Glad to have you back,
Author and journalist. THE MISSION: The CIA in the 21st Century is #3 on the New York Times bestseller list! A new newsletter: CODEWORD, soon available to all who follow. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-mission-tim-weiner?variant=43465484206114
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Glad to have you back,
I know!
Words do not deter Putin. He understands the logic of force, not the force of logic.
Putin tried to kill the leader of the EU. Part of his 20-year campaign of sabotage and subversion in European nations. Americans need to wake up to the nature of Trump's alliance with him. At the edge of the horizon of what's possible? A secret pact to carve up Europe. Echoes of Hitler and Stalin.
CIA had the junta well-wired at the time; they were working together to train the contras in Central America, though the Argentines were a tad too bloodthirsty for CIA. Even so, murdering hundreds of US and UK citizens? A single-source report, and, as British journos would say, interesting if true.
A five-star review by Tom Griffin of The Mission: The CIA in the Twenty-First Century. open.substack.com/pub/intellig...
The nation we knew is being demolished. Read all about it in "Vanishing America," the latest edition of my new newsletter, CODEWORD, a chronicle of intelligence, national security, foreign policy, and democracy. Subscribe! It's free. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/vanishing-...
Well, a book needs a back cover, so many people are left on the cutting room floor. I knew Charlie Wilson, and frankly the less said about him the better.
📖 Pulitzer Prize–winner Tim Weiner joins NPR’s Greg Myre to talk "The Mission: CIA in the 21st Century" 🗓 Sept 9, 7pm ET 📍 Hayden Center, Arlington, VA, or on YouTube ➡️ Reception + book signing after! REGISTER: signup.e2ma.net/signup/20085... Seats are limited—don’t miss it!
lucid.substack.com/p/destroying...
New CODEWORD just dropped! CODEWORD is my new newsletter on intelligence, national security, foreign policy, and democracy. Subscribe! It's free. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/vanishing-...
Who will want to work for American intelligence after this is over? We're witnessing a deliberate sabotage by Trump's national security team.
And there you have it, the beginning of the end of constitutional democracy, August 26, 2025.
timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
Garrett Graff, who has become one of the country's leading journalists and historians, captures this dangerous moment in America. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
lucid.substack.com/p/destroying...
Illegal as hell. Willful lawbreaking by Kristi Noem. And part of the larger attack on freedom of information, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. A war on history, if you will. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...
timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
This general has been fired because his analysts assessed that the US bombing attack did not obliterate the Iranian nuclear plant. We are witnessing the slow strangulation of American intelligence. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
I'll be talking about THE MISSION and Trump's attack on American intelligence with @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social on Lucid lucid.substack.com at 1 PM eastern today.
Autocracy in America proceeds apace. Read all about it in my newsletter -- CODEWORD. Subscribe! It's free. (Link in the kicker.) timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
Here's the new edition of CODEWORD, my fledgling newsletter on #intelligence and #natsec and the like. Today we look at the ideological purge of America's national security establishment and its likely consequences. Subscribe! It's free. (Link in the kicker.) timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
Kash Patel is wrecking the FBI. Bondi is wrecking Justice. All in the name of the Dear Leader. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
America is less safe. And the cowardly silence on these purges from GOP foreign policy hands (who know this is outrageous) is quite telling… economist.com/united-state... from The Economist
timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
In which Jack Goldsmith, stellar conservative legal scholar of his generation, says the Justice Department is a smoking radiating ruin. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
Ask me here. Feel free to quote with link. Thanks!
Here's the new edition of CODEWORD, my fledgling newsletter on #intelligence and #natsec and the like. Today we look at the ideological purge of America's national security establishment and its likely consequences. Subscribe! It's free. (Link in the kicker.) timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/the-purge
A new edition of my new newsletter, CODEWORD, drops tomorrow, on the ideological purges destroying American intelligence. Check out the first three issues here. Subscribe! It's free. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/codeword-s...
Gabbard whacked two of the CIA's most heralded analysts, Beth Sanner and Ted Gistaro -- both quoted on the record in THE MISSION. This disgraceful act will have consequences -- she outed at least one undercover officer, probably illegally. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Trump's FBI director, Kash Patel, is sabotaging the Bureau, in particular its intelligence and national-security powers.
He wants to cancel elections in an international crisis, and with his team of Ratcliffe, Patel, Gabbard, and Hegseth in charge of American national security, odds are he will get one.
go.bsky.app/TFBJ8Di
Thanks for reading!
it was awful for years. I asked Public Affairs if they could get it fixed. Improved marginally in 2023 and 2024. Now all but useless, whether by design or benign neglect.
Saw it, thanks!
Isn't she just wonderful?
Thank you! (Not my next project.)
Here's the kicker of my review of Whitaker's 2020 "book" titled "Above the Law:" "This cheap-jack jeremiad will stand as a testament to a low, dishonest time in which the rule of law teetered on a terrible precipice."
Here's the kicker of my review of Whitaker's 2020 book "Above the Law." (He served as acting Attorney General under Trump): "This cheap-jack jeremiad will stand as a testament to a low, dishonest time in which the rule of law teetered on a terrible precipice."
Now that this dingbat is playing statesman, you really should read my review of his work. www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/matt...
I know we have seen a lot of agencies being hobbled and dismantled over the last six months. But the coup happening at the FBI should worry you the most asharangappa.substack.com/p/the-fbi-as...
Paula Doyle and Robert Gorelick are amazing people. Mad Dog Lawler is a hoot and a genius. Great gang.
Espionage to destroy existential threats was better than a war to destroy nonexistent threats.
My obit for Judge Webster. We will not see his like again. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
Thanks for reading!
New CODEWORD just dropped. Subscribe. it's free. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/codeword-s...
Excellent.
Three is a magic number. Third edition of my new newsletter, CODEWORD, is out shortly. THE MISSION: The CIA in the 21st Century is #3 on the NYTimes bestseller list. And -- as all good things come in threes -- LEGACY OF ASHES will be #3 on next week's NYT list! www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
It's sometimes hard to accept that this dangerous fool is the titular American intelligence czar.
Come for the reporting, stay for the link to my new newsletter, CODEWORD.
Have I got a book for you! www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
Thanks for reading!
Very happy to get our story about the innocuous sounding Afghan Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) which was a 11 man, 1 woman strong compartmentalized Afghan intel org run as a proxy by the CIA. They did some pretty epic ops, this article covers the highlights of this previously undisclosed unit.
Great story.
'Who the hell hired JOHN BRENNAN’S DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT OBAMA’S CIA to work under the 2nd Trump administration as a Senior Advisor to the new Deputy Secretary of Defense?” Loomer raved on X. Rakusan was Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel's DDO at Trump's CIA, for a start. We are being ruled by fools.
On the air with DEEP STATE RADIO in a deep discussion of THE MISSION. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
"Readers of The Mission may wonder whether spy fiction and political dramas have a future. The author certainly provides rich background for aspiring thriller writers. But he suggests that reality...is intriguing enough." — Times Literary Supplement (London) www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
These are not mutually exclusive.
Here's the second edition of my newsletter, CODEWORD. There've been good CIA directors like Bill Burns. Bad CIA directors like Porter Goss. Some too damned devious for their own good like Bill Casey. But only one John Ratcliffe, who bids fair to be the worst ever. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/codeword
Fixed, I hopr
Fixed, I hope
beehiiv, way better
You can read all about Ratcliffe in my brand-new newsletter, CODEWORD. It's free for all on Bluesky. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/welcome-to...
“Ratcliffe is a political ideologue, and ideology is the enemy of intelligence.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
"Mr. Ratcliffe wants to appoint a younger C.I.A. officer who is aligned with the agency’s new, more aggressive approach on recruiting sources and running clandestine operations," per CIA flack. Ridiculous. If you read THE MISSION, you'll see Sylvester gave 34 years to those goals with great success.
"Mr. Ratcliffe wants to appoint a younger C.I.A. officer who is aligned with the agency’s new, more aggressive approach on recruiting sources and running clandestine operations, one official said," per NYT. Ridiculous. Sylvester devoted 34 years to those missions, with great success.
The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, has keelhauled the top spy, chief of the clandestine service, Tom Sylvester, in an act of self-sabotage. Two possible reasons? Sylvester spoke with me for THE MISSION. He helped Ukraine survive the Russia invasion. Watch this space. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
I did, thanks!
Welcome to CODEWORD -- my brand-new newsletter on American intelligence, national security, and foreign policy. It's free to one and all on Bluesky. First one is adapted from THE MISSION -- my new book. There's a lot more to come. timweiner.beehiiv.com/p/welcome-to...
Some personal news...really good personal news. THE MISSION will be #3 on next week's New York Times bestsellers list. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy. If you haven't, please do! Watch this space for even better news to come on Monday.
Hey, you helped make this happen.
Some personal news...really good personal news. THE MISSION will be #3 on next week's New York Times bestsellers list. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy. If you haven't, please do! Watch this space for even better news to come on Monday.
Thanks! best tw
Thanks and thanks again!
Message me here.
Pick up a copy of THE MISSION right here, direct from the publisher, for 20 percent off! This offer can't be beat. www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
Rakusan is not a perp. But otoh I am not a lawyer.
The CIA’s Russian influence operation? I guess she means the “Russia hoax” – the iron-clad assessment that Russian intelligence was working to elect Trump. I will tackle this in a newsletter I’m launching soon -- CODEWORD. But there’s an unclassified word for what Loomer’s doing here. McCarthyism.
Then there’s this: “According to a new book about the CIA by Tim Weiner called "The Mission," which was published this month, Tom Rakusan is mentioned in the book as playing a pivotal role in the CIA’s Russian influence operation following President Trump's 2016 Presidential election victory.” 4/5
The first sentence is founded on a lie. Rakusan was promoted to that post in the spring of 2017. Trump was president. His loyal acolyte Mike Pompeo ran the CIA. The second sentence is a smear. Loomer has collected a lot of scalps under Trump. That’s what she does – destroy people for sport. 3/5
”Who the hell hired JOHN BRENNAN’S DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT OBAMA’S CIA to work under the 2nd Trump administration as a Senior Advisor to the new Deputy Secretary of Defense?” Loomer ranted. “Tom Rakusan must IMMEDIATELY be terminated from DOD and perp walked off the property.” 2/5
In a false and defamatory tweet x.com/LauraLoomer/... , internet saboteur Laura Loomer has slandered the former chief of the CIA’s clandestine service, Tom Rakusan. 🧵
In a false and defamatory tweet --https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1947618329289478565 -- internet saboteur Laura Loomer has slandered the former chief of the CIA’s clandestine service, Tom Rakusan.
THE MISSION receives a glorious ride in The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The sought-after British edition!
Trump, backed by his intelligence chiefs John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, wants to levy a charge of treason against his political enemies. A charge punishable by death. This is tinpot dictator stuff. Truly dangerous. Oh, and remind me -- who was president in 2020?
"Any serious student of U.S. national security should immediately pick up a copy of “The Mission”.... History-making details uncovered through on-the-record interviews with former senior CIA officials." -- Jack Poulson, All-Source Intelligence jackpoulson.substack.com/p/the-missio...
Who wants to take a 400-page book about the CIA to the beach? You do! THE MISSION: The CIA in the 21st Century is on Foreign Policy's summer reading list, and I hope it's on yours too.
Trump could “declare a political rival guilty of treason [and] deploy a paramilitary group to assassinate that rival" per SCOTUS ruling immunizing his official acts -- CIA veteran @johnsipher.bsky.social quoted in THE MISSION: The CIA in the 21st Century.
Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy of THE MISSION. Reviews have been astonishing. If you haven't yet, please do! The link will send you to booksellers who aren't named Bezos. www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
The Financial Times finds a "furious clarity" in THE MISSION. Review unpaywalled here: archive.ph/AKjhi
“The President of the United States has joined the authoritarian axis.” @tim-weiner.bsky.social author of the new book "The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century" explains why the politicization of the CIA under President Trump is so dangerous and what that means for the future of the agency.
We don’t do trade with Russia so tariff talk is dumb. Very Important interview with @tim-weiner.bsky.social and @maddow.msnbc.com
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
Brooke Ally 