China's Paper Dragon

September 18, 2019 | James Lewis

“This idea may be formulated as follows. The situation is better now than it was ten years ago; therefore ten years from now it will be better still. I will ...

September 18, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

When someone decides to spy on their own country for the U.S., they know they’re taking a risk.  But when news broke recently that the U.S. had extracted a high-level ...

September 17, 2019 | Walter Pincus

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford retires later this month, but in his own quiet way he is leaving behind his recommendation for the current problem of when to reduce ...

September 17, 2019 |

When news broke recently that the U.S. had extracted a high-level Russian official in 2017 who had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was noteworthy to say the ...

September 16, 2019 | Norman T. Roule

When a series of drones were used to attack a key Saudi oil facility over the weekend, the impact on oil production was noted by global markets.  Oil prices spiked ...

September 16, 2019 | John McLaughlin

Oil prices spiked Monday after a drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend.  The attacks impacted more than half of Saudi Arabia’s daily exports, which is equivalent ...

September 13, 2019 | Jessica “Zhanna” Malekos Smith

The Cipher Brief’s new Academic Incubator program publishes the work of undergraduate and graduate students, writing short briefs on current national security issues. This week’s briefer is Jessica ‘Zhanna’ Malekos ...

September 13, 2019 | Anonymous

NOVEL IDEA: Over the past several years, The Dead Drop, has written on numerous occasions about the exploits of Amaryllis Fox, a colorful former CIA officer (now married to RFK III.) ...

September 11, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY -- The house had been watched for quite some time.  The home in Abbottabad was just about a mile from the Pakistani Military Academy and was significantly bigger than ...

September 11, 2019 | Marc Polymeropoulos

As the U.S. administration is contemplating the next steps in our march toward departure from Afghanistan (what some consider a much needed disengagement from an 18 year conflict, while others ...

September 10, 2019 |

In the 1979 film Mad Max, Mel Gibson played a police officer who navigated an apocalyptic world plagued by a scarcity of resources. Sixteen years later, in the movie Waterworld, ...

September 10, 2019 | Walter Pincus

OPINION -- Don’t be too surprised if former-Defense Secretary James Mattis breaks his silence about President Trump’s performance as commander-in-chief before next year’s election. “There will come a time when ...

September 10, 2019 | Public Diplomacy

BOOK REVIEW:  Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Era By Nicholas J. Cull Reviewed by Jeff Patterson, PhD Jeff Patterson, PhD, is a lecturer in strategic communications and ...

September 09, 2019 | John McLaughlin

Even though the Trump administration has yet to settle precisely on the speed, timing or terms of withdrawal from Afghanistan, there is no doubt that this is the ultimate objective. ...

September 06, 2019 | Sophia Barkoff

The Cipher Brief’s new Academic Incubator program publishes the work of undergraduate and graduate students, writing short briefs on current national security issues. This week’s briefer is Sophia Barkoff, a ...

September 04, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

The Cipher Brief is running a special series on disinformation over the next several months.  We’ll introduce you to experts in the field who will share ways to identify disinformation ...

September 03, 2019 | Walter Pincus

OPINION -- The Trump administration’s year-old plan to vastly increase future production of plutonium pits, the triggers of thermonuclear weapons, caught my attention just days ago when its high cost ...

August 29, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

As protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong calling for democratic rights, agents of influence were operating behind the scenes to affect the way the protests are perceived by different ...

August 28, 2019 | James Van de Velde

This Cyber Viewpoint comes from James Van de Velde, Associate Professor at the National Intelligence University as well as Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown University. The views expressed ...

August 26, 2019 | Norman T. Roule

It was a busy weekend of activity for Iran, much of it rooted in its desire to seek ways around U.S. sanctions that are targeting its ability to sell oil ...

August 22, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

The national security threat posed by an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is not the kind of thing you hear talked about often in Washington’s national security circles.  But it is a ...

August 20, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

With ongoing and often frustrating nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea and heightened tensions between nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan over Kashmir, having a clear picture of a nation's ...

September 18, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

When someone decides to spy on their own country for the U.S., they know they’re taking a risk.  But when news broke recently that the U.S. had extracted a high-level ...

September 17, 2019 |

When news broke recently that the U.S. had extracted a high-level Russian official in 2017 who had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was noteworthy to say the ...

September 16, 2019 | Norman T. Roule

When a series of drones were used to attack a key Saudi oil facility over the weekend, the impact on oil production was noted by global markets.  Oil prices spiked ...

September 13, 2019 | Anonymous

NOVEL IDEA: Over the past several years, The Dead Drop, has written on numerous occasions about the exploits of Amaryllis Fox, a colorful former CIA officer (now married to RFK III.) ...

September 11, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY -- The house had been watched for quite some time.  The home in Abbottabad was just about a mile from the Pakistani Military Academy and was significantly bigger than ...

September 10, 2019 |

In the 1979 film Mad Max, Mel Gibson played a police officer who navigated an apocalyptic world plagued by a scarcity of resources. Sixteen years later, in the movie Waterworld, ...

September 04, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

The Cipher Brief is running a special series on disinformation over the next several months.  We’ll introduce you to experts in the field who will share ways to identify disinformation ...

August 29, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

As protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong calling for democratic rights, agents of influence were operating behind the scenes to affect the way the protests are perceived by different ...

August 28, 2019 | James Van de Velde

This Cyber Viewpoint comes from James Van de Velde, Associate Professor at the National Intelligence University as well as Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown University. The views expressed ...

August 26, 2019 | Norman T. Roule

It was a busy weekend of activity for Iran, much of it rooted in its desire to seek ways around U.S. sanctions that are targeting its ability to sell oil ...

August 22, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

The national security threat posed by an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is not the kind of thing you hear talked about often in Washington’s national security circles.  But it is a ...

August 20, 2019 | The Cipher Brief

With ongoing and often frustrating nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea and heightened tensions between nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan over Kashmir, having a clear picture of a nation's ...