Daniel N. Hoffman

Daniel N. Hoffman is a retired clandestine services officer and former chief of station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of government service included high-level overseas and domestic positions at the CIA. He has been a Fox News contributor since May 2018. He can be reached at danielhoffman@yahoo.com.

Columns by Daniel N. Hoffman

CIA must gauge how Chinese military might use lessons it is learning from Ukraine war

Last month, Ukraine produced evidence that Chinese soldiers had taken their military reconnaissance game up a notch by engaging in real warfare on European soil alongside their Russian allies.

May 1, 2025

The CIA’s job: Recruit spies, steal secrets and deliver the high-value analysis

I'll never forget that blue ribbon day early in my CIA career, when a senior foreign intelligence officer called to tell me I needed to come to his office immediately.

April 17, 2025

Putin’s long con: What Trump must learn from Reagan

After his final meeting in 2000 with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Clinton remarked that Mr. Putin is "very smart and thoughtful. I think we can do a lot of good with him."

April 3, 2025

Remembering a wonderful wife, inspiring mother and irreplaceable friend

I intended to write this week's column about the war in Ukraine, but instead, my thoughts and my heart and soul turned to my wife, Kim, who passed away at 41 after a four-year battle with cancer on March 15, 2021.

March 20, 2025

Does Russia want peace?

I first set foot in Russia a couple of years after the presidents of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia signed a declaration in a Belarus forest, declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist.

March 6, 2025

‘X’ marks the danger spot in the battle against hostile cyber threats

In her latest book, "Get Off the X: CIA Secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life's Mission," former CIA officer Michele Rigby Assad lifts the veil on overcoming setbacks we all encounter.

February 20, 2025

Some leadership lessons for new CIA chief Ratcliffe to ponder

The stakes for our nation could not be higher as former Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe takes the helm as the 25th director of the CIA.

February 6, 2025

Alarm bells should be ringing for new Trump team in wake of ISIS New Orleans attack

The year 2025 began with a shocking ISIS terrorist attack on the homeland when Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck with an Islamic State flag into a crowd, killing 15 people in New Orleans.

January 23, 2025

Good intelligence will be vital in charting the way forward in Syria

With the shocking collapse of Bashar Assad's dictatorship in Syria, the U.S. intelligence community is once again on the hook to produce the intelligence that will inform national security policy.

January 9, 2025

A daughter’s legacy: Connecting with family and community

For my sons and me, the most cherished part of the holiday season is gathering with our family. There is nothing more sacred than spending time with our loved ones.

December 26, 2024

Kellogg takes on tough mission in dealing with Putin

Kudos to President-elect Donald Trump for selecting retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg for the extraordinarily complex and challenging position of special envoy to the Russia-Ukraine war.

December 12, 2024

Trump admin to face many foreign threats

To borrow former CIA Director George Tenet's phrase describing warnings before the 9/11 attacks, the global threat landscape is "blinking red." While understandably focused on domestic priorities, the incoming Trump administration will have to deal with increasingly aggressive threats to our national security that have metastasized over the past four years.

November 28, 2024