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CIA

Scott Adams, with the FBI logo in the background | Illustration: DAN ROSENSTRAUCH/TNS/Newscom/Rokas Tenys/Dreamstime

FOIA

Why did the FBI Want Dilbert Creator Scott Adams' Twitter Data?

The cartoonist caught the FBI’s attention over a bizarre scheme involving Matt Gaetz, a CIA agent held captive in Iran, and a Florida fraudster.

Matthew Petti | 6.1.2026 4:53 PM

Against a red background, a soldier with a black beret is seated, with an image of a dolphin behind him, and there are circles emanating from around his face. | Illustration: Midjourney

History

Psychic Soldiers, Mind Readers, and Dolphin Drones: The Cold War's Weird Paranormal History

How Soviet séances and CIA remote viewers sparked a decades-long arms race no one was supposed to know about

Arthur McFarlane | 5.31.2026 8:00 AM

Rand Paul | Andrew Thomas / CNP /MediaPunch / MEGA / Newscom/YBDAN/Newscom

Pandemic

Whistleblower Tells Congress the CIA Illegally Spied on White House Officials Investigating COVID Origins

CIA officer James Erdman told the Senate's Homeland Security Committee that his employer suppressed its own assessments that COVID likely came from a lab.

Christian Britschgi | 5.13.2026 5:25 PM

minis_churchCommitteeReport | Photo: The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into the National Security State/W. W. Norton & Company

Surveillance

Review: Church Committee Report on Illegal Spying Is Relevant Again in the Trump Era

A new book revisits this 50-year-old Watergate report as President Donald Trump pursues his own politically motivated investigations.

C.J. Ciaramella | 4.3.2026 6:30 AM

People hold a Chagos flag in front of a campaign banner | Photo: News Licensing / MEGA / Newscom/NEWSUK/Newscom

Foreign Policy

The Islanders Expelled To Build the West's Middle East Fortress

The British Empire evacuated the Chagos Islands to build a military base, which the U.S. is using in the Iran War. Now, a court ruling is giving the original owners hope of going home.

Matthew Petti | 4.1.2026 2:25 PM

Tulsi-Joe-3-18 | Mattie Neretin - CNP/Polaris/Newscom/US Central Command/ Abaca Press/Gripas Yuri/Abaca/Sipa USA/Newscom

War

Joe Kent Is the First Iran War Crack in the Trump Admin

The top intelligence official resigned because there was no “imminent threat” from Iran and blamed Israel for starting the war.

Matthew Petti | 3.18.2026 3:35 PM

minisProjectMindControl | St. Martin's Press

Psychedelics

Review: When the CIA Tried To Unlock Mind Control

Project Mind Control tells the story of the federal government's failed MKUltra program.

Brian Doherty | 12.12.2025 6:00 AM

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) (R) speaks alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) (L), and Epstein abuse survivors during a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on November 18, 2025. | Mehmet Eser/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Jeffrey Epstein

Congress Votes To Open Up the Epstein Files

There probably is no “client list,” but the files could help answer some pressing questions—and open the door to more revelations.

Matthew Petti | 11.19.2025 10:45 AM

United States Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listen to United States President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia speak during a news conference September 27, 2003 at Camp David, Maryland. | Mark Wilson/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom

Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney, Vice President and Self-Described 'Darth Vader,' Was a Champion of the War State

The former vice president liked being compared to the supervillain as a joke. But he had seriously villainous effects on millions of people in real life.

Matthew Petti | 11.4.2025 1:15 PM

7-31-25-v3-b | Graphic by Eddie Marshall

Surveillance

Patrick Eddington: How to 'Tyranny-Proof' America

The former CIA analyst and Cato scholar discusses Palantir, Trump's new national database, and the sordid history of federal law enforcement on Just Asking Questions.

Zach Weissmueller | 7.31.2025 5:10 PM

Large bold text at the top reads “GOVERNMENT BRAINWASHING.” In the foreground, historian John Lisle (center) wears a pink shirt and is speaking. To the right is host Nick Gillespie, wearing a black shirt. In the background, a black-and-white image shows a man seen from behind being hypnotized by a hand swinging two pocket watches. | Illustration: Eddie Marshall

CIA

How a Government Mind Control Experiment Backfired

Historian John Lisle uncovers how Cold War paranoia, LSD, and unchecked power led the CIA to fund torture, deception, and mind control experiments on unwitting Americans.

Nick Gillespie | 7.16.2025 11:00 AM

Case files from the civil lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein on display outside the Palm Beach County Court in Florida on Dec. 4, 2018. | Emily Michot/Newscom

Conspiracy Theories

There's Probably No 'Smoking Gun' in the JFK or Epstein Cases. We Should Be Allowed To Look Anyway.

You don't need to uncover a vast conspiracy to find valuable revelations—and without transparency, you don't know what revelations might be there.

Matthew Petti | 7.14.2025 3:45 PM

William F. Buckley in front of an American flag | Illustration: Eddie Marshall | Reagan White House Photographs |  White House Photographic Collection | ChatGPT

Conservatism

Did Bill Buckley Really Lead a Successful Revolution?

You can hear echoes of Buckley's early career in more than one MAGA crusader's rhetoric today. That's not a sign of a man who won.

Brian Doherty | 6.3.2025 7:00 AM

Text reading "Bottoms up and the devil laughs" surrounded by four piles of paper, with a white image of a devil. | Illustration: Alfred A. Knopf publishing; Lex Villenas; Vlntn

War

The Degraded Currency of the Shadow Government

Official secrets keep proliferating.

Kerry Howley | 3.21.2023 8:00 AM

Moments before the JFK assassination on November 22, 1963. | Pixabay

Transparency

It's Way Past Time To Release the Rest of the JFK Assassination Files

Joe Biden just declassified another batch, but the government is still keeping some under wraps.

Jesse Walker | 12.16.2022 12:30 PM

Utah Senate Candidate Evan McMullin and his Ugly CIA History | Illustration: Lex Villena; Ben P L

Utah

In Utah Senate Race, Evan McMullin Has To Reckon With an Ugly History

In a campaign where much of the focus has been on Donald Trump and January 6, McMullin's CIA career deserves more interrogation.

Eric Boehm | 10.17.2022 10:30 AM

Tibet uprising

Tibet's armed resistance to Chinese invasion

Part 3: Eastern Tibet is liberated 1956-57

David Kopel |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.14.2022 4:29 PM

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