David Priess

YouTube video by Axess Television David Priess: Global Challenges and the President’s Daily Brief

Last month, the estimable @engelsbergideas.bsky.social interviewed me for Sweden’s Axess Television about intelligence briefings for US presidents.

I hope you enjoy some of the stories I shared here:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=7dcO...

You are far too kind

a portrait of george washington with the caption done well meme-gen.ai ALT: a portrait of george washington with the caption done well meme-gen.ai

I’m overjoyed to announce my fellowship at the George Washington Presidential Library, allowing me to spend part of my time this year researching Washington’s choices about intelligence during his presidency.

Huge thanks to GWPL @Mount_Vernon & to GWPl Executive Director @lmchervinsky.bsky.social 🙏

The art of agent-running Agent-running is all about people. The safety of agents – who often treat their case officers as confessional, priest-like figures – is paramount.

“Agent-running is all about people…. it’s about a case officer and an agent in a safehouse, a car meeting, or even conducting a dead drop. The safety of the agent, the sanctity of the operation, is paramount.”

Great @mpolymer1.bsky.social essay:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...

The best news of the new year so far. Congratulations to you—and SCSP! 🤜🤛

Books I’ve read this year in fiction (part 4)

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

Edge of Honor by @bradthor.bsky.social

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Happy New Year!

/end

Books I’ve read this year in fiction (part 3)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neil Stephenson and Nicole Galland

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

18/19

Books I’ve read this year in fiction (part 2)

Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland

The Persian by David McCloskey

17/19

Books I’ve read this year in fiction (part 1)

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov

16/19

Books I’ve read this year in general nonfiction (part 4)

The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives by Adam Smyth

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soares

15/19

Books I’ve read this year in general nonfiction (part 3)

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness by Reinhold Niebuhr

Christianity and Power Politics by Reinhold Niebuhr

Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr

The Library by @apettegree.bsky.social & Arthur der Weduwen

14/19

Books I’ve read this year in general nonfiction (part 2)

Alien Earths by Lisa Kaltenegger

Genesis by Henry Kissinger, Craig Mundie, and Eric Schmidt

The Age of AI by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher

Co-Intelligence by @emollick.bsky.social

13/19

Books I’ve read this year in general nonfiction (part 1)

Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake

Dreams: The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac by Mark Blake

Careless People by @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social

The Allure of the Multiverse by @phalpern.bsky.social

12/19

Books I’ve read this year in intelligence/national security (part 3)

Active Measures by Thomas Rid @ridt.bsky.social

Democracy and War by Norbert Röttgen @nroettgen.bsky.social

US Naval Power in the 21st Century by Brent Droste Sadler

Sea Power by @admiralstav.bsky.social

11/19

Books I’ve read this year in intelligence/national security (part 2)

The Technological Republic by Alexander Karp and Nicholas Zamiska

War and Power by @phillipsobrien.bsky.social

Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime by Eric O’Neill

The New Nuclear Age by Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social

10/19

Books I’ve read this year in intelligence/national security (part 1)

On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis

Spy Schools by Daniel Golden

Intelligence and Contemporary Conflict, edited by @matthefler.bsky.social

The Spy Archive by Dexter Ingram

9/19

Books I’ve read this year in US history (part 2)

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

A Country of Vast Designs by Robert W. Merry

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

What the Anti-Federalists Were For by Herbert Storing

8/19

Books I’ve read this year in US history (part 1)

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

Washington by Ron Chernow

President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by CW Goodyear

Realities of American Foreign Policy by George Kennan

The Great Bridge by David McCullough

7/19

Books I’ve read this year in world history (part 5)

The War Below by Ernest Scheyder

On Tyranny by @TimothySnyder.bsky.social

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by @LauraInParis.bsky.social

The Sovereign State and Its Competitors by Hendrik Spruyt

The Prize by Daniel Yergin

6/19

Books I’ve read this year in world history (part 4)

A Brief History of Finland by Matti Klinge

The Tragedy of Empire by Michael Kulikowski

Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret Macmillan

Chip War by Chris Miller

The Middle Kingdoms by Martyn Rady

5/19

Books I’ve read this year in world history (part 3)

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

The Peaceable Kingdom? by Phil Gurski @BorealisSavis.bsky.social

Fury and Ice: Greenland, the United States and Germany in World War II by @peterharmsen.bsky.social

4/19

Books I’ve read this year in world history (part 2)

An Atlas of Extinct Countries by @gideondefoe.bsky.social

House of Huawei by Eva Dou

Cicero by Anthony Everitt

The Story of Egypt by Joann Fletcher

Sweden, the Swastika and Stalin by John Gilmour

3/19

Books I’ve read this year in world history (part 1)

Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson

A Brief History of Japan by Jonathan Clements

A Brief History of the Vikings by Jonathan Clements

The Ends of the World by @peterbrannen.Baku.social

Ibn Saud by Michael Darlow and Barbara Bray

2/19

a cartoon of a boy reading a book in front of a stack of books . ALT: a cartoon of a boy reading a book in front of a stack of books .

THREAD: As each year ends, I look back at the books I’ve read, re-read, or listened to across 12 months.

Now, I share them in categories (by author, alphabetically, within each).

Deep thanks to every author on this list for making my year better!

1/19

The evolving world of MI6 Technological shifts, alliance politics, and fractious great-power competition make the United Kingdom’s secret service’s work under its new Chief more complex than ever.

“The job of running the British Secret Service has changed enormously since Cumming’s day, but there are also elements of what sits in Metreweli’s overflowing in-tray that the first Chief would still have recognised.”

Great essay by @gordoncorera.bsky.social:
engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...

Does anyone have a terrific essay they'd like to recommend on the ways in which personal memories becomes linked to political happenings? Like the flashbulb moment, though it doesn't exclusively have to be that.

The vessel Ursa Major, part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” sank off the coast of Spain while carrying undisclosed strategic cargo, according to Spanish investigators.

Investigators say the ship was transporting two VM-4SG nuclear reactor hulls reportedly destined for North Korea.

Please, Mr. Postman! Denmark bids farewell to letter delivery and mailboxes In a bid to address its financial woes, the country’s national postal authority will deliver its final letters on Dec. 30, ending a service that stretches back 401 years.

Something is undelivered in the state of Denmark

www.politico.eu/article/plea...

America Wants to Build Again. If You Squint, You’ll See Hopeful Signs.

“China has installed 30,000 miles of high-speed rail when America has managed to complete exactly zero miles.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/a...