A Silicon Valley-based nuclear spy for Moscow. A secret CIA agent in the Soviet camp. And a team of FBI agents and prosecutors hunting for the hidden U.S. turncoat.
SPY VALLEY. The entire 6-part miniseries out now.
Zach Dorfman
Writer/Producer at Project Brazen. National security reporter.
Email: zach@projectbrazen.com OR thebrushpass1@protonmail.com
WASHINGTON FOLKS! Come to the Spy Museum on 9/14 for a fantastic panel about the SPY VALLEY podcast and the history of espionage in Silicon Valley!
Featuring the WSJ’s Sharon Weinberger, veteran FBI agent David Major, fmr federal prosecutor John Gibbons, and me.
https://www.spymuseum.org/calendar/spy-valley-an-engineer-s-nuclear-betrayal/2023-09-14/
@howelloneill thanks man! So glad you’re enjoying
OUT NOW! The *season finale* of SPY VALLEY.
A Silicon Valley nuclear spy for Moscow, a secret CIA mole within the Soviet Bloc spy services, and the FBI spyhunters and federal prosecutors trying to solve the case.
The Pentagon once mistakenly sent a classified ballistic missile report to a convicted U.S. spy in federal prison.
SAN FRANCISCO! Interested in spying, Silicon Valley, and the Cold War? Come to a KQED event tomorrow in the Mission at 6pm for a discussion about the SPY VALLEY podcast. Drinks to follow!
NEW: the 3rd episode of SPY VALLEY, my
@projectbrazen
podcast on a wild Cold War-era Silicon Valley spy story, is out today.
Drawn from declassified communist intel archives; 1000s of pages of FOIA’d docs, & hours of interviews with the US spy himself.
https://link.chtbl.com/spyvalley?at=1010l39W4&sid=fm.website
NEW Brush Pass newsletter: On what it was like to get to know James Harper, the American nuclear spy for the Soviet Bloc featured in my new “Spy Valley” podcast: https://thebrushpass.projectbrazen.com/on-getting-to-know-an-american-spy-for-moscow/
Coming TOMORROW wherever you get your podcasts.
Zach Dorfman boosted:
Scoop: Hackers linked to Beijing accessed the email account of the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns in a breach believed to have compromised at least hundreds of thousands of emails, sources said.
SPY VALLEY//7.24.23
Trailer: https://link.chtbl.com/spyvalley
A new podcast on the case of James Harper: Silicon Valley engineer, inventor of the digital stopwatch—& notorious Soviet Bloc nuclear spy.
You’ll hear this story from FBI agents, prosecutors…& Harper himself.
Spy Valley,” my Project Brazen podcast series on the evolution of espionage in Silicon Valley—focusing on an incredible cold war-era case—drops in July.
I can’t wait to share it. I promise you’ve never heard anything like it.
Chandelier toilet. Makeshift fake SCIF. I’m at the combination chandelier toilet makeshift fake SCIF.
Interesting #RSAC2023 talk featuring Illia Vitiuk, the SBU’s top cybersecurity official. He quoted, separately, Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. When it comes to public diplomacy, the Ukrainians know their audience.
I was also particularly struck by Vitiuk’s remarks that:
—While GRU cyberattacks dominated the earlier stages of the war, the SVR has become more active lately
—Kinetic attacks by Russia on infrastructure and other targets have been often preceded by (failed) cyberattacks.
—Finally, Vitiuk, the top Ukrainian cybersecurity official, said that American threat intel firms have offered significant pro bono work to assist the SBU.
@activemeasuresllc the photo!
@activemeasuresllc I both love this and hate it
@chetwisniewski email me at zach@projectbrazen.com!
Are you—yes, you!—going to RSA? Get in touch, and we’ll talk cybersecurity and/or national security.
New, from me: on the “Dumb Starbucks” of leak scandals.
@WylieNewmark I love Westerby though I’m uncomfortable with his cover
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.07
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst