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

As Cyber Threats Grow, the Clock Ticks on a Critical Cybersecurity Law

Experts warn of the risk of losing key threat intelligence sharing legislation

As Cyber Threats Grow, the Clock Ticks on a Critical Cybersecurity Law

DEEP DIVE – The onslaught of cyberattacks against the U.S. and U.S. businesses has not let up and the clock is ticking on reauthorizing a new bill [...] More

The Open Source Report

An Israeli soldier walks near tanks as they are stationed near the border with the Gaza Strip

Report for Thursday, September 18, 2025

As death toll passes 65,000, Israeli tanks push into major Gaza City residential area

Ukraine to receive Patriot and HIMARS missiles under new NATO funding

Russians with spy ties behind 2024 parcel explosions in Europe, Lithuania says

Beijing warns against ‘external interference’ on Taiwan, says China force for stability

Access Today’s Report

Expert Insights

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

China’s Gray War on America

Dave Pitts
Chip Usher

OPINION — In early 2024, the American public received a stark warning from top U.S. security officials. Chinese state-sponsored hackers, known as "Volt Typhoon," had penetrated not just data repositories but embedded [...] More

Drones are Funding Russia's War Against Ukraine

Joey Gagnard

OPINION — The war in Ukraine has evolved into a complex geopolitical conflict, shaped not only by military strategy but by global economic dependencies. While Western nations continue to provide financial and military [...] More

Threat Con 2025

News & Analysis

Europe Prepares for War

Europe Prepares for War

DEEP DIVE – From large-scale military drills to increased defense spending to the continent’s easternmost nations fortifying their borders with [...] More

Opinion

How We Got SSCI with a Little Help from CIA

OPINION — You’ve probably seen that iconic photo of Senator Frank Church (D-ID) holding up a CIA poison dart gun, right? Or perhaps the one of [...] More

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Book Reviews

WE’RE NOT GOING TO WAR WITH FUZZY FACES: An announcement was made yesterday by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell highlighting how the Secretary of War is cracking down on grooming standards for the troops. Parnell shared a memo that his boss sent to Pentagon leaders on August 20 (way back when Pete Hegseth was known as the Secretary of Defense.) For many years, servicemen could get medical waivers allowing them to grow beards if they had conditions that prevented them from getting close shaves. (There is a condition known as Pseudofolliculitis barbae - aka “razor bumps” - that impacts men of subequatorial African [...] More

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Events

Live Events

Threat Conference

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: 19 October, 2025

Nighcap

Podcasts

State Secrets



Former CIA Director General David Petraeus (Ret.) doesn’t mince words: Russia’s 19-drone incursion into Polish airspace was no accident — it was a deliberate test of NATO’s resolve. Joining The State Secrets Podcast from Kyiv, Ukraine, General Petraeus lays out Ukraine’s breathtaking innovation in drone warfare, noting that units now fly thousands of missions daily, with entire regiments springing up to meet demand. But the Russians are innovating, too. So, what does that mean for the future of this war and those to come?

Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment



Former British diplomat and current Cipher Brief expert Tim Willasey-Wilsey is just out with a book called “The Spy and the Devil: The Untold Story of the MI6 Agent Who Penetrated Hitler’s Inner Circle” We’ll talk with him about the never before told story of Baron Wilhelm Von de Ropp, a German aristocrat, who became a British citizen and who spied on the Nazis for the UK from 1931 to 1939.The book is a deeply researched and documented work of history. “Bill de Ropp” as he came to be known had multiple personal meetings with Adolf Hitler and was credited in 1938 as providing at least 70% of MI-6’s German political intelligence.