Members Only Best Of: Railguns: The Fast, the Furious—and the Future?
For this year’s Fourth of July feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage examining the concept of an electromagnetic railgun. Capable of firing projectiles at […] More
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Members Only Best Of: The Revolution of the Railgun
For this year’s Fourth of July feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage on electromagnetic railguns. Capable of firing projectiles at speeds of Mach 7 […] More
Members Only Best Of: A Scalable, Adaptable and Powerful Weapon
For this year’s Fourth of July feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage on electromagnetic railguns. Capable of firing projectiles at speeds of Mach 7 […] More
Members Only Rethinking U.S. Nuclear Policy: Stable Energy vs. Security Risks
While Iran and North Korea nuclear challenges capture the news, another nuclear front is unfolding – in nuclear energy. President Donald Trump, speaking last Thursday […] More
Members Only The Challenge of Briefing a “Fire and Forget” Trump
Current and former Intelligence Community heads say intelligence briefings must shift under President Donald Trump to acknowledge his tendency to be what National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency […] More
Members Only Russian Election Hackers Hit 21 States, Official Tells Senate Panel
Twenty-one state election systems were targeted by Russian hackers during last year’s presidential election, a Department of Homeland Security official told the Senate Intelligence Committee […] More
Members Only Cipher Brief Expert View: GOP Baseball Shooting is Domestic Terrorism
The FBI is investigating why a gunman opened fire Wednesday on Republican lawmakers at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, wounding four people including […] More
Members Only Network Take: What Happened Between Comey and Trump? It’s Debatable
Former FBI Director James Comey is set to testify before Congress on Thursday about his discussions with President Donald Trump related to the investigation into […] More
Members Only New FBI Director Named as Comey says Trump Demanded “Loyalty”
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he would nominate Christopher Wray to serve as the next FBI director as Congress prepares to hear from James […] More
Members Only The Call to Radicalism, Both at Home and Abroad
After violence broke out between white nationalist protestors and counter-protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, a […] More
Members Only Best Of: Aircraft Carriers: Bigger is Better
Editor’s Note: For this year’s Memorial Day feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage examining the future of U.S. aircraft carriers. As I write, the […] More
Members Only Best Of: The Time is Right for Light Carriers
Editor’s Note: For this year’s Memorial Day feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage examining the future of U.S. aircraft carriers. Some planners advocate building […] More
Members Only Sizing Up America’s Aircraft Carriers of the Future
Editor’s Note: For this year’s Memorial Day feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage examining the future of U.S. aircraft carriers. America’s largest warships have […] More
Members Only Mueller Takes Over Russia Probe; Trump Denies Collusion
On the night of March 10, 2004, Deputy Attorney General James Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller sped to George Washington University Hospital and stopped […] More
Members Only Network Take: Trump Defends His Right to Share Information with Russia
President Donald Trump is defending his “absolute right” to share information for “humanitarian reasons” with Russia following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov […] More
Members Only Defending the U.S. from North Korean Long Range Missiles
North Korea’s successful launch of the road-mobile intermediate range Hwasong-12 missile on Sunday yet again demonstrated the Kim Jong-un regime’s perseverance and improving technical acumen […] More
Members Only Developing an Effective Missile Defense
For decades, North Korea’s continued advancements in ballistic missile technology has sustained U.S. interest in missile defense that can protect the U.S. homeland from nuclear-tipped […] More
Members Only Diplomacy the Best Defense Against North Korean Missiles
Imagine the middle of nowhere Alaska. Got that in your head? Great. Now drive 2½ hours further into nowhere and you have arrived at Fort […] More
Members Only Comey Fallout: Trump Warns Former FBI Chief Over Leaks
President Donald Trump on Friday warned James Comey, the former FBI director he fired this week, against leaking to the media as he once again […] More
Members Only Comey Firing Came Amid Calls for Wider Russia Probe
President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey coincides with the ramping up of multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election […] More
Members Only Yates Warned White House: Flynn Susceptible to Russian Blackmail
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said in late January she warned the White House that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was compromised by Russia […] More
Members Only Tillerson Lays Out Vision for Scaled-Down State Department
In a wide-ranging address to State Department employees Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out his vision for the future of the department, the […] More
Members Only Comey Mum on Russia Probe, Warns of Future Election Interference
FBI Director James Comey said he expects his agency will not “say another peep” about the investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump’s campaign […] More
Members Only U.S. Policy to Counter Violent Extremism is Incoherent
The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel spoke with Michael Leiter, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, about U.S. government efforts to counter violent extremism. Leiter […] More