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

Report for Friday, June 27, 2025

Iran’s foreign minister says nuclear facilities ‘seriously damaged.’

Ukraine seeks Zelensky-Putin meeting for negotiations.

Russia seizes key lithium field, challenging U.S.-Ukraine critical minerals deal

Lutnick says U.S.-China trade truce signed, 10 deals imminent.

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NATO Lures Trump Back - at a Cost

Experts say this week's summit was designed to appease

NATO Lures Trump Back - at a Cost
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – The stakes at this week’s NATO summit were sky-high – support for Ukraine, a shoring up of Europe’s defenses, and the [...] More

The Experts

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

A Good NATO Summit, Though Russia Won a Round

General Philip M. Breedlove

EXPERT Q&A — NATO leaders convened in The Hague this week for a summit aiming to strengthen the alliance's defenses, with the ever encroaching threat [...] More

NATO Wins Will Have an Impact

Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery

CIPHER BRIEF EXPERT Q&A — NATO leaders convened at The Hague this week and agreed to raise the alliance’s defense spending target to 5% GDP, marking [...] More

News & Analysis

Can Europe Really Defend Itself?

Can Europe Really Defend Itself?

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – As NATO leaders gather in The Hague this week, they face questions that not long ago would have seemed unthinkable: Can [...] More

Opinion

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Book Reviews

THIS WEEK: SURPRISES, SECRETS AND SPY COCKTAILS: This week’s best collection of national security gossip is filled with surprises, secrets and a strong showing in the whiskey category at Amazon. From two spies who walked into a bar to the fallout from Washington’s surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear sites to a whole bunch of questions about who’s making the decisions at the National Security Agency. Let’s get to it.PRESIDENT TRUMP DROPS ANOTHER BOMB: The president has had a week of surprise bombings, but the F-bomb he dropped on the White House lawn on his way to the NATO summit was one that garnered its own special kind of [...] More

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Threat Conference

Threat Conference

Cipher Brief sessions are expertly crafted and focused on ways the public and private sectors can most efficiently work together to address key [...] More

Upcoming: 19 October, 2025

Podcasts

State Secrets



Writing a book was something former senior CIA Officer Rob Dannenberg never thought he’d do, but as he started reflecting on the ways he and his former colleagues would celebrate the successful recruitment of a new agent or the end of an operation that he couldn’t talk about, he started thinking about the cocktails he and his colleagues would order to mark the occasion. Dannenberg recruited former colleague Joseph Mullin, CSW to help him compile not only the best recipes for the cocktails that defined their careers, but also for the stories that make them all the tastier.

Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment


Martin Dugard is an enormously prolific, best-selling author. In addition to ten mega-million selling books co-authored with Bill O’Reilly, He has authored a fistful of books about World War II including “Taking London,” “Taking Berlin” and “Taking Paris.” Now he is back with “Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of World War II.” Podcast host Bill Harlow will talk with him about his sources and methods for cranking out so many deeply researched and well-received books – and what the world should know about a crusty 4-star admiral and a quirky Navy commander who combined to surprise the Imperial Japanese Navy and the world in one of the most consequential naval battles in history.