Email: roywhitehurst4@gmail.com

And Ye Shall Know The Truth And The Truth Shall Make You Free.
-John VIII-XXXII
-Lobby, CIA Headquarters

I was a newly hired CIA analyst when I nervously entered the CIA lobby for the first time in the early 1980s. I remember wondering why a verse from the Bible was engraved on the lobby wall. At first, I could only think that it must apply to CIA’s brave officers overseas risking their lives to collect secrets to defend our freedom. But it didn’t take me long to realize that the inscription applied to everyone–not just at CIA, but EVERYONE. If we can find the truth, we can be truly free.

In 2016, as “fake news,” misinformation, and disinformation spread more widely to anyone with an Internet connection, I became concerned about reports of youth believing so much of it. So in 2020, during the Covid lockdown, I began thinking how I might use my experience teaching CIA analysts how to critically evaluate foreign media to help youth learn these skills. In 2023, I wound down my 35-year CIA career, wrote a book, and developed this website to do just that. See “About the Book” to find out more about my book.

My Guiding Principle: All media (makers) seek to persuade you. Social media should be persuasive only if its argument flows logically from strong evidence (facts, premises) and reasoning. Some media persuaders use verifiable facts supported by strong evidence and reasoning, but others do not.

My Mission: Provide practical classroom techniques for middle and high school teachers to help their students critically evaluate social media news using fact-checking and principles of logic.

My Vision: A society in which well-informed, news media literate citizens contribute to a healthy democracy.