The US May Not Be Looking For a Fight with China, But It’s Preparing For One
OPINION — “We’re engaged in an intense competition with China across many areas, but it’s not in our interest for that competition to end in […] More
Posts Tagged ‘The Cipher Brief’
Putin’s Days May Be Numbered, but China’s the Bigger Threat, says Ex-CIA Chief
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — Someone other than Vladimir Putin will likely be running Russia in as little as three years, says former CIA Director and […] More
Justice by Hellfire: The Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri
It’s possible that the terrorist leader, wanted for his role in plotting the 9/11 attacks and later becoming the head of al Qaeda after the […] More
The Unraveling of Russian Spies
OPINION — Last Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the illegal intelligence department [Division S] of his Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on its 100th anniversary in […] More
Resilience, National Security and the Immediate Need for Action
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Resilience is a word we hear a lot, but what does it mean and why should we care? And how do we […] More
Australia Must End its Pacific Stupor Before it’s too late
Australia’s neglect has allowed China to expand its grand strategy of global base-building into the Pacific. It is not too late for us to shore […] More
The Future of Artificial Intelligence
BOOK REVIEW: The New Fire: War, Peace, and Democracy in the Age of AI By Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie / MIT Press Reviewed by […] More
A breakdown of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Russia’s War in Ukraine
Behind the uplifting scenes of Ukrainian resistance, there are some troubling questions as Putin’s war of aggression continues to get increasingly brutal. (Ed Note: A […] More
Former CIA Officer Alex Finley and her Oligarch Yachts
AUTHOR INTERVIEW — When The Cipher Brief last crossed paths with author Alex Finley, we delved into the exploits of Victor Caro, the central character […] More
What You Need to Know about U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Wartime
OPINION — The Biden administration has made rational decisions on nuclear weapons in both policy – through the soon-to-be-release 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) – […] More
The Facts that Putin Cannot Change
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — As we used to say in government, it could be worse. A single death or wounding, a single destroyed hospital, school or […] More
A Picture of Putin’s Nuclear Option
OPINION — Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly threatened the use of his nuclear weapons and now has placed his nuclear deterrence forces on […] More
NATO and Putin’s Bad Assumptions
A former NATO Supreme Allied Commander takes aim at the Russian President’s less-than-perfect assumptions about invading Ukraine and the opportunity presented for NATO The Cipher […] More
‘Watch’ or ‘Stand Against’ the Digital Machinery of Aggression in Ukraine
OPINION — The machinery of aggression moves across the land of the people of Ukraine to their capital. There should be no words to argue […] More
Intelligence Isn’t Just for Commanders Anymore
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — Intelligence is for commanders, or at least so I’ve been told. Regardless of the term you prefer—commander, principal, or policymaker—the idea expressed […] More
Putin Moves on Ukraine. How Will the World Respond?
OPINION — Is this the future of major power conflicts? Remember President Joe Biden’s January 19, 2022, press conference response to a question about sanctions […] More
How China is Reweaving Hollywood’s Red Carpet
BOOK REVIEW: Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy By Erich Schwartzel / Penguin Press Reviewed by Bill Harlow The Reviewer […] More
The US is Engaging in a Strategy to Share Intelligence on Russia More Broadly. Is it Worth the Risk?
As US and European diplomacy efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Ukraine border — where nearly 130,000 Russian troops have amassed — seem to have […] More
The Case for a New Social Contract for Arab States
OPINION — According to the DAWN 2021 Annual Report about the Arab world, the region’s peoples “continue to aspire to democratization and respect for human rights.” Tyrannical […] More
Intelligence Reports from the Front Lines of Cyber
A Virtual Briefing | Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 1:30-2:30pm EST We are now living in a constant state of competition in the cyber domain, an […] More
A European View on Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine
As career intelligence and diplomatic professionals look at today’s Ukraine situation, many – like Cipher Brief Expert and former Senior Member of the British Foreign […] More
A New Path to Cyber Conflict with Russia
OPINION — Last Thursday, in a little-noticed U.S. Treasury Department press release, the Biden administration accused Russia of currently implementing a 2020 information warfare plan […] More
A New US Strategy for the Middle East and the Opportunity for US Businesses
Join us as Cipher Brief national security expert VADM Kevin Donegan offers perspective on opportunities in the Middle East today. Wednesday, February 2, 2022, 1:30 […] More
Get Ready for China’s Hypersonic Challenge
Hoffman’s piece was first published in The Washington Times OPINION — Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has declared his country will […] More