Michael Weiss

Michael Weiss

Journalist and Writer

Holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth College. Worked as a war correspondent covering Syria for The Daily Telegraph, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. Co-author of the bestselling book ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. Founded the online journal The Interpreter in 2013, specializing in the translation and analysis of Russian media. Former editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. Currently a correspondent for Yahoo News and editor-in-chief of the English edition of The Insider.

8 Publications

Publications

8 publications
The Lubyanka Files

29 KGB Training Manuals (1965–1989)

Mostly Russian originals

Article Oct 16, 2022
Politics

You Don’t Have to Be Recruited to Work for Russian Intelligence

A classified KGB training manual on “confidential contacts” explores the gray area between informant and agent.

Article Feb 4, 2021
Kremlin's Malign Influence

Aquarium Leaks. Inside the GRU’s Psychological Warfare Program

In this exclusive and groundbreaking report, Free Russia Foundation has translated and published five documents from the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. The documents, obtained and analyzed by…

Report Dec 7, 2020
Politics

The Company You Keep: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Influence Operations in Africa

Yevgeny Prigozhin, or "Putin's chef," as he's called in the press, is notorious for two things: dispatching Russian mercenaries into war zones and running a troll farm accused…

Report Sep 29, 2020
Civil Society

“Recruitment or Elimination: The Kremlin’s Dark History of Dealing with Ethnic Russians Beyond Russia’s Borders”

On May 5, 2018, New York became a parade ground for two diasporas commemorating a distinct source of ethnic pride. Cinco de Mayo commanded the larger following that…

Article Feb 10, 2020
Politics

How the KGB Compensated for Perestroika

In addition to its espionage abroad, the KGB was always busy recruiting foreign nationals in the Soviet Union, with an eye to subsequently running them as agents in their home countries

Article Jan 21, 2020
Kremlin's Malign Influence

Michael Weiss: Misrule of Law: How the Kremlin Uses Western Institutions to Undermine the West

Watch the full version of the "Misrule of Law: How the Kremlin Uses Western Institutions to Undermine the West" report presentation in Kyiv, Ukraine. Speaker: Michael Weiss, the…

Article Nov 18, 2019
Politics

The Lubyanka Files. Here’s How the KGB Knew You’d Be a Traitor: an Exclusive Look at Its Recruitment Manual

The bottom line for spy recruitment comes down to this: look for the losers, especially the ones who want to think they are winners because they hang on…

Article Nov 5, 2019

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