journalist, essayist, author
Michael Weiss is an internationally respected investigative journalist who has covered the wars in Syria and Ukraine and published widely on Russian espionage and disinformation. Currently, he holds the position of Editor at The Insider, where he conducts in-depth investigations into the activities of the Russian Secret Services, disclosing covert operations and unmasking operatives of Russian military intelligence the GRU. He is the editor and curator of the Lubyanka Files, an anthology of still-classified KGB training manuals and worked as an Investigative Reporter for International Affairs at CNN.
His first book, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, was a New York Times Best Seller and named one of the Top Ten Books on Terrorism by the Wall Street Journal as well as one of the Best Books of 2015 by The Times of London. It has been translated into seventeen foreign languages.
In 2025, Michael was awarded Estonia's Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, the highest decoration bestowed upon a foreign national, by Estonian President Alar Karis.
He is a regular guest on CNN, MSNBC, the BBC, ABC News, 60 Minutes and Real Time with Bill Maher. He has written for The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, New Lines Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Daily Telegraph and The Washington Post.
Michael lives in New York City.
Praise for "isis: inside the army of terror"
The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice:
"Weiss and Hassan provide a detailed explanation of how the Islamic State 'manages savagery' on the ground . . . this account of the Islamic State in Iraq is a valuable summation and the most serious book length study of the Islamic State to be published so far.”
Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times:
“ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror”. . .draws upon the authors’ extensive reporting — including interviews with dozens of ISIS associates in Iraq and Syria, among them religious clerics, fighters, security officials and sympathizers — to give readers a fine-grained look at the organization’s evolution through assorted incarnations.”
Anderson Cooper, Host of AC360 (CNN)
"A remarkable book."
Kareem Shaheen, The Guardian
"Easily the best history I've read of the evolution of the terror group."
Kevin Sullivan, RealClearPolitics
“Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan provide a comprehensive account of how the Islamic State came to be, who is to blame for its emergence, and why world leaders should be worried about its expansion.”
Michael Weiss: Journalist, Essayist, Writer
Michael Weiss, 2024. (CC0: This photo is licensed under Creative Commons and has been marked as dedicated to the public domain.)