How did Edith Cavell help a future general get home in 1915? achurchill.substack.com/p/article-wi...
Mark Stout
@markstout.bsky.social
Intelligence historian, former intelligence officer. Also live on the borderlands of military history. Former Historian at the International Spy Museum. University educator. I wish I were in Seattle. The cat is Boadicea.
A video circulating on social media shows a Russian drone hunting an unarmed civilian trading at a local market in Kherson's Central district around 6:45 a.m. Video: National Police / Telegram.
This may look like a child's drawing of warships, but in fact it is a SECRET 1955 CIA HUMINT report on Soviet naval vessels in the Baltic. PSL thread analysing a forgotten report to show value of Cold War HUMINT sources for analysis and intelligence.
Normally reaching out for external expertise would be unremarkable during a military campaign, but for an administration that is famously anti-expert and only values opinions that match its ideology, this is a massive sign that they are out of ideas.
Raw Story@rawstory.com · 2d agoAn officer in U.S. Central Command's intelligence branch sent an email last week to a broad group of military analysts with an unusual request.
Communities across Alaska are facing chronically low salmon runs, and Kenai is no exception. We have to restore our fisheries and bring abundance back to our homes.
CATO argues Bill Pulte could not legally serve after Jay Clayton was confirmed, so everything Pulte did in the last week (like firing a bunch of people) can be challenged. www.cato.org/blog/william...
William Pulte Served Illegally as Acting Director of National Intelligence for Nearly a Week
William Pulte purported to act as the director of national intelligence for nearly a week after Jay Clayton was confirmed as his successor. That violates the plain text of the Vacancies Act.
cato.org
Have you written or read an article (published since 2016) that you think belongs on the reading list of a political behavior seminar? If so, please share your recommendations!
Interesting tidbit from a declassified CIA document in the JFK records. A spy satellite manual sold to the Soviets allegedly alerted the them to the fact that a US imagery satellite they thought was non-operational was actually working fine. This caused them to take countermeasures against it.
This is morally monstrous behavior. These are ordinary, innocent people that Trump is condemning to suffering & death out of political vindictiveness. Every decent human being, regardless of political party, should condemn it. Where is the fucking *anger*? From the press? From civic leaders? Pols?
FEMA said yes to Democratic disaster requests. Trump killed them anyway.
President Donald Trump cast aside bipartisan precedent when he rejected eligible disaster requests from four blue states.
eenews.net
Major initial legal victory against James O'Keefe's undercover operative tactics out of the federal district court in Washington, D.C.! The playing field is being leveled and now shifting. Discovery has been ordered. More details to follow! www.gofundme.com/f/help-jamie...
Donate to Seek Accountability from James O'Keefe -frmr Project Veritas, organized by Mark Zaid
Remember the Maine! It was quite the catchphrase 127 years ago,… Mark Zaid needs your support for Seek Accountability from James O'Keefe -frmr Project Veritas
gofundme.com
Overnight, a masked bandit broke into our kitchen. Armed with opposable thumbs, he proceeded to sample everything on offer. I’d just visited the farmers market, so the menu was extensive. I can now share a highly specific peer-reviewed list of what this particular raider did & did not enjoy. 🧵
Raccoon's Evil Smile: 'Good, Good'
Alt: Raccoon's Evil Smile: 'Good, Good'
static.klipy.com
I know some people who worked at/with the IRS until last year. The universal message I have received is that it's worse than you think.
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · last wk."“You can’t get rid of 30 percent of your staff and expect to be functional,” says Traci DiMartini, the former IRS human capital officer who was one of the first high-ranking officials DOGE pushed out last year. “Things are starting to break.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I have not received a single FOIA since Trump got back in. It's locked down.
Freedom of the Press Foundation@freedom.press · last wk.The Pentagon wants to block FOIA access to all “controlled unclassified information.” If successful, hundreds of millions of documents could be hidden from journalists and the public — potentially forever. Read more in our secrecy newsletter, The Classifieds.
Trump’s State Department trying to export the revolution. While differing in their underlying ideology, these guys and Trotsky would have much in common to chat about.
Matthew Hay Brown@matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 2w agoUPDATE Brazil has denied visas to the two State Department officials Trump planned to send to undermine confidence in the country’s electoral system
Great piece. Makes West Point sound like a pretty toxic environment on the faculty side, too.
Dan Diamond@ddiamond.bsky.social · last wk.Love to see @hannahnatanson.bsky.social — who’s spent so much time in court after DOJ wrongly took her devices — back where she belongs: with a big front-page story. Terrific piece on a fight over loyalty and Trump’s orders unfolding at West Point.
Journal of Cold War History version available here: doi.org/10.1162/JCWS...
Scripting the Soviet “Spy of the Century”: The Unproduced Biopic on Kim Philby, 1975–1980
Abstract. From 1975 to 1980, the British scriptwriter Arthur Hopcraft worked on numerous drafts for a proposed film biopic of H. A. R. (Kim) Philby, the notorious UK Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) ...
doi.org
It's nearly 1am on a Friday night but pretty sure I just typed the last sentence of my entire book manuscript. A few more light edits on two chapters but the whole manuscript of Women's Votes, Doctors' Rights: The Making of the American Birth Control Movement now exists in some 85k words. 😳
Probably a good idea for Japan to get properly into the intelligence business.
Why Japan wants to create its first modern spy agency since World War II
President Donald Trump’s push for Japanese self-reliance aligns with the long-standing desire of conservatives in Tokyo to build intelligence capabilities.
washingtonpost.com
Don’t know who to credit for this. But it is how I feel.
What would all-out atomic war between the US and the USSR have looked at in the early days of the Cold War, just before the Korean War? For DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week I dive into the details of war plan OFFTACKLE (1950). doomsdaymachines.net/p/how-to-fig...
How to fight a nuclear war in 1950
OFFTACKLE, the first US war plan after the loss of the nuclear monopoly
doomsdaymachines.net
BREAKING: U.S. to Withdraw Subpoenas Issued to New York Times Journalists A federal judge raised questions about the government’s handling of the subpoenas, which The Times said were an attempt to intimidate the free press. (Yes, I can say, I am glad to hear this) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/b...
U.S. to Withdraw Subpoenas Issued to New York Times Journalists (Gift Article)
A federal judge raised questions about the government’s handling of the subpoenas, which The Times said were an attempt to intimidate the free press.
nytimes.com
A short version of the arguments in my The Cutting-Off Way are now out as an article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Military History, "Native American Warfare in Eastern North America." Includes new case studies not found in the book! doi.org/10.1093/9780...
Native American Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500–1800
Abstract. The limits of our sources on Native American warfare mandate a structural analysis that begins with the basics of Native American subsistence sys
doi.org
Meditation of the day: The causes of H. P. Lovecraft's racism
This story is indeed insane. They literally *discounted his correct answers* (on questions about the Constitution) so that a Trump supporting girl who wants to go to Hillsdale College could win $25K and be televised meeting Trump. So. Gross.
Charlotte Clymer@charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 2w agoThis story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
I have a 'History Department in UKHE' joke but it's been reduced from 250 characters to 50 and is now merged with jokes from across ten other largely-unrelated disciplines while still being expected to be Just As Funny.
I, a historian, now sit in the School of Science, Psychology, Arts and Humanities, Computing, Engineering and somehow also Sport with the snappy acronym 'SPACES'. I jest not. Even the jokes have now been taken on board by senior management.
Mark Williams@mrfw17thc.bsky.social · 5mo agoI have a 'History Department in UKHE' joke but it's been reduced from 250 characters to 50 and is now merged with jokes from across ten other largely-unrelated disciplines while still being expected to be Just As Funny.