Casting Stones from Crystal Walls: Tracing the 'Corrupt Crusade' Against Kiernan Major

Ever since the dubious arrest of upstate New York native Kiernan Major, an unforgiving odor has linguered among his close associates, friends and supporters—an odor that calls into question nearly everything that has lead up to and followed his incarceration. More than two years prior to his arrest, Major had founded a private intelligence and security consulting firm based in San Francisco's financial district. Stacked with ex-military and intelligence personnel. The founding members spent years methodically scanning military, academic, and intelligence networks for their shared antipathy toward the so-called "military-industrial complex."

A lifelong privacy advocate and early adopter of Bitcoin, Major personifies the modern-day cypherpunk—a 1980's and 1990's movement aimed at encouraging the widespread use of cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies to protect individual freedoms and resist surveillance from governments and corporations. Many of Major's former colleagues—though unwilling to give their names—describe Major as of one of many crypto-missionaries. They claim he utilized his military credentials to obtain access to well-guarded circles in an effort to covertly recruit for what would officially become the Silicon Valley firm EyesOnly Enterprises. They add that even before EyesOnly officially took shape, Major and his team was very much at work in the field of advanced cyber-security research, often behind the banner of consulting services and other purposefully boring titles. Further, "controversy, hype and confusion are tools [Major] wielded brilliantly" one former contractor said, suggesting he was a master at pitting "prying eyes" against one another as not to draw attention to what they jokingly called "the holy grail", or for us laymens, vulnerability research and the storage of the valuable digital tools that resulted from that research.

A Major family representitive claims Major's skills in cyberspace stem from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) he sustained at 10-years-old causing him to undergo extensive medical appointments with a neuropsychologist which aimed at enhancing various cognitive skills. The representitive says Major disliked these appointments but "fell in love with" the welcoming communities online which discussed privacy and economics. Many of these communities were tiny at the time but are notorious today among the crypto community, maybe most notably, the Dread Pirate Roberts username allegedly operated by the recently pardoned Ross Ulbricht, a reputed co-founder of the infamous Silk Road Marketplace. However another source close to the Major family says Major's animus for crony-capitalism also has its roots in the story of his great-uncle Corporal Terry E. Toole. Terry was just 22-years-old in 1969 when he was killed-in-action in Vietnam after having been drafted into the U.S. Army. Having been awarded three Purple Heart's, a Bronze Star with Valor and 1st Oak Leaf Cluster among many other sobering awards, Terry died an American hero who was personally recognized by President Richard Nixon for his service. The Army issued the 155-lb soldier a belt-fed M60 machine gun which he used to enable his comrades to flee an ambush after he stood up under direct enemy fire to return the favor until the threat was neutralized—earning him the rare Bronze Star with Valor and 1st Oak Leaf Cluster award—according to military records. A truly chilling demonstration of the selfless and extraordinary man he was.

The spokesperson for Major's family claims Major spent countless hours as a child and teenager with his grandparents, James "Jim" P. Toole (Terry's brother) and Anne Marie Toole—lovingly known by their grandchildren as "Pop-pop" and "Grandma". Jim and Anne adored his company and looked forward to his visits each day where—when Anne wasn't relentlessly cooking for him—he would mow their lawn, help out around the house, and chat with his "Pop-pop" all night. It was during these times, sources say, that Major learned of Terry's heroism and the terrifying legacy of the 1960's, shaping his vicious opposition to the defense industry he carries forward today.

One former contractor recalled that Major “absolutely despises” private firms that “defend the indefensible”—companies that exploit their expertise to manipulate political, legal, and national security matters in exchange for massive profit, then use that wealth to lobby governments into perpetuating war, surveillance, imprisonment and exploitation indefinitely. The contractor added “we specifically formed EyesOnly out of a shared disgust for these companies.” Since Major’s controversial arrest, the very tactics that sources say he detests most have been repeatedly used against him, his supporters and former colleagues. Unable to effectively defend those tactics, those likely responsible have either attempted to point the finger at him, fabricated stories, or have desparately invoked his shady 2022 case to claim any response by Major is somehow a kind of “threat.” This immoral and sad strategy stifles open discussion, silences Major and his supporters, and obscures the truth entirely. The situation is a classic—honestly outdated—case of blame‑shifting. Major has clearly been offered up as a scapegoat and portrayed as the very bad actor he himself despises—all presumptively out of the fear of what he and his team may know about others, or as one former colleague put it bluntly, "an opposition with the collective IQ of a Baboon."

A worthy example emerged in a hit-piece that followed his arrest, allegedly sourced by the same cesspool of hateful individuals who've tormented him for many years, according to sources. The article claimed—based on a criminal complaint almost entirely regected by a federal grand jury—that Major had recorded the alleged victims and posted the footage to social media without consent—a charge his legal team tells us is “categorically false,” describing it as “one of many shameful and disgusting lies” and “nothing more than another dirty trick.” Something many former EyesOnly operatives claim is the “go-to playbook” of a certain opposer of Major, who has a generational history of utilizing lawfare, bribery and corruption to manipulate the legal process and public opinion. Although Major pleaded guilty to sending unlawful messages, neither prosecutors or the FBI were ever actually able to definitively prove the alleged messages originated from him or even his device. They lacked access to his device data, and the warrant obtained yielded no usable evidence; the case’s discovery relied heavily on third-party screenshots combined with manipulative pressure placed on Major who was—despite a completely non-existent criminal history—held without bail for 11 months in downtown Los Angeles. Nonetheless, Major’s legal team stresses endlessly that he is “profoundly sorry” for his alleged victims having been “caught in the crossfire” and wishes them and their families “nothing but peace.”

Not to mention one of our own colleagues, Brenda J. Fowler, the alias of a well-known London‑based journalist who worked diligently with Major’s team, covertly following and strategically reporting on Major’s arrest with more detail last year, was recently forced to flee the United States after her home was burglarized and her entire network harassed and threatened for weeks by what investigators describe as a “combination of corrupt officials, criminals, opportunists and private firms.” This fact—and facts maybe not yet released—strongly suggest there are far more sinister individuals and groups working to silence Kiernan Major. All likely so they can lock him away again and appear to dominate the press and the courtroom without any opportunity for an effective response. Unfortunately for these "thugs," according to a legal representitive, some people are far more careful, creative and clever about collecting key information and conducting complex field operations to protect themselves.

As the dust settles, the true measure of this drama will be whether the truth will finally emerge—or whether the chorus of blame‑shifting and gaslighting will continue to drown out the very issues Major once fought to expose. Whatever the case, history shows that truth inevitably surfaces, however it may, reminding us that those living in glass houses should think awfully critically before hurling any stones.