I have gotten this question a lot lately

Cold War Stories

Espionage history happened in real places. Berlin. Leipzig. Prague. Vienna. In this series, we’re sharing a few of the stories behind those streets—stories we’ll explore on the Tradecraft Travel Spy Tour in April 2027.

buff.ly/dHDQ7qU #espionage #spytour #tradecrafttravel

Looking for a truly unique experience for your group?

Hurry! Our spots are starting to fill.

If anyone wants to learn more about Cold War espionage with a true expert, this is the trip for you. Berlin - Leipzig - Prague - Vienna. Led by @johnsipher.bsky.social and brought to you by Tradecraft Travel in conjunction with Kensington Tours.

until February

Vilma kept dropping 6 7 references

Maybe Whitt should be rebranded the War vice Defensive Coordinator

good thing Binnington returned the puck before he was pulled

Democrat Spanberger Wins Governor Race As Virginians Reproach Trump Read more here.

Spanberger's triumph in Virginia is a victory that could reshape the state’s political landscape. Her strong backing for constitutional amendments on redistricting and restoring voting rights sets the stage for major pro-democracy reforms.

www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

So proud of my former colleague, a superb choice for the Commonwealth!

US ‘on a trajectory’ toward authoritarian rule, ex-officials warn A network of former intelligence and security officers says democratic decline is accelerating under Trump’s rule

The U.S. is “on a trajectory” toward authoritarian rule, according to a sobering new intelligence-style assessment by former US intelligence and national security officials, who warn democratic backsliding may soon become entrenched without organized resistance. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I haven’t seen this many cousins score in one night since Game of Thrones went off the air

Autocracy Drift Former intelligence analysts warn the U.S. is sliding toward “competitive authoritarianism.” Others say the system may still be strong enough to stop it.

theiceman.substack.com/p/autocracy-...

The Steady State’s assessment warns that the U.S. is moving toward competitive authoritarianism: elections and institutions remain, but are manipulated to entrench executive power. Without resistance from institutions and the public, democratic erosion will continue to accelerate.

Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline. Key Findings

Letter, Steady State to SSCI and HPSCI - Executive Overreach and the Misuse of Intelligence Authorities September 19, 2025

When presidents call movements “terrorist orgs” without legal basis, they aren’t fighting terror—they’re building authoritarian “security services” to crush critics. That’s what Trump is signaling with “Antifa.” Read our letter to SSCI and HPSCI here.

open.substack.com/pub/steadyst...

Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.

Great reporting; astounding corruption.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

If he'd been radicalized by a leftist professor the bullet engravings would have been an unreadable 90,000 word rebuttal to another leftist academic over a purely semantic disagreement they've been arguing back and forth since the 70's and he'd have shot Reviewer 2.

This new Battlefield 6 BETA--National Guard in DC--looks incredible. I'm not sure which missions are hardest--dodging scooters along the Tidal Basin, getting a table at Ben's Chili Bowl, or trying to parallel park a Hummer in Georgetown.

1. Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel want everyone to think the so-called Steele Dossier was a major source for the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. No, it wasn’t — an assessment of the “dossier” was included as an annex, which they haven’t released. Why?

I think the rest of that last tick in the PDF reads "from Paul Manafort"

gather round children and come hear the tale, of when horkos stepped beyond the pale. when the purple man, all a-fright, confronted the HPSCI memo with no delight 🧵

read along if you dare www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/d...

I asked some questions of the ODNI about Friday's release of emails and accusations of a treasonous conspiracy related to 2016-2017 intel community assessments of Russian election meddling. As I didn't get answers, I'll just discuss here what I raised in my questions. 🧵

Anyone with serious interest in Russia’s attempts to influence the US election in 2016 should read the exhaustive 2020 report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. www.intelligence.senate.gov/2020/08/18/p...

THREAD:: A few things about this screed.

1. Trump was not “framed” by the Dossier because the Dossier wasn’t used to open the Russia probe. Crossfire Hurricane was opened when Alex Downer from Australia told us that Popadopalous drunk-blabbed about Russia in a London Pub months earlier. 1/

Retconning 'Russiagate' article by me. Subhed: The CIA director encourages the rewriting of history

🧵In 2018 the Senate Intelligence Committee asked me to field a team and analyze a data set that social media platforms had turned over: several hundred gigs of data chronicling a multi-year effort to divide American society *and* interfere in an American election
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/retc...

Something I've been thinking about with regard to the battle damage assessment issue with the Iranian nuclear sites. There is an underlying physical reality here. The US Intelligence Community doesn't know what it is, though it probably knows parts. In any event, however, 1/2

Crash (exploit) and burn: Securing the offensive cyber supply chain to counter China in cyberspace If the United States wishes to compete in cyberspace, it must compete against China to secure its offensive cyber supply chain.

🚨 NEW PAPER on the 0day Supply Chain 🚨:
I gathered open source data & interviewed Gov employees, VR and china researchers to figure out what the zero day marketplace looks like in the U.S. and how it compares to China.

key findings below ⬇️- 0/🧵 
www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...