What the 2030 Kill Chain Looks Like
OPINION — On July 1, one month before his scheduled retirement, Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein gave a vivid description of […]
Opinion
What Follows a ‘Sayonara’ Foreign Policy
Cipher Brief Expert and former Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin is a distinguished practitioner in residence at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International […]
Selling F-35s to Saudi Arabia Risks an Arms Race
The Cipher Brief’s Academic Incubator program partners with colleges and Universities across the country to highlight the voices of the next generation of national security […]
The Battle over Bounties and the Bottom Line
OPINION — On 27 June, The New York Times reported Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. The paper cited anonymous […]
A New Call to Arms for Drone Technology
OPINION — The Senate Armed Services Committee has recognized the vulnerabilities of today’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and called on the Defense Department “to develop […]
An Inside Account of the US Evacuation from Libya
Sarah Carlson is the author of a new book, In the Dark of War: A CIA Officer’s Inside Account of the U.S. Evacuation from Libya based in […]
Getting the Girl Factor right in National Security
The Listening Post focuses on the experiences of women in the national security space. This new column is a collection of stories, interviews, and profiles […]
The Unconventional Case for Body Cameras
James Van de Velde, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Faculty Member at Johns Hopkins University. He can be reached at [email protected] OPINION — High technology has […]
Testing Trump’s Team
OPINION — US Government officials, civilian and military, alike may be facing unusual tests in the next four months: Does their loyalty rest with the […]
Pandemics, Warning and the Intelligence Community
Cipher Brief Expert Jim Danoy is a retired defense intelligence executive and served as the National Intelligence Manager for Europe and NATO and a President’s […]
Equal Justice and National Security
Brigham Bechtel is a former CIA Chief of Station. He now works for Coverent and serves at Navigators Global as a Senior Strategist -Security, Defense, […]
Where are Tensions with North Korea Headed?
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), […]
Lessons From Bahrain’s Response to COVID-19
Daniel Hoffman is a former Chief of Station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of distinguished government service included tours of duty […]
What Could Arming the First Island Chain Look Like?
OPINION — The Senate Armed Services Committee last week voted to provide the Pentagon with $6 billion over the next two years to create a […]
Who is Kim Yo-jong?
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made headlines over the weekend as she threatened military action against South Korea, and deemed the inter-Korean liaison […]
What 1989 Tiananmen might tell us about 2020 Hong Kong
Cipher Brief Expert Martin Petersen is the former Deputy Executive Director of the CIA. At the time of Tiananmen, he was Deputy Director of the […]
The US Must Deal Swiftly with an Assertive China
Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker who served over two decades with the Central Intelligence Agency as a member of the Senior […]
Please, Take your Knee off our Necks so we can Breathe
Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart (Ret.) (Vince) is the Founder and CEO of Stewart Global Solutions, LLC, an international consulting organization. He retired from the U.S. […]