How Does the CIA Recruit Russian Spies?
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — As any good intelligence officer will tell you, recruiting spies is a tough business. Not only do you have to identify […] More
Russia
Ignore the Threat of Russian Intelligence Operations at Your Own Peril
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — The Russian Intelligence Services are getting a lot of attention in the U.S. media these days. It makes sense. […] More
The Tragedy in Moscow Isn’t Over Yet, says CIA’s former Chief of Central Eurasia Division
OPINION / EXPERT PERSPECTIVE – The death toll from last week’s terrorist attack inside a concert hall in a suburban Moscow neighborhood is now at […] More
Alexei Navalny’s Death: What It May Mean for Russia, Ukraine and the West
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — Yulia Navalnaya had come to the Munich Security Conference to urge the gathering of world leaders to think of her husband in […] More
The Latest
The High Price of Losing Ukraine
(This analysis is part of a two-part series first published by the Institute for the Study of War. Their version includes detailed footnotes.) GUEST ANALYSIS […] More
Ukraine 2024: Europe’s Year of Reckoning
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — Nearly a year ago, I wrote a column in The Cipher Brief arguing that Ukraine had just six months to […] More
Expert Opinion: Bringing Down Putin’s House of Cards
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION (Part two of two) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and the kleptocratic regime he has created are the problem. The Putin […] More
Expert Opinion: To Win in Ukraine, We Must Prove Putin Wrong
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION – (Part one of two) – There was an air of critical importance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s most recent trip […] More
Russia, Hamas and a Moment of Global Challenge
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE – Hamas thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support as it released 25-year-old Russian-Israeli dual national Ron Krivoi from captivity on Sunday in […] More
The Price of Putin’s Unkept Promises
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — When Russian President Vladimir Putin rose to power in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, one of his promises to […] More
Ukraine’s Big ‘Adventure Capital’ Opportunity
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION — Early after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as Russian troops threatened Kyiv and Russian cruise missiles destroyed targets […] More
What are the Implications of the Growing Alliance Between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea?
SUBSCRIBER+REPORTING — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a rare trip out of the hermit country last month, to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and pledge […] More
The Ukraine Diaries: Is Ukraine a Vital U.S. National Security Interest?
The Ukraine Diaries is a series of personal writings by national security experts who joined The Cipher Brief’s recent visit to Kyiv as part of […] More
The Return of ‘Iron Felix’ and the Future of Russia’s Leadership
After originally being removed in 1997, a replica statue of “Iron Felix” Dzerzhinsky, has now been placed outside the headquarters of Russia’s foreign spy service. […] More
The Argument for Adopting a Reagan Strategy in Ukraine
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Today, as Western pundits and military experts monitor progress of the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia’s occupation forces in Southern Ukraine, many correctly […] More
How the War in Ukraine is Driving a New Global Order
Is the Ukraine a Global Inflection Point? And if so, with what Consequences? OPINION / EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Since early on in the Ukraine war, […] More
Exclusive Interview: BRICS Offers a Glimpse of What a New Global World Order Could Look Like
SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – If there were an indicator of what a new world order could look like, it was likely on display during last […] More
With Prigozhin Presumed Dead, What Happens to the Wagner Group Now?
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — The news was perhaps as unsurprising as it was shocking: Russian officials say that a plane that crashed northwest of Moscow […] More
Western Focus Sharpens on China Over Black Sea Grain Deal
EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER+ INTERVIEW — In the wake of a Kremlin decision to halt a U.N.-brokered Black Sea agreement, which allowed Ukraine to export tens of millions […] More