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

The War Before the War Has Already Begun

The War Before the War Has Already Begun

There are 65 active state-based conflicts in the world today, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. That is not 65 separate crises. It is [...] More

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SHOOTING HIS MOUTH OFF: Julia Davis reporting in The Daily Beast says that Vladimir Solovyov, Kremlin TV's chief war cheerleader, seems to have fallen out of favor. His ratings are sliding, and Solovyov's broadcast messages have quietly pivoted from "total victory" to "please don't panic about the fuel shortages." Davis says Solovyov was expecting to receive a medal from Putin but was snubbed. Davis adds that Solovyov last week volunteered to go to the front lines himself, as a sniper. Given his aim so far, Ukraine can rest easy. Meanwhile, according to Forbes, an anonymous Polymarket user has bet roughly $400,000 on [...] More

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How will wars be fought in the next decade—and is the United States prepared?

In this exclusive conversation, The Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with General David Petraeus to examine the sweeping transformation reshaping modern warfare. Drawing on his repeated visits to Ukraine alongside The Cipher Brief, General Petraeus argues that the battlefield has changed more dramatically in the last three years than at any point in modern military history.

From artificial intelligence and autonomous systems to drone swarms and machine-speed decision making, Petraeus explains why the war in Ukraine has become the world's most important laboratory for military innovation—and why the United States and its allies must move far more quickly to adapt.

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