A review of a year filled with headlines that few in the national security and intelligence space could have imagined, one ...

The Dead Drop uses its own sources and methods to bring you the very best national security gossip. You're welcome.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on topics that ranged ...

Can a state-centered ideological political agenda in Syria — instead of a violent global jihadist one — succeed after years of dictatorship?

Rear Admiral Mike Studeman sees a multi-pronged 'silent invasion' from China -- and offers thoughts on what the US should do ...

Marc Polymeropoulos served 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in June 2019. His positions included field and headquarters operational assignments covering the ...

David Daoud is a research analyst on Hezbollah and Lebanon. He previously worked as an advisor on the Middle East on Capitol Hill. David was also a research associate on terrorist groups at the ...

The spate of drone sightings may pose no threat -- but a Cipher Brief expert says they carry a message: the US needs better drone defenses.

Gary Grappo, a former U.S. Amabssador to Oman, offers ways the Trump administration could respond to the seismic changes to the Middle East.

AI holds huge promise for medicine. It could also be used to make a bioweapon. Experts warn there are not enough guards ...