If the U.S. Doesn’t Get China Right, Nothing Else Will Matter
General Michael Hayden, the co-host of The Cipher Brief’s Annual Threat Conference for the past two years, has famously said that the world has been […] More
National Security
Shifting Sands of the Middle East and the Impact on the Arab World
In part two of his two-part exclusive series for The Cipher Brief, AEI Scholar Kenneth Pollack, the author of the recently-released Armies of Sand: The Past, […] More
Special Operations Focuses Inward
United States Special Operations Forces are attracting attention for the wrong reasons after a spate of incidents overseas that involved the murder of Americans, allegedly […] More
Setting an International Cyber Agenda for 2019
Catherine Lotrionte has been the power broker behind Washington D.C.’s International Conference on Cyber Engagement for seven years now and she’s getting ready to host […] More
A U.S. Terrorism Prevention Strategy
The Trump Administration is defunding the nation’s primary anti-domestic terror program at the Department of Homeland Security and DHS’ Office of Terrorism Prevention has removed […] More
A New Space Race? China Lands on the Dark Side of the Moon
Bottom Line Up Front On January 02, China announced that it had become the first nation to land a rover on the dark side […] More
The Business Executive’s Guide to Retaliatory Arrests
Russia’s willingness to detain a U.S. citizen in apparent retaliation for the recent case against Russian citizen Marina Butina should serve as a warning to […] More
EXCLUSIVE: On Nobility and the CIA’s War in Afghanistan
OPINION — On December 31, The New York Times published a piece that claimed Afghan forces “trained and equipped by CIA agents or contractors” were […] More
One Bad Decision on Syria Doesn’t Necessarily Lead to Another
President Donald Trump now says U.S. troops will “slowly” be withdrawn from Syria after his controversial announcement in December, saying that troops would be pulled […] More
Preventing Terrorism Starts with a Plan
The Trump Administration’s National Strategy for Counterterrorism, released this past October, has received positive reviews for its balanced focus on the challenges associated with confronting […] More
The High Cost of President Trump’s Decision-Making Style
The Administration will start the new year with a new acting Secretary of Defense after President Donald Trump accepted James Mattis’s resignation letter and moved […] More
President Trump’s Syria Surprise
The 19 December announcement by President Trump to withdraw ground troops from Syria was surprising to everyone but should have come as a shock to […] More
The Cyber War is Upon Us
John Carlin brings a wealth of government experience to his new book, co-written with author Garrett M. Graff, Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle […] More
Iraq’s New Year Challenges
Despite years of forecasts predicting implosion, partition, revolution, Iranian absorption and other apocalyptic scenarios, there were generally more good events in 2018 than bad in […] More
The Urgency of Resetting Relations With China
Bottom Line Up Front: The Trump Administration is confronting China on issues that have been developing for years and have percolated to the top of […] More
Re-Evaluating Cyber Security for 2019
2018 was a rough year for customers and companies impacted by cyber breaches. Businesses from Under Armour to Facebook to Marriott were targeted by hackers, […] More
Combatting Terrorism on Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released a 23-page report in October outlining proposed major changes for how it wants to screen passengers at airports to […] More
Avoiding ‘Fire and Fury’ with North Korea
Bottom Line Up Front: Six months after the historic June 11, 2018 Summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jung Un, the American public […] More