Spies Who Come Out in the Summer
CHALK MARKS / OPINION — Intelligence officers in the CIA talk about three things when they are together in the field: Headquarters officers mostly talk […] More
United States
Congress Probes Russia Link to “Havana Syndrome”
SUBSCRIBER+ REPORTING — Congress waded into an explosive debate Wednesday, in the wake of revelations that Russia may have been behind the so-called “Havana Syndrome” […] More
U.S. Threat Assessment: Two Wars and Axis of Enemies Top 2024 Risks
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — The nation’s top intelligence agencies delivered a sobering threat assessment Monday, focused on spillover dangers posed by the wars in Ukraine and […] More
The High Price of Losing Ukraine
(This analysis is part of a two-part series first published by the Institute for the Study of War. Their version includes detailed footnotes.) GUEST ANALYSIS […] More
The Latest
Are ‘Cowboy Boots on the Ground’ the U.S.’s Secret Weapon in Ukraine?
SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — The Biden Administration says it has one more military aid package available for Kyiv before the end of the year and then […] More
What the American Public Should Know about UFOs
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – A retired Air Force Intelligence Officer turned whistleblower testified before a House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. government is not […] More
CIA Director: Putin’s Hold on Power Betrays “Significant Weaknesses”
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – A social contract that Russian President Vladimir Putin has engineered over the decades to cement his authority may now be showing signs […] More
EXCLUSIVE: Manila’s Envoy to Beijing Weighs-In On Recent US-China Tensions
EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBER+ INTERVIEW — An old friend of Beijing returned to China this week in a move that harkens back to a time when Manila […] More
Hot-Button Adds to U.S. Defense Bill Echo Truman-Era Fight
OPINION — “Whereas it is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality […] More
The Path to 2024’s Election Is Engulfed With Novel Threats
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — The former head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) could scarcely be more clear in his evaluations of […] More
The Only Thing Worse than Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight
OPINION — This spring, a delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives visited Taiwan – both as a show of solidarity and to develop responses […] More
Netanyahu: Israel’s Renowned Statesman Lost on the International Stage
OPINION — Over the course of his many decades in Israeli politics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earned a reputation as Israel’s premier statesman and the country’s most savvy politician. […] More
NATO’s Four Big Challenges: A Subscriber+Exclusive Interview
Exclusive Subscriber+Interview — This week’s NATO Summit in Vilnius may have fallen short of the clear path to membership that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has […] More
NATO Intel Chief Warns Russia: Ukraine ‘belongs in the NATO family’
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – In late 2021, NATO Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Security David Cattler traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, just around the time Russian […] More
Erdogan’s ‘Poker Game’ Uses Sweden As Chip: A Subscriber+Exclusive Interview
Exclusive Subscriber+Member Interview — In a flurry of negotiations on the eve of the NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed himself as the […] More
NATO’s Road to Vilnius Has Been a Tough One: Here’s What to Know as Members Meet
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING — Members of the world’s largest and most powerful security alliance descended on Vilnius, Lithuania over the weekend in what is considered […] More
U.S.-Iran Stand-Off Hints of Old “Tanker War”
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – Less than a month ago, with global attention fixed on the Ukrainian offensive, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis (ret.) sought to open […] More
America’s Culture Wars Are Rippling Through The Armed Forces
OPINION — As Congress moves the fiscal 2024 Defense Department authorization and appropriation bills forward with more money to help needed recruitment, a handful of […] More
How Alumni Engagement Can Help America’s Cyber Agencies Address Talent Gaps
OPINION — It’s no secret that the federal government faces dire cyber talent woes, which are most acutely felt by those agencies with cyber at their core. […] More