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Daniel Salisbury

@dbsalisbury.bsky.social

Nuclear proliferators, arms traffickers, spies and intrigue. Associate Fellow @ RUSI. Visiting Research Fellow @CSSS/KCL & Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

1,108 Followers  |  644 Following  |  16 Posts  |  Joined: 21.09.2023  |  1.783

Latest posts by dbsalisbury.bsky.social on Bluesky

Try getting that past the local HOA πŸ˜‚

22.07.2025 16:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Atomic Backfires The existential risks posed to the world by nuclear weapons are growing. Efforts to halt nuclear proliferation, manage crises, promote arms control, and buil...

3/8

You can read more about the book here (mitpress.mit.edu/978026205185...) & see early reader comments from Vipin Narang, @malfridbh.bsky.social, & Keir Lieber. Now to the content!

03.07.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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2/8

Editors: me, @gdavidarceneaux.bsky.social, Ariel Petrovics.

Powerhouse contributors: Dave Allison, Tyler Bowen, @dbsalisbury.bsky.social, Binn Cho, Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, Sarah Bidgood, @jjjcameron.bsky.social, @professorrdg.bsky.social, Eliza Gheorghe, Ulrich KΓΌhn, @laurensukin.bsky.social.

03.07.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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1/8

Later this year from @mitpress.bsky.social in @belfercenter.bsky.social's Studies in International Security book series-- Atomic Backfires: When Nuclear Policies Fail.

This is a sobering edited volume on how efforts to reduce nuclear weapons dangers may sometimes wind up exacerbating them.

03.07.2025 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 4
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🎧 Tune in to the latest episode of #TheArmsControlPoseur by
#IISS featuring Dr @bollfrass.bsky.social, Dr Jingdong Yuan, Dr @dbsalisbury.bsky.social & @nktpnd.bsky.social on North Korea’s nuclear posture & what’s next for diplomacy. πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡

πŸ”— tinyurl.com/2ja3b34z

#EUNPDC #NonProliferation #ArmsControl

10.04.2025 12:17 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Featuring Dr @bollfrass.bsky.social, Dr Jingdong Yuan, Dr @dbsalisbury.bsky.social & @nktpnd.bsky.social.

They unpack North Korea’s nuclear rise, failed diplomacy & arms control risks.

πŸ‘‰http://tinyurl.com/2ja3b34z

#EUNPDC #NuclearWeapons #NonProliferation #ArmsControl

15.04.2025 07:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union

The first public talk on my forthcoming book #KGB LITERATI will be at Stanford University on May 2.

Everyone has heard about Western spies-turned-writers, such as Fleming, Greene, or Le CarrΓ©, but who were their Soviet equivalents?

Come and find out!
events.stanford.edu/event/kgb-li...

07.04.2025 17:50 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
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S4.E3 Better know a nuke: The United Kingdom How has the nuclear weapons programme of the United Kingdom evolved from its origins during World War II to its strategic choices during the Cold War? With the current international order in disarray,

πŸŽ™οΈ New Podcast Episode: How has the πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§β€™s nuclear programme evolved? Listen to The #ArmsControlPoseur as Dr.@bollfrass.bsky.social, @mgmessmer.bsky.social, @dbsalisbury.bsky.social & Sebastian Brixey-Williams explore the UK’s nuclear past & future.

πŸ”— Listen now: tinyurl.com/bd2uzrv8

03.03.2025 14:37 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Great to see this in print w/ @nknewsorg.bsky.social: what was the UK’s role in North Korea’s development of military hovercraft? A story I’ve pursued in archives and on the UK’s south coast over a couple of years: www.nknews.org/share/5842ec10

06.02.2025 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Great to see this in print w/ @nknewsorg.bsky.social: what was the UK’s role in North Korea’s development of military hovercraft? A story I’ve pursued in archives and on the UK’s south coast over a couple of years: www.nknews.org/share/5842ec10

06.02.2025 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Exclusive: My Book Cover Revealed!

KGB LITERATI: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union (University of Toronto Press, 2025) #spies #writers #KGB

15.01.2025 17:30 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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Great to see our latest journal article published in
@twqgw.bsky.social ! In the paper Aaron Arnold and I conceptualize the shift in DPRK sanctions evasion towards "remote sanctions busting". The article is available free for the next 3 months on the TWQ website: twq.elliott.gwu.edu/files/2024/1...

19.12.2024 15:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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In my latest piece for @nknewsorg.bsky.social I consider what North Korean WMD secrets that might emerge from Syria following Assad's fall?

www.nknews.org/pro/how-assa...

19.12.2024 15:56 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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How North Korean diplomats illicitly acquired US helicopters for the Kim regime | NK News The North Korean Embassy in Berlin has been the site of sanctions evasion controversy in recent years, hosting a hostel found to have breached sanctions by paying rent of 38,000 euros a month to the D...

Great to share my latest historical piece for @nknewsorg.bsky.social β€” the story of how the DPRK used its embassy in East Berlin to illicitly procure 86 Hughes Helicopters in the mid-1980s. www.nknews.org/2024/11/how-...

29.11.2024 11:18 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Countering a technological Berlin tunnel: North Korean operatives, helicopters and intelligence in the Cold War illicit arms trade, 1981-1986 This article considers the relationship between intelligence and the arms trade by examining North Korea’s procurement of 86 Hughes helicopters in the 1980s. Using recently declassified documents, ...

The piece draws on declassified British government files β€” the more detailed story is one I wrote up in an article in Intelligence and National Security journal a couple of years ago: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

29.11.2024 11:20 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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How North Korean diplomats illicitly acquired US helicopters for the Kim regime | NK News The North Korean Embassy in Berlin has been the site of sanctions evasion controversy in recent years, hosting a hostel found to have breached sanctions by paying rent of 38,000 euros a month to the D...

Great to share my latest historical piece for @nknewsorg.bsky.social β€” the story of how the DPRK used its embassy in East Berlin to illicitly procure 86 Hughes Helicopters in the mid-1980s. www.nknews.org/2024/11/how-...

29.11.2024 11:18 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Annual Conference | NASIH Information about our upcoming annual conference

The Society for Intelligence History (SIH) is up and running here on BlueSky. We provide connections for scholars and practitioners interested in all things intelligence and historical.

Please check out our Feb. 25 conference here: www.intelligencehistory.org/conferences

23.11.2024 18:15 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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UK war tech sent to Russia by Insta model's firm, documents seen by BBC show - BBC News Β£1.6m of British kit shipped to companies tied to Russian military despite sanctions, customs documents claim.

Could make a movie with this cast of characters - Instagram model denies transferring precision optics to Russia to aid war effort.

21.11.2024 20:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Totally missed this September 2024 press release where the US State Department called out RT for arms dealing and illicit procurement. Seemingly got crowd-funding efforts, but also importing goods in small quantities to avoid unwanted scrutiny. www.state.gov/alerting-the...

15.11.2024 20:06 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Flight of the Concorde? North Korea’s brief flirtation with supersonic airliners | NK News For all its advancements in ballistic missile technology, North Korea is hardly known for excellence in the realm of commercial air travel, maintaining a ragtag fleet of aging Soviet jets that are onl...

Excited to share this piece based on archival material I found last summerβ€” North Korea expressed an interest in buying two Concordes in the mid-1970s β€” the full obscure story now on NK News: www.nknews.org/2024/05/flig...

03.05.2024 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

An excellent piece of reporting - 20% of US-origin parts now heading to Russia via the Maldives. Even the smallest jurisdictions can act as transhipment hubs.

10.05.2024 17:09 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Weapons in Space A new and provocative take on the formerly classified history of accelerating superpower military competition in space in the late Cold War and beyond.In Mar...

My book Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative is officially published today!

mitpress.mit.edu/978026254736...

07.05.2024 13:28 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

Now 2,300 photos in albums including:

-Trinity Site (2018)
-Titan II Missile Museum (2017)
-Los Alamos & Sandia Ads
-Defense Industry ads

MORE SOON!

flickr.com/nuclearanthro

Enable my work:

patreon.com/nuclearanthro
paypal.me/nuclearanthro

#PhDLife

02.05.2024 17:09 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Thanks for sharing- need to use Bsky more!

03.05.2024 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The most interesting document I found - the "preliminary purchase agreement".

03.05.2024 15:18 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Flight of the Concorde? North Korea’s brief flirtation with supersonic airliners | NK News For all its advancements in ballistic missile technology, North Korea is hardly known for excellence in the realm of commercial air travel, maintaining a ragtag fleet of aging Soviet jets that are onl...

Excited to share this piece based on archival material I found last summerβ€” North Korea expressed an interest in buying two Concordes in the mid-1970s β€” the full obscure story now on NK News: www.nknews.org/2024/05/flig...

03.05.2024 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Sanctions-Busting Architects: Moscow’s Preparations for the West’s Sanctions Moscow’s long practice and tolerance of illicit activities makes Russia well placed to bust Western sanctions. Two years on from Putin’s illegal invasion, what more can be done?

"[C]losing loopholes that facilitate smuggling, money laundering, and transnational crime will help sanctions to bite across the board."
Aaron Arnold and @dbsalisbury.bsky.social examine where the West should focus its sanctions efforts two years into the Ukraine War.

04.03.2024 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Particularly excited to share this piece β€” a review of technology-themed beers for the holidays! Bringing together two areas of interest (dare I say expertise even!) @bindinghook β€” thanks to the team, a lot of fun to write!

21.12.2023 10:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Covert Hops - Binding hook The Binding Hook hoppy holidays guide to technology-themed beers for the season’s pour decisions

Check out the Binding Hook hoppy holidays guide to technology-themed beers for the season’s pour decisions by @dbsalisbury.bsky.social bindinghook.com/articles-bin...

19.12.2023 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Pleased to share some thoughts on North Korea’s evolving diplomatic sanctions busting networks β€” shaped by DPRK’s tactical adaptation and more strategic and gloomy geopolitical shifts. www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

22.11.2023 21:30 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@dbsalisbury is following 18 prominent accounts