The Paucity of ‘Peace to Prosperity’
Bottom Line Up Front Under the leadership of Jared Kushner, the administration is attempting to cobble together a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. […] More
Middle East
Preparing for Iran’s Next Move
From The Cipher Brief’s Open Source Collection newsletter, U.S. officials and Cipher Brief experts are warning U.S. businesses to remain vigilant as tensions between Iran and […] More
Deadlier Skies: Risks and Benefits of Drone Technology
Last week, the U.S. nearly launched retaliatory attacks against Iran for the shooting down of a U.S. military drone that was operating in the region. […] More
Why Bahrain Isn’t a Good Deal for Palestinians
The U.S. Administration is facing a tough sell as it leads the Bahrain Workshop in just under two weeks time, in what is widely seen […] More
The Risks of Civil War in Sudan
Bottom Line Up Front Civilian pro-democracy protesters were gunned down on Monday by Sudanese security forces in Khartoum, the country’s capital. According to various […] More
Last Stand in Idlib?
Bottom Line Up Front The Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies are making moves to retake Idlib from the last remaining pocket of […] More
Turkey’s Uncertain Path
Bottom Line Up Front On May 5 the Turkish Foreign Minister said his country would accept delivery of Russian S-400 missiles. The prospect of […] More
Supporting a Deadly Quagmire in Yemen
Bottom Line Up Front As U.S-supported Saudi air strikes continue to kill Yemeni civilians, a bill to end that support remains stuck in the Senate. […] More
Signs of Redemption Amidst Arab Political Upheavals
The anti-regime convulsions currently underway in Algeria and Sudan are the latest version of an “Arab Spring” that erupted in 2011 and that Arab autocrats […] More
The Impact of Harder-Hitting Sanctions on Iran
The U.S. moved this week to apply even more pressure on Iran to end its involvement in illicit activities around the world by announcing that […] More
Turkey at the Crossroads
Bottom Line Up Front Turkey’s ruling AKP party is asking for a full recount in the mayoral election in Istanbul, making accusations of ‘wide-spread […] More
Has the Arab Spring Finally Reached Algeria?
Bottom Line Up Front On 2 April 2019, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his immediate resignation, ending his nearly 20-year rule. For decades, real […] More
Closing the Gaps Before the Next War: The Army’s New Sense of Urgency
Close to six thousand people, including current military leaders and members of the defense industry, are gathered at AUSA’s 2019 Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, […] More
4 Terrorism Questions for former NCTC Director Nicholas Rasmussen
This week’s release of the Intelligence Community’s unclassified Worldwide Threat Assessment made clear which groups the IC believes pose the greatest terrorist threats to the […] More
The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland
As part of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Worldwide Threat Assessment this week, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence […] More
The Threat Posed by Hezbollah
In a statement for the record presented to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence this week about worldwide threats facing the U.S., Director of National […] More
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
The Changing Balance of Power in the Middle East
In part one 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