The congressman who spied for Russia

The Agent podcast reveals the true story of a long-term KGB agent in America

Narrated through firsthand interviews, The Agent tells how Jack Barsky (born Albrecht Dittrich) spent a decade undercover as a Soviet KGB “illegal” in the US, balancing dual identities in Queens—from insurance programmer to deep-cover spy—until a crisis forced him to choose between loyalty and family.

The FBI investigated John Steinbeck, believing he might be a communist.

Spies working on the Manhattan Project propelled the Soviet bomb program

Soviet infiltration—most notably by Klaus Fuchs—smuggled detailed implosion-design and hydrogen‑bomb data from Los Alamos to Moscow, cutting the USSR’s development time by at least a year and enabling their first atomic test in August 1949.

John Dingell Jr. was the longest-serving member of the House

John Dingell Jr. served 59 years in the United States House of Representatives, representing his Michigan constituents. This list highlights the 33 House members in US history who have served 40 years or longer.

The Kennan Telegram shaped early US Cold War strategy

In 1946, diplomat George Kennan sent a long telegram from Moscow warning that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist. His analysis laid the groundwork for the US policy of containment that defined the early Cold War.

Burglars accessed the DNC once before their failed June 17 attempt

Long before the notorious June 17 intrusion, the burglars successfully accessed and planted listening devices in the DNC offices on May 28—showing how deeply premeditated the operation was and how the scandal's roots stretched back well before the arrests.

There are ETFs that track lawmakers' stock purchases

If you can’t get enough politics in your life, why not invest like a politician? Because members of Congress are required to disclose their stock purchases, you can do just that, and the NANC and KRUZ ETFs make it even easier. NANC, referencing Nancy Pelosi, holds a basket of stocks that Democratic politicians have purchased. KRUZ, referencing Ted Cruz, holds a basket of Republican-held stocks.

How Congressional oversight can override confidentiality in the NSF's proposal review process

In 2014, to investigate claims that the NSF was funding wasteful research rather than proposals that served national interests, confidential grant files were provided and reviewed by members of the House Science Committee. The actions, led by Lamar Smith (R-TX), were denounced by the scientific research community. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, is a critic of authoritarian regimes

World champion from 1985 to 2000, Kasparov was politically outspoken during the Soviet era, clashing with authorities over censorship and restrictions. After retirement, he became a leading Russian dissident and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, eventually fleeing the country in 2013.

Inside one of the largest US military bribery schemes

Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. sprinkled US Navy officers with gifts, hosted events attended by Navy officers that were staffed by sex workers, and won millions of dollars worth of inflated military contracts to provide food, fuel, and security to Navy aircraft carriers. Leonard "Fat Leonard" Glenn Francis helmed the company. This 35-minute podcast episode is the beginning of a multi-part series sharing Francis' story from his perspective.

Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress eight times between 2018 and 2024

Zuckerberg testified in Congress for the first time in 2018 over Facebook's privacy violations and its failure to detect Russian interference on the app during the 2016 election. Since then, Zuckerberg has appeared a total of eight times to defend Meta against privacy violations, child safety, and more. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Chart decades of US–Russia nuclear diplomacy

Over the Cold War and into the 21st century, US and Soviet/Russian leaders repeatedly agreed to cap arsenals, curb missile deployment, and share ongoing inspections—creating decades of transparency. But in recent years, strained tensions have led to the expiration of arms treaties.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

The rise of Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin's rise has been unprecedented. Over the years his actions have taken him from being a spy in East Germany to president of Russia. Learn more about his rise to power and the means by which he achieved it in this brief yet thorough nine-minute video.

Ken Caminiti exposed steroid use around the league

In 2002, newly retired Ken Caminiti was the first to admit to using steroids as a player, citing how common PEDs were in the league, something that had long been rumored, especially after the single-season home run record was broken in 1998 by Mark McGwire.

The Federal Reserve Act's foundation was laid in a secretive meeting at the world's most prestigious club

Republican Sen. Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island organized a highly secretive meeting of the minds at the world’s most prestigious club on Jekyll Island, Georgia, where a who’s who in the financial world hashed out details over the course of a week.

Thomas Hofeller was the GOP strategist known as the 'master of gerrymandering'

Republican consultant Thomas Hofeller quietly shaped US politics for decades by engineering partisan maps nationwide. His files, released after his death, revealed strategies to maximize GOP advantage and diminish Democratic influence.

Hear the stories of Black congressmen who served during Reconstruction

This podcast explores the Black congressmen of the 1870s, like Hiram R. Revels and Joseph Rainey, many of whom were born into slavery and symbolized the hope of a more racially equal post-Civil War America.

Peggy Shippen, Benedict Arnold's wife, was the highest-paid spy of the Revolution

Few names conjure up the idea of betrayal more than Benedict Arnold, the notorious American military officer who was caught attempting to hand over West Point to the British during the Revolutionary War. This podcast episode dives into the key role his wife, wealthy spy Peggy Shippen, played in the plot.

Visualize every time Congress has mentioned the word 'democracy' since 1880, and why

This Pudding interactive analyzes every mention of "democracy" in the Congressional Record over 145 years, charting how the word shifted from a partisan label to a concept, and tracking when lawmakers warned the system itself was under threat.

Russia armed and backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine while denying involvement

Throughout the Donbas conflict, Russia covertly supplied weapons, training, and troops to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, even as the Kremlin publicly denied direct involvement in the fighting.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Dissecting the legend of Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, rose to fame as a crypto visionary and was hailed as a genius. But he had a quick downfall in late 2022 when reports surfaced, implicating him in massive fraud.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Dickens' first novel was a satire informed by his reporting

"The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" was a series of illustrations and accompanying stories serialized in newspapers from 1836 to 1837. Dickens drew on his previous experiences as a Parliamentary reporter to flesh out the story of Samuel Slumkey, a politician running for office. He wins the election thanks to a well-timed bribe.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

When America's deadliest serial killer went undetected

Samuel Little, who, for years, washed in and out of the justice system on violent charges eroded into lesser offenses, ultimately admitted to killing 93 people, mostly women, over more than 30 years. He tended to target those on the fringes of society—runaways, drug users, sex workers—people whose deaths were more likely to go unnoticed, he remarked, referring to them as fruits to be plucked at will.

Diego Rivera hid a tiny image of Vladimir Lenin in Rockefeller Center

Nelson Rockefeller commissioned painter Diego Rivera to paint a mural for the entrance of the Rockefeller Center. Allegedly in response to criticism that he had “sold out,” Rivera slipped in a painting of Vladimir Lenin.

The wife of Nixon's attorney general was forcibly held to silence her Watergate revelations

While vacationing in June 1972, Martha Mitchell was held captive, sedated, and physically abused by operatives connected to Nixon, intent on keeping her from speaking to reporters.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.