Espionage

Octopus Maps Encourage Conspiratorial Thinking, Research Shows
Octopuses have been one of mapmakers’ favorite symbols for hundreds of years — used primarily to portray threats of political movements, financial systems, warring empires and the unknown.
- Read more
Pervasive Surveillance of People Is Being Used to Access, Monetize, Coerce, and Control
New research has underlined the surprising extent to which pervasive surveillance of people and their habits is powered by computer vision research – and shone a spotlight on how vulnerable individuals and communities are at risk.
- Read more

Targeting Nuclear Scientists
The killing of Iranian nuclear scientists has been an integral part of Israel’s campaign, stretching back more than two decades, to disrupt and derail Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The 14 Iranian scientists killed on and since 13 June were all leading members of the Iran’s nuclear weaponization group.
- Read more
Nuclear Scientists  Have Long Been Targets in Covert Ops – Israel Has Brought That Policy Out of the Shadows
Since 1944, there have been at least 100 instances of what researchers call nuclear “scientist targeting.” The most recent example are the 14 senior Iranian nuclear scientists Israel killed on 13 June as part of the opening move of its surprise attack on Iran, in which Israel has also decapitated the Iranian military, intelligence services, and Revolutionary Guard by killing practically all of these organizations’ leaders and senior officers – several dozen in all. In the week since the attack was launched, Israel has killed three more Iranian nuclear scientists.
- Read more

The Shadow Architects of Power
Intelligence agencies in authoritarian regimes have distinct foreign policy preferences and actively work to advance them. MIT Ph.D. candidate Suzanne Freeman reveals how these intelligence agencies do it.
- Read more
The Hole in Canada’s Intelligence System Is ASIS-shaped
A hardy perennial in Ottawa politics is whether Canada should create a foreign intelligence service equivalent to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6).
- Read more

How Digital Identities Challenge Traditional Espionage
It used to be so simple. An intelligence officer could fly to a country, change passports and, with a false identity, emerge as a completely different person. But those days are long since over.
- Read more
Europe’s Moment of Truth: A Democracy Shield for Today and Tomorrow
Democracy in Europe is under growing pressure. Authoritarian regimes like Russia and the People’s Republic of China are conducting increasingly sophisticated foreign interference campaigns. Internally, illiberal actors – who are often the beneficiaries of this foreign interference — are eroding the rule of law and civic freedoms as democratic norms deteriorate in the EU’s immediate neighborhood. The EU’s European Democracy Shield, announced in 2024 and expected in 2025, aims to counter these threats to democracy.
- Read more

A British University’s Technology Entanglements with Russia and China
A major British research university’s joint venture campus in China maintains partnerships and close links with entities sanctioned by Britain, the US, EU and others for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and assisting China’s military modernization and human rights violations. The links to sanctions highlight the risks posed by foreign science, technology and academic partnerships in China in a period of heightened geopolitical rivalry, intensifying technological competition and deepening China-Russia cooperation.
- Read more
Circuit Boards Must Be Trusted. So We’d Better Make Them in Australia
While national security debates have focused on chips and microelectronics, the role of printed circuit board (PCBs) in underpinning system trust has gone largely unexamined. In today’s contested environment, that carries strategic consequences.
- Read more

It’s Not Just Software. Physical Critical Equipment Can’t Be Trusted, Either
Just auditing the software in critical equipment isn’t enough. We must assume that adversaries, especially China, will also exploit the hardware if they can.
- Read more
Romania at the Crossroads as Europe Watches On
George Simion and Nicușor Dan will contest the second round of Romania’s presidential election on 18 May. The election could have profound implications for both Romania and Europe.
- Read more

Romania, Foreign Election Interference, and a Dangerous U.S. Retreat
The Romanian election is but one example of recent foreign election interference incidents. The Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election led Congress, on bipartisan basis, and the relevant agencies in the executive branch, to make many changes to address this threat, but under the new administration, “the U.S. is now moving full steam ahead to completely destroy its defenses against that threat,” Katie Kedian writes. All of the positive U.S. government developments “have been dismantled or severely downgraded,” leaving “the U.S. public less informed and less safe from foreign interference.”
- Read more
Memes and Conflict: Study Shows Surge of Imagery and Fakes Can Precede International and Political Violence
The widespread use of social media during times of political trouble and violence has made it harder to prevent conflict and build peace.
- Read more
What Happened to Putin’s Friends? How Europe’s Radical Right Navigated the Ukraine Crisis on Social Media
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created a dilemma for European radical right parties: these parties had cultivated friendly ties with Vladimir Putin. An analysis of a decade of Facebook posts reveals how these parties strategically managed their communications to avoid the political fallout while maintaining their Eurosceptic agenda.
- Read more

More headlines