I know this feeling! #archives
Madelyn Lugli, H-Diplo: "Those lucky enough to steal away for few days in the reading room can often be found anxiously tearing through boxes, snapping photos on their phones in a race against the final 4 pm call time." ⬇️
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
It's already well underway! #shoigu
My new article on Substack!
"LEOPOLD & ERASMUS: Two #KGB Counterintelligence Agents Sent from Lithuania to Israel in 1972."
Based on my research of the Lithuanian KGB documents at Hoover Archives.
The link: tinyurl.com/2mn9s5nt
USF Adjunct Prof. Filip Kovacevic (@chekistmonitor.bsky.social), a specialist in Russian and Eurasian intelligence history, spoke with @theguardian.com about the recent case of a spy who plead guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about her contacts with the FSB. bit.ly/404xJwP
Routledge Handbook of Media & Intelligence is available for pre-order.
I contributed a chapter "A Century of #Chekist Public Relations: Four Case Studies."
Read about the Red Book of #Cheka & other Soviet/Russian PR ops to shape the hearts & minds in the last 100 years @socintelhist.bsky.social
#spies #writers #intelhistory @socintelhist.bsky.social
Spoke with @theguardian.com's Edward Helmore on Russian counterintelligence and honeytraps. #FSB #sexspionage
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Just received #CIA's response regarding my #FOIA request for the documents about the controversial Soviet intelligence general Pavel Sudoplatov.
The estimated completion date is August 19, 2027. #spies #ops #intelhistory
https://utppublishing.com/doi/book/10.3138/9781487548926
https://www.rienner.com/title/Killing_in_the_Name_of_the_State_State_Sponsored_Assassination_in_International_Politics
We've got some great new intel books available for review here at JPICT, including books by @chekistmonitor.bsky.social, @lucatrenta.bsky.social & @avramovok.bsky.social. Please get in touch with @melaniebrand.bsky.social if you're interested in writing a review for us. 1/3
Aleksandr Sakharovsky was the chief #KGB spymaster from 1956 to 1971, some of the most dramatic years of the Cold War.
There is little scholarly research about his activities due to lack of reliable documentation.
I filed #FOIA request with #CIA to obtain more info about him.
Last week, my book #KGBLiterati was ranked #21 on
@amazonkindle.bsky.social Best Sellers in Russian & Soviet Literary Criticism eBooks. #spies #writers #coldwar @socintelhist.bsky.social
Before leaving for his #KGB spy assignment in Japan, Stanislav Levchenko was given this advice by one of his supervisors:
"Stay away from #CIA... At best, you'll waste your time... Other officers trying to recruit Americans have been caught like flies in a honey pot."
The article doesn't mention that Roy Medvedev was awarded the 1st prize in #FSB literary competition in 2007 for his biography of Andropov.
The foreword in Medvedev's book was written by Nikolai Patrushev, Putin's #KGB control.
See my article: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tinyurl.com/476maews
Just dropped: my interview on Roland Elliott Brown's podcast The Orwellians talking about my new book #KGBLiterati and #KGB spies & counterspies who wrote spy fiction.
#intelhistory #writers #ColdWar @socintelhist.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5op...
Researching #KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives for my ongoing writing projects. #spies #secrets #coldwar
It's on now! I am at the AskHistorians Reddit Forum answering questions about KGB spy fiction & my new book #KGBLiterati! See you there! @socintelhist.bsky.social
"A gripping Cold War-era espionage operation, once buried in #KGB archives, has now come to light."
A short article about my paper Operation JESUITS based on my archival research at Hoover Library & Archives. @socintelhist.bsky.social
unredacted.info/military-tec...
With some delay, my #FOIA request regarding Pavel Sudoplatov is now on track. #CIA
Check out #AskHistorians Reddit forum, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, 11 AM US Eastern Time!
I'll be doing a live Q&A session known as Ask Me Anything (AMA) on my new book #KGBLiterati.
Your chance to "ask me anything" about KGB spy fiction. @socintelhist.bsky.social
reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Who was the most productive #KGB agent in Washington, DC in the early 1980s (before Ames & Hanssen)?
In his memoir Washington Station (1994), former #KGB officer Yuri Shvets claimed that this agent was a janitor cleaning the offices of major Pentagon contractors in Rosslyn. ⬇️
Kevin Riehle is right: "Russian services hope low-level agents will progress & handle them that way, just as their Soviet predecessors did. They are not disposable from the outset, even if some get caught."
This is why it is important to study #intelhistory.
www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/23/d...
#KGB defector Vladimir Kuzichkin wrote that he & his fellow cadets at the Red Banner Institute had access to James Bond films & were not upset with how they portrayed Soviet intel officers.
Their attitude was "the more primitive you imagine us to be, the worse for you."
Really enjoyed speaking in Prof. Mindy Haas’s graduate class on espionage & surveillance in international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh!
I discussed #KGB institutional culture, ops mindset, and my book, #KGBLiterati.
Thanks, Mindy, for your invitation! @socintelhist.bsky.social
My new article!
"Soviets in North Atlantic: A Disastrous Fishing Expedition near the Faroe Islands in 1952" #MGB #topsecret #coldwar
Based on my research at Hoover Library & Archives (Stanford University)
@hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
The link: tinyurl.com/3zt6vmts
Great crowd last night at the Commonwealth Club of California for my talk on #KGB institutional culture & my new book #KGBLiterati. Q&A for almost an hour! @socintelhist.bsky.social
Thanks, Luca! I really enjoyed this conversation with Antonia Senior, a wonderful host of the Spy Masters podcast on all things #KGB and my new book #KGBLiterati.
It's a great honor to have Sean Wiswesser, a former #CIA senior operations officer & author of the forthcoming book "Tradecraft, Tactics & Dirty Tricks: Russian Intel & Putin's Secret War," write a review of my book #KGBLiterati for #AFIO! ⬇️
www.afio.com/book-reviews...
This Thursday, January 15, 2026, the Commonwealth Club of California is hosting my lecture on the legacies of #KGB institutional culture & my new book #KGBLiterati at the Dominican University in San Rafael, California. See you there!
www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...
Just received an autographed copy of Richard Kerbaj's great new book The Defector which I highly recommend. Thanks, Richard! @socintelhist.bsky.social
And here are some matching Soviet #counterintelligence signatures. #NKVD
