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National Security Agency (NSA)

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Whistleblower Edward Snowden addresses an audience at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2019.

Ten Years Ago, Edward Snowden Blew the Whistle on the US’s Most Secretive Spy Agency

The government responded with ruthless persecution — just one egregious example in the NSA’s long, sordid history of fiercely guarding its secrecy.
by Chip Gibbons via Jacobin on June 9, 2023
Background photo shows secret deployment of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. On the right is a photo of Juanita Moody.

The Once-Classified Tale of Juanita Moody: The Woman Who Helped Avert a Nuclear War

America’s bold response to the Soviet Union depended on an unknown spy agency operative whose story can at last be told.
by David Wolman, Susan Seubert via Smithsonian on February 23, 2021
original

Mum’s the Word

In the height of the Cold War, the NSA created a series of posters to keep its secrets from leaking. They're both wonderful and creepy.
by Benjamin Breen on October 5, 2018
National Security Agency headquarters.

They Know Much More Than You Think

US intelligence agencies seem to have adopted Orwell’s idea of doublethink—“to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies.”
by James Bamford via New York Review of Books on August 15, 2013
Declassified and redacted White House top secret documents.

JFK Files: Revelations from the Covert Operations High Command

Special Group and PFIAB meeting minutes provide dramatic view of CIA operations.
by Peter Kornbluh, Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi via National Security Archive on April 7, 2025
Herbert O. Yardley and diplomatic codes from the Black Chamber.

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the Black Chamber

In 1931, Herbert O. Yardley published a tell-all book about his experiences leading a covert government agency called the Cipher Bureau.
by Peter Zablocki via Smithsonian on February 4, 2025
Sound waves.

Listening Devices

The veterans of Kagnew Station saw the early growth of the surveillance state. Has the passage of time given them a new understanding of their work?
by Ann Neumann via The Baffler on January 6, 2025
NY skyline including 33 Thomas Street, a skyscraper in the Tribeca neighborhood of Southern Manhattan, New York City.

Apocalypse-Proof

A windowless telecommunications hub, 33 Thomas Street in New York City embodies an architecture of surveillance and paranoia, an ideal set for conspiracy thrillers.
by Zach Mortice via Places Journal on September 12, 2023
Illustrated figure standing in front of a massive wall of classified documents.

The Cult of Secrecy

America’s classification crisis.
by Patrick Radden Keefe via Foreign Affairs on February 13, 2023
Ahsanullah "Bobby" Khan, wearing a t-shirt that says "Deportee."

Return To Little Pakistan: Bobby Khan v. The Police

An immigrant born to working-class activism stands up to an NYPD reborn in the CIA's image.
by Spencer Ackerman via Forever Wars on September 14, 2021

9/11 Forever

Far from a relic of the past, September 11 continues to normalize previously unimaginable forms of state-sanctioned barbarity.
by Joseph Margulies via Boston Review on September 7, 2021

The Intelligence Coup of the Century

For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
by Greg Miller via Washington Post on February 11, 2020
Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake
partner

Do Whistleblower Protections Work? Ask This One.

A case from almost a decade ago reveals the peril faced by whistleblowers seeking to expose wrongdoing.
by Kit R. Roane, Victor Couto via Retro Report on November 19, 2019

The Vice President’s Men

In the 1980s, vice-president George H.W. Bush was secretly the most important decision-maker in America's intelligence world.
by Seymour M. Hersh via London Review of Books on January 4, 2019

Credit Bureaus Were the NSA of the 19th Century

They were enormous, tech-savvy, and invasive in their methods—and they enlisted Abraham Lincoln into their ranks.
by Sarah Jeong via The Atlantic on April 21, 2016
Cardinals walking through the Vatican.
partner

Why Papal Conclaves Have Drawn the Attention of Spies

Intelligence agencies have long gathered information to help their governments get a sense of who the next pope might be.
by Yvonnick Denoël via Made By History on May 7, 2025
Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos shake hands after signing the Panama Canal Treaty in 1977

The Panama Canal Treaty Declassified

Kissinger warned: “This is no issue to face the world on. It looks like pure colonialism.”
by Peter Kornbluh via National Security Archive on February 3, 2025
Mugshots of Ethel Rosenberg in 1951.

President Biden Should Pardon Ethel Rosenberg

A newly released classified document shows that the National Security Agency knew Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy—and that the government executed her anyway.
by Phillip Deery via The Nation on January 2, 2025
Abacus, mathemeticians, and zeros and ones.

How Everything Became Data

The rise and rise and rise of data.
by Ben Tarnoff via The Nation on October 16, 2023
Frank Church.

The Senator Who Took On the CIA

Frank Church and the committee that investigated the US intelligence agencies.
by Adam Hochschild via The Nation on September 5, 2023
Person making call in telephone booth.

The Making of the Surveillance State

The public widely opposed wiretapping until the 1970s. What changed?
by Andrew Lanham via The New Republic on April 21, 2022
Artistic painting showing President Truman (depicted with glasses) in the foreground, and a sketch of President Biden in the background. The two figures are surrounded by America's colors and stars from the American flag.

What Joe Biden Can Learn From Harry Truman

His approval rating hit historic lows, his party was fractious, crises were everywhere. But Truman rescued his presidency, and his legacy.
by John Dickerson via The Atlantic on March 1, 2022
The picture is a photo collage of three men against the background of an atomic bomb explosion. Pictured from left to right is Ed Hall, Ted Hall, and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

One Brother Gave the Soviets the A-Bomb. The Other Got a Medal.

J. Edgar Hoover had both of them in his sights. Yet neither one was ever arrested. The untold story of how the Hall brothers beat the FBI.
by Dave Lindorff via The Nation on January 4, 2022

How the War on Terror Undermined American Democracy

Spencer Ackerman’s new book argues that the forever wars created the conditions for Trump’s rise.
by Patrick Iber via The New Republic on August 5, 2021

War Has Been the Governing Metaphor for Decades of American Life

But the COVID-19 pandemic exposes its weaknesses.
by Paul M. Renfro via TIME on April 15, 2020

The Strange Career of ‘National Security’

When the phrase became a national obsession, it turned everything from trade rules to dating apps into a potential threat.
by Dexter Fergie via The Atlantic on September 29, 2019

In America's Panopticon

Sarah Igo’s "The Known Citizen" examines the linked histories of privacy and surveillance in the United States.
by Katie Fitzpatrick via The Nation on December 6, 2018
Book cover for Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet

The Long View: Surveillance, the Internet, and Government Research

A new book says “the Internet was developed as a weapon and remains a weapon today.” Does the charge hold up?
by Eric Gade via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 28, 2018

A Brief History of Surveillance in America

With wiretapping in the headlines and smart speakers in millions of homes, a look back to the early days of eavesdropping.
by Brian Hochman, April White via Smithsonian on March 22, 2018

Biometric Hand Scans and Reinforced Concrete: The History of the Secret FISA Court

The roots of the influential institution at the center of the Trump-Russia investigation.
by Ian Shapira via Washington Post on February 9, 2018
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