The diagram above (Figure 3) is one of my favorites. It sketches a complete threat landscape as seen at the time: hardware faults, software gaps, operators, maintenance staff, remote consoles, and the communications lines themselves. We may as well be looking at a diagram of recent years security issues, and I am confident that in some organisations most of these threats are not as clear as this diagram shows!

Another thing that blows my mind is the timing. The report came out in 1970, sixteen years before Cliff Stoll’s Cuckoo’s Egg investigation in 1986, and eighteen years before the Morris Worm in 1988! The report is an excellent reminder that the security problems have been known for a very long time, but that does not make them easy to solve.

Let no one say the past is dead. The past is all about us and within. – Oodgeroo Noonuccal

‘The Invisible Spy: Churchill’s Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II’ tries to tell the story of Ernest Cuneo, how he acted as a middle man between US agencies, how he worked with foreign services, and how MI6 apparently ran a base out of New York.

Honestly, it had potential to be a great read. However, this is one of those books that you wish the author would have hired a better editor or maybe listened to their editor feedback. The narrative jumps around, repeats itself, and struggles to land a clear point. I struggled to pull out useful insights or even build a clear timeline.

I think that in the end, the book fails to inform or educate, which is frustrating given the subject. I am baffled it earned so many positive reviews elsewhere.

I picked ‘Mr. Capone: The Real—and Complete—Story of Al Capone’ to get more context on how Capone really operated, and I ended up loving this book. The book gives plenty of detail on immigration, the Chicago of that time, and how the crime families got going once Prohibition gave them room to expand.

It can get a bit romantic at moments, but there is enough practical information on how they moved money and enforced power to keep it grounded. The final part slows down for me, yet overall it is a fun and informative read on Capone and the world around him. I learned so much!

I picked up ‘Topos by Hugo Alconada Mon (2025)’ expecting a tight investigation into the Russian spies who lived quietly in Argentina with their kids before being exposed. The premise promised Cold War intrigue transplanted to Buenos Aires suburbs.

The book does recount the basics of the couple and their children, but it never goes beyond a superficial retelling. It feels thin on reporting and light on context, with big gaps where answers or sourcing should be. The narrative wanders and offers little meaningful insight into why they were there, what their mission really was, or how the case was ultimately uncovered.

As an investigative work, it falls short. There is no real sense of discovery, no sharp questions asked or answered, and the prose never compensates for the lack of substance. I wouldn’t recommend it.

I found Anne Applebaum’s latest book, ‘Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World by Anne Applebaum (2024)’, a very insightful read. The book puts into words and evidences some of what has been intuitively felt for quite some time already: the world is even more interconnected than what we believe. A leader of a failed state is not alone in his efforts to cling to power; on the contrary, staying in power is quite essential to other failed states and non-democratic governments.

It is not an objective book, but it is good food for thought.

This week I had to move things around and I couldn’t work out for a few days, and instead of the common feeling of relief (yeah, day off !), I found myself actually missing the workouts.

My friends and I joke that I don’t get ‘the feeling’. Endorphins? I don’t have those. Do I ever miss working out? Not me. But this week, it all clicked, and I just wanted to get out there. It seems like a miracle in my books.

I love the work I do, and right now, I need my body to be fit enough so it can carry me through the rest of the things I still want to do. My goal now is twofold: build muscle and win the chronic dehydration battle.

Loved this

This week, I found a new podcast episode that I loved. The show is called ‘The Imperfects’. I can see how this lured me in, being a perfectionist myself. Season 6, Episode 19 talks about habits with the author of ‘Atomic Habits’, James Clear. It is a great, uplifting episode that will get you thinking.

One of the key challenges in modern days is how to communicate something so that our message is delivered and how to explain a key idea so that readers understand what we want them to understand. This is as important in science communication or intelligence work. The cost or penalty of our inability to explain a key point can have disastrous effects.

In his book “The Art of Explanation”, Ros Atkins distills his life experience in radio and television on how to better. Throughout the book, he explains how “Explanations can be undone by distractions of our own making”. It is a fast read, with a nice mix of introducing new concepts and real-life stories and examples.

I purchased this book as I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of material I had to go through for my master’s studies, where each module includes a series of ‘must-reads’ within the 3-month duration of each module, which can go between 10 to 15 books per class. Ros’ book shows how, in his job, they have to become experts in a topic overnight. How they are able to comb through large quantities of material and reduce it to a couple of sentences that can clearly convey a certain point or message or explain a topic in just a few minutes of time.

I read the book online, and got the printed version as well to be able to consult the book on-demand while I am writing my essays.

I am very mindful of my posture when sitting, but the thing is that even if I have a good posture, sitting in that same posture for 10 hours is still bad for the body.

A few weeks ago, my physiotherapist created a routine for me to help with the back pain. We agree on a 30 minute sitting posture rotation: two sitting and one standing, and I rotate at regular intervals to make sure the body does not get super stiff. The deal is that between the rotations, I take a 5-minute walk or activity (stepper counts!) to make sure the body moves before shifting into the new posture.

Today, I finally got my standing desk at home to fully embrace the rotations and, more importantly, to be able to touch the ground with my feet. I am not a short person, but the fact that the standing desk can be lowered enough so I can put my feet on the ground and at the same time have the keyboard at a healthy level is a huge thing. Both at work and home I have some foot rest to maintain the posture and make sure my legs are not left hanging. Most desks are built for taller people. Now, I am happy to get rid of the foot rest!

Even without the standing desk, my back was already getting better, rotating more, so I am hoping this further helps the health of my back.

Small steps are better than no steps at all o/

In my quest to understand more about the history of intelligence and intelligence studies, I realized I needed to learn more about the Contras and the role of the CIA during that time. I am happy to have chosen Gary Webb’s book ‘Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion’. It was published in 1998, and it is one of the best pieces of investigative journalism that I had the pleasure to read. Detailed and backed up with good research, Gary Webb manages to provide a detailed (and not boring at all) account of the rise of crack cocaine in the US, its impact in Central America, the role of the CIA, and many other aspects that are often not easy to find.

Being from Argentina, you grow up hearing about the meddling of the CIA in South American affairs, and it’s hard to distinguish what is true and what is an exaggeration. In many sections of the book, I was surprised and shocked (the joke’s on me; I should know better!) to learn that many of the things I did hear were actually true and probably worse than what I heard.

If you read one book on this, this is a good choice. The audiobook version is equally good in quality.

One of my latest reads this month has been ‘Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West’ by Calder Walton. It was published in June 2023.

I consider this book a new essential read. It gives a very good overview of the last 80 years of the intelligence war between East and West, America and Russia, Capitalism and Communism. While I have been studying intelligence and security books for the last two years, this book felt what I needed when I was starting my master studies. It goes suprisingly deep and at the same time moves forward at a quick pace. It covers very essential topics from before WWII, the start of the cold war, the end, and the rise of a new global situation. Are we heading into a new cold war?