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Articles on CIA

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Israeli soldiers move past a military medical vehicle on Oct. 10, 2023, at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz where Hamas militants killed Israelis days before. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

How did Israeli intelligence miss Hamas’ preparations to attack? A US counterterrorism expert explains how Israeli intelligence works

Israel’s intelligence capacities are considered some of the best in the world – but unlike the US, it does not have a central organization coordinating all intelligence.
Special counsel Jack Smith prepares to talk to reporters on June 9, 2023, after the indictment of former President Donald Trump. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump indictment unsealed – a criminal law scholar explains what the charges mean, and what prosecutors will now need to prove

There are 38 felony charges against former President Donald Trump, and while it’s unlikely, he could potentially be sentenced to serve 400 years if found guilty on all of them.
Former President Donald Trump was on the campaign trail in early June 2023, as an investigation continued that led to his indictment on federal charges. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Trump charged under Espionage Act – which covers a lot more crimes than just spying

Spy cases are rare. More typically, as in the Trump indictment, the act applies to the unauthorized gathering, possessing or transmitting of certain sensitive government information.
Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor. ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR

Deep seabed mining plans pit renewable energy demand against ocean life in a largely unexplored frontier

Mining nodules from the deep ocean seabed could provide the metals crucial for today’s EV batteries and renewable energy technology, but little is known about the harm it could cause.
US president Joe Biden speaks with his ‘old friend’, CIA director William J Burns (left), during a national security team meeting in the White House. Adam Schultz/White House Photo/Alamy

The inside story of the CIA v Russia – from cold war conspiracy to ‘black’ propaganda in Ukraine

With a formidable Kremlinologist in charge and Donald Trump out of the presidential picture, has the CIA regained its influence amid the ‘new cold war’?
Former President Donald Trump, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Aug. 6, 2022, in Dallas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

You don’t have to be a spy to violate the Espionage Act – and other crucial facts about the law Trump may have broken

Two national security law experts explain how the Espionage Act isn’t only about international intrigue, and share other important points about the law that was invoked in a search of Trump’s estate.
Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee Sam Ervin sits with Chief Counsel Sam Dash, Sen. Howard Baker, staffer Rufus Edmiston and others as they listen to a witness during the Watergate hearings. Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

What 5 previous congressional investigations can teach us about the House Jan. 6 committee hearings

The public hearings of the House Jan. 6 investigative committee will deal with unprecedented events in American history, but the very investigation of these events has strong precedent.
Police patrol outside the Embassy of Taiwan in Port-au-Prince on July 9, 2021, after 11 suspected assassins of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse broke into its embassy in an attempt to flee. Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via Getty Images

Assassinations and invasions – how the US and France shaped Haiti’s long history of political turmoil

Local power struggles and strong US interests have long shaped political leadership – and presidential assassinations – in Haiti, limiting nation-building projects on the Caribbean island.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays British businessman Greville Wynne who gets caught up in espionage during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Liam Daniel

How ordinary people are convinced to become spies

American intelligence has recognised there are four reasons why a ‘normal’ person might be convinced to spy.

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