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David Priess

@davidpriess.bsky.social
26K followers 214 following 807 posts

Intelligence, geopolitics, and strategy | Vice President of Strategy, Emergent Risk International | Senior Fellow, Hayden Center | Former CIA & State Department | Duke poli sci PhD | Author, The President’s Book of Secrets

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Reposted by David Priess
Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A big day for Finland and for Finnish-Swedish defence cooperation: ”The Gulf of Finland is now guarded by Swedes”
yle.fi
Suomenlahtea vartioi nyt Ruotsin sotalaiva täydessä aselastissa
Suomi pyysi Ruotsia tukemaan alueidensa valvontaa. Yle pääsi seuraamaan ruotsalaisten tehtävää Suomenlahdella.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Next up Super insemination Super sweetener Super respiration Super turf
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I had a blast last week when I finally made it to one of the few presidential museums I’d previously missed—the Truman Museum in Independence! Great facility with great artifacts. Zoom in to see the goods:
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Hayden Center @haydencenter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Few journalists have spent as much time examining the CIA and US Intelligence Community as David Ignatius. Few novelists have brought that world to life with as much realism. AN EVENING WITH DAVID IGNATIUS Oct 6. 7 pm E. Arlington VA or Livestream. REGISTER: tinyurl.com/3cajzx8x
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Brad Thor @bradthor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If you haven’t read CHOKE POINT yet — or it’s been a while since you’ve spent time with Scot Harvath — for a limited time, the CHOKE POINT eBook is just $2.99 Townhall called it “immensely entertaining and uncomfortably plausible.” Don’t miss out! bradthor.com/book/choke-p...
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👻Skulliam🎃Boo-tler🍂Yikes🕷️ @yeets.biz · 19/09/2026
i need to know what happened
sign in a restaurant "due to recent events Bigfoot discussions are no longer permitted on the patio"
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“Russian occupying forces do not provide any food to residents, including the elderly and children…. Russian soldiers are suffering from the lack of food and rob the scarce supplies of Ukrainians, threatening to kill those who refuse to give them food.” www.kyivpost.com/opinion/84635
kyivpost.com
Oleshky Starving: The Human Cost of Territorial Concessions
Anyone who has been paying attention knows what horrors come with Russian occupation. So giving territory to Russia is inviting more death and degradation.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The Tarantula Nebula and Super Star Cluster R136 - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/dpE3zM
The Tarantula Nebula, named for its appearance that somewhat resembles a giant spider in the sky, is the largest known emission nebula in the Local Group of galaxies. It is about 1000 light years wide and would appear incredibly bright if it were located in the place of the Orion Nebula. It is however located 160,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the largest of the dwarf galaxies that accompany our Milky Way.

In the very centre of the nebula lies R136, a super star cluster which is a very large region of star formation thought to be the precursor of a globular cluster. It is a very young cluster at only 1-2 million years and consists of giant and supergiant stars of which the majority are spectral type O3. The cluster also contains several Wolf-Rayet stars.

Speculation long sorrounded the nature of the central component of the cluster, named separately as R136a, and it was once thought to be a single hypergiant star of an incredible 1500 solar masses. R136a's true nature was recently resolved by holographic speckle interferometry and found to be a dense star cluster containing very massive and luminous stars. Three extremely luminous stars (R136a1, R136a2 and R136a3) dominate this cluster and are separated by only 0.10 and 0.48 arc seconds. R136a1 is the most massive star found to date with 265 solar masses, as well as being the most luminous at 10 million times the brightness of the Sun.

The entire R136 super cluster produces most of the energy that m...
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
With today’s declassification/release of 9/11-related CIA analysis: Check out the full history of the President’s Daily Brief — including the famous PDB article from Aug 6 2001 and post-9/11 PDB changes — in my deep dive on presidential intelligence: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david...
hachettebookgroup.com
The President’s Book of Secrets
Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others ...
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Hayden Center @haydencenter.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The Hayden Center commemorates the 25th anniversary of 9/11, looking back and gauging today's threat. Are we still organized to defeat that threat? Sep 17, 7p E, in Arlington VA or livestream. REGISTER: bit.ly/4r324Zm
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The Barents Observer @thebarentsobserver.com · 02/09/2026
A Russian passenger vessel operating between Murmansk and the Russian settlement of Barentsburg on Norway's Svalbard archipelago has been seized by Norwegian authorities
thebarentsobserver.com
Norway seizes Russia's Svalbard liner
The Governor of Svalbard confirms that the Professor Molchanov, the Russian passenger vessel operating a second season of voyages between Murmansk and the Russian settlement on the Norwegian Arctic ar...
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Moon over northeast Greenland - From Goddard Space Flight Center - flic.kr/p/mwf989
In March 2014, a team of scientists returned to the Arctic with NASA’s P-3 aircraft to continue Operation IceBridge, a multi-year aerial survey of polar ice. IceBridge is designed to maintain the continuity of measurements between NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which stopped functioning in 2009, and its successor, ICESat-2, which is scheduled for launch in 2017.

The first science flight of this year’s campaign occurred on March 12, with the P-3 taking off from Thule Air Base in Greenland to survey sea ice over the Fram Strait. The belly of the plane was packed with radars, altimeters, gravimeters, and an array of sensors designed to yield a three-dimensional view of the ice. Scientists on the plane also had less exotic sensors with them: cameras. Michael Studinger, the IceBridge project scientist, captured this photograph of the Moon and the glow of morning sunlight on snow-covered peaks in northeastern Greenland.

Photograph by Michael Studinger. Caption by Adam Voiland, with information from George Hale.

Credit:  NASA Earth Observatory

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Solid data-led post on what’s causing the data center backlash, featuring this smart view: “I follow a general rule that anything narratively satisfying is suspicious, and also that everyone’s thinking is less well-structured and coherent than we like to imagine.” blog.andymasley.com/p/i-think-th...
blog.andymasley.com
I think the data center backlash is mostly about data centers
It’s probably not your ideological thing, or mine. It’s about object-level claims about how data centers impact the communities where they’re built, many of which are wrong.
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Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 25/08/2026
Happy Independence Day Ukraine! Suck it Russia
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
And “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is at $2.2 BILLION worldwide and still going — on its way to the top three grossing films of all time. What a great year for big-screen blockbusters.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Stillness and Motion - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2oetyeS
Arches National Park, Utah
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Shaun Pinner @shaunpinner.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
❗️ Kryvyi Rih. The largest shopping centre in the city has been reduced to rubble. 16 people were killed and 130 injured, including 23 children, in Russia’s attack on 21 August. Dozens of the wounded remain in hospital. This wasn’t a military target, it was a shopping centre. 🇺🇦
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Two DC-area speaking engagements this week: 1. At the George Washington Presidential Library: findings from my fellowship on President Washington’s use of intelligence. 2. A Emergent Risk International workshop with DC-area intel/risk professionals: trust, defensibility, and AI-augmented intel.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
“The lack of a sense of history is the damnation of the modern world.” — Robert Penn Warren (I can’t confirm independently that he said it, but it’s too good to pass up.)
static.klipy.com
Wise Man Points at Camera
ALT: Wise Man Points at Camera
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
It’s after 8 PM and … (checks thermometer) 94 degrees. Ugh.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Fine Details of the Vela Supernova Remnant - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/2mQAAbZ
www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/.../i-W4k2cQ4/A

This image shows a deep high resolution view of the delicate glowing filaments in the Vela Supernova Remnant located in the southern constellation Vela (the Sails).
The area photographed is a mosaic of two fields, but still covering only a very small portion of the large nebula; 61 x 42 arc-minutes or roughly two-thirds of a square degree.
The bright colours are due to emission from ionised hydrogen and oxygen atoms, energised by the light from nearby stars. Orange-red nebulosity corresponds to H-Alpha emission, and the blue areas are OIII. 
The Vela Supernova Remnant is one of the closest such nebulae known, lying at a distance of approximately 800 light years. It originated from a Type II supernova explosion that occurred between 11,000 and 12,300 years ago. The explosion left behind the Vela Pulsar (outside this field of view) which spins once every 89.33 milliseconds. The glowing gas remnants from the supernova explosion is estimated to be travelling outwards at 1,200 km/s.

Image details: 
Date: March to May 2021
Exposure (Field A): H-Alpha 480 mins, OIII 480 mins
Exposure (Field B): H-Alpha 510 mins, OIII 510 mins
Total 33 hours @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha/OIII
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Fourteen years ago today—the derecho that hammered DC and its neighbors
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Seismographs worldwide going nuts from every single person in Paraguay jumping up and down at the same time
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I’ve loved this description of history since I first came across it years ago— “History is a series of strands, increasing from beginnings as thin as fine hairs to form stout cords, inextricably interwoven so that beginnings and ends are concealed.” — Ernst Badian
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Alex Finley @alexzfinley.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Here's an interesting #YachtWatch: the yacht GRACEFUL, rumored to be one of Putin's personal yachts, is on the move! And it is accompanied by a Russian navy ship. Currently just north of Denmark and heading into the North Sea. 1/
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Saturn's Six-Sided Crown - From Ian Regan - flic.kr/p/fhVTxD
As specified on the official NASA raw images page, this composite view was taken on July 24, 2013 and received on Earth July 24, 2013. The camera was pointing toward SATURN at approximately 555,458 miles (893,923 kilometers) away, and the two-frame mosaic was taken using the CB2, BLUE, GREEN, and VIOLET filters per footprint.
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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
NGC 2835 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2ik3Q5b
A pretty spiral with lots of star formation going on. The blue areas show where near-ultraviolet light is more strongly emitted, indicating recent or ongoing star formation.

Data from the following proposal were used to create this image: 
PHANGS-HST: Linking Stars and Gas throughout the Scales of Star Formation

Red: WFC3/UVIS F814W
Green: WFC3/UVIS F555W
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F438W+F336W+F275W

North is 4.50° clockwise from up.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I had a blast as a guest on the @tabletopgenesis.bsky.social podcast talking for hours about one of my favorite albums—the exceptional Spectral Mornings, by the exceptional @stevehacketthq.bsky.social—with my friends @zorknapp.bsky.social and @tomroche.bsky.social: open.spotify.com/episode/6rIl...
open.spotify.com
Tabletop Genesis Episode 84 – “Spectral Mornings” with Steve Hackett
Tabletop Genesis · Episode
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
It was my pleasure to be one of many @engelsbergideas.bsky.social authors to contribute to the Summer Reading special. My focus was on … classic science fiction (!) engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-sum...
engelsbergideas.com
A summer of reading
Contributors to Engelsberg Ideas share the books they’ve enjoyed in the summers of their lives.
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Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 14/06/2026
Sunday fact: Russia has sustained at least 1.4 million casualties in the war with Ukraine. In fact, that’s 50 percent more than the US in all of WW2 on two fronts liberating and occupying the world. Russia now controls less land than they had one month into the invasion. Slava Ukrainii!
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Erin Sikorsky @erinsikorsky.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
My latest for @justsecurity.org - the security implications of shutting down ocean observations (hint: not good).
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
What’s better than sitting down with a new book by @bradthor.bsky.social? Sitting down to hear Brad talk about a new book! Make it to an event with him this month, listed below—you won’t regret it.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Quote with a fictional band that is not Spinal Tap
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Hans Tino Hansen @hanstino.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
🇩🇰Danish PULS and 🇵🇱Polish HIMARS engaged in live firing exercises from Raghammer shooting grounds on the island of Bornholm, where Danish and Polish forces have trained deployment and defence of the island during this week (Forsvaret FB) #strongertogether
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Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
💥🇷🇺 On May 4, Hungary quietly expelled Artur Sushkov, an SVR intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover at the Russian Embassy in Budapest who infiltrated right-wing pro-Orbán think-tanks, VSquare.org has learned from multiple governmentt sources.
vsquare.org
The Think-Tank Spy: Russian Diplomat Infiltrating Orbán's Right-Wing Elite Quietly Expelled - VSquare.org
A Russian spy who spent years infiltrating think-tanks and academic institutions close to the Orbán government was sent home from Budapest — but only after Viktor Orbán's electoral defeat removed the political obstacle that had shielded the operative for months.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Why I love declassified government docs, reason #51
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Eric Adamson @eadamson91.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Integrated Nordic Air power at work: Swedish and Finnish conscripts trained together, learning to service both 🇸🇪Gripens and 🇫🇮 F18s. This allows Nordic Air Forces to land at each other’s air bases and recieve service without their own personell on site.
svt.se
Här övar svenska och finska flygvapnet i Kalmar
Flygplatsen i Kalmar var under onsdagen platsen för ett svensk-finskt samarbete när ett Jas 39 Gripen från Blekinge flygflottilj och en F/A-18 Hornet från Karelens flygflottilj landade för en gemensam...
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Eric Adamson @eadamson91.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Sweden is now a space power 🚀 Today at 09:00 CET, Sweden launched its first military satellite, making the Armed Forces operational in the space domain. The military space program is ahead of schedule, with dozens of additional satellite launches planned in the coming years.
forsvarsmakten.se
Försvarsmaktens första operativa satellit mot omloppsbana
Klockan 09.00 svensk tid sändes Försvarsmaktens första militära spanings- och övervakningssatellit upp i rymden. Satelliten innebär att det svenska försvaret nu är operativa i rymddomänen och får en e...
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Ship traffic is growing in the High Arctic, but very unevenly Within its Arctic boundary, the distance sailed by ships increased from 6.1 million nautical miles (nm) per year in 2013 to 12.1 million nm in 2022, equivalent to 8.7% average annual growth. www.thebarentsobserver.com/partner-cont...
thebarentsobserver.com
Ship traffic is growing in the High Arctic, but very unevenly
Ship traffic in the High Arctic grew between 2013 and 2022. There are huge differences between different Arctic seas in terms of total activity, growth rates, seasonal variation and types of vessels.
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Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 01/05/2026
If Ukraine ceases firing, Ukraine ceases to exist. IF Russia ceases, the war ceases
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Hayden Center @haydencenter.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
What happens in the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t stay there. Oil. Markets. National security. Join us May 5 for Energy & the Real Cost of War with Iran—a deep dive into the economic and energy stakes behind the headlines. 📍 Arlington, VA | 🎥 Livestream Register: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20997...
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Eric Adamson @eadamson91.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
“Ukraine’s participation in AURORA 26 will strengthen Sweden, our allies and the Joint Expeditionary Force,” stated Rear Admiral Wikström. “Their knowledge and skill will amplify our capabilities in drone warfare, help accelerate defensive tactics and enhance European security.”
united24media.com
Ukrainian Specialists Bring Drone Warfare Expertise to Swedish Aurora 26 Drills
Ukrainian drone operators will participate in live exercises and seminars during Aurora 26 in Sweden to enhance European security and defensive tactics.
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Lindsay M. Chervinsky @lmchervinsky.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Last night, I had the incredible privilege to interview @ronajohnson.bsky.social about his book, Entangled Alliances. It was the type of conversation that reminded me why I do this work and why it matters, and gifted me so much joy. If you have an audience, put Dr. Johnson in front of it.
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Join us next week in Arlington, VA!
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 22/04/2026
A massive ocean hot spot is stretching across a 5,000-mile swath of the Pacific. It has the attention of climate scientists, who say it could boost temperatures, humidity and the threat for tropical storms in the West during the months ahead.
washingtonpost.com
What a 5,000-mile long marine heat wave means for summer in the U.S.
It could boost temperatures, humidity and the threat for tropical storms in the West through summer.
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Hayden Center @haydencenter.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
It's tomorrow!!! There's still time to register. Join us!
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
My new favorite word: WORKSLOP www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Bosses say AI boosts productivity – workers say they’re drowning in ‘workslop’
Workslop refers to AI-generated work that seems polished but is flawed and in need of heavy corrections
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David Priess @davidpriess.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
BAFO = FAFO ?
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Hayden Center @haydencenter.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
📅 April 15 | 7 PM EDT 📍 Arlington, VA + Livestream Join us: The Quiet War: Invisible Attacks Bring your questions. Watch live or in person. REGISTER FREE: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20989... #HavanaSyndrome #NationalSecurity #Intelligence #AHI
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