The Cipher Brief

Winning the Peace: The Democratic Dilemma of Limited War

In our previous article, we argued that overwhelming military superiority no longer guarantees strategic success.Today, military and political outcomes have become increasingly disconnected.As Carl ...
The Cipher Brief

Fran Moore

Fran Moore is a retired Central Intelligence Agency senior executive with 32 years of leadership and intelligence analysis experience. She served as the Director for Intelligence (now Analysis) from ...
The Cipher Brief

Karyn Eliot

Karyn Eliot is a retired CIA senior executive with extensive experience in US national security science and technology programs, intelligence operations, acquisitions, policy, and strategic industry ...
Opinion
The Cipher BriefOpinion

Decide on North Korea

North Korea is strategically closer to Russia and China than any time since the Korean War, while the U.S. does nothing to challenge the growing power of the Axis of Authoritarians (China, Russia, ...
The Cipher Brief

Mark Fowler

Mark Fowler is a decorated CIA Case Officer, and one of the most experienced Iranian operations officers of his generation. Now retired, he served twenty-two years at CIA, rising to the number two ...
The Cipher Brief

Kristin Wood

During her 20-year CIA career, Kristin Wood served in the Director’s area and three Agency directorates – analysis, operations, and digital innovation – leading a wide variety of the Agency’s missions ...
The Cipher Brief

Frank Archibald

Frank Archibald retired from the CIA in 2015 as the Director of the National Clandestine Service an assignment in which he led all of CIA's operations worldwide. His 31 years of CIA service included ...
The Cipher Brief

Raymond Kelly

A 43-year veteran of the NYPD, Raymond W. Kelly is the former police commissioner of the City of New York. Serving for 14 years, Kelly is the longest serving police commissioner in the city's history, ...
The Cipher Brief

Ambassador Joseph DeTrani

Ambassador Joseph DeTrani served as the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO), as well as former CIA director of East Asia Operations. He also served as Associate ...
The Cipher Brief

Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper (Ret.)

Lt. Gen. James Clapper served from 2010 – 2017 as the Director of National Intelligence. He served in two administrations as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and directed the National ...
The Cipher Brief

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, US Army (Ret.)

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, US Army (Ret) was the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from 2008-2009. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for ...
The Cipher Brief

Carmen Medina

Carmen Medina is a former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. A 32-year veteran of the Intelligence Community, she is also the author of Rebels at Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within.