The world can’t afford another ‘Mafia Don’ war when it comes to Russia
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION – The upcoming peaceful inauguration of the next U.S. president should serve as a reminder to the world of the virtues […] More
Cipher Brief Expert View
Trump Administration’s Counterterrorism Policy Should Begin at Golan Heights
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — We’ve seen all this before, the U.S. mission in Syria is not mission complete – it was not in 2018 […] More
Supreme Leader Khamenei’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year
“Fate is a wheel that turns; in our pride, we sometimes forget how swiftly it can crush us beneath it.” – Attributed to Shah Ismail […] More
Are We Positioned to Win the Race for AI Supremacy?
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — In the high-stakes geostrategic race for artificial intelligence supremacy, the United States faces an unexpected adversary: its own government procurement […] More
The Latest
Avoiding Strategic Surprise will be key in the next Administration
EXPERT Q&A – The Cipher Brief tapped Dave Pitts, former Assistant Director of CIA for South and Central Asia and range of other experts with […] More
Sinwar is Dead. What Does it Mean for Power Dynamics in the Region?
EXPERT Q&A – In what many Cipher Brief Experts are calling one of the most significant events in the year-long war in Gaza, the killing […] More
China is Courting Thailand. Here’s Why the U.S. Should Care.
OPINION/EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — The strategic landscape of Southeast Asia is rapidly evolving, with China making significant inroads into a region where U.S. influence has been […] More
A Personal Perspective on 9/11 and the War that Followed
CIPHER BRIEF EXPERT PERSPECTIVE – Just before 3:00 p.m. local time just outside the Strait of Hormuz, the Safety Officer aboard the USS ENTERPRISE called […] More
U.S. Moving Big Guns to the Middle East to Deter, Protect and Defend
EXPERT Q&A — The U.S. began moving additional military assets to the Middle East in anticipation of a direct attack on Israel after the assassination […] More
Venezuela’s Post-Election Stand off Prompts Fears of a ‘Blood bath’
OPINION — Venezuelans went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president or re-elect long-time strongman, Nicolas Maduro. Early on Monday morning, Venezuela’s […] More
America Beware: Russia is Waging a Broader War with Tactics Both Seen and Unseen
OPINION — Every night I am awoken by air alerts from Kyiv. A few months back, while traveling to that city I put the “Air […] More
Former Homeland Security Head: CrowdStrike Outage is an IT Wakeup Call
EXPERT Q&A — The world continues to recover from the global internet outage that hit Microsoft systems due to a problem with a single software […] More
China’s Party Plenum: About Much More Than Economics
OPINION — The third plenum of the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, from July 15-18, normally discusses major economic policy initiatives […] More
The Year of the (Digital) Dragon
OPINION — In an era where digital power increasingly enables global dominance, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is executing a comprehensive national digital strategy […] More
After the Trump Attack, Fighting an Erosion of Trust
EXPERT Q&A — The immediate aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania brought a flood of disinformation. As The Cipher […] More
After Trump Assassination Attempt, a Reckoning for America
EXPERT Q&A — In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, officials and […] More
Former Estonian President: NATO Falls Short of “Moral Obligation” To Defend Ukraine
OPINION — As part of The Cipher Brief’s coverage of this week’s 75th-anniversary NATO Summit in Washington, international correspondent Ia Meurmishvili spoke with Toomas Hendrik […] More
NATO Summit Leaves Out Georgia at a Critical Juncture
OPINION — In a significant and troubling shift for the country of Georgia, there was a glaring absence in this week’s NATO Summit declaration: the […] More
Putin’s Greatest Weapon Remains the ‘Scare Tactic’
EXPERT Q&A – World leaders are promising much-needed additional aid to Ukraine at this week’s NATO Summit in Washington DC with the U.S., Germany, Romania, […] More