Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

Do Diplomatic and Defense Vacancies Risk U.S. Security?

Do Diplomatic and Defense Vacancies Risk U.S. Security?

When a new U.S. president takes office the January after an election, his or her administration takes over not only the world’s strongest and most powerful military, but also a robust and complex foreign policy bureaucracy. From the moment of inauguration, the work done by the incoming president’s transition team in selecting, vetting, and nominating political appointees, as well as career professionals, who share the president’s policy agenda, is then meant to swiftly translate into getting those appointees confirmed by the Senate and installed throughout the dozens of agencies that make up the federal government.

As of September 15th, President Donald Trump had nominated 347 individuals, 140 of which had been confirmed. Compare this to the same point in the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama: by mid-September, Bush had nominated 573 with 316 confirmations; Obama 450 with 321 confirmations. And out of Trump’s numbers, only 24 individuals have been confirmed at the Department of State (compared to 83 and 86 respectively by the former presidents) and 15 at the Department of Defense (compared to 22 and 33).

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Related Articles

The Central Role of Women in the CIA

BOOK REVIEW: AGENTS OF CHANGE: The Women Who Transformed the CIABy Christina Hillsberg / Citadel June 24. 2025Reviewed by: Jennifer EwbankThe [...] More

Former CIA Director on the Priority Intelligence Requirement in Iran

Former CIA Director on the Priority Intelligence Requirement in Iran

EXPERT INTERVIEW – Tehran’s response on Monday to U.S. attacks against its nuclear facilities over the weekend was measured and possibly calibrated [...] More

What Was Trump Thinking When He Ordered the Strike on Iran?

OPINION / FINE PRINT — “I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked [...] More

Will Anything Stop Iran's Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons?

OPINION -- The weekend bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow surprised the leadership in Tehran. It shouldn’t have, given [...] More

Could Iran's Judiciary Chief Be the Next Supreme Leader?

OPINION — As Israel's unprecedented military campaign and targeting of Iranian military leaders and scientists wreaked havoc across Iran last week, [...] More

A Practitioner’s Guide to Cocktail Tradecraft

A Practitioner’s Guide to Cocktail Tradecraft

Writing a book was something former senior CIA Officer Rob Dannenberg never thought he’d do, but as he started reflecting on the ways he and his [...] More

The Intelligence Behind the Strike: Was Everyone Wrong About Iran’s Nuclear Program?

OPINION — On June 13, 2025, just after midnight, Israel launched a military operation against Iran, citing an urgent need to halt Tehran’s march [...] More

Taking Midway with Martin Dugard

Taking Midway with Martin Dugard

Martin Dugard is an enormously prolific, best-selling author. In addition to ten mega-million selling books co-authored with Bill O’Reilly, He has [...] More

NATO's Critical 1.5 Percent

OPINION -- This week's NATO Summit will focus on the proposal that each member raise its overall defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic [...] More