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Riding the Tiger: Why Xi and Putin’s ‘Axis of Autocracies’ Could End the Way Churchill Predicted

“Dictators,” Churchill observed, “ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount.” “And,” he added, “the tigers are getting hungry.”EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION -- Churchill penned those [...] More

Hard Truths Regarding an Unjust War

OPINION — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an illegal and brutal war of aggression. Moscow is solely responsible for unleashing this conflict, and the world is right to recoil from the idea of [...] More

More from Mark Kelton

Here’s How Russia’s Covert War Could Undermine its Own Goals

Here’s How Russia’s Covert War Could Undermine its Own Goals

There’s historical precedent for Moscow to worry. [...] More

When Truths Are Classified and Falsehoods Are Free

OPINION -- What happens when an intelligence officer who has sworn to protect classified information can’t refute an erroneous news report or a [...] More

CIA's Latest Existential Challenge

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION -- Today, the Central Intelligence Agency faces a crisis of trust. While CIA officers have long confronted adversaries [...] More

As Negotiations Over Ukraine Drag On, What Can Putin Stand to Lose?

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE - “How Many Divisions has the Pope Got?” Josef Stalin’s sarcastic, contemptuous dismissal of an appeal by Pope Pius XI to a higher [...] More

How U.S. Adversaries are Eyeing Our Presidential Election

OPINION — Describing the conditions that set the stage for history’s largest, most costly war, Winston Churchill wrote in The Gathering Storm, “The [...] More

Honoring the Oath Taken by Intelligence Officers Means More than Politics

OPINION — A poster I recently saw at CIA Headquarters reminded me of a project on which my late colleague and friend, Patty Brandmaier, and I worked [...] More
The Return of 'Iron Felix' and the Future of Russia's Leadership

The Return of 'Iron Felix' and the Future of Russia's Leadership

After originally being removed in 1997, a replica statue of "Iron Felix" Dzerzhinsky, has now been placed outside the headquarters of Russia's [...] More

The Enduring Consequences of Intelligence Leaks

OPINION — Having dealt with the investigation of, and fall-out from, Edward Snowden’s treachery while I served as CIA’s Chief of Counterintelligence [...] More
The Underlying Message from Putin and Xi: War is Coming

The Underlying Message from Putin and Xi: War is Coming

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Some thirty years ago, when I was a CIA Chief of Station in the war-torn Balkans, a US Special Operations soldier with whom I [...] More