Late last month, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division testified before the House Homeland Security Committee that the federal government should consider designating ransomware operators as terrorists and pursuing felony murder charges against attackers whose intrusions kill patients. The testimony was a serious response to aContinue Reading
There was no absence of Chinese and North Korean media coverage of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea for meetings with Chairman Kim Jong Un. Mr. Xi’s last visit was in 2019, and what a difference seven years makes when you are dealing with North Korea. Mr. XiContinue Reading
Authors’ Note: This paper is intended to frame a discussion, not settle one. Too often, debates about intelligence reform begin with organizational charts and predetermined solutions. We believe the more important starting point is identifying the strategic decisions that should not be avoided. The next Director of National Intelligence willContinue Reading
AI is compressing parts of the intelligence cycle, but modernization is occurring unevenly across collection, analysis, validation, dissemination, and policymaker integration. The resulting friction—not the technology itself—creates the defining opportunity for IC leaders. It’s tradecraft, not technology, that is a primary constraint on intelligence performance in the AI era. ThisContinue Reading
The United States Intelligence Community does not ordinarily deal in hyperbole. When the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its annual threat assessment on March 18, artificial intelligence featured prominently among a complex array of challenges — elevated, alongside quantum computing, to what the IC now treats asContinue Reading
“The reasons why DoD (the Defense Department) accepts flawed business cases are both structural and cultural in nature. Poor acquisition decisions are compounded by a budget planning process that requires DoD to secure long-range funding commitments before a program’s business case is fully understood. The current process incentivizes ‘starting fast’Continue Reading
In the months before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Intelligence Community did something remarkable. It got the call right—and said so out loud, rather than only in classified internal documents. Intelligence assessments identified the likely invasion, the timing window, and plausible operational scenarios with a level ofContinue Reading
I spent my formative adult years in service to my country—from seventeen to twenty-nine—and the core of how I identify myself remains that of a United States Marine. When I separated, the playbook was clear: suit up for the boardroom. Investment banks and consulting firms were the promised land, whereContinue Reading
The European Commission has requested further clarifications from the Venice Biennale Foundation over Russia’s participation, saying issues raised earlier remain unresolved and giving it 30 days to respond., Read MoreContinue Reading
There is a growing perception among long-standing US allies that they need to expand commercial relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). A thaw or détente with the PRC brings both rewards, particularly for a sluggish economy like Britain’s, but also major risks. History shows that a superpower canContinue Reading
The combination of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical reconnaissance is changing modern intelligence collection. What was once a competition between sensor systems has turned into an integrated targeting system that can provide constant almost real-time global surveillance. The future of space-based intelligence is not one or the other. ItContinue Reading