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

How Far Should the U.S. Go to Defend Saudi Arabia?

Former senior CIA official Norm Roule examines how Washington can strengthen Saudi Arabia’s defenses against Houthi attacks without risking another open-ended conflict

SAUDI-YEMEN-US-ISRAEL-IRAN-WAR

Recent deadly attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis inside of Saudi Arabia have raised questions about just how far the U.S. should go in helping [...] More

Middle East Expert View

Expert Insights

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

Opinion

Muhammad bin Salman’s Humbling and the Return of the Ottomans

Andy Dunn

The Houthis bloodied Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s nose—again—with their deadly, cruel, but effective attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport last week. The strikes are the latest in a series of [...] More

Andy Dunn
Opinion

The Day We Cannot Choose

Richard Berry

Washington made three decisions this week, and none of them has an end date. On the night of October 14, Ukrainian units in the field found that their Starshield terminals had been capped at a speed, 160 kilometers an [...] More

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News & Analysis

The 214th Separate Assault Battalion OPFOR Training Held In Ukraine

How Ukraine’s Ground Robots Are Changing the Battlefield

Operation Vivaldi, a Ukrainian military effort to repel Russian forces in the Donbas, has done much more than push back Moscow’s offensive in the [...] More

David Kirichenko Xen Europe Ukraine

Opinion

What a Russian Hybrid Attack Might Look Like

Pawel T. Frankowski

What a Russian Hybrid Attack Might Look Like

Russia has demonstrated a growing willingness to use hybrid tactics – including sabotage, cyberattacks, information operations, and the use of [...] More

Alternative Perspectives

What’s on The Cipher Brief’s Digital Channel

Book Reviews

Mercy At Altitude
Mercy At Altitude

Why Shipbuilding Matters In A Melting North
Why Shipbuilding Matters In A Melting North

The Striking Paradox Of Admiral Yamamoto
The Striking Paradox Of Admiral Yamamoto

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The Best National Security Gossip

LUNCH, WITH A SIDE OF SIGINT: Bob Woodward’s forthcoming memoir reveals a White House source who rivaled Deep Throat. It was Woodward’s close friend Richard Darman, who controlled the flow of paper to President Ronald Reagan as White House staff secretary and later, served as budget director under President George H. W. Bush. In an excerpt from “Secrets: A Reporting Memoir” published in The New Yorker, Woodward writes that Darman was willing, sometimes eager, to discuss sensitive intelligence matters, including NSA intercepts and covert CIA operations. Woodward calls him a “reporter’s dream source.” He counts at least 58 [...] More

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Events

Live Events

2026 Threat Conference

2026 Threat Conference

The Cipher Brief Threat Conference is the nation’s premier forum for non-partisan discussion of global threats and solutions as well as high-level [...] More

Upcoming: 25 October, 2026

The Cipher Brief 2027 HONORS Awards

The Cipher Brief 2027 HONORS Awards

Join us for the third annual Cipher Brief Honors Dinner, the evening of April 9, 2027. This Black-Tie event is invite-only. Please apply here for a [...] More

Upcoming: 09 April, 2027

Podcasts

State Secrets

A 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EDITION of the State Secrets Podcast with Suzanne Kelly and Brad Christian as they share the behind-the-scenes stories from the past decade as The Cipher Brief prepares to host the Cipher Brief Threat Conference. From a world where terrorism was front and center and AI was still a curiosity, to today’s world, where China remains the pacing threat, and is buoyed by rapidly emerging technology and a new alignment with Russia, Iran and North Korea.