Pentagon Looking for Recommendations on F-35
OPINION — “Since early October, the F-35 [jet fighter] program has delivered surge support to Israel. Israeli users are achieving exceptional mission capability rates and […] More
Defense
Rethinking how the Pentagon spends its money is Mission Critical
OPINION — “Operation and maintenance and military personnel funding [in the Defense Department] typically must be obligated in the year for which they are appropriated. […] More
On the Radar: US Cruise Missile Defenses
Officials from Poland and NATO now say a missile that landed inside of Poland on Tuesday, killing two people looks as if it may have […] More
Closing the Gap in US Cruise Missile Defenses
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE – Following recent Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, Germany sent the first of four planned IRIS-T SLM air defense systems to Ukraine. France, the […] More
The Latest
As Xi Consolidates Power, Nationalism Gains Ground
EXPERT Q&A Read also Is a US-China Face-off Over Taiwan Looming for Subscriber+Members The Cipher Brief: At the 20th CCP Congress, what stood out amid the […] More
The Drone Series: A New Battle in the Air
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE: The presence of drones/UAV’s in armed conflicts as varied as Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine is not only influencing military tactics and strategy but it’s […] More
The Drone Series: Expanding Horizons for Drone Technology
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE: Superlatives have been piling up about a weapon of war that’s been around for decades, but has taken on new prominence across the battlefields […] More
What are we Getting for Record Defense Spending?
OPINION — Next year’s national defense spending — for the Defense Department, the Department of Energy [for nuclear weapons] and other security agencies — may […] More
The Nine Lives of U.S. Defense Programs
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. Pincus spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Why We Need a New National Defense Strategy
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. Pincus spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Lesson for DOD: Profits Drive Innovation
Cipher Brief Expert Robert Eatinger has 35 years of experience practicing law in the fields of national security, intelligence, and international law. He is a solo […] More
Cyber leads the way in the 2021 Defense Authorization Bill
OPINION — As the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2021 Defense Authorization Bill are put together in conference, new offensive and defensive cyber […] More
Getting to the Left of Boom in 21st Century Warfare
The author of this piece, Adam L. Silverman, PhD is a senior subject matter expert and consultant at Helios Global, Inc specializing in low intensity […] More
Fixing DOD’s Acquisition Problem
Robin Dreeke is a US Naval Academy graduate and veteran Marine Corps Officer. He spent twenty-one years as an FBI Special Agent specializing in counterintelligence […] More
What the 2030 Kill Chain Looks Like
OPINION — On July 1, one month before his scheduled retirement, Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein gave a vivid description of […] More
The Uneasy Balance between Care and Provocation
OPINION — This past March and April, US Naval Forces attached to Central Command carried out live fire exercises in the North Persian Gulf’s international […] More
DoD’s Blueprint for Coronavirus Testing
OPINION — Defense Department senior officials last week described plans to increase testing for Covid-19 over the next few months, prioritizing higher risk forces but […] More
OSINT Global Trendline Report: COVID and the Americas
The Cipher Brief’s Open Source Trend Line Report utilizes open source data on a quarterly basis to track trends around the world that impact national and global […] More
No Intermediate Arms Race Needed
OPINION — The U.S. has a triad of strategic nuclear weapons, air-launched from bombers, sea-launched from submarines, and land-based intercontinental missiles launched from underground silos. […] More