Defense Systems

Three decades ago, The Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management (colloquially known as the Packard Commission after its Chairman David Packard) published A Quest for […] More

North Korea’s claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month and allegations that ISIS used a mustard agent against Iraqi Kurds in August […] More

The global strategic environment is growing progressively complicated by an expanding and dynamic network of actors with common motivations and increased access to the technology […] More

With the recent rise in domestic homegrown terrorist attacks, the fear of a domestic WMD attack is also rising.  John Cohen, former Acting Under Secretary […] More

Advances in biotechnology have brought a wide range of benefits in health and medical research, food and agriculture, even manufacturing. At the same time, biotechnology […] More

There is increasingly rapid progress in understanding how biological systems work. This gives us new tools to meaningfully manipulate those systems towards a given end. […] More

Right now, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the Pentagon is trying to figure out how to create artificial life forms and living […] More

Today, interest in the development of biological weapons is the mark of a desperate pariah state or terrorist group. International efforts have led to the […] More

Hollywood has a clear idea of what it would look like if someone used cyber-capabilities against us: a man in a room full of screens […] More

David Navetta is an attorney who focuses primarily on technology, privacy, information security, and intellectual property law at Norton Rose Fulbright.  In an interview with […] More

Does the cyber domain call for a fundamentally different framework for achieving international order in the 21st century, requiring statesmen to critically rethink the art […] More

As President and CEO of FusionX, Matt Devost focuses on cybersecurity and risk management.  Devost told The Cipher Brief that offensive cyber operations should rest […] More

Periodically, The Cipher Brief will explore outside-the-box technologies and unusual, sometimes weird, scientific innovations. You’ll see how the boundaries between reality and fantasy are growing thinner […] More