The Vice Closes on Mosul: What Next?
Last Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi appeared on Iraqi television to announce “a new phase in the operation” to retake Mosul. “We are […] More
Terrorism
Mosul: One Battle, Six Campaigns for the Trump Administration
Last October, I published a summary of the coalition battle to liberate Mosul from ISIS in The Cipher Brief, stressing that inside the one battle […] More
Mosul: Winning the Battle and the War
The Trump Administration has inherited a complex set of problems in Iraq. Most pressing among them is the ongoing campaign to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest […] More
Doubling Down Against the Jihadist Message
With the recent U.S. military raid in Yemen and the ongoing campaign in Mosul, the Trump Administration is so far continuing the United States’ longstanding […] More
The Power of Persuasion in Countering Terror
As part of the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) during the Obama administration, Michael Ortiz helped develop and launch a […] More
Countering Extremism: A Problem for Civil Society
The Cipher Brief‘s Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani, spoke with Haras Rafiq, CEO of Quilliam, to discuss how the organization works to counter the […] More
Designating the Muslim Brotherhood As Terrorists Is Complicated
The Trump Administration is considering whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood – a movement that espouses a doctrine of political Islam and has millions of […] More
The Potential to Increase the Terrorist Threat
The Cipher Brief sat down with Michele Dunne, Director and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Center, to discuss the […] More
The U.S. Should Be Wary About Overplaying Its Hand
The Muslim Brotherhood preaches a violent, exclusivist ideology. Its websites and social media accounts are chock-full of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Its affiliated networks in Istanbul have threatened foreign […] More
New Threat Landscape in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is emerging as an ISIS battlefield, and security threats in the region will accelerate and grow with the group’s global expansion – with […] More
Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis – Fertile Ground for Jihadis in Southeast Asia?
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has largely disappeared from the news since its military junta was replaced by a relatively reformist government after 2015 elections, […] More
A New Dimension in Myanmar
October’s attacks on the Border Guard Police bases by the insurgent group Harakah al-Yaqin (HaY) in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and their aftermath have raised concerns […] More
ISIS or al Qaeda Unlikely to Expand in Myanmar
The struggle of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims is a regular topic of discussion on jihadist online message boards, frequently cited as the ultimate case of persecution […] More
The End of AQAP’s Last Refuge in Yemen?
On Sunday, U.S. Special Forces SEAL Team 6, killed Abdul Raouf al-Dhahab, a mid-level al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) commander, and two of […] More
Cipher Brief Experts Question Trump's National Security Actions
President Donald Trump has wrapped his initial actions in office in the name of keeping the United States safe, but several experts and former top […] More
Conditions in the Sahel Benefit Al Qaeda
The Cipher Brief sat down with Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, to discuss the growing threat of al Qaeda and […] More
“Fighting Fire with Fire:” Will Trump Bring Back What He Calls Torture?
Top former national security leaders are questioning a draft executive order that calls for a policy review to potentially authorize the CIA to reopen overseas […] More
To My Successor in the White House: Stay Focused
As the Obama Administration enters its final week, the President’s foreign policy and security legacy is closely tied to two major themes: counterterrorism and cybersecurity. […] More