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National Security

The World Leaders to Watch in 2026

OPINION — The recent release of President Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS), with its emphasis on “the Trump corollary to the Monroe [...] More

The Latest

America’s Next National Security Crisis: A War on Its Own Energy Base

OPINION — Every mission begins with trust. In World War II, the U.S. government trusted private energy producers to deliver aviation gasoline at [...] More

Hicksville, N.Y.: A Long Island Rail Road employee disinfects a train car with an eco-friendly cleaner while at the Hicksville, New York LIRR station on March 19, 2020.

Can High-Tech “Sensor Fusion” Revolutionize Biosurveillance?

DEEP DIVE – It’s the opening act in a potential public health nightmare: a chicken dies on a farm, for no apparent reason; another perishes at a farm [...] More

Trump’s Latest Military Campaign Tests the Limits of Presidential War Powers

OPINION / EXPERT PERSPECTiVE — According to reports, the Trump administration informed Congress that the ongoing hostilities against alleged [...] More

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky (L) speak next to the first batch of Ukrainian made drone missiles "Peklo" (Hell) delivered to the Defence Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on December 6, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Long-Range War: How Drone & Missile Strikes Are Taking the Fight Deep Inside Russia

DEEP DIVE – By any traditional definition, the city of Ryazan doesn’t belong on a list of battlegrounds in the Ukraine war. There are no Ukrainian [...] More

The U.S. Role in a Multipolar World - and the Dangers of Isolationism

OPINION — “What should the U.S. role in the world be right now? We're waiting for the [Trump administration] National Security Strategy to come out [...] More

Soldiers of the Mexican Army stand guard as they secure an area during a military operation in Culiacan, Sinaloa State, Mexico, on September 19, 2024

From the Caribbean to Jalisco, Trump Takes Aim at Cartels — But Will He Strike the Kingpins?

DEEP DIVE — Eight weeks ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio went to Mexico City, the epicenter of the global illegal drug trade, and declared, “The [...] More

The Hidden Leverage of Digital Chokepoints

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — When we think about the arteries of global power, images of oil pipelines or shipping lanes often come to mind. They are [...] More

Riding the Tiger: Why Xi and Putin’s ‘Axis of Autocracies’ Could End the Way Churchill Predicted

“Dictators,” Churchill observed, “ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount.” “And,” he added, “the tigers are getting [...] More

Putin's Drone Hit a NATO Nerve in Poland, Opening an Opportunity for Ukraine

Putin's Drone Hit a NATO Nerve in Poland, Opening an Opportunity for Ukraine

EXPERT INTERVIEW – More Western leaders and national security experts are now saying that Russia’s recent drone incursion into Poland was not a [...] More

Ex-Spy Warns of Case Officer Tactics in Trump-Putin Dynamic

EXPERT Q&A – After Friday’s meeting in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, former CIA senior officer and [...] More

​The Weekend Interview: Former CIA Station Chief on Strategic Global Hotspots

​The Weekend Interview: Former CIA Station Chief on Strategic Global Hotspots

WEEKEND INTERVIEW: The signing of a peace framework between the President of Armenia and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan on Friday at the White [...] More

Two Existential Threats: CIA’s Reputation vs. Democracy’s Survival

OPINION -- In his recent Cipher Brief essay, CIA's Latest Existential Challenge, former CIA senior officer Mark Kelton argues that the Central [...] More