Articles on CIA

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Screens in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room show President Donald Trump delivering a primetime address on July 16, 2026, during which the White House unveiled a collection of declassified documents. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Declassified intelligence is not the same as proof

An international affairs professor with nearly 30 years of experience in the US intelligence community – including at the CIA and NSA – explains how to evaluate the newly released election documents
Bill Pulte, current director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has been appointed the acting director of national intelligence by President Donald Trump. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, FIle

Why the director of national intelligence needs more than political loyalty to do the job

The newly named director of national intelligence is a Trump political ally who has no experience in national security. A veteran of the field says it matters who holds the job.
One of scores of murals Diego Rivera painted in the interwar period, this one above the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City. Apolline Guillerot-Malick/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Trump’s coercive tactics in Latin America evoke era of gunboat diplomacy – and the rise of anti‑imperialism it helped spur

The interwar years in Latin America saw a remarkable flourishing of left-wing political thought aiming to challenge US dominance. That could offer lessons for today.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, acting Commander of U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, right, stand before the Senate Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill on March 18, 2026. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

How the National Security Council typically functions to plan and fully assess risks when presidents consider going to war

The national intelligence community has seemingly been sidelined from Trump’s Iran war decisions – a far cry from previous administrations, writes a former National Security Council member.
Palestinians crowd to get food in Gaza City on July 30, 2025. Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images

Gaza isn’t the first time US officials have downplayed atrocities by American‑backed regimes – genocide scholars found similar strategies used from East Timor to Guatemala to Yemen

US officials have used a number of rhetorical strategies – ways of talking about something – to distance the country from, and avoid responsibility for, atrocities committed by those it supports.
Intelligence chiefs: US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, flanked by FBI director Kash Patel, CIA director John Ratcliffe and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse. EPA-EFE/Shawn Thew

US’s new ‘America First’ intelligence approach downplays Russia and ignores climate change

America’s intelligence bosses would not accept that ‘Signal-gate’ represented a breach of security.
The city of Wuhan (capital of Hubei province in central China) was the epicentre at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sleepingpanda/Shutterstock

The ‘lab‑leak origin’ of Covid‑19. Fact or fiction?

The origins of SARS-CoV-2 have been the subject of debate. While many scientists support the theory of a natural spillover event, recent U.S. intelligence assessments suggest a different source.

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