The Cipher Brief

DNI Day Two: Building the Intelligence Community for 2045

A new DNI should refocus ODNI on enterprise leadership, modernize intelligence investment, and close the seams adversaries exploit across the national security landscape.

Author's NoteIn our first paper, DNI Day One: Three Strategic Decisions for National Security Evolution, we identified three challenges confronting [...] More

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Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

Why One Former CIA Executive Never Stopped Playing

Why One Former CIA Executive Never Stopped Playing

When I was three years old, I fell in love with the violin thanks to an unlikely duet between Itzhak Perlman and a grumpy green Muppet. Watching [...] More

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WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A NEW (ACTING) DNI – There is a new (acting) sheriff in town at Liberty Crossing with federal housing czar Bill Pulte picking up additional duties as Acting DNI after the outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard ended her stint earlier than expected last week. So what has the new boss been up to? Well, for one thing he has created an X account with the @DNIPulte. (No “acting” – probably just an oversight). When last we checked, @DNIPulte had three posts up – two of which were heroic images of President Trump. Beyond that – we’re not sure if he has started to carry out his reported threat to fire hundreds of DNI [...] More

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State Secrets

What happens when one of Hollywood's most influential futurists sits down with a former NSA Director?

In this special State Secrets conversation, Ronald D. Moore—the creator behind For All Mankind, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek—joins former NSA and U.S. Cyber Command Commander Gen. Timothy Haugh to explore the increasingly blurred line between science fiction and national security reality.

From the new space race and AI-powered disinformation to cyber warfare, Russia, China, and the future of conflict, this wide-ranging discussion reveals how the stories we imagine today may become tomorrow's strategic challenges.

Are we entering a technological revolution as consequential as the space race? And who is best positioned to anticipate what's next—the intelligence community or the storytellers imagining the future?