Episode
12 May 2020 Official episode · Official transcript
advanced persistent threat investigative
The episode examines psychological operations, military information campaigns, propaganda, threat intelligence, hacker communities, online influence operations, and algorithmic persuasion.
Topics: Psychological operations and Military Information Support Operations, Military information operations and propaganda, Counter-propaganda analysis, Signals intelligence, image intelligence, open-source intelligence, and human intelligence, Atmospherics and population sentiment collection, Loudspeaker broadcasting and leaflet operations, Threat intelligence and hacker-community monitoring, IRC and EFnet investigations, NTP-based distributed denial-of-service attacks, Anonymous and TeaMp0isoN, Russian election influence operations, DNC email hacking and timed information releases, Social-media trolls, bots, fake news, and memes, Memetic warfare and algorithmic persuasion, Behavioral profiling and targeted advertising, Domestic propaganda and the Smith-Mundt Act
Links published on the Darknet Diaries episode page. Not LLM output.
Qualified statements from this episode, not graph facts.
United States Army USES PSYOP
Henry and Jack describe PSYOP as a United States Army capability used to persuade, change, and influence target audiences.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“there’s a unit in the army that’s sole mission is to get the adversary to change their behavior”
Henry MEMBER_OF United States Army
Henry was in the Army and is now a reservist.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“Turns out Henry here was in the army but is now a reservist.”
Henry says he is currently in psychological operations.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Henry EP 65 Details
“I did intelligence support and currently I’m in psychological operations.”
PSYOP SAME_AS Military Information Support Operations
The episode says the military has changed the name of PSYOP to Military Information Support Operations because of PSYOP's negative connotation.
Explicit Confidence 96% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“they now call it MISO which stands for Military Information Support Operations”
Jonathan Nichols MEMBER_OF United States Army
Jonathan Nichols signed up for the Army and went directly into PSYOPS.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“He signed up for the army and went through boot camp, and then went straight into PSYOPS.”
Jonathan Nichols ASSOCIATED_WITH Lincoln Group
Nichols says he picked up a contractor job with the Lincoln Group after becoming a PSYOP Specialist.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“I picked up a job as a contractor. The company was called Lincoln Group.”
Jonathan Nichols USES counter-propaganda analysis
Nichols worked as a chief counter-propaganda analyst monitoring adversary propaganda and helping craft counter-messaging.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“Chief counter-propaganda analyst, United States Forces, Iraq.”
“help the US government craft a counter-messaging”
Jonathan Nichols USES atmospherics
Nichols served as an atmospherics manager in Afghanistan, gathering word-on-the-street information about local sentiment.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“I was the atmospherics manager.”
Jonathan Nichols USES human intelligence
Nichols characterizes atmospherics as a type of human intelligence, while distinguishing it from tactical intelligence collection.
Explicit Confidence 95% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“Essentially, it’s a type of human intelligence without using the proper title.”
Jonathan Nichols USES NGLS loudspeaker
Nichols used an NGLS loudspeaker mounted on a Humvee to broadcast messages during a PSYOP mission.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“it’s called the NGLS loudspeaker. It’s a 24” by 24” box that sits on top of a Humvee”
Jonathan Nichols USES leaflet drop
Nichols disseminated leaflets as part of a counter-IED PSYOP mission.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“then also disseminated all sorts of different leaflets”
Operation Wandering Soul INVOLVES PSYOP
The Vietnam operation described as Operation Wandering Soul involved PSYOP troops broadcasting messages over loudspeakers.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“There was this one mission in Vietnam called Operation Wandering Soul.”
“These are the sounds that the PSYOPS troops were playing for the enemy in Vietnam over the loudspeakers.”
Junaid Hussain MEMBER_OF TeaMp0isoN
Nichols identifies TeaMp0isoN as Junaid Hussain's crew.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“one of them being Junaid Hussain’s crew. TeaMp0isoN was their name.”
Jonathan Nichols USES Internet Relay Chat
Nichols monitored hacker activity through an IRC channel and later used IRC in threat-intelligence work.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“I was in an IRC channel and somebody hit me in a PM”
“hop back and drive straight back to base, hope onto IRC”
Jonathan Nichols USES threat intelligence
After moving to New York, Nichols led a threat-intelligence analyst team and reported on ongoing hacker activity and anticipated attacks.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“to lead the threat intel analyst team”
“At that point, it was now my job to engage with hackers, identify what was going on every single day, and report that up.”
NTP DDoS attack INVOLVES Network Time Protocol
Nichols identifies the incident as an NTP DDoS attack against a primary website.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“I believe it was a NTP DDoS attack against the primary website; Network Time Protocol.”
NTP DDoS attack ATTRIBUTED_TO Anonymous
The episode presents Anonymous as having publicly claimed or bragged about the NTP DDoS attack, but the attribution is based on that public claim rather than independently established evidence.
Uncertain Confidence 82% · Jonathan Nichols EP 65 Details
“In those days it was fairly easy when you had Anonymous bragging about it on Twitter.”
Lincoln Group SAME_AS Fulcra Worldwide
Jack says the Lincoln Group changed its name to Fulcra Worldwide.
Explicit Confidence 95% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“Lincoln Group changed their name to Fulcra Worldwide”
Fulcra Worldwide SAME_AS Strategic Social
Jack says Fulcra Worldwide subsequently changed its name to Strategic Social.
Explicit Confidence 92% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“and then Strategic Social”
Strategic Social ASSOCIATED_WITH Academi
Jack says Strategic Social appears to have been bought by Academi, but hedges the statement with 'it looks like.'
Uncertain Confidence 78% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“Now it looks like they’ve just been bought by Academi.”
2016 US election influence campaign ATTRIBUTED_TO Russia
James Clapper says the Russians mounted the most aggressive and direct campaign in the history of US elections to interfere with and influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
Attributed Confidence 97% · James Clapper EP 65 Details
“this was the most aggressive and most direct and most assertive campaign that the Russians ever mounted”
2016 US election influence campaign INVOLVES Democratic National Committee email hack
The campaign is described as involving the hacking and timed release of DNC emails.
Attributed Confidence 98% · James Clapper EP 65 Details
“the famous or infamous hacking of the DNC e-mails and the exquisitely-timed dumping of them”
2016 US election influence campaign INVOLVES RT
Clapper describes a sophisticated propaganda campaign mounted by RT, which he characterizes as a government propaganda arm.
Attributed Confidence 98% · James Clapper EP 65 Details
“A very, I think, sophisticated, slick propaganda campaign mounted by RT which of course is a government propaganda arm.”
2016 US election influence campaign INVOLVES social media manipulation
The campaign used social-media trolls, fake news, and other social-media techniques to influence the election.
Attributed Confidence 98% · James Clapper EP 65 Details
“very skillful, sophisticated use of social media; social media trolls, planting fake news”
Edward L. Bernays USES fear-based persuasion
Jack says Bernays relied on emotion and fear rather than facts or logical persuasion.
Explicit Confidence 96% · Jack Rhysider EP 65 Details
“Instead, go for their emotions. Skip the facts and just draw on their instinctual urges and maybe even scare them.”
Works mentioned in the transcript. Distinct from show-note sources.
Model gpt-5.6-luna · prompt 1.5.19 · schema 1.5.19 · 2026-09-13T06:26:26.173275+00:00