I’m looking forward to giving a talk in Singapore next week on the role of terrestrial space infrastructure in shaping US alliances from the Cold War to today. If you are Singapore based and interested in attending, registration details can be found below: rsis.edu.sg/event/rsis-s...

1) ***Announcement*** The new Fall 2025 issue is online! Read articles by Marc Trachtenberg, @aaronbateman.bsky.social, @ajmount.bsky.social, Dong Jung Kim, and @mikegoldfien.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/isec/issue @mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social

3) “U.S. Space Power and Alliance Dynamics in the Cold War,” by @aaronbateman.bsky.social doi.org/10.1162/ISEC... This article is Open Access.

I'm pleased to share my open access article in International Security on the role of allies in U.S. space power. direct.mit.edu/isec/article...

"Weapons in Space" by @aaronbateman.bsky.social is a must-read for those wanting to understand the origins of arms control in space - it's now open access! 🏃

Many thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social for generously making the digital version of my book, Weapons in Space, open access! It can be accessed here: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

Fall 2025 issue preview @intsecurity.bsky.social! M. Trachtenberg | rules-based international order @aaronbateman.bsky.social | U.S. space power @ajmount.bsky.social | conventional deterrence of nuclear use DJ Kim | clients’ demand evasion @mikegoldfien.bsky.social | hawks, doves, & rapprochement

I'm thrilled to have an article in the fall volume of International Security on the role of allies in U.S. space power during the Cold War!

The IHPST is hiring! Assistant Professor - Philosophy of Science and/or Technology. jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

job alert: My department is now running a search to fill a newly inaugurated endowed chair in the History of Technology. Please consider applying/share widely. I'm not on the committee, but happy to answer questions or connect you with those who are. Details here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09897

Many thanks to RUSI for hosting me in London to talk about space security and the transatlantic alliance from the Cold War to today

After a long hiatus, AIP's postdoc position for historians of the physical sciences is back! 3 years, $77,500 per year + benefits. Work in the Washington, DC area, close to Univ of Maryland. Open to US citizens/permanent residents. Apply by Nov. 15! #histsci workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

Beautiful approach into Heathrow this morning

At the Elliott School of International Affairs we are searching for a senior scholar (associate or full) of international security who will also be appointed to the Political Science Department. Elliott is a fantastic community. See details below: www.gwu.jobs/postings/122...

Here's a post I've wanted to write up for awhile, tracing the history of the idea of a "Doomsday Machine," from fact to fiction (or maybe it was always, to some degree, fiction): doomsdaymachines.net/p/inventing-...

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