Comey Fallout: Trump Warns Former FBI Chief Over Leaks
President Donald Trump on Friday warned James Comey, the former FBI director he fired this week, against leaking to the media as he once again […] More
Security/Stability
Trump Faces Decision Point on Afghanistan
President Donald Trump has to make a decision soon: what will he do in Afghanistan? The U.S. is now in its 16th year in the […] More
Comey Firing a Big Deal, Cipher Brief Expert Tells CNBC
John Sipher, a former member of the CIA’s senior intelligence service, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday morning to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s sudden […] More
U.S. Special Operations Forces’ Changing Mission in the Middle East
Despite former President Barack Obama’s efforts to cut U.S. military commitments in the Middle East, events quickly drew his Administration back into the region. Civil […] More
Don’t Overcommit U.S. Special Operations Forces
U.S. special operations forces are widely considered to be some of the most highly trained and effective military units in the world and, as a […] More
SOF’s Evolving Role: Warfare “By, With, and Through” Local Forces
The role of U.S. special operations forces (SOF) in the Middle East has expanded steadily since the inception of the counter-ISIS campaign in 2014. In […] More
Yates Warned White House: Flynn Susceptible to Russian Blackmail
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said in late January she warned the White House that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was compromised by Russia […] More
Natural Security Series: Russia in the Arctic – Aggressive but Not an Aggressor
The shrinking ice cap in the Arctic has opened up new opportunities and security challenges for the nations surrounding the region. Arctic policy debates in […] More
Algeria Takes the Lead in Libya
That Libya is a mess is beyond doubt, but who is actually trying to resolve the conflict is a harder question to answer. U.S. President […] More
Nobody is in Charge in Libya
The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel sat down with Mohamed Eljarh, former political consultant to the Libyan Mission to the European Union, to discuss the ongoing […] More
A Tale of Three Libyas
To put it mildly, circumstances on the ground in Libya are complicated. Mired in a state of conflict since former head of state Muammar Gaddafi […] More
Comey Mum on Russia Probe, Warns of Future Election Interference
FBI Director James Comey said he expects his agency will not “say another peep” about the investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump’s campaign […] More
Venezuela Teetering on the Edge
Venezuela is teetering on the edge of implosion, with intertwined economic and political crises spinning out of control. The country is entering its second month […] More
No Easy Way Out for Venezuelans
Chaos, it seems, has become a new norm in Venezuela. In the past month, masses of peaceful protesters opposed to President Nicolás Maduro have been […] More
Venezuela: From Richest Country in Latin America to “Basket Case”
Venezuela is on the verge of implosion. Inflation has skyrocketed, shortages of food and other basic necessities abound, and Venezuelans are increasingly fleeing the country […] More
Hacking for Defense: Changing the Face of Security Problem Solving
From kamikaze drones to prototypes using facial recognition technology to help protect troops, a group of Georgetown University students enrolled in a class dubbed, “Hacking […] More
Cipher Brief Expert View: Changing NSA’s Email Collection Program
The National Security Agency (NSA) announced on Friday a change in its intelligence collection under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA). […] More
Trump Needs More Than 100 Days on Syria
When Yitzhak Rabin met with President Gerald Ford on his first visit to Washington as Israel’s Prime Minister in 1974, he sought to cash in […] More