International Espionage on Campus
The idyllic American university campus conjures the image of a safe and open academic environment where students spend four or more years learning new ideas […] More
Russia
Russian Hacking: The Difficult Path Between Inaction and Escalation
Now that the Obama administration has publicly attributed the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other political entities to “Russia’s senior-most officials,” the question […] More
Laying Down a Marker
After much hand-wringing, the U.S. publicly admitted that the Russian government is interfering with the Presidential election. This was an open secret for weeks, but […] More
Responding to Russian Cyber-Provocations
Most political leaders understand that governments that fail to respond to public provocations by foreign states do so at their own risk. In recent years, […] More
Saudi Arabia and Iran Trade Politics for Oil
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) came to a surprise agreement at informal talks this September to reduce global oil production by between 200,000 […] More
The Future of Hypersonic Weapons
Over the next few years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to demonstrate two air-launched hypersonic weapons (HSW) concepts; the Turbo Boost Glide and the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapons Concept. […] More
"Grave Threats": American Security and the Next U.S. President
From Syria, to climate change, North Korea, and the largest global refugee flows in history, the next President will face a uniquely challenging set of […] More
A Cipher Exclusive Q&A With Matt Olsen on Russian Hacking
The White House is looking to take a “proportional” response to Russia’s alleged hacking of U.S. political party organizations and effort to interfere in the […] More
Cyber Task Force Briefing Notes: When State and Non-State Actors Converge
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month and The Cipher Brief is pulling together a Cyber Advisory Task Force made up of public and private […] More
Putin Could Hit the Trifecta If Trump Wins the White House
The relationship between Russia and the United States has always been and will always be complicated. In the U.S. and the West in general, hope […] More
No Simple Choices When it Comes to Syria
President Obama, and therefore the United States, has not faced simple choices when it comes to Syria and certainly none that would satisfy Americans’ traditional […] More
A New Low in U.S.-Russian Relations
As U.S.-Russia tensions escalate, the sharply deteriorating bilateral relationship between the former Cold War foes may be at an inflection point. Experts say that in […] More
Failure of Syrian Ceasefire Could Lead to Rebels Getting Advanced Arms
Heightened concern that some Gulf States and Turkey want to give Syrian rebels in Aleppo more advanced weaponry has Washington warning about the potential for […] More
The Rise of Hypersonic Weapons
A hypersonic missile launched from mainland China could strike a U.S. carrier group located anywhere in the South China Sea in under 20 minutes. That’s […] More
Unsettling the Existing Balances
In recent years, defense analysts have increasingly turned their attention to the development of hypersonic weapons, a class of systems intended to strike fast, at […] More
Exponential Growth
Whether it’s your phone, your computer, TV, or even a refrigerator, all those connected devices that we depend on in our daily lives have become […] More
You Can’t Put Syria's Pieces Back Together Again
Fighting in Aleppo has intensified with a Russian-backed government offensive to capture the rebel-held sector of Syria’s largest city. The United States and its allies […] More
Dollars and Sense: Military Spending During an Economic Downturn
The relationship between military spending and GDP growth in peacetime seems an easy equation. When a country’s economy is healthy and growing, it can splurge […] More