Leveraging Accountability to Fix Cybersecurity
When accountability is used as innovation, it not only drives social change but also helps solve seemingly intractable problems. Cybersecurity is an industry that can […]
Opinion
Ex-CIA Chief Brennan’s Broadsides Against Trump Only Help Putin
Editor’s Note: The Cipher Brief reached out to former CIA Director John Brennan for a response to the published op-ed, but he declined to comment. […]
Targeting One of America’s Deadliest Foes: Opioids
Americans are facing one of their deadliest foes in recent history: not ISIS, but opioids, painkillers that are highly addictive and killing thousands of Americans […]
Gina Haspel Stands Ready to Break the Glass Ceiling. Let Her.
Gina Haspel, the deputy director of the CIA, stands ready to break through one of the most stubborn glass ceilings in the U.S. government, and […]
There is No Such Thing as Cyber Deterrence. Please Stop.
History suggests that applying the wrong operational framework to an emerging strategic environment is a recipe for failure. During the World War I, both sides […]
European Defense Needs to Go On Offense
Europe’s defense capability is at the nadir of a cycle of decline since the end of the Cold War. It was less important at the […]
The Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data exploitation crisis seems to be waking up a new wave of Americans to the fundamental downsides of our purposeful addiction to […]
Deciphering Kim’s Secretive Visit to Beijing
Amb. Joseph DeTrani, Cipher Brief expert and former Special Envoy for the Six Party Talks with North Korea, shared his thoughts on the surprise trip […]
NATO Observer Group: Keeping Watch on Moscow from the US Senate
As the U.S., NATO and other allies move against Russia over an alleged nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy in Britain, bipartisan moves […]
Beating Iran With Our Carrots and Ignoring Our Sticks
A bipartisan group of 115 American national security leaders, including 49 retired flag officers of the U.S. military; 19 former members of Congress and 29 former U.S. ambassadors, […]
The Attacker Has the Advantage in Cyberspace. Can We Fix That?
It is not news that cyberspace is insecure. Attackers have had the advantage over defenders for not just years, but decades. Quotes from decades ago […]
Surviving Trump: Advice to Europe from an Obama Veteran
Cipher Brief network expert Michel Flournoy, former senior Obama administration defense official, offered advice to her former European counterparts at the German Marshall Forum in […]
Domestic Terrorism: The Threat in Our Backyard
The number one “terrorist” threat faced by Americans comes from within, with all of the lethal attacks in the U.S. since 9/11 carried out by […]
Pakistan Is Feeling US Pressure. Now What?
After a short trip to Pakistan last week, I return to Washington convinced that the Trump administration’s new coercive approach toward Islamabad is working, at […]
The Saudis Want a Nuclear Program. The Israelis Are Concerned.
In an unexpected turn of events, the sequence of dramatically different policies of the Obama and Trump Administrations has exacerbated the problem of nuclear proliferation […]
Firing McCabe Is a “Gut Punch” and “Blow to What is Right”
Such is the world in which we now live that I cannot say I was surprised to learn late Friday that former FBI Deputy Director […]
Behind the Curtain of Vladimir Putin’s “Democracy”
In the latter part of the 18th century, not too long after an earlier annexation of Crimea by Russia, a Russian governor by the name […]
Turks in Afrin: How Does It End?
Turkey has had considerable military success in its two-month old campaign against the Syrian Kurdish militia in the northwest Syrian border province of Afrin, but […]