I talked with Terry Gross about surveillance, data mining, and the recent revelations of NSA intelligence programs. Listen here.

I joined NPR’s Scott Simon recently for a discussion about unmanned aircraft, and whether we’ll soon  be seeing tiny drones flying around American cities. The full audio is here.

I was a guest today on The Diane Rehm Show, discussing drones and the future of the United States’ strategy to fight terrorism. We also discussed what drones mean for the future of war and when drones will be showing up in U.S. cities.  You can listen to the full show here.

C-SPAN covered the Ford Prize ceremony this afternoon at the National Press Club in Washington. My introduction, followed by brief remarks, begins at 16:20. Brent Scowcroft was the guest speaker–he’s at the end, and he took some questions from the audience.

I’m happy to report that The Watchers won this year’s Bernstein Award for excellence in journalism! This is a huge thrill, and I’m honored to be included in such fine company of past winners and finalists. You can read more about the award here. And here’s a write up of the evening ceremony, which was held this week at the New York Public Library.

I was a guest on this week’s “On the Media,” talking about the renewal of the Patriot Act, and whether the Obama administration is secretly interpreting the law in a way that allows the government to collect more information.

A quick bit of personal news. I’ve won the 2010 Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense. Washingtonian has a nice write-up. The award recognizes four stories I wrote last year–two for National Journal, two for Washingtonian.  The latter stories are online, here and here. There will be an awards ceremony on […]

The Watchers is on sale today in paperback. You can pick up a copy in your favorite bookstore or online. It’s got a nifty new cover, as well as a new afterword on the Christmas Day bombing attempt. That event occurred as the hardcover was going to press, so we couldn’t work it in. I’m glad it’s in the new version, because it ties up the theme of the whole book very nicely.

Here are some links to bookstores selling the paperback:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Borders

Powell’s

IndieBound

Penguin

The Economist has named The Watchers one of its best books of 2010! I’m honored to be included in such a fine group of authors. The magazine calls the book, “A vivid, well-reported and intellectually sophisticated account of the surveillance state in the wake of the attacks on September 11th 2001.”

C-SPAN has been re-airing my book talk from the International Spy Museum in Washington. This was on February 18, publication day for The Watchers.