Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Cyber Initiatives Group Fall Summit
cipherbrief

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

Illicit Trafficking

Trump Administration Says Narco-Trafficking is #1 Threat - and Tries All-Hands Approach to Stop It
Badge
deep dive

Trump Administration Says Narco-Trafficking is #1 Threat - and Tries All-Hands Approach to Stop It

DEEP DIVE — When the U.S. intelligence community (IC) declared last week that the greatest danger to American national security is old-fashioned [...] More

Latin AmericaAmericasNorth AmericaReporting
Cyber Initiatives Group Fall Summit

The Latest

A Threat to Regional Stability

The problems plaguing the Northern Triangle—Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—are plenty, but for retired DEA Agent Michael Vigil one stands out [...] More

Latin AmericaAmericasReporting

Strengthening Rule of Law

Does the deteriorating security situation in Mexico affect us here in the U.S.? Is it really a U.S. national security issue? If Mexico continues on a [...] More

North AmericaAmericasLatin AmericaReporting
Solving Mexico’s Violence Problem

Solving Mexico’s Violence Problem

In the last scene of the movie Sicario, children in Ciudad Juarez play soccer as their parents cheer from the sidelines. Gunshots are heard in the [...] More

North AmericaAmericasReportingLatin America

Reducing Cartel Violence

For almost a decade, the Mexican government has deployed the latest version of a much longer effort to address the growing threat of Drug Trafficking [...] More

North AmericaAmericasLatin AmericaReporting
El Chapo’s Arrest Won’t Impact War on Drugs

El Chapo’s Arrest Won’t Impact War on Drugs

There was a sigh of relief when the Mexican government successfully re-captured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman last week. El Chapo, leader of [...] More

Latin AmericaAmericasReporting

Trafficking in Antiquities

Retired Brigadier General Russell Howard discussed ISIS’s involvement in antiquities trafficking with The Cipher Brief, explaining that ISIS taxes [...] More

ReportingMiddle East
Cyber Initiatives Group Fall Summit

Oil Sales

The Islamic State, popularly known as ISIS, is in many ways an innovative economic actor. But its method of bringing oil to market has been anything [...] More

Middle EastReporting

ISIS’ Illicit Networks

The Islamic State (ISIS) and the threat from terrorism has dominated the news for the past 18 months. ISIS emerged from the chaos in Iraq and the [...] More

Middle EastReporting
The Caliphate of Crime

The Caliphate of Crime

Labeled as the richest terrorist group in the world, the Islamic State (ISIS) continues to amass substantial funds to bankroll its military, [...] More

Middle EastReporting

Mapping Criminal Networks

Two assumptions about transnational crime disrupt the design of effective security policies worldwide: Assuming that corruption is mainly an economic [...] More

ReportingAmericasLatin America
Illicit Trafficking in Latin America

Illicit Trafficking in Latin America

Major and growing illicit trafficking networks link Latin America to Europe, Asia, and North America. Through these networks, illicit drugs and [...] More

Latin AmericaAmericasReporting

The Threat to the U.S.

With over 30 years working as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, Michael Vigil has an extensive understanding of illicit trafficking [...] More

North AmericaAmericasLatin AmericaReporting