Spooked

Spooked the Trump Dossier Black Cube and the Rise of Private Spies by Barry Meier is a clear eyed investigation into the booming private intelligence industry that surfaced around the 2016 election. Meier follows operatives, boutique firms such as Black Cube, and former intelligence officers as they assemble dossiers, run clandestine operations, and sell their services to politicians, corporations, and law firms, showing how the dossier assembled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele became entangled in larger political fights. The book exposes the methods, business incentives, and ethical blind spots of these shadowy actors and warns of the risks they pose to privacy, legal norms, and democratic accountability.