Palestinians

Cipher Brief Expert Marc Polymeropoulos served 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in June 2019.  His positions included field and headquarters operational assignments covering the Middle East, Europe, Eurasia and Counterterrorism  The Cipher Brief: What was your initial reaction to news that Israel and ...

The White House’s surprise announcement this past week that Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are formally normalizing relations was met with both open arms and claims of deceit by neighbors in the region. The normalization agreement comes with a promise by Israel to suspend its efforts to annex ...

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 as the first phase of the administration’s Middle East peace plan. The plan looks to large-scale investment in infrastructure improvement in the Palestinian territories, largely ...

Cipher Brief Experts don't always agree on the issues.  There is value in debate, so we offer a range of viewpoints to our readers to help them get a better understanding of multiple points of view on pressing national security issues. OPINION -- Last month, The New York Times reported that the ...