The best National Security newsletters

SpyTalk covers the intelligence world through investigative reporting, historical deep dives, interviews and a weekly roundup of spy news. Readers get reporting and analysis on the CIA, FBI, Russia, Ukraine and national security politics.

Consensus Drift analyzes how government decisions shape the politics and political economy of the digital stack, with recent issues covering AI kill switch legislation, federal influence on frontier model release timing, and European tech sovereignty. Readers get policy-focused analysis grounded in specific bills, executive orders, and international relations scholarship.

The Irregular Warfare Initiative newsletter collects scholarly and practitioner analysis on irregular warfare, proxy conflicts, gray zone activity and hybrid threats. Readers get long-form articles, expert conversations and weekly roundups aimed at policy and security communities.

Covers defense technology, acquisition policy, budgets and industrial base issues, mixing weekly news headlines with deeper analysis pieces. Readers get explanations of Pentagon programs, appropriations and procurement dynamics aimed at helping them work with the Department.

The Stanford Review is an independent student newspaper covering Stanford University, mixing long-form interviews with academics and investigative reporting on campus groups and their outside ties. Readers get reported stories with primary-source detail, such as an interview with a finance professor and an investigation into a student club's links to an OpenAI engineer.

Independent reporting and commentary on the U.S. national security state, the Pentagon and politics, written from a strongly critical point of view. Recent issues examine the planned execution of Nidal Hasan, military execution protocols, and how the media framed Trump's decision to cancel a livestream.

PREVAIL is a political commentary newsletter by Greg Olear covering national security, foreign affairs, corruption, and democracy, with Sunday installments on film, poetry, and literature. Readers get critical analysis of Trump-Russia ties and US politics alongside satirical and literary essays.

Newsletter from the Special Competitive Studies Project, a US think tank, covering technology and national security policy. Issues include in-depth analysis pieces by SCSP staff and a weekly podcast-style tech brief with expert guests.

Forever Wars covers the US national security state, endless war, and the military-industrial complex through reported analysis and commentary. Issues connect the War on Terror to current immigration enforcement, Pentagon financing and foreign interventions, with occasional author news.

A weekly digest of developments in the public disclosure of UAP and non-human intelligence, with claims linked to primary sources such as documents, clips and official statements. It also offers catch-up summaries and notes where claims lack corroboration.

Peter E. Harrell, a lawyer and scholar, writes mainly about international economics, with recent issues covering US tariff politics, the Trump-Xi summit, and national security import controls. The newsletter offers informed, first-hand policy analysis from someone who testified to Congress on the subject.

Long-form podcast interviews with founders, scientists, economists and public intellectuals, with a current multi-part series on building compute and AI infrastructure in Australia. The newsletter also shares curated reading links and excerpts from recent episodes.

A weekly newsletter by a former Trump-administration national security official turned whistleblower, commenting on US politics, national security and the week's headlines. Issues mix first-person accounts, analysis of Trump administration actions, and a Saturday roundup of news items.

Seymour Hersh publishes investigative and political commentary on US politics and foreign policy, drawing on anonymous insider sources. Recent issues cover Trump's midterm election strategy, secret US-Iran nuclear talks, and political spending and conflicts of interest around the administration.

Alex Phillips writes opinionated commentary on UK politics, security and the far right, with a provocative, florid voice. Readers get strong personal takes on news events such as unrest in France, Marco Rubio's rhetoric and an alleged terror plot against RAF Fairford, though the claims are often one-sided and loosely supported.

A daily geopolitical briefing from Milan that frames each day's news around US and Israeli military posture toward Iran, sanctions and shadow-fleet enforcement. Each issue pairs a headline with a short 'look closer' analysis of what the development signals.

Updates from US Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, mostly short posts linking to her video responses and weekly 'Intel Brief' segments. Readers get her stance on Trump administration actions, Michigan manufacturing and local issues, and national security.

A preparedness newsletter that pairs alarming framing about grid attacks, extremist threats and 911 outages with paywalled 'Guardian' tips and promotional calls to subscribe. The free excerpts mix cited news events with a strong upsell and urgent, fear-driven language.

A Substack from former FBI counterintelligence official Frank Figliuzzi, mostly promoting live video conversations with guests on national security, Russia policy and the Trump administration. Issues are largely show announcements and chapter listings, with little written analysis in the excerpts.