The Cipher Brief: National Security news, analysis and expert commentary.

The Open Source Report

Report for Monday, February 10, 2025

Trump says he’s spoken with Putin, says Kremlin leader ‘wants to see people stop dying.’

US spy planes hunt for intel on Mexican drug cartels as surveillance flights surge near border

Musk will find billions in Pentagon waste, Trump says

Trump, set to meet with Middle Eastern leaders, committed to ‘buying and owning Gaza.’

China’s Strategy in Trade War: Threaten U.S. Tech Companies

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The Experts

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

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Featured Viewing

How China Is Preparing for “Major-Power War”


Opinion

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What Deepseek is Teaching us about U.S. National Security

Iran’s Plan to Test Trump

General Breedlove: Why Greenland Matters


Book Reviews

Dead Drop

This Week’s Dead Drop: February 7

KILLING HIM SOFTLY?  Tucker Carlson, seemingly the only former Fox News performer without an assignment in the new administration, made some news recently by saying on his podcast that “The Biden administration did, they tried to kill Putin. Carlson went on to say: “That’s demented, that you would even think of something like that. So why were they? Because chaos is a screen that protects them.” Who would believe such a claim?  While we doubt they believed it, the Russian news agency TASS was happy to repeat it along with an additional claim that former [...] More

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Podcasts

State Secrets

In this conversation, Mike Vigil discusses the recent designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, a move he says is largely symbolic with little real impact on the cartels' operations. He highlights the complexities of U.S.-Mexico relations, the ongoing fentanyl crisis, and the risks of military escalation. Vigil also offers advice for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on addressing drug trafficking in Central America, stressing the importance of creating alliances and addressing the broader issues of drug production and trafficking.

Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment

Hal Brands, a renowned expert on global affairs, talks with us about his new book: “The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World. Brands argues that Eurasia’s strategic geography can illuminate the contours of rivalry and conflict in today’s world. We will talk with him about what can be learned from Eurasian wars of the past century and the implications of those lessons for the next.


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