The Potential to Increase the Terrorist Threat
The Cipher Brief sat down with Michele Dunne, Director and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Center, to discuss the […] More
Terrorism
The U.S. Should Be Wary About Overplaying Its Hand
The Muslim Brotherhood preaches a violent, exclusivist ideology. Its websites and social media accounts are chock-full of anti-Christian and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Its affiliated networks in Istanbul have threatened foreign […] More
New Threat Landscape in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is emerging as an ISIS battlefield, and security threats in the region will accelerate and grow with the group’s global expansion – with […] More
Designating the Muslim Brotherhood As Terrorists Is Complicated
The Trump Administration is considering whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood – a movement that espouses a doctrine of political Islam and has millions of […] More
Enhanced Interrogation 2.0: The Untenable Position of CIA Officers
On January 25, 2017, during his first post-election press interview, President Donald Trump was asked, “do you want waterboarding?” In his response, the President said, […] More
McLaughlin & Petraeus Warn About ISIS, Russia
The array of complex threats facing the United States requires the country to prioritize managing alliances and building coalitions, former Acting Director of the CIA […] More
Shift in U.S. Policy on Eritrea Unclear
International sanctions and poor relations with neighbors have left Eritrea largely isolated in East Africa. Relations between the U.S. and Eritrea are tense, partially due […] More
Is a Better Relationship with Eritrea Possible?
The U.S. and Eritrea do not have strong bilateral relations. Ever since UN sanctions were imposed in 2009 and again in 2013, doing business in […] More
Conditions in the Sahel Benefit Al Qaeda
The Cipher Brief sat down with Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, to discuss the growing threat of al Qaeda and […] More
Mali’s Instability: Advantage, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) propensity for kidnapping was back on display earlier this week, as al Qaeda’s North African branch released a […] More
Six Ways to Recommit to the U.S. Partnership with Saudi Arabia
Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president, subscribed to the philosophy, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” a line attributed to Sun Tzu, the famous […] More
Reaction to Berlin Terror Attack Shows Divide Between Merkel & Trump
Their reactions to a terror attack on a public Christmas market in Berlin show stark differences between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President-elect Donald […] More
A Cipher Brief Update: Will the Turkey-Russia Thaw Endure?
Police in Turkey have detained six people following the killing of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov. State media reports that the attacker’s mother, father, sister and […] More
Developing and Sticking With a Clear Strategy in Afghanistan
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly said that fighting Islamic extremism is one of his administration’s top priorities. Determining the path forward in Afghanistan, where the […] More
Afghanistan: The U.S. Must Settle In for the Long Haul
The Cipher Brief sat down with former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann to discuss some of the challenges that the incoming Trump Administration will […] More
Nudging Afghanistan in the Right Direction
With the Trump Administration set to take office next month, The Cipher Brief spoke with Robert Grenier, former CIA Chief of Station in Pakistan and […] More
Security Dynamics Amidst Africa's Armed Conflicts
There has been a downward trend in large-scale warfare on the African continent since the number of wars peaked in the mid 1990s. However, new […] More
China's Ongoing Struggle to Clamp Down on Terrorism
On September 10th in the restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China, as many as 10 people were killed or injured when police […] More