Latest Cipher Brief Expert View Columns

EXPERT OPINION — South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, in his Liberation Day speech on August 15, reminded the world that “denuclearization of North Korea […] More

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — China’s reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was even more aggressive than anticipated. Fighter jets crossing the median line […] More

China’s Defense Ministry has announced military exercises surrounding Taiwan as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taipei. The Cipher Brief sat down with Cipher Brief […] More

OPINION — U.S. – Latin American relations face rocky times. Events during and surrounding the just concluded Summit of the Americas (SOA), a meeting of […] More

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Resilience is a word we hear a lot, but what does it mean and why should we care?  And how do we […] More

OPINION — For those of us who have been privileged to work at the Central Intelligence Agency, there is no place more sacred than the […] More

This piece from Cipher Brief Expert Nick Warner was first published in The Australian and is re-published with permission from the author. OPINION — We […] More

OPINION – In the 1964 movie, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, an insane U.S. general triggers nuclear […] More

Australia’s neglect has allowed China to expand its grand strategy of global base-building into the Pacific. It is not too late for us to shore […] More

Behind the uplifting scenes of Ukrainian resistance, there are some troubling questions as Putin’s war of aggression continues to get increasingly brutal. (Ed Note:  A […] More

And China’s Dissemination of Russian Disinformation OPINION — On February 4th, President Xi Jinping signed a Joint Statement while in Beijing at the Winter Olympics, […] More

OPINION — “The beginning of wisdom”, according to a quote ascribed to Confucius, “is to call things by their proper name.”  That saying came to […] More

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — On March 24, North Korea successfully launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) called the Hwasong-17.  The missile flew for 68 minutes and […] More

After recent hurdles in the nearly year-long talks aimed at re-instituting the nuclear agreement with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), […] More

OPINION — Vladimir Putin is the third modern dictator, after Napoleon and Hitler to make the mistake of invading Ukraine, albeit the first to try […] More

The Cipher Brief:  Understanding that there is no clear view into what Russian President Vladimir Putin is really thinking – what do you think Ukraine […] More

As Cipher Brief Expert and former CIA Chief of the Central Eurasia Division, Rob Dannenberg writes for Subscriber+Members the way that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s […] More

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that an attack against a kindergarten in Ukraine is a “false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians”, […] More

As career intelligence and diplomatic professionals look at today’s Ukraine situation, many – like Cipher Brief Expert and former Senior Member of the British Foreign […] More

This piece from Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe DeTrani was first published in The Washington Times OPINION — Kim Jong Un, during his ten years of authoritarian rule […] More

OPINION — Instability in Latin America fuels refugee flows, inflation and criminal activity, all of which affect U.S. interests. The Biden Administration’s virtual summit on […] More

So much has changed in the past two and a half decades on the rocky road toward democracy in the Arab world. And not for […] More

This piece from Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe DeTrani was first published in The Washington Times OPINION — If corrective actions aren’t taken immediately, the […] More

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE – The on-going bloody terrorist violence against Shia mosques in Afghan cities like Kunduz, Kandahar, and elsewhere have highlighted the murky issue of […] More