Ackerman joined The Washington Independent as a senior fellow covering national security and foreign policy. After ending publication of Too Hot for TNR in April 2008, he started a second national security blog, called Attackerman, at ThinkProgress. In June 2008, Ackerman moved the blog to Firedoglake. In August 2009, Politico reported Ackerman was one of numerous reporters profiled by the Rendon Group, a public relations firm hired by the Pentagon to vet journalists requesting embeds with U.S. forces in Iraq. The requests were granted based on whether their coverage of the conflict portrayed the U.S. military in a positive light. The revelations prompted the military to end their contract with the firm. Wired Ackerman joined Wired magazine's Danger Room in June 2010, a national security blog. In July 2010, The Daily Caller reported on Ackerman's membership in JournoList, a private Google Groups forum for discussing politics and the news media created by Ezra Klein in February 2007. Responding to the Jeremiah Wright controversy surrounding Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Ackerman stated, "If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they've put upon us. Instead, take one of them – Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares – and call them racists". Ackerman was also quoted as saying, "find a right winger's [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously, I mean this rhetorically." Ackerman's comments were made while writing for The Washington Independent. In a column for The Wall Street Journal, James Taranto, criticized Ackerman for "privately strategizing about how to suppress the news." Ackerman faced additional criticism from conservatives like Ed Morrissey, Daniel Foster, Matt Welch, and Andrew Sullivan. Steve Krakauer of Mediaite and Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, however, questioned whether the forum represented a controversy, and Chait noted that conservative bloggers participate in similar forums. A spokesperson for Wired defended Ackerman, adding the publication was aware of his political views. Due to his blog's affiliation with Firedoglake, Ackerman experienced difficulties obtaining permanent press credentials from the Congressional Press Gallery. He left Firedoglake in December 2010 to host the Attackerman blog independently. In 2011, Ackerman won the National Magazine Award for Digital