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

U.S. Intel’s Sobering Assessment of Iran’s War Resilience

Even after devastating U.S.-Israeli strikes, intelligence assessments suggest Iran’s regime is hardening, not collapsing.

U.S. And Israel Wage War Against Iran

Four weeks into Operation Epic Fury, with airstrikes having killed a sitting supreme leader, wiped out scores of top military and intelligence [...] More

Middle EastIran
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The Open Source Report

WH Briefing Iran 4/6/26

Global Intelligence Report for Wednesday, April 8, 2026

U.S. and Iran agree to two-week ceasefire as Trump seizes diplomatic offramp

Israel says ceasefire doesn’t extend to invasion of Lebanon, as France and Egypt demand pause

Ukrainian forces operating in Libya reportedly attacked a Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker

Suspected breach of Chinese supercomputing center exposes massive trove of sensitive defense data

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Expert Insights

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

How the Iran War Is Reordering the World, Second and Third-Order Effects

Chip Usher

OPINION — Five weeks into the US-Israeli war against Iran, the immediate military picture — decapitation strikes, missile exchanges, and the grinding attrition of Iranian launch capacity — dominates headlines. But the [...] More

Chip Usher

A Wartime Budget Without an Innovation Strategy

Walter Pincus

OPINION — “The use cases that help to drive the research agenda can come from a variety of different settings…We need to acknowledge that it's okay for those use cases to come from the Department of War (DoW) and [...] More

Walter PincusFine Print
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News & Analysis

Can the U.S. Win the Critical Minerals Competition?

Can the U.S. Win the Critical Minerals Competition?

What U.S. national security interest binds Greenland, Argentina, the Congo, and the Cook Islands? What was the impetus for the recent “strategic [...] More

United StatesAmericasNorth America

Opinion

Why a War in the Middle East Is Hitting Australians at the Petrol Pump

Sami Omari

Why a War in the Middle East Is Hitting Australians at the Petrol Pump

OPINION – Economic insulation is no longer guaranteed by geography. Australia is nevertheless very vulnerable to geopolitical unrest in the Middle [...] More

Alternative Perspectives

What’s on The Cipher Brief’s Digital Channel

Book Reviews

Finally, a Taiwan Strategy That Goes Beyond "Do Something"
Finally, a Taiwan Strategy That Goes Beyond "Do Something"

Thus Spoke Henry Kissinger
Thus Spoke Henry Kissinger

A New Focus on the Psychology of Betrayal
A New Focus on the Psychology of Betrayal

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The Best National Security Gossip

CLOUD COVER: Iran has been targeting American tech companies in the Gulf with drone and missile strikes since the war began. Oracle was on the list — the IRGC cited the company's cloud and AI contracts with the Pentagon and founder Larry Ellison's ties to the Israeli government as a reason for targeting them. When debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit the facade of an Oracle building in Dubai Internet City, authorities confirmed they responded to a "minor incident" — no injuries reported. Amazon Web Services later confirmed that two of its data centers in the UAE were directly struck, and a third in Bahrain was [...] 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

Podcasts

State Secrets


In this episode of State Secrets, former CIA Senior Operations Officer Sean Wiswesser examines the evolution of Russian intelligence - from Soviet-era tradecraft to modern hybrid warfare. He unpacks Moscow’s strategic mindset, its transactional relationships with partners like Iran, and its enduring focus on weakening democratic systems. With insights drawn from decades in the field, Wiswesser explains what most people misunderstand about Russia - and why that matters now more than ever.