[COPY] Why do we say SpyTalk is “Intelligence for Thinking People”?
Let us count the ways...
Because our tens of thousands of readers come to us for specialized reporting, analysis and insights about the U.S. intelligence community that’s tailored to already pretty well informed consumers of world news and politics—who want more, and better.
As we like to say: “SpyTalk sits at the intersection of U.S. intelligence, foreign policy, and military operations.”
We think that makes us pretty unique.
But don’t just take our word. See what other esteemed intelligence insiders and journalists have to say about us.
Ilana Berry, former CIA case officer, lawyer and now acclaimed first-time novelist— has done a lot in her handful of decades on this Earth. And she’s a longtime SpyTalk fan.
“SpyTalk is my news wellspring for all things espionage,” she says. “Deep, thoughtful, balanced coverage, plus interesting angles and insider perspectives you rarely find in mainstream media.”
“It's singular,” she raves on. “There's literally no other news source I know of that's so focused on intelligence-related news."
Last summer Berry’s debut novel, The Peacock and the Sparrow, arrived to enthusiastic notices. But that was just the start. In short order it would be named a best book of the year by both The New Yorker and NPR, and nominated for an Edgar Award (the highest honor in the mystery book world, named after that Raven guy) in the category of Best First Novel.
Now comes Ray Bonner, the acclaimed foreign correspondent and investigative reporter for The New York Times, staff writer at The New Yorker and contributor to The New York Review of Books.
“I'm a subscriber, supporter, and huge fan of SpyTalk,” he says. “I look forward to it landing in my Inbox every day.”
“Jeff Stein's intelligence sources have sources,” Bonner jokes. “His SpyTalk is the New York Times for intelligence reporting—and intelligent readers. And it's fun to read.”
Now the incomparable Valerie Plame.
“SpyTalk is entertaining, informative, and always well-sourced,” says former CIA officer Valerie Plame. “I'm a fan and relieved to have a reliable and thoughtful resource for all things espionage and intelligence related.”
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“I turn to Spytalk for deep insights into today's events from experts in the know,” says former CIA analyst Diana Bolsinger, head of graduate intelligence studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. “I enjoy Spytalk's range of topics and the way Spytalk authors draw on history and personal experience to put developments into context. Add in the occasional flash of humor, and it's a great way to start my day.”
“Congrats on what you've built SpyTalk into—a news source that breaks news, gets big guests, and is smartly deployed (I especially enjoy listening to the podcasts!),” says Mark Greenblatt, the award-winning investigative journalist for Scripps News who is now executive editor of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Really smart stuff.”
More from paid subscribers:
”Stand up, old school and damn good writing during dangerous times."
"You are what you are: credible."
"I supported your work, because it is intelligent and balanced. I am a counterterrorism specialist, and have other experience.”
”I enjoyed a career in Space Ops and ISR. Your articles and content are both fresh, and often familiar."
”Great quality content”
”I am ex-CIA, retired military intelligence, and find it very interesting.”
"You provide a viewpoint and educate us on topics that would never really rise to the surface of regular media."
“Because there are a few good spy, reporting blogs."
"You are so important encountering Russian disinformation.”
“Jeff, love your vision for this. Wanted to give you my support with a paid subscription.”
Now, how about you?
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Hi there, I’m Jeff Stein, the founding editor of SpyTalk here on Substack.
You may remember me as the Spytalk columnist for years at Newsweek, and before that, at The Washington Post and before that, Congressional Quarterly (where I was also the founding editor of the groundbreaking CQ/Homeland Security). In the 1980s, I was deputy foreign news editor at UPI. Over the years I’ve also authored three books and freelanced investigative pieces for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, from the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe to GQ, Esquire, Playboy and Rolling Stone to The New Republic, Huffington Post, Salon.com and Foreign Policy.
I got started down this path by serving as a case officer with US Army intelligence in Vietnam. I was happy to get home.
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I’m blessed here by a team of veteran journalists and experts who offer original reporting, scoops and analysis on national security topics, with an emphasis on U.S. intelligence operations, both foreign and domestic. Among them:
*Henry Allen, a former U.S. Marine in South Vietnam and longtime feature writer at The Washington Post, who won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2000.
*Jonathan Broder, a former CQ foreign news editor, Newsweek writer and foreign correspondent for the A.P. and Chicago Tribune in the Middle East
*Matthew Brazil, a former US government officer in Beijing and co-author of the authoritative, Chinese Communist Espionage, An Intelligence Primer.
*John Dinges, a former NPR News managing editor, Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism Emeritus at Columbia University, and author of The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terror to Three Continents.
*Peter Eisner, a prolific investigative author and former deputy foreign editor at The Washington Post. Today he’s also co-host of the influential podcast, Unconventional Threat.
*James Grady, author of Six Days of the Condor (shortened to three days for the 1975 Watergate-zeitgeist movie) and several other novels including his latest, Smoke In Our Eyes.
*Seth Hettena, SpyWeek columnist, former A.P. correspondent, author of Trump/Russia: A Definitive History, contributor to The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times.
*Michael Isikoff, an award-winning investigative journalist and best-selling author who has reported for The Washington Post, Newsweek, NBC News and Yahoo News, recently joined SpyTalk as a contributing editor.
*Gus Russo, a nine-time author (including two books on the Kennedy assassination), documentarian, and musician. His latest book is his first fiction, Gaia.
*Frank Snepp, the former top CIA analyst in South Vietnam who went on to become a Peabody-Award winning TV journalist specializing in national security issues. His CIA memoir, Decent Interval, triggered a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
*Adam Zagorin, former senior correspondent, TIME magazine.
Stars all. Subscribe to get full access to these writers and our website. Never miss an update.
I'm at a loss. I can't find anything good to say about Spy Talk that hasn't already been said in this article, except I don't know what I would do without it.
In the middle of a long, late NPR recording session in a Taipei hotel, the thin necklace of pearls I was wearing suddenly snapped—a childhood Communion gift from my father, who died of cancer when I was sixteen. I was trying to hold it together, but very upset. Dingues got down on his knees and helped me recover every single last one of those tiny pearls before we resumed recording. I will never forget such kindness when so many of my colleagues were...not such gentlemen. Please tell Dingues I still have the memory...and the pearls.