The Tasks & Opportunities Facing Gina Haspel
Gina Haspel assumes the position of D/CIA admirably prepared in all possible respects — in general, of course, given 33 years with the agency, and specifically, having […]
Opinion
Racing to Secure Our Future
The Great Powers are in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) arms race. China publicly set a goal of becoming “the world’s primary AI innovation center” by […]
Sadr Prepares for Role as Kingmaker
Cipher Brief Note: Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr assured Iraqis this past weekend that the next Iraqi government will be ‘inclusive’. Al-Sadr, who once fought U.S. […]
Best Of: Gina Haspel, Unfiltered
On Thursday, May 17, the Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Gina Haspel as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, despite concerns over her role in […]
RIP Cyber Coordinator: An Obituary
Rest in peace, Cyber Coordinator. The White House’s Special Assistant to the President and Cyber Coordinator has now been eliminated, apparently ending (or more likely […]
Terrorism and the Future Lone Wolf Threat in America
There is one truth in terrorism that intelligence officials and national security experts have seen proven over the past few years: terrorist tactics are continuously […]
In Putin’s Fourth Term, What—If Anything—Threatens His Control?
On May 7, Vladimir Putin was inaugurated for his fourth six-year term as President of Russia. He gained more than 76 percent of the vote […]
How Jimmy Hatch Touched the Dragon and Survived
I was introduced to Jimmy Hatch via email in late 2014. I was months away from launching The Cipher Brief and a mutual friend who […]
South Korea Has Reassessed the Value of its American Alliance
As they strolled on the beach at Dalian earlier this week, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un had a lot to discuss. China’s idea of the […]
Inside Haspel’s Hearing Room
If you watched the questioning of the President’s nominee for Director of Central Intelligence on C-SPAN, you probably missed the significant display of U.S. Intelligence […]
The 2011 U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq: Relevance for Syria Today
Following the near destruction of ISIS in Iraq and in the U.S. “zone” in northeastern Syria, and then a call recently by President Donald Trump […]
North Korea: From Wishful Thinking to ‘Possible’
The Panmunjom Declaration gives us hope that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is possible. The Summit of South Korean President Moon Jae-in with North Korea’s […]
Banning Transgender Soldiers Will Damage National Security
“Who is a Homo?” ponders an internal CIA document written in 1980 to help investigators identify and purge gay CIA officers. “The homosexual is a […]
Why Intelligence Matters
Former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell is debuting season two of his popular podcast ‘Intelligence Matters’ in partnership with CBS News this week. The Cipher […]
With Influence Activities Exposed, the Kremlin Acts Even More Boldly
Russian influence operations were thrust into the public limelight in the West in 2017 with the findings of the U.S. Intelligence Community that Russia did […]
How the U.S. Can Fight for Tokyo Too with Kim Jong Un
Within moments of greeting President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in mid-April, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe clinched a key strategic objective for their meeting: a […]
Iran’s “Admit Nothing, Deny Everything, Make Counter-Accusations” Tour
At the time of this writing, Iran’s avuncular Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is about to conclude a six-day visit to New York during which he […]
Standing Firm on Denuclearization with Kim Jong Un
Getting North Korea to agree to the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons facilities will be a difficult task […]