Matthew Cole, one of the most intrepid reporters on the national security beat, is joining The Intercept. With his deep knowledge, sources and storytelling talents, Cole will be a powerful addition to our reporting team as we continue to trace the tentacles of the national security state.
Cole has covered national security since 2005 for U.S. television networks and print outlets. He has reported extensively on the CIA’s post-9/11 transformation, identifying and locating a secret CIA prison in Lithuania used to interrogate al Qaeda detainees. Since 2005, Cole has traveled throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover conflict and investigate U.S. intelligence operations.
For the past six years, Cole has worked as a producer for ABC and NBC News. At each network, Cole broke stories of global significance. His subjects have included Blackwater’s covert work with the CIA and JSOC; the Raymond Davis affair in Pakistan; the death of Osama bin Laden; missing Libyan surface-to-air missiles after the fall of Qadaffi; classified CIA documents related to its drone program; and a SEAL Team 6 raid in Somalia. This past December, Cole published an extraordinary account of the CIA officer responsible for many aspects of the agency’s infamous torture program (a report The Intercept followed up, disclosing the officer’s name).
For NBC News, Cole worked closely with Glenn Greenwald to report stories based on documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and secured the first American television interview of Snowden.
At The Intercept, McLaughlin will primarily focus on surveillance and national security news for our Unofficial Sources blog.
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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