The Potential of Integrating Intelligence and Intuition
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — When I was just starting out at CIA, there was an analyst in my group who worked in a particularly methodical way. […] More
Carmen Medina
National Security and the Orthodoxy of Tribes
Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. A 32-year veteran of the Intelligence Community, she is also the author of Rebels at […] More
And One More Thing: Further Thoughts on How the IC Can do Better
Carmen Medina, Former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence Cipher Brief Expert Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. A 32-year veteran of […] More
The IC Must Move Forward, Not Go Back
Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. A 32-year veteran of the Intelligence Community, she is also the author of Rebels at Work: […] More
The Latest
How a Former CIA Deputy Director Avoids Cognitive Traps
The Intelligence Community’s job is to brief policymakers on what the US knows, in order to help them make better decisions. There is a process […] More
Thinking in the Time of Coronavirus – Part Two
Cipher Brief Expert Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence and a 32-year veteran of the Intelligence Community. Medina is also author […] More
Thinking in the Time of Coronavirus – Part 1
Cipher Brief Expert Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence and a 32-year veteran of the Intelligence Community. Medina is also author […] More
Don’t Waste Tax Dollars on ‘Secrets’ Hiding in Plain Sight
The National Security Act of 1947 established the Central Intelligence Agency and the position of Director of Central Intelligence. In addition to setting the Director’s […] More
An American Tragedy of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico may well be the most unusual and paradoxical situation in world affairs, and now it ranks among the most tragic. The existence of […] More
Is Populism Another Name for Political Emotionalism?
What is the definition of populism? What are the common threads that tie together populist movements? Does populism work? The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spoke […] More
Why Fragile States Matter
After the stunning collapse of the Iranian regime in 1979, country risk analysts everywhere became desirous of some method to better calculate the risk of […] More
American Power in the Age of Trump
The administration of President Donald Trump has thrown key tenets of U.S foreign policy into question. After campaigning on a platform that skewered global free […] More
Climate Insecurity and the Changing Balance of Power
Since at least the 1979 Iranian revolution, intelligence and national security analysts have been working hard to identify the causal factors that lead to political […] More
The End of the American Dream?
I’ve been a Puerto Rican all my life. I’ve also been an American citizen all my life. My ethnicity tended to confuse representatives of foreign […] More
Best Of: Nothing Good Comes from Humiliation
For this year’s Thanksgiving Day column, The Cipher Brief revisits Carmen Medina’s exploration of the powerful role humiliation plays in personal psychology, national psyches, and […] More
Are Humans Planting the Seeds of Their Destruction?
During times like these, it’s admittedly hard to keep things in perspective. I bet that few Americans this past week have been contemplating the long […] More
Dystopian Progress in China
I just returned from my first visit to China—13 days of a typical tourist itinerary: Shanghai, Wuhan, Yangtze River, Chongqing, Xian, and Beijing. But even […] More
Memory, Perception, and Perspective
How safe is America today? How safe is the world? As we mark the passage of 15 years since September 11, 2001, many surveys indicate […] More
Best Of: Essential Knowledge
For this year’s Labor Day coverage, The Cipher Brief revisits Carmen Medina’s discussion of “Essential Knowledge.” Medina’s discussion of internet trends is crucial knowledge for […] More