Zach Dorfman
@zachsdorfman.bsky.social
National Security Reporter. Features in Politico, Rolling Stone, Wired, Foreign Policy. Working on a book on the history of deep cover for Penguin-Random House.
It’s always Berlin 1989 somewhere. Email: [email protected]
It’s always Berlin 1989 somewhere. Email: [email protected]
President Trump: Please “ask” Kevin Shields to release another My Bloody Valentine record
variety.com/2025/film/bo...
variety.com/2025/film/bo...
‘Rush Hour 4’ in the Works at Paramount at Trump’s Request
"Rush Hour 4" in the works at Paramount after prodding from president Trump.
variety.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM
President Trump: Please “ask” Kevin Shields to release another My Bloody Valentine record
variety.com/2025/film/bo...
variety.com/2025/film/bo...
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, pardoned by Donald Trump, has been accused of facilitating millions of dollars’ worth of payments to Hamas in the wake of its attack on Israel on October 7 2023. Zhao also financed the Trump family's entrance into the cryptocurrency market.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao accused of facilitating payments to Hamas
Crypto tycoon pardoned by Donald Trump faces US court complaint from families of victims of October 7 attack
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
When I published this @wired.com story in October 2024, I figured that—should Trump prevail the following month—it would maintain its relevance. But I had no inkling *how* relevant.
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
The Untold Story of Trump's Failed Attempt to Overthrow Venezuela's President
A successful CIA hack of Venezuela's military payroll system, insider fights for spy agency resources, and messy opposition politics: A WIRED investigation reveals a secret Trump-era attempt to oust a...
www.wired.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:30 PM
When I published this @wired.com story in October 2024, I figured that—should Trump prevail the following month—it would maintain its relevance. But I had no inkling *how* relevant.
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
The movie ”Her,” but it’s the disembodied consciousness of James Angleton
November 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
The movie ”Her,” but it’s the disembodied consciousness of James Angleton
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
This is a foul development:
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
November 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
This is a foul development:
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
I first encountered Pollard's case through reading archival letters he wrote to prominent American Jewish figures in which he tried to portray himself as a martyr, and it was very evident from the tone that he was a remarkably mendacious and self-serving person.
November 20, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I first encountered Pollard's case through reading archival letters he wrote to prominent American Jewish figures in which he tried to portray himself as a martyr, and it was very evident from the tone that he was a remarkably mendacious and self-serving person.
Also: according to Hersh in a 1999 New Yorker expose, Israel turned around and passed the info provided by Pollard to the KGB, in order to curry favor with Moscow. In the world of intelligence, there are no friends, only interests.
so a couple of notes on this. a) everybody in US intelligence I've ever talked to about this *despises* Pollard, b) although he tried to portray himself as devoted to Israel, he was casting around to sell secrets to other people, including the South Africans, for cash.
November 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Also: according to Hersh in a 1999 New Yorker expose, Israel turned around and passed the info provided by Pollard to the KGB, in order to curry favor with Moscow. In the world of intelligence, there are no friends, only interests.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
"Papandreou wins that election if I don't help the Junta take him prisoner! I've advised and armed the Hellenic Army!"
November 20, 2025 at 1:01 AM
"Papandreou wins that election if I don't help the Junta take him prisoner! I've advised and armed the Hellenic Army!"
I had not realized that Kimberly Guilfoyle had been named US Ambassador to Greece, a place of significant historical importance for CIA activities—and which, as ambassador, she would be briefed about.
November 19, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I had not realized that Kimberly Guilfoyle had been named US Ambassador to Greece, a place of significant historical importance for CIA activities—and which, as ambassador, she would be briefed about.
Seriously, the movie rules. It follows the training and deployment of two OSS NOCs sent behind enemy lines, the first as a mechanic, the other a fisherman.
The OSS made an incredible TRAINING FILM, directed by JOHN FORD, about the dos and donts of nonofficial cover. It’s great!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
World War 2 Spy Training Film: Undercover | OSS Film | ca. 1944
YouTube video by The Best Film Archives
m.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Seriously, the movie rules. It follows the training and deployment of two OSS NOCs sent behind enemy lines, the first as a mechanic, the other a fisherman.
The OSS made an incredible TRAINING FILM, directed by JOHN FORD, about the dos and donts of nonofficial cover. It’s great!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
World War 2 Spy Training Film: Undercover | OSS Film | ca. 1944
YouTube video by The Best Film Archives
m.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:10 PM
The OSS made an incredible TRAINING FILM, directed by JOHN FORD, about the dos and donts of nonofficial cover. It’s great!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJf...
New DDoS technique just dropped.
cloudflare says today's outage was due to just one oversized file
www.axios.com/2025/11/18/c...
www.axios.com/2025/11/18/c...
Cloudflare traces hours-long outage to one single file
ChatGPT, X, Spotify and several other major online services were dark on Tuesday due to the outage
www.axios.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:39 PM
New DDoS technique just dropped.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
CIA cannot be a global intel service. It would need 10x the people, language skills, country knowledge it has. It relies on liaison with 60+ foreign services, some in nations decidedly not allies. And liasion with NATO nations is crumbling -- openly. It's all about trust. And trust has been broken.
November 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
CIA cannot be a global intel service. It would need 10x the people, language skills, country knowledge it has. It relies on liaison with 60+ foreign services, some in nations decidedly not allies. And liasion with NATO nations is crumbling -- openly. It's all about trust. And trust has been broken.
Beginning to believe liaison truly rules the world of US intelligence. There’s an amazing book to be written there.
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Beginning to believe liaison truly rules the world of US intelligence. There’s an amazing book to be written there.
He spied. He spied spies. He spied spies with his little eyes. But what *was* spying? And had he spied…me?
November 17, 2025 at 6:03 PM
He spied. He spied spies. He spied spies with his little eyes. But what *was* spying? And had he spied…me?
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
He loved to love, loving to love as only a lover loved to love. I was and am a professional writer, and in fact am being paid to write these sentences.
November 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM
He loved to love, loving to love as only a lover loved to love. I was and am a professional writer, and in fact am being paid to write these sentences.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
The “distract” discourse, whether from politicians or operatives or journalists, may well be THE stupidest discourse.
(serious unbiased journalist voice) “are you trying to distract from the president’s refusal to make health care affordable by pointing out that he was also friends with a pedophile?”
Margaret Brennan to Tom Suozzi: "Can you explain the focus this past week in the House by Democrats on the Jeffrey Epstein files? Is this a tactic to distract from the failure to extract healthcare changes?"
November 16, 2025 at 7:42 PM
The “distract” discourse, whether from politicians or operatives or journalists, may well be THE stupidest discourse.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
That’s the bummer about extrajudicial violence, it turns out there are no rules to prevent it from turning on you
November 15, 2025 at 10:33 PM
That’s the bummer about extrajudicial violence, it turns out there are no rules to prevent it from turning on you
Not a critique of Tom at all, but how quickly we’ve acculturated ourselves to a world where the president publicly orders an investigation, and his AG salutes in plain sight. The corpse of the post-Watergate era is well and truly rotted through.
Instead of just releasing the Epstein files, Trump ordered the DOJ to investigate Democrats and AG Pam Bondi is complying.
Are they setting up a pretext to block the release by arguing the files are now part of an active investigation? I’m not saying that would work, but he’s desperate to block.
Are they setting up a pretext to block the release by arguing the files are now part of an active investigation? I’m not saying that would work, but he’s desperate to block.
November 14, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Not a critique of Tom at all, but how quickly we’ve acculturated ourselves to a world where the president publicly orders an investigation, and his AG salutes in plain sight. The corpse of the post-Watergate era is well and truly rotted through.
The height of irony that someone failed to internalize Didion’s most famous dictum: that we tell ourselves stories in order to live.
November 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The height of irony that someone failed to internalize Didion’s most famous dictum: that we tell ourselves stories in order to live.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
just a lot of turning over stones to find maggots this week.
November 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
just a lot of turning over stones to find maggots this week.
Reposted by Zach Dorfman
Journalists aren't supposed to be the main character and when people start referring to them as "rock stars" shit has already come off the rails.
There are so many reporters who bust their asses in relative anonymity, for modest wages, and try—imperfectly, as all of us are—to uphold high ethical standards in their work. This kind of pseudo-celebrity treatment is grotesque, and particularly insulting, I think, to other female journalists.
November 14, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Journalists aren't supposed to be the main character and when people start referring to them as "rock stars" shit has already come off the rails.
There are so many reporters who bust their asses in relative anonymity, for modest wages, and try—imperfectly, as all of us are—to uphold high ethical standards in their work. This kind of pseudo-celebrity treatment is grotesque, and particularly insulting, I think, to other female journalists.
November 14, 2025 at 6:26 PM
There are so many reporters who bust their asses in relative anonymity, for modest wages, and try—imperfectly, as all of us are—to uphold high ethical standards in their work. This kind of pseudo-celebrity treatment is grotesque, and particularly insulting, I think, to other female journalists.
Why? Why? Why? Why?
you can’t be putting this in the paper (gift link but i do not recommend you use it www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/s...)
November 14, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Why? Why? Why? Why?