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Michael Isikoff

@misikoff.bsky.social
1.6K followers 625 following 69 posts

Journalist, Author, Podcaster, Dog Walker

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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
"The Nord Stream Conspiray" is quite the doozy of a spy story. www.spytalk.co/p/revealed-a...
spytalk.co
Revealed: Amazing Tales from Inside the Nord Stream Sabotage Plot
Our interview with Bojan Pancevski, author of "The Nord Stream Conspiracy."
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Among the declassified nuggets in the IC docs released by the WH Thursday night (and which went entirely unmentioned by Trump): the Chinese hacked the Biden campaign in 2020 and the Russians-once again-sought to influence the election in his favor. www.spytalk.co/p/a-few-inte...
spytalk.co
A Few Intelligence Nuggets Emerge in Newly Released Documents
China stepped up espionage, hacked Biden campaign, but didn’t engage in 2020 election interference, despite Trump claims. (Russia did—again.)
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
No, independent. Hyperbole aside, expanding the number of justices creates a precedent for endless politicization of the Court-& if you think the SC has lost legitimacy, what will you say tomorrow when-after rebuffing Trump on Jean Carroll-the court in all likelihood rejects birthright citizenship?
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Expand the Court so when the Republicans retake control, as they inevitably will at some point, they expand it again? In due course, the Court will be larger than the Congress-- and will lose all legitimacy.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The new chief of staff at ODNI is a party-loving MAGA activist who, on her Instagram account, boasted of how she deployed Republican poll watchers "standing guard" at polling booths and vote counting stations across the country. The reaction inside ODNI: "OMG!" www.spytalk.co/p/party-time...
spytalk.co
Party Time at the ODNI?
Christina Norton’s social media photos, now made private, show the new far-right ODNI chief of staff partying around DC and boasting about her GOP “election integrity” work
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Wielding a “sledgehammer,” acting DNI Pulte decimates the ranks of the non-partisan National Intelligence council, firing senior national intelligence officers for Russia-Ukraine, China, Europe and WMD. www.spytalk.co/p/pulte-dism...
spytalk.co
Pulte Dismisses Top ODNI Experts on World’s Hot Spots
Purge Includes Many Senior Staff at the National Intelligence Council
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Reposted by Michael Isikoff
MSW Media @mswmedia.com · 10/04/2026
Former CENTCOM commander Gen. Joseph Votel tells @spytalkpodcast.bsky.social that military leaders should refuse a Trump order to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages." @spytalker.bsky.social @misikoff.bsky.social #KarenGreenberg #MSWMedia Listen & Follow: redcircle.com/shows/d7fabf...
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Striking comments from the former chief of Centcom on Trump's threats to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age. www.spytalk.co/p/former-cen...
spytalk.co
Former CENTCOM Commander Advises Military Commanders to Refuse “Illegal” Orders
Retired Gen. Joseph Votel calls Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization “shocking”
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Revealing conversation with ex-CIA Iran operative Reuel Marc Gerecht on @spytalker.bsky.social pod. Though a longtime advocate of regime change, he sees no end in sight. "What you're now looking at is a perpetual war," he says.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Slippery Slope Dept.: How an Obama-era drone memo gave legal cover for Trump to attack Iran. www.spytalk.co/p/an-imminen...
spytalk.co
An 'Imminent' Iranian Threat? Really?
How an Orwellian Obama-era memo set a precedent for Trump’s Iran attack
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Tulsi Gabbard’s “major league head fake” @spytalkpodcast.bsky.social
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
DNI Gabbard claimed she attended the FBI seizure of Fulton County ballots bec she oversees matters involving "foreign intelligence threats" to U.S. elections. Today, the affidavits supporting the FBI search were unsealed- and there is not a word about foreign meddling. www.spytalk.co/p/gabbards-c...
spytalk.co
Gabbard’s Claim of “Foreign” Interference in Georgia Election Takes a Hit
Unsealed FBI affidavits make no mention of DNI’s claim rationalizing her involvement in Georgia election probe
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Supreme irony alert: On eve of US invasion of Iraq, Putin warned Bush about dangers of "regime change" and violating UN charter. "We should not substitute the rule of force for international law," he told Bush, per newly declassified transcript of 3/18/03 phone call. www.spytalk.co/p/time-machi...
spytalk.co
Time Machine: When Putin Warned Bush About Dangers of Regime Change
Irony abounds in newly unearthed telephone call on eve of US invasion of Iraq that records Putin warning Bush about violating UN charter and “international law.”
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
The White House mystery that nobody's talking about. Beneath the East Wing that Trump ordered destroyed was the PEOC, the bomb proof underground bunker to shelter POTUS & other senior officials in case of enemy attack. What's become of it? www.spytalk.co/p/new-clues-...
spytalk.co
New Clues Emerge on White House Bunker Mystery
DOJ lawyers cite “substantial security” issues relating to the destruction of the East Wing
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
When asked about FBI testimony calling Antifa the "most immediate violent threat we're facing," a former senior bureau official who worked counter-terrorism was flabbergasted. "Are you f--ing kidding me, that's absurd," the ex-official said. www.spytalk.co/p/reinventin...
spytalk.co
Reinventing the Antifa Terror Threat
Experts shake their heads at FBI official’s testimony
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
As U.S. officials learned to their dismay in Iraq, "it’s one thing to get rid of a nasty dictator. It’s quite another to plan for what comes next— the proverbial day after." www.spytalk.co/p/a-2019-us-...
spytalk.co
A 2019 US War Game on Venezuela Forecast Chaos After Maduro’s Downfall
Drug cartels, anti-US rebels would fill leadership void, Pentagon study predicted
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Inside the bureau, there is “across the board outrage” over Patel’s use of FBI aircraft for fun and pleasure, said O’Leary. “At the end of the day, it’s theft of government resources. I mean, people have been thrown out of the bureau for this.” www.spytalk.co/p/kash-patel...
spytalk.co
Kash Patel Wouldn't Be the First FBI Boss to Go Down By Turning His Official Plane Into a Private Jet
Investigative reporter Ron Kessler recounts how another FBI boss's term was short circuited by his personal use of the bureau's executive jet.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Today's Washington Post editorial vigorously defending the destruction of the East Wing to build a new ballroom somehow failed to mention this
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
The movies don't get any scarier than this. www.spytalk.co/p/stage-frig...
spytalk.co
Stage Fright in the Sit Room
A House of Dynamite exposes many weaknesses in US nuclear defenses—including psychological pressures that could cause defense professionals to crack up.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
"The case itself has become a legal fiasco, spanning generations-a real life modern day version of Dickens’ Jarndyce v Jarndyce in Bleak House:Judges come and go, prosecutors and defense lawyers rotate in and out, the families of the 9/11 victims grow old and die." www.spytalk.co/p/revealed-h...
spytalk.co
Revealed: How the FBI Helped Foul Guantánamo 9/11 Cases
New book details how FBI agents fed questions to CIA interrogators from outside black site torture chambers, nullifying later ‘clean’ statements
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Just to be clear, there is a video of Tom Homan taking $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking ICE contracts, per this bombshell report by @carolleonnig.bsky.social and @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...
msnbc.com
Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump's DOJ shut it down.
The FBI and Justice officials closed the investigation, which a Justice Department appointee had called a “deep state” probe in early 2025.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Nearly 40 years later, an Iran-contra couple reunites in a "secret" ceremony in Virginia. www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-...
spytalk.co
Exclusive: An Iran-Contra Romance
Oliver North and Fawn Hall are wed in a “secret” ceremony in rural Virginia
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
With another 9/11 anniversary next week, this was quite the development on the legal front. www.spytalk.co/p/case-of-sa...
spytalk.co
Case of Saudi Ties to 9/11 Hijackers Gets New Life
Court ruling opens door to more discovery in 9/11 family suits against kingdom
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
"I don't like using 702 as a negotiating tool, but in the minority, it's kind of one of the cards I have to play," @jahimes.bsky.social tells the @spytalker.bsky.social podcast. www.spytalk.co/p/top-house-...
spytalk.co
Top House Intel Democrat Sends Gabbard a Warning
Rep. Jim Himes gets DNI’s attention with reminder she’ll need his help to renew controversial surveillance bill
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
www.spytalk.co/p/a-seat-in-...
spytalk.co
A Seat in a Spy Swap Drama
Michael Isikoff recalls his small part in a big U.S.-Cuba Cold War drama told in a new podcast series, "I Spy: The U,S,, Cuba and the Secret Deal that Ended the Cold War."
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
"It was an astonishing, even bone-chilling cliam, one that certainly deserved such prominent placement and implicit endorsement by The Post- had it been true. But it was entirely false." www.spytalk.co/p/the-washin...
spytalk.co
The Washington Post Runs Two Corrections on its CIA-JFK Story—And Still Doesn't Get it Right
The capital’s paper of record only partially claws back a conspiracy monger’s baseless allegations of CIA "involvement" in the murder of President Kennedy.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
"I wonder why she's still there," Gregory Treverton, ex-chair of NIC, says about DNI Tulsi Gabbard. "She's plainly not part of the team & not trusted." Note: Story updated to reflect Senate intel chair Cotton's proposal to slash ODNI, exactly as Treverton suggested. www.spytalk.co/p/tulsi-gabb...
spytalk.co
Tulsi Gabbard, Missing in Action
In a SpyTalk interview Gregory Treverton, former chair of the National Intelligence Council, questions why the DNI still has her job–and whether her office should be substantially reduced in size.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
It turns out there was a whole other side to the host of Firing Line. www.spytalk.co/p/william-f-...
spytalk.co
William F. Buckley, Jr., CIA Spy
A new biography of the National Review founder explores his early role as an undercover CIA operative who later helped his one time agency boss Howard Hunt cover up Watergate
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Read all about it: Trump's former CIA Director Mike Pompeo sends me a "top secret" memo, strictly off the record, of course. www.spytalk.co/p/former-tru...
spytalk.co
Former Trump CIA Director’s ‘Top Secret’ Memo—for Campaign Cash
Mike Pompeo’s pitch is just a glaring case of ex-intel officials getting involved in politics
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Fascinating talk w/ @jahimes.bsky.social on the "flying white elephant" gift from Qatar, the distortions of intel by Gabbard and why her firing of the 2 top intel officials so chilling, reviving the ghost of the Iraqi WMD fiasco. @spytalker.bsky.social www.spytalk.co/p/top-house-...
spytalk.co
Top House Intel Dem predicts Qatari plane gift to Trump is “not gonna fly”
Rep. James Himes tells SpyTalk that the cost of de-bugging the 747 alone will be enough to stop the transfer.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Last week, DNI Tulsi Gabbard went on the Megyn Kelly show and gave an account what a crucial "top secret" intel memo said about ties been the Maduro regime and Tren de Aragua. Then, the memo was declassified and released. www.spytalk.co/p/gabbard-an...
spytalk.co
Gabbard & Trump Lies on Venezuela Gang Exposed by Top Intelligence Report
A declassified National Intelligence Council memo shows the DNI falsely linked ties between the Venezuelan government and Tren de Aragua in her Megyn Kelly interview
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Check out my new pod w/ @SpyTalker in which we dissect DNI Tulsi Gabbard's interview w/megynkelly and reveal how (11:30 in) she leaks selective details from what she describes as a "top secret classified" intel doc. youtube.com/watch?v=fJR_...
youtube.com
Tulsi & The Deep State "Rot"
YouTube video by MSW Media
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
On 1/20, Trump took the oath to "preserve, protect & defend" the Constitution. Today, this exchange: “But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Welker asked. “I don’t know,” Trump replied.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
"The prospect of new war crimes charges against Putin could, to say the least, complicate the peace talks that President Trump, and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, are seeking to bring to fruition." www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-...
spytalk.co
EXCLUSIVE: World Court Weighs New War Crimes Charges Against Putin Over Child Abductions
The ICC is reviewing a State Department funded report—based in part on satellite imagery from U.S. intelligence—documenting the mass abduction of Ukrainian children
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-...
spytalk.co
EXCLUSIVE: World Court Weighs New War Crimes Charges Against Putin Over Child Abductions
The ICC is reviewing a State Department funded report—based in part on satellite imagery from U.S. intelligence—documenting the mass abduction of Ukrainian children
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
A Spy For All Reasons www.spytalk.co/p/a-spy-for-...
spytalk.co
A Spy for All Reasons
The CIA’s Frank Wisner was a master of the dark arts—until he became a burnt out case, an intriguing new biography shows
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok82...
youtube.com
"Laura Loomer is the new Rasputin"
YouTube video by Jeff Stein's SpyTalk
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Laura Loomer is the new Rasputin in the court of Donald Trump www.spytalk.co/p/laura-loom...
spytalk.co
"Laura Loomer is the new Rasputin"
Jeff Stein and Mike Isikoff tackle the intelligence news of the day in our inaugural Spy Week in Review video podcast.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
From the Kremlin to Capitol Hill: How JFK conspiracy theories have come full circle. www.spytalk.co/p/anna-lunas...
spytalk.co
Anna Luna's JFK Conspiracy Circus
The Florida MAGA Congresswoman hosted a hearing of conspiracy zealots that was out of this world.
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Reposted by Michael Isikoff
MSW Media @mswmedia.com · 04/04/2025
#SpyTalk #MSWMedia @spytalker.bsky.social @misikoff.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjA3...
youtube.com
"There's not a day I do not think about those Americans" who died in Iraq | SpyTalk
YouTube video by MSW Media
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
A useful reminder not to die on the weekend
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
"I guarantee you, this is the tip of the iceberg," veteran CIA officer Luis Rueda tells me on the @spytalker.bsky.social podcast about the use of Signal to conduct government business, including classified matters, on cell phones vulnerable to commercial spyware. www.spytalk.co/p/cia-ops-ve...
spytalk.co
CIA Ops Veteran Calls Signal Scandal “the tip of the iceberg”
Luis Rueda says the astonishing security lapse may be much greater than anybody realizes
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
www.spytalk.co/p/we-had-fou...
spytalk.co
'We had found the smoking gun'
Alexander Vindman, star player in Trump’s first impeachment, tells SpyTalk how he found politically explosive evidence in Ukraine and Washington
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
This is hilarious, but alas, not a joke. www.spytalk.co/p/inside-the...
spytalk.co
Inside the US War Plans to Invade Canada
A military blueprint to attack Canada has been on the books for almost a century now. Former Washington Post feature writer Peter Carlson recounts how he came across it 20 years ago.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Another unsolved DC crime. www.spytalk.co/p/unsolved-m...
spytalk.co
Unsolved Mystery: The Bombing of Cuba’s Embassy in Washington, DC
Despite video and other evidence, Secret Service investigators have yet to solve the case amid worries of Trump launching covert action against Cuba
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
"It seems like a pretty bizarre pick," says one US intel official about Tulsi Gabbard's selection of controversial podcaster Daniel Davis to be deputy DNI in charge of PDBs for the Oval Offfice. www.spytalk.co/p/conspiracy...
spytalk.co
Conspiracy Theorist in Line to be Top Gabbard Deputy at ODNI
Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis would have control over President’s Daily Brief
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
A sobering take from the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO in a @spytalker.bsky.social interview www.spytalk.co/p/trump-revi...
spytalk.co
Trump Revives the Ghost of Munich Past
In a SpyTalk interview, former US envoy to NATO Lt. Gen. Doug Lute decries JD Vance insults of allies, Trump's Ukraine sellout, warns of more Putin threats
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
The Thursday afternoon massacre www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/n...
nytimes.com
Danielle Sassoon and Other Officials Resign After Order to Drop Eric Adams Case
The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials with the federal public integrity unit all quit after the Justice Department ordered the charges against Mayor Eric Ad...
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
www.spytalk.co/p/top-former...
spytalk.co
Top Former FBI Agent Calls Out DoJ Enforcer Bove’s “Betrayal”
Counterterrorism unit boss Chris O’Leary describes how Emil Bove—who demanded list of agents who worked Jan. 6 cases—helped oversee those cases himself.
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Michael Isikoff @misikoff.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
In fascinating interview with @spytalker.bsky.social @rondeibert.bsky.social tells how his @citizenlab.ca investigators connected the dots between high tech spyware and political repression around the globe, resulting in a spate of "Watergate-like" scandals. www.spytalk.co/p/tracking-t...
spytalk.co
Tracking the Insidious Creep of Spyware
An interview with The Citizens Lab’s Ronald Deibert on 'Chasing Shadows,' his penetrating account of spyware scandals rocking governments around the world
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