This week’s broadcast of “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” from Wisconsin Public Radio, features an interview about my book, the rise of the surveillnace state, and the future of cyber war.

Check out this essay in the Wall Street Journal based on my book.  I take an in-depth look at what’s wrong with the U.S. security system, and how to fix it.

The United States is fighting a new kind of war, but the first shots were fired a generation ago. Check out my feature story in Washingtonian about the rise of cyber security in the U.S. government, told through the tales of two key actors.

A judicial ruling on drug tests for athletes blossoms into a huge Fourth Amendment case. Read the full story in National Journal.

In response to an unprecedented wave of attacks on the Defense Department’s computer networks, and possible theft of information about U.S. weapons systems by foreign governments, the Pentagon has quietly begun sharing classified intelligence about hackers and online threats with the country’s biggest defense contractors. The new intelligence partnership, which has not been previously reported, […]

The cover story of today’s National Journal features a narrative about an unidentified hacker (or perhaps hackers) who compromised the computers of eight members of Congress and seven committees in the House of Representatives. Some members publicly blame China for the incident, and one calls it a case of “overseas espionage.” The story shows how […]

U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly worried that hackers could wreak havoc on the financial system. Read the story here in National Journal. Not that we need it, but here’s yet another reason to worry about havoc in financial markets: U.S. intelligence officials increasingly fear that computer hackers could wreck banks and large financial institutions, or […]

In the old days, everyone was linked to a lug nut, and Jim Kallstrom liked it that way. It was 1985, a simpler time for a cop like Kallstrom, who was in charge of setting telephone wiretaps on suspected drug dealers and mobsters for the FBI’s New York City field office. In New York, Kallstrom’s […]

Beginning in February 2001, almost seven months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government’s top electronic eavesdropping organization, the National Security Agency, asked a major U.S. telecommunications carrier for information about its customers and the flow of electronic traffic across its network, according to sources familiar with the request. The carrier, Qwest Communications, refused, believing […]

Mike Wertheimer may be the most dangerous man in U.S. intelligence. You would probably never guess it, judging from his lengthy and opaque title — assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analytic transformation and technology. A perfect testament to the well-worn bureaucratic tradition of offering little insight by tossing around a lot of words. […]