Call out Chinese Spying for the Threat it Is
OPINION — “The beginning of wisdom”, according to a quote ascribed to Confucius, “is to call things by their proper name.” That saying came to […] More
Intelligence
Soviet Espionage Under the Cover of Diplomacy
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, the US government expelled 13 Russian diplomats working at the United Nations. It did […] More
US Intelligence is only as Good as what goes into it
OPINION — Officers in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s Directorate of Operations (DO) have a penchant for action and readiness to serve in any circumstance. […] More
Putin Likely Didn’t Plan on Publicly Available Information in his War in Ukraine
OPINION — Even a cyber and info war aficionado like Russian President Vladimir Putin must begrudgingly appreciate the karmic role that the slew of publicly […] More
Intelligence Isn’t Just for Commanders Anymore
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Intelligence is for commanders, or at least so I’ve been told. Regardless of the term you prefer—commander, principal, or policymaker—the idea expressed […] More
Ukraine and Using the Righteousness of our Cause Creatively
OPINION — Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will generate immediate waves on the intel front, especially in HUMINT operations. Some effects will follow established patterns, but […] More
The Perfect Storm of Technology, Intelligence and AI
OPINION — The Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution is here and is rapidly becoming a central element of the Great Power Competition. Machine Learning (ML) and […] More
The Real Power of Intelligence ‘Auxiliaries’
The democratization of intelligence is changing how espionage is done – and by whom. How can states best achieve their aims in an age of […] More
Fabrication Operations in War
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that an attack against a kindergarten in Ukraine is a “false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians”, […] More
The US is Engaging in a Strategy to Share Intelligence on Russia More Broadly. Is it Worth the Risk?
As US and European diplomacy efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Ukraine border — where nearly 130,000 Russian troops have amassed — seem to have […] More
The Intelligence Game is Changing. Are We Ready?
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — As retirees of the Clandestine Service at the CIA, we worked for decades in the shadows around the world, at ease in […] More
Open Source Intelligence and Uncovering Secrets Hidden in Plain Sight
OPINION — The intelligence community (IC) has long struggled with the idea of Open Source intelligence, or OSINT. For the last 80 years, it has […] More
Corporate Intelligence Playbook: Part 1
FEATURE — Occasionally, we ask Cipher Brief Experts with experience in both the public and private sectors to share their thoughts on security-related issues. The […] More
A Former Presidential Briefer Rethinks Truth to Power
OPINION — “I think we should stop teaching ‘truth to power’,” a CIA analytic instructor once told me. That was more than a decade ago, […] More
The Importance of Tempest Standards
ACADEMIC INCUBATOR — During Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019, Republican lawmakers accessed the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility—or SCIF, in layman’s terms—that Rep. Adam Schiff […] More
The Urgency of the Moment for Congress on AI and National Security
(Editor’s Note: This article is the fifth and final article in a series first published by our friends at Just Security that is dives into the foundational […] More
The U.S. Advantage in Intelligence may not be the Superpower you think it is
OPINION — World conditions are increasingly difficult. China heads everyone’s list as the most formidable of our four main antagonists for many reasons—but especially intimidating […] More
A Roadmap for AI in the IC
A Roadmap for AI in the Intelligence Community (Editor’s Note: This article was first published by our friends at Just Security and is the fourth […] More