I'm happy to share that my second book, Wiring an Empire: Information Networks and U.S. Global Power in the Cold War, is under advance contract with MIT Press.

From the National Reconnaissance Office "Space Race Wasn't Just about the Moon." Good to see the NRO making its history as the single largest source of U.S. intelligence during the Cold War more accessible www.youtube.com/shorts/m4f0K...

Interesting new article in JSS about Norwegian-US nuclear intelligence sharing www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

On 3 Oct I'll be in London to give a talk at RUSI about the origins/ evolution of space-based missile defense and its implications for space security and the transatlantic alliance. If you happen to be in London and are interested, the registration details are below: my.rusi.org/events/the-e...

🚨 How & why do nuclear delivery vehicles proliferate? My article on the spread of delivery vehicles is out at Security Studies! #OpenAccess It explains: - Why the NPT allows nuclear delivery vehicles to spread - How did India acquire its #nuclear delivery technology tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From a 1978 NDAA authorization hearing, the U.S. Worldwide Military Command and Control System

I'm thrilled and honored to see that my book, Weapons in Space, has been placed on the Chief of the Air Staff's (U.K. Royal Air Force) 2025 reading list. airspacepower.com/wp-content/u...

I have a new book coming out this autumn via @mitpress.bsky.social ...details at: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255348... #HistSci #Computing #History #Books 🗃️

Many thanks to Australia National University for hosting @fiona-cunningham.bsky.social and me in Canberra last week to discuss strategic deterrence from the Cold War to today!

Found this in the Australian National Archives: message from Sep 1914 that describes when German forces landed on Fanning Island to cut the British Pacific Cable.

This is the declassified effectiveness criteria, from the late '80s, for SDI. The JCS intended for it to be able to destroy 50% of an SS-18 attack and 30% of all other Soviet missile systems. I discuss this in chapter six of my book. BL: 100% was never the *official* goal.

Satellite tracking station on Ascension Island. Since the 1960s, the facility has supported US missile tests and satellite launches from Cape Canaveral.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving out to the Deep Space Communications Complex outside Canberra, Australia that is used to track and communicates w/ NASA spacecraft. The site played a critical role in the Apollo program. Quite a sight seeing sheep grazing near the gigantic antennas.

Early cybersecurity: this declassified 1982 memo discusses potential Soviet exploitation of commercially provided computer database services

To contend with accidental undersea cable breaks and possible sabotage, the United States and allies must expand their repair infrastructure, writes @aaronbateman.bsky.social. "To keep the world’s data flowing, countries need to quickly fix broken undersea cables." ⬇️

Declassified memo from Gus Weiss on computer exports to China in the early 1980s

Stretching more than 1 million km, submarine cables serve as the global information highway. To keep data flowing in case of breaks, the U.S. and its allies must expand their repair infrastructure, explains @aaronbateman.bsky.social in a piece for @thebulletin.org. thebulletin.org/2025/07/to-k...

My latest in the Bulletin: Subsea cables that carry over 95% of global telecommunications are inextricably linked with US national security, but they are vulnerable. I use lessons from the Cold War to recommend strategies for making them more resilient. thebulletin.org/2025/07/to-k...

That time the US briefed senior Vatican officials on SDI as a measure to get the pope on the administration’s side. This declassified memo is the prelude to the first of multiple

Strategic Air Command “Concept of Deterrence”

Declassified memo for President Kennedy outlining command and control challenges

Returning to a classic

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference Need to Know XIV: In a world of mirrors. Intelligence and Disinformation, Cracow (Kraków), Poland, November 27-28, 2025 eng.ipn.gov.pl/en/news/1189...

Declassified CIA graphic from the 1980s that shows the Soviet military (and intelligence) presence abroad.

🧵 #VEDay80 Much has been made of the role of Bletchley Park and ULTRA during #WW2 yet the role of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) was often underplayed. ⬇️ JIC chair Victor Cavendish-Bentinck noted SIS had "failed badly" initially and had been "saved" by ULTRA. #VEDay80

A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at what can happen when two opposing sides are using the same cryptosystems.

“Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin” Soviet space tracking vessel, the largest of its kind

Another new blogpost, more (complex!) #Russian RPO: " RPO Galore: the complex proximity operations of #Kosmos 2581, Kosmos 2582, Kosmos 2583 and 'Object F' " sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2025/06/rpo-...

I thoroughly enjoyed chairing this panel showcasing excellent new work on space history in a global context. Definitely take a look at the fantastic work of these four scholars.

Excited to speak @shafrhistorians.bsky.social #shafr2025 this week - I'll present on Cuba & communications satellite regulation in the global Cold War Honored to join the panel Empire, Security & Militarism in the Final Frontier w Andrew Ross, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social, @aaronbateman.bsky.social

Really interesting history on the MIT Haystack radar, an important tool for space surveillance and astronomy www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/24/1...

What a wonderful H-Net review for our own @aaronbateman.bsky.social 's Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative Weapons in Space! networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

Nice photo of one of the antennas at the National Security Agency's Stonehouse site in Ethiopia that was used until ~1977 to collect telemetry from Soviet spacecraft (among other intelligence activities)

A journalist asked me about some key books on the history of industrial labs in the US and elsewhere...I had a few ideas but I'm sure I missed some. Suggestions? #HistSci

50 free copies of my article, "Hunting the Red Bear: Satellite Reconnaissance and the 'Second Offset Strategy' in the Late Cold War" are available here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MG7WP...

New from the National Security Archive nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...

As technology transforms our world, our books and journals explore the many questions, hopes, and fears that arise in this new era of automation and AI. Visit us at booth #928 during #ICRA2025 for the latest on #machinelearning, #AI, and #robotics: mitpress.mit.edu/icra2025/

Congratulations, @aaronbateman.bsky.social for the super review: "Weapons in Space makes a significant contribution to the current debate on the benefits and drawbacks of space exploitation for military purposes." We agree! issforum.org/ISSF/PDF/RE1...

This is a really interesting (and rare) declassified document on the effects of Soviet communications security on U.S. ocean surveillance in the 1970s.

This open access article by Mary Bridges on the infrastructural turn in historical scholarship is really fantastic. Highly recommend. www.cambridge.org/core/service...

The National Security Archive is always looking for interns. Help support our mission by applying now. See our jobs and internships page here: nsarchive.gwu.edu/jobs-interns...

A reminder that access to spectrum is vital for civilian and military purposes and there are frequently clashes between commercial and national security interests. www.defenseone.com/defense-syst...

Reminder that @fiona-cunningham.bsky.social is joining us for a virtual book talk this Thursday! 15:00 UK time, 15th May. Registration details below

@jrogg.bsky.social 's upcoming release, The Spy and the State, already is making waves. We can't wait for the June 2 release. www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

Declassified study from the early 1960s on the security advantages of satellite communications over other transmission technologies. The observation about traffic analysis is esp. interesting.

Charles Tilston Bright, who died #OnThisDay 1888, was among the Victorian MPs who came from scientific & engineering backgrounds. He was Lib MP for Greenwich, 1865-8, but better known for overseeing the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/m...

The first shipborne satellite communications terminal in 1963. That radome protected a 30 ft antenna.

I’m excited to discuss my book “Under the Nuclear Shadow” on China and strategic deterrence in the info age at @perryworldhouse.bsky.social with @financialtimes.com US-China correspondent Demetri Sevastopulo TODAY! Details here perryworldhouse.upenn.edu/events/under... @princetonupress.bsky.social

China successfully launched the third batch of Guowang LEO comms satellites at 2010 UTC, April 28, via a Long March 5B with a YZ-2 upper stage from Wenchang spaceport. This was China's 23rd orbital launch of 2025. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fwQGBILmCg...