Tobin Albanese

Hero

Welcome to
Tobin Albanese's space

Hi, I'm Tobin Albanese — a student, writer, thinker, and creator behind the blog Midnight Bureau.
This space is where I share my insights on politics, culture, and the ideas that inspire me every day. Through thoughtful analysis and personal reflections, I aim to explore the complexities of the world around us and encourage meaningful conversations.

In addition to the blog, this site also serves as a portfolio showcasing my current projects and work as I grow and learn in the fields I’m passionate about. Whether you’re here to read my latest thoughts or explore my portfolio, I hope you find something that resonates or sparks your curiosity.

Thanks for visiting!

Photo of Tobin Albanese

About me

About Me

I’m a seeker of stories, a believer in growth, and someone who finds meaning in every question asked and every answer pursued

Photo of Family wedding

My name is Tobin Albanese, a small-town kid driven by the desire to make something meaningful of myself. Growing up was a bit of a rollercoaster, but through it all, my curiosity about the world never faded. As a child, I constantly wondered about everything, devouring books and asking questions about how things truly worked. This curiosity has been a constant companion, guiding me toward a career in political science and counterterrorism. Today, I’m focused on unraveling the complexities of our world & exploring the intersections of politics, culture, and human behavior. This journey is just beginning, and I invite you to discover the story behind my past, my goals, my passions, and what truly lies ahead not just for myself but the world around us.

More about me here

Blog highlights

Blog Highlights

A curated look at my latest insights on politics, culture, and more.

Between Drones and Diplomacy

Student-journalist analysis of Gaza’s center of gravity, Hezbollah’s calculus, Iran’s reach, Syria’s corridors, and Turkey’s mediation—with the hostages as the moral metronome.

Tobin M. Albanese

Between Drones and Diplomacy
Between Drones and Diplomacy

Timelines and Truces: Ukraine–Russia at War

A college reporter’s field guide to a grinding war: history, steel-manned arguments on both sides, U.S. stakes, and what off-ramps could actually look like.

Tobin M. Albanese

Timelines and Truces: Ukraine–Russia at War
Timelines and Truces: Ukraine–Russia at War

Writing with Life: Coding Inside DNA

From poems in nucleotides to petabytes in a pipette—how DNA became a serious contender for storage, compute, and cold archives.

Tobin M. Albanese

Writing with Life: Coding Inside DNA
Writing with Life: Coding Inside DNA

Gold Rush in the Vacuum: Can We Really Mine Asteroids?

A student’s field guide to the space-resource hype cycle: heavy-metal asteroids, AstroForge’s first attempts, why deep space is hard, and what it would take for the ‘gold rush’ to be more than a headline.

Tobin M. Albanese

Gold Rush in the Vacuum: Can We Really Mine Asteroids?
Gold Rush in the Vacuum: Can We Really Mine Asteroids?

Special focus

Special Focus

Specific topics I am working on currently.

Special Focus Visual

Midnight Bureau Blog Expansion

Smarter discovery, faster archives, and cleaner long reads. Adding topic and entity filters, cross search with the portfolio, and a print friendly mode for deep dives.

Feb 1, 2025

Midnight Bureau Blog Expansion
Midnight Bureau Blog Expansion

Real-time Facial Recognition Prototype

Low latency video with explicit policy gates, opt in testing, and hard limits. Focus on evaluation, latency budgets, consent flows, and repeatable audits before any pilot.

Apr 1, 2025

Real-time Facial Recognition Prototype
Real-time Facial Recognition Prototype

OSINT Data Aggregation Pipeline

High throughput intake with dedupe, provenance tracking, and PII safety. Next steps include source scoring, alert thresholds, and reproducible exports that analysts can defend.

Jun 1, 2025

OSINT Data Aggregation Pipeline
OSINT Data Aggregation Pipeline

Volume 1, Episode 1: Pilot

Conversations on strategy, tech, and influence.

Jan 1, 2025

Volume 1, Episode 1: Pilot
Volume 1, Episode 1: Pilot
podcast

Podcast

Book reviews

Book Reviews

Thoughts on books I've read recently.

Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy

Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy

A cold-case style investigation that synthesizes open sources and field experience to identify perpetrators and timelines behind the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

Written by Sarah Adams & Dave Benton
The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life

The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life

An evolutionary lens on why humans (and other organisms) deceive others—and themselves—and how that…

Robert Trivers
CHENEY: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President

CHENEY: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President

A reported biography built from deep access and hundreds of interviews, tracing Dick Cheney’s arc fr…

Stephen F. Hayes
The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA

The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA

A narrative of CIA’s formative period through four operators—Wisner, Bissell, Barnes, FitzGerald—cap…

Evan Thomas
To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery

To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery

An inviting tour of space science that blends history, missions, and approachable astrophysics—bridg…

Neil deGrasse Tyson & Lindsey Nyx Walker

Feedback

Stay connected

Stay connected to Midnight Bureau

  • Stay informed with the latest insights & analysis from Midnight Bureau.
    Sign up for our newsletter and never miss an update.
  • Follow me on social media for real-time updates, political commentary, & some behind the scenes content of me personally!
  • Stay in the loop with me as I share fresh insights, updates, and thoughtful takes straight to your inbox.
  • Thanks for being here and engaging with Midnight Bureau. Your interest and feedback inspire me every day. Let’s keep the conversation going!
Midnight Bureau Blog Main Image