruised up and down the west coast of Africa, listening in on to whatever was going on.

The Lead-Up to the Attack

As war appeared to be imminent between Israel and her neighbors in 1967 — the neighbors included what was then called the United Arab Republic, primarily Egypt, Syria to a lesser extent, some influence from Jordan and Libya — the administration sent some F-4 photograph planes, high-performance photo intelligence planes, to a Torreón Air Base in Spain. Those markings were obliterated. The pilots were given neutral uniforms and neutral identification and set to overfly Israel’s neighbors.

When hostilities broke out, June of 1967, Israelis had intelligence courtesy of the US administration locating every aircraft revetment, every tank location of personnel, where they were riveted up, where they were based, and so forth. Hostilities broke out on the 5th of June, 1967.

The National Security Agency had ordered USS Liberty to proceed from her cruise up and down the west coast of Africa with all due speed to Rota, Spain, take on stores, refuel, pick up 6 additional linguists, and proceed with haste to the eastern Mediterranean where they could monitor what was going on. She was stacked with linguists. Out of a crew of 294 aboard the ship, roughly 190 were intelligence personnel — linguists, codebreakers, manual Morse operators, voice intercept operators, and so forth.

Soviet Intelligence Operations in the Area

The Soviets had a group of Tu-95 long-range bombers equipped for intelligence collection at Alexandria, Egypt. They told the world that they’d given those planes to Egypt and that they were manned by Egyptian troops. Such was not the case. They were Soviet troops wearing Egyptian uniforms.

The task that we were given as linguists — there were 3 of us Russian linguists aboard her. We had 3 watch sections rotating 8 hours each. The 3 of us Russian linguists that were assigned as voice intercept section supervisors, our primary task was catching those Soviet Tu-95 intelligence aircraft at Alexandria. The aircraft would communicate in plain language Egyptian until they were airborne and over the Mediterranean Sea, change frequencies and go to plain language Russian.

It was ironic that while we were under attack, my relief came into the processing and reporting room where I was and said, “Hey, Sarge, I got him, I got him.” Says, “You got who, Jim?” “The Ruskies.” “Really?” Said, “Yeah, plain language Russian.” He went back into the room where he was copying the intercept and a torpedo struck him, killed him.

The Day of the Attack

Hostilities broke out on the 5th of June, 1967. We arrived on station on the 7th of June. Throughout the day of the 7th and in the early morning hours of the 8th of June, we were overflown by several different Israeli aircraft. They flew very close to us. We could plainly see the pilots. Fellows that were off duty and sunning themselves on the decks would wave to the pilots. The pilots waved back.

We had a drill general quarters at noon on the morning of the 8th. The captain came on the address system aboard the ship, the 1MC, and told us that there were a few things he wanted us to improve — get to our general quarters stations a little more rapidly, get the watertight doors closed a little more rapidly.