Intelligence
Election Interference: How States Meddle in Votes
Documented state election interference, from the CIA in Italy to Russia's 2016 operations, with historical methods and debates over their effectiveness.
Intelligence
Intelligence services, OSINT and HUMINT, disinformation and major leaks, told as history and reporting.
Intelligence
Digital footprints and OSINT: how investigators follow leads
How OSINT investigators follow a digital footprint: MH17, Cameroon, Skripal and Navalny, the Berkeley Protocol, and the mistakes that turn a lead into harm.
Intelligence
Signal triangulation in war: radio direction finding
The history of signal triangulation and radio direction finding, from the U-boat war to Ukraine, explaining transmissions and the limits of location data.
Intelligence
How espionage really works, beyond MICE and SADRAT
How espionage really works, according to declassified cases: volunteers who walked in, bureaucracy, ignored warnings and false-flag approaches. What we know.
Intelligence
What is the Makhzen? Power and security in Morocco
What is the Makhzen, and how is Morocco's security apparatus organised? The monarchy, DGST, DGED, gendarmerie and Interior Ministry — and the controversies.
Intelligence
What Is OPSEC? Operations Security and Its Origins
What OPSEC means, its origins in Vietnam's Operation Purple Dragon, and the history of operations security from wartime slogans to Strava heatmap controversy.
Intelligence
What Is Interpol and How Does It Work? Myths vs Facts
Interpol has no agents who arrest anyone. How it really works: Red Notices, National Central Bureaus, its troubled history and the abuse debate, explained.
Intelligence
DGSE vs BND: France and Germany's Intelligence Services
How France's DGSE and Germany's BND compare: origins, remit, oversight and scandals, from the Rainbow Warrior to Germany's landmark 2020 court ruling.
Intelligence
US Intelligence Community: CIA, NSA, FBI and the Rest
How the US Intelligence Community's 18 members work, the roles of the CIA, NSA, FBI and DIA, and systems for coordination and congressional oversight.
Intelligence
Spain's CNI: The National Intelligence Centre Explained
What Spain's CNI intelligence service does, how it grew out of SECED and CESID, who oversees it and the controversies, from wiretaps to the Pegasus affair.
Intelligence
From the Cheka to the FSB and GRU: Russian Intelligence
A history of Russian intelligence from the 1917 Cheka to the KGB and its successors, the FSB, SVR and GRU. What each does and the cases that define them.
Intelligence
MI5 vs MI6: The Difference in British Intelligence
MI5 vs MI6 explained: what each British intelligence service does, their shared 1909 origin, who oversees them and how both differ from GCHQ. A clear guide.
Intelligence
What is Five Eyes? The Nine and Fourteen Eyes explained
How Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes relate, with UKUSA, ECHELON, Snowden, the Maximator pact and court rulings framing intelligence-sharing history.
Intelligence
Covert Communication: From Invisible Ink to Encryption
A history of covert communication, from the scytale and invisible ink to Enigma and public-key encryption, tracing how messages and meaning are concealed.
Intelligence
Propaganda: From Pamphlets to Modern Media
What propaganda is, how it evolved from printed pamphlets to radio, television and social media, and which persuasion techniques have survived for centuries.
Intelligence
CIA Proxy Armies: The Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras
How the CIA supported Cold War proxy forces, from Afghan mujahideen under Operation Cyclone to Nicaragua's Contras, with inquiries and documented consequences.
Intelligence
Crypto AG: the CIA, the BND and Operation Rubicon
How Operation Rubicon turned Swiss encryption firm Crypto AG into an intelligence source for the CIA and West Germany's BND, and what the operation revealed.
Intelligence
CIA Fake Websites: Covert Comms with Informants
How the CIA used innocuous-looking websites for covert communication with informants, why the system failed, and the consequences between 2010 and 2013.
Intelligence
In-Q-Tel: The CIA's Venture Capital Fund
How In-Q-Tel, the CIA-linked venture capital fund founded in 1999, operates, which companies it has backed, and why its investment model has prompted debate.
Intelligence
What Is SIGINT? Signals Intelligence Explained
What SIGINT, or signals intelligence, means, its COMINT and ELINT branches, and its development from Bletchley Park to its role in contemporary armed conflicts.
Intelligence
PSYOP: What Psychological Operations Are, Their History and Legal Limits
What psychological operations, or PSYOP, mean in doctrine, their history through the US MISO framework, documented examples, and their ethical and legal limits.
Intelligence
What Are Sleeper Agents? Dormant Spies and Real Cases
What sleeper agents are, why they differ from illegals, and cases involving Soviet and Russian networks, Rudolf Abel, the Wasp Network and 2010 arrests.
Intelligence
What Is the SADRAT Cycle in Intelligence? Explained
The SADRAT intelligence cycle describes spotting, assessing, developing, recruiting, handling and terminating human sources, with debate over its limitations.
Intelligence
Declassified KGB Manuals: What They Reveal
A historical examination of declassified KGB manuals, their origins and authenticity, and what these documents reveal about Soviet intelligence and its methods.
Intelligence
Pegasus and Commercial Spyware: How It Works
What Pegasus is, how commercial spyware from NSO Group and similar companies operates, and what documented cases reveal about surveillance and regulation.
Intelligence
What Is HUMINT in Intelligence: Human Sources and Risks
What HUMINT means in intelligence, with cases involving Penkovsky, Ames and Hanssen, and the debate over source reliability after Curveball and the Iraq war.
Intelligence
Vault 7: The CIA Leak Published by WikiLeaks
The 2017 Vault 7 CIA leak published by WikiLeaks, Joshua Schulte's trial, and the controversy over intelligence agencies' handling of software vulnerabilities.
Intelligence
The Snowden Case and NSA Mass Surveillance
The Snowden case and NSA mass surveillance, covering 2013 disclosures, PRISM, Section 215, his exile in Moscow and the legal consequences of the revelations.
Intelligence
Disinformation Warfare and Troll Factories: History and Cases
The history of disinformation warfare and troll factories, from Soviet dezinformatsiya to the Internet Research Agency, with examples of organised manipulation.
Intelligence
What Is OSINT or Open-Source Intelligence
What OSINT, or open-source intelligence, means, tracing its history from FBIS to Bellingcat through documented cases and the field's legal and ethical limits.
Intelligence
MICE: Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego in Espionage
How the MICE model describes money, ideology, compromise or coercion, and ego as motives in espionage, plus the limits of this framework for agent recruitment.
Intelligence
What Is Kompromat: Soviet Origins and Current Use
What kompromat means, how Soviet intelligence services institutionalised its use, and what documented cases reveal about its lasting role in political pressure.