Michael Isikoff

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

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-...

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.

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...

Today's Washington Post editorial vigorously defending the destruction of the East Wing to build a new ballroom somehow failed to mention this

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.

The movies don't get any scarier than this.
www.spytalk.co/p/stage-frig...

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

"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...

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.

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...

Exclusive: An Iran-Contra Romance Oliver North and Fawn Hall are wed in a “secret” ceremony in rural Virginia

Nearly 40 years later, an Iran-contra couple reunites in a "secret" ceremony in Virginia.
www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-...

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

With another 9/11 anniversary next week, this was quite the development on the legal front.
www.spytalk.co/p/case-of-sa...

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

"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-...

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."

www.spytalk.co/p/a-seat-in-...

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.

"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...

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.

"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...

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

It turns out there was a whole other side to the host of Firing Line.
www.spytalk.co/p/william-f-...

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

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...

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.

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-...

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

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...

YouTube video by MSW Media Tulsi & The Deep State "Rot"

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_...

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.

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

"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-...

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

www.spytalk.co/p/exclusive-...

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

A Spy For All Reasons
www.spytalk.co/p/a-spy-for-...

YouTube video by Jeff Stein's SpyTalk "Laura Loomer is the new Rasputin"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok82...

"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.

Laura Loomer is the new Rasputin in the court of Donald Trump www.spytalk.co/p/laura-loom...

Anna Luna's JFK Conspiracy Circus The Florida MAGA Congresswoman hosted a hearing of conspiracy zealots that was out of this world.

From the Kremlin to Capitol Hill: How JFK conspiracy theories have come full circle.
www.spytalk.co/p/anna-lunas...

#SpyTalk #MSWMedia

@spytalker.bsky.social @misikoff.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjA3...

A useful reminder not to die on the weekend

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

"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...

'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

www.spytalk.co/p/we-had-fou...

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.

This is hilarious, but alas, not a joke.
www.spytalk.co/p/inside-the...

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

Another unsolved DC crime.
www.spytalk.co/p/unsolved-m...