Listening to a Top Army Officer – and the Secretary of Defense
OPINION – “The Army is moving quickly to adapt, field new capabilities, and restructure its formations to outpace our adversaries. ‘Transforming in Contact’ (TiC) delivers […] More
Fine Print
Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has a Signal for President Putin
OPINION — “Even if the war stops, when you look at the number of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers and others who have died; and when […] More
Putting Guard Rails Around the Nuclear Option
OPINION — “I am told that there are responsible officials in Russia that, were he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to push a nuclear button, they […] More
The Cost of Not Bringing the Pentagon into the Post-Cold War Era
OPINION — We are in a new kind of warfare with Russia and a little-noticed House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing last Tuesday showed, […] More
The Latest
A Picture of Putin’s Nuclear Option
OPINION — Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly threatened the use of his nuclear weapons and now has placed his nuclear deterrence forces on […] More
Putin Moves on Ukraine. How Will the World Respond?
OPINION — Is this the future of major power conflicts? Remember President Joe Biden’s January 19, 2022, press conference response to a question about sanctions […] More
The Wrong Answer on Ukraine
OPINION — Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the center of world attention since last November, when he began a buildup of Russian forces on […] More
A New Path to Cyber Conflict with Russia
OPINION — Last Thursday, in a little-noticed U.S. Treasury Department press release, the Biden administration accused Russia of currently implementing a 2020 information warfare plan […] More
Don’t Ignore All Sides of Russian Messaging
OPINION — Let’s look at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s situation at home, as we try to determine what’s behind his threatening stance toward Ukraine. As […] More
Nuclear Weapons and the ‘Doublethink’ Conundrum
OPINION — As we await the Biden 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and the results of U.S.-Russian security talks that opened yesterday in Geneva, it’s […] More
The Connection Between Words and Action in National Security
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. Pincus spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
The Nine Lives of U.S. Defense Programs
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. Pincus spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
What 20 Years of Reconstruction Taught Us in Afghanistan
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Is the US Creating Opportunity for China in Afghanistan?
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Cyber is the New Weapons System of the Future
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
The Military’s Long History of Dealing with Racism
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Where Biden Stands on Nuclear Weapons
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing […] More
When it comes to Cyberattacks, Can we really just talk it out?
Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics from nuclear […] More
US Nuclear Weapons Systems Facing Risk with Replacements
Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics from nuclear […] More