Assessing US Recruitment: The Military V. Pete Hegseth
OPINION — “The U.S. Army Recruiting Command exceeded our fiscal year 2024 recruiting mission, with more than 55,000 future soldiers going to basic combat training. Additionally, […] More
national security
The World Trump Will Face: No Stability Here
OPINION — The so-called “Axis of Authoritarian” states – Russia, China, Iran and North Korea – pose an immediate threat to the international world order. […] More
How Trump 2.0 May Deal With Global Flashpoints
DEEP DIVE – As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, the U.S. faces an unusually broad set of global security challenges: wars […] More
How To Think in—and About—a Post-Analytic World
OPINION — In 1990, the world was on the cusp of a major transformation. The bifurcated, static and hierarchical Cold War era was giving way to […] More
Advice for Trump 2.0: Cipher Brief Experts Weigh In
EXPERT PERSPECTIVES — In the hours after Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election, we turned to our network of experts for […] More
Decoding Global Reactions to Trump’s Victory
DEEP DIVE — It was, as Axios reporter Zachary Basu put it, “the most astonishing, gravity-defying comeback in the history of American politics.” But Donald Trump’s […] More
Global Challenges for 47th President: Two Major Wars, and Avoiding Conflict With China
EXPERT OPINION — As Americans vote, and an anxious nation awaits the results, we turned to a member of our expert network with extensive global […] More
In Next President’s Inbox: 10 Global Nightmares
SPECIAL REPORT – As a divided nation hurtles towards the election, and officials worry about politically-driven violence, potential nightmares abound for the next commander-in-chief. Put […] More
A High-level Briefing on Russia for the next U.S. President
EXPERT OPINION – Dear 47th President of the United States, congratulations on your victory and thank you for your willingness to serve as the leader […] More
How to Save a Government: Remember 9/11 – and ‘Join the Team’
OPINION — Where were you two weeks after September 11th? No one ever asks this question, but it’s the one I answer in my mind when […] More
Why Mental Health Is Now a National Security Issue
OPINION — I recently had the privilege of attending the first annual “REAL Summit: The Intersection of Finance and Mental Health,” a 2-day conference in New […] More
The Axis of Authoritarians – and A Dangerous World
OPINION — The October 1 debate between Senators Tim Walz and JD Vance dealt with just one foreign policy question: the widening war in the Middle […] More
What Analysts Missed Before Russia’s Invasion – and What They’re Still Missing
EXPERT OPINION — A recent report from Washington’s Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) is getting attention for calling out the failure of the […] More
CIA Director: ‘Very Real Danger’ of Wider Mideast War
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – CIA Director William Burns warned Monday of “the very real danger” of a wider war in the Middle East, and urged Israel […] More
NSA Director: US Investigating China Telcom Cyberattacks
EXCLUSIVE — National Security Agency (NSA) Director General Timothy Haugh said the agency was investigating China-linked cyberattacks against three U.S. telecommunications firms, but the government had […] More
In Global Threat Matrix, a New and Different Cold War
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Michael Vickers had an unusual and almost unparalleled career in the U.S. intelligence community, having been deeply involved in both the efforts […] More
The United Nations Must Do More to Bring Peace to the World
OPINION — According to the Geneva Academy of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, as of May 2024, there were more than 120 ongoing armed conflicts in […] More
China is our only real Existential Threat, says Former Senior CIA Officer
OPINION — The United States faces a direct existential threat today that has not been matched in severity since the war between our own states – […] More