Implications of Top Pakistani Taliban Leader’s Death
The leader of one of the deadliest factions within the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), Omar Mansoor, was killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan on Wednesday, U.S. […] More
News & Analysis
Hezbollah's Many Faces
Designated by the United States as a terrorist group in 1997, Hezbollah is a Shia extremist organization and political party based in Lebanon that wears […] More
Axis of Resistance: The Hezbollah-Iran-Syria Relationship
Tehran likes to style the alliance between itself, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria as the core of an “Axis of Resistance.” The name […] More
A Proxy for Iran
The Cipher Brief sat down with Matt Levitt, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Treasury Department, to discuss Hezbollah’s roles in […] More
Food Shortages in Venezuela: Drawing the Line?
Shortages of basic food products in Venezuela are estimated at 80 percent, which means that 80 percent of these products are not available at a […] More
How Federal Agencies Might Improve their Poor Cybersecurity Posture
Hillary Clinton may have dodged an indictment when the FBI announced it would not recommend criminal charges against her for using a private email server […] More
The Rise of the Fringe: A Threat to Democracy?
Parties on the extreme ends of the political spectrum – along with anti-establishment candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders – are moving into the […] More
Democratic Vitality in Latin America
For the past decade, the world has experienced a mild but persistent recession of freedom and democracy. More countries have been declining, rather than gaining, […] More
European Democracy in a Parlous State
Democracy in Europe is in a parlous state at the moment. The British vote for exit (Brexit) from the European Union (EU) has highlighted deep-seated […] More
Philippines Must “Set the Tone” for Peaceful Resolution of China Dispute
Now that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled in favor of the Philippines in its case against China over sovereignty in the South China […] More
NATO: Weathering the Storms
The Warsaw Summit of NATO heads of state this past weekend affirmed the strategic and ideological importance of the U.S. to the alliance and vice […] More
More than Meets the Eye
The NATO summit in Warsaw this past weekend provided a modest but important boost to a Europe in crisis. Allies demonstrated cohesion and unity in […] More
Sending the Right Signals
Heads of state and government in the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) met in Warsaw over the weekend to discuss their response to the multiple threats […] More
NATO Takes Steps in Response to the "Arc of Insecurity and Instability"
Moving ahead with what President Barack Obama calls the “most significant reinforcement of our collective defense [at] any time since the Cold War,’’ NATO allies […] More
Federal Cybersecurity One Year After the OPM Breach
One year ago, on July 10, 2015, Katherine Archuleta resigned her position as Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the face of […] More
Improvements and Uncertainty
It has been a little over a year since the Office of Personnel Management announced that it had been breached. Since that time, the federal […] More
The System Remains Vulnerable
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was the victim of a cyber-attack in 2014. Hackers (the Chinese are suspected) gained access to OPM’s local-area network […] More
Erdogan's Weathervane Foreign Policy
On June 27, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey would be normalizing relations with Israel and Russia. This 180-degree policy shift came after his […] More