Columns And Op‑Eds

A Read for Spy Nerds

by Spy Swap

BOOK REVIEW: SPY SWAP: The Humiliation of Russia’s Intelligence Services By Nigel West / Frontline Books Reviewed by Joseph Augustyn, Former Sr. CIA Officer The Reviewer — Joseph W. Augustyn...

Cyber is the New Weapons System of the Future

by Walter Pincus

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics from nuclear...

What to Expect from the Supreme Leader's Apprentice

by Jason Brodsky

Jason Brodsky is a senior Middle East analyst and editor at Iran International TV. He previously served as policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and before that, worked in a variety...

Neurotechnology for National Defense: the U.S. and China

by Joy Putney

The Cipher Brief’s Academic Incubator partners with national security-focused programs from colleges and Universities across the country to share the thinking of the next generation of national...

The Military's Long History of Dealing with Racism

by Walter Pincus

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics from...

Anticipating the Fall of Kabul's Government

by Tim Willasey-Wilsey

Cipher Brief Expert Tim Willasey-Wilsey served for over 27 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is now Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London.   OPINION...

A Few Alternate Paths to Resuming Negotiations with North Korea

by Joseph DeTrani

Cipher Brief Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is former Special envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea and the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO), as well as former...

National Security and the Orthodoxy of Tribes

by Carmen Medina

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: A Handbook for Leading Change from...

Some Thoughts on the Second Order Effects of Ransomware and National Security

by Kevin J. Buckley

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”  – Daniel Patrick Moynihan Kevin J. Buckley retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as a member of the Senior...

Where Biden Stands on Nuclear Weapons

by Walter Pincus

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics from nuclear...