Daniel N. Hoffman

‘Havana Syndrome’ and holding Russia accountable

Havana Syndrome was detected as early as 2016, when officials serving at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba fell ill with vertigo, headaches, fatigue and hearing loss.

June 17, 2021

Biden must stand firm in date with wily Putin

At the tail end of his first international trip after meetings with G-7 leaders and NATO members, President Biden will hold a one-day summit June 16 with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

June 3, 2021

A fallen colleague’s legacy lives on each Memorial Day

I'll never forget the spring day 14 years ago when my CIA colleague who was serving as our chief of air operations greeted me at the airport landing zone upon my return from leave to a Middle East war zone.

May 30, 2021

Pentagon needs smarter shoppers to outpace China

China is continuing to close the technology gap, in large part through stealing intellectual property from U.S. private-sector firms.

May 20, 2021

Stopping America’s adversaries from abusing our courts

The dilemma for U.S. policymakers is that neither sanctions nor diplomatic expulsions have ever successfully induced any change in the nefarious behavior of KGB operative who runs the Kremlin -- President Vladimir Putin.

May 6, 2021

U.S. tested by Putin’s Ukraine playbook

According to President Vladimir Putin's press spokesman, Russia is massing troops on Ukraine's border solely to protect its citizens against a potential war in eastern Ukraine.

April 22, 2021

Biden and Austin must listen to intelligence community in charting Afghanistan withdrawal

President Biden's new secretary of Defense, Gen. Lloyd Austin no doubt will be heavily relying again on the intelligence community as the Pentagon charts a course forward on Afghanistan.

April 8, 2021

The Pentagon needs to become a smarter shopper

China and Russia are challenging America's high-tech dominance. The goal: not just to contest but to achieve superiority in every fighting domain, including air, land, space, sea and cyberspace.

March 25, 2021

‘Recalibrate’ the Saudi relationship, but don’t wreck it

The Biden administration has announced the U.S. bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia is undergoing a "recalibration."

March 11, 2021

Learning from the espionage malpractice behind the Steele dossier

Former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele's modus operandi was so fraught with horrific misjudgments that it should have rendered all of his reporting unworthy of being included in any analytical product.

February 25, 2021

Vladimir Putin faces serious threat from social media master Alexei Navalny

Having served in the KGB and as director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), President Vladimir Putin is well versed in cloak-and-dagger espionage.

February 11, 2021

U.S. Capitol riots: Learning lessons from intelligence failures

The deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol was just such a catastrophic intelligence failure, most especially in the analytical and decision-making stages.

January 28, 2021

Kim Jong-un’s threat to bring U.S. ‘to its knees’ heightens Biden’s challenges

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un resurfaced last week at the eighth Congress of his ruling Workers' Party, where he admitted "almost all sectors" of his country's economy had fallen short of their goals.

January 14, 2021

Lessons to be learned from Eric Swalwell’s brush with Chinese espionage

Eric Swalwell was reportedly "shocked" when the FBI informed him in 2015 that Christine Fang, a Chinese national who first met him in 2012, was a suspected spy.

December 31, 2020

Russian cyber attack underscores need for elected officials to unite against Kremlin

The purpose of intelligence is to detect threats "left of boom" so they can be preempted before they are visited on our shores.

December 24, 2020

Not so fast on rejoining a badly flawed Iran deal, Mr. Biden

President-elect Joe Biden's stated aim to embrace the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as long as Tehran also returns to compliance is causing well-justified apprehension.

December 17, 2020

Americans can trust intelligence pros to support peaceful transfer of government power

Our nation greatly benefits from having a cadre of professionals who do not turn over each time there is a new party in charge of the executive branch.

December 3, 2020

Dealing with terrorism threat will dominate new administration’s agenda

The threat of terrorism that is arguably the national security threat with the shortest fuse.

November 19, 2020

Don’t sell short Trump breakthrough in Middle East

Let's not forget that just a couple of months ago the Trump administration brokered an unexpected and remarkable diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East.

November 5, 2020

Thoughts on swimming, cancer and the power of love

Kaitlin Sandeno and I share a mutual understanding and appreciation of what it means to care for a family member undergoing arduous treatment for cancer.

October 22, 2020