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Articles by Gregory Sims
Uber Krysha: How Russia Turns Crime into Power-and Poison
OPINION — Current discussion of Russian "hybrid warfare" tends to revolve around concepts like disinformation, proxy militias, cyber operations, sabotage, and psychological manipulation designed to fragment, confuse, and demoralize Russia's opponents—and the respective roles these play in Russian military and national security doctrine.
Putin Again Bungles Strategy: Why His War of Attrition will Sink Russia
OPINION — On February 14, 2022, with Russia poised to invade Ukraine, I questioned whether Vladimir Putin’s reign to that point had revealed him to be a strategic master or a strategic failure. Nearly four years later, the verdict is even more apparent.
Conservatives of America: Putin Is Not Your Ally
Posted: April 7th, 2025 OPINION — American conservatives be advised: Vladimir Putin does not share your values and is not your friend. You may be tempted to regard the Russian President as a kindred spirit because of the “law and order” and “traditional values” image he projects, but don’t be fooled. The core tenet of his brand of conservatism is government dominion over society via an autocratic executive. In short, tyranny.
America, Ukraine and the Illusion of an Isolationist Choice
OPINION — In 2022 Russia launched its full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, a big and bloody war between the two largest countries in Europe with no end in sight. Should Americans care? Does it really matter to us? What should we do? Should we do anything? These questions are the latest manifestation of a debate as old as the republic itself–America’s proper role in the wider world. Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
America, Ukraine and the Illusion of an Isolationist Choice
OPINION — In 2022 Russia launched its full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, a big and bloody war between the two largest countries in Europe with no end in sight. Should Americans care? Does it really matter to us? What should we do? Should we do anything? These questions are the latest manifestation of a debate as old as the republic itself–America’s proper role in the wider world.
The Reboot Of Boont Berry May 2024 With Burt, Celia, Kevin
Just because I'm authoring this narrative, please don't expect I will tell you what the Reboot (found in the subject line above) is all about. It is not to be found here. I have no idea, but previously when I said to the group at Boont Berry store in Boonville that I was thinking of doing an article about Burt and others at Boont Berry; as there is a general interest in how this quiet repository of healthy foods and people manifests.
Information Is the Most Important Tool in the New War for Truth
OPINION — The first step to winning a war is recognizing you’re in one. The world’s democracies are finally waking up to the waves of malign influence operations being launched against us by an amalgamation of autocratic regimes united in their antipathy for our vision of the proper relationship between peoples and their government Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
Opinion | Russian Hearts and Minds Matter. Here’s How to Reach Them.
A demonstrator draped with the Russian flag demands the release of Alexei Navalny during a protest on Jan. 23, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. | Omer Messinger/Getty Images Gregory Sims is a retired CIA officer. Russia’s war against Ukraine has already provided a strong example of the power of information.
How Putin's Plans for Ukraine Could Pay Off
How Putin's Plans for Ukraine Could Pay Off EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — If Russia ultimately launches military operations against Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled that the U.S. would respond not with direct military intervention but unprecedented economic sanctions. Read Full Article »
Putin’s Asymmetric Blind Spot
OPINION — Perhaps it is just a reckless Khrushchevesque opening gambit, but Russia’s recent security demands suggest that Vladimir Putin’s condition for avoiding military action against Ukraine is Western acquiescence in converting Ukraine into a Russian vassal state. Given he also demands NATO roll back deployments of personnel and equipment to its 1997 positions, before Poland or the Baltic republics joined the alliance, it is not just Ukraine he wants to see neutered. Read Full Article »
What We Can Expect in Afghanistan from US Intelligence Once US Troops Are Gone
(Editor’s note: This article is part of a Just Security series: Reflections on Afghanistan on the Eve of Withdrawal) While Americans hope to breathe a sigh of relief as U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan, bringing an end to the longest U.S. war, the Intelligence Community (IC) is merely entering a new phase of the conflict.
Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe: What’s Not in the Supreme Court’s Opinions
Bill Dodge has provided a succinct summary and analysis of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) in Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe. (The full docket here and the symposium Just Security convened in advance of the oral arguments is here). But what the Court ultimately did not rule on – the subject of this post – is almost as impactful as what it did decide.
Early Edition: June 30, 2021
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news.
Parsing an Immunity Decision at the Heart of U.S.-Egypt Relations
Mohamed Soltan, a U.S. citizen, is attempting to sue a former Prime Minister of Egypt for alleged acts of torture and attempted extrajudicial killing in the wake of a 2013 coup. But the State Department may have effectively ended the suit with its recent statement affirming that the defendant is entitled to a form of diplomatic immunity.
The Méndez Principles: The Case for US Legislation on Law Enforcement Interviews
(Editor’s note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the newly released “Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information Gathering,” an expert-led initiative responding to a 2016 appeal to the U.N. General Assembly by then-U.N. Special Rapporteur Juan E. Méndez to develop such standards.
Early Edition: June 29, 2021
by Florence Powell and Siven Watt June 29, 2021 Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news. SYRIA AND IRAQ Rockets have been fired at a U.S. military base in eastern Syria, prompting U.S. forces to return fire yesterday. Early reports indicated that there were no injuries among U.S. troops.
The Mladić Appeal Judgment and the Enduring Legacy of the Hague Tribunals
On June 8, Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb commander, lost his appeal before the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) Appeals Chamber in The Hague, Netherlands. The Appeals Chamber in Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić affirmed Mladić’s convictions for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1995, as well as his sentence of life imprisonment.
Early Edition: June 28, 2021
by Florence Powell and Siven Watt June 28, 2021 Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major national security news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news.
Recap of Recent Articles on Just Security (June 19-25)
A series on the hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, bringing together experts to re-examine different aspects of the events of 1921 and issues of today.
Reimagining Human Intelligence - The Case for a Sunlight Strategy
Rumors of a recent high-level Chinese intelligence defector bring into focus a much-neglected facet of human intelligence (HUMINT) that begs for greater energy and innovation. A typical U.S. HUMINT operator, if asked to explain the goal of HUMINT, would likely respond that it is intelligence provided by a clandestine agent inside an adversary government or country. In fact, HUMINT is simply intelligence provided by human beings, and sometimes those humans are clandestine sources working in-place.
Five Senators Threaten to Derail Repeal of 2002 AUMF: Why Their Timing and Claims Are So Wrong
by Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman June 22, 2021 Following the House’s passage – on a broadly bipartisan basis – of legislation to repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq (2002 AUMF), five members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (a minority of the minority) are seeking to delay its companion bill’s movement out of committee and onto the Senate floor. In a letter to the Committee’s Chairman Sen.
Legally Sliding into War
Here we are again. Another presidential administration, another airstrike against another organized armed group against whom Congress has never authorized force, justified by self-defense, officially said to be necessary in light of some unstated, unspecified future threat. The United States has engaged in a long series of one-off clashes with various militias connected to Iran, and in some cases directed force against Iran itself. Some of these have resulted in casualties.
Intelligence Reimagined: Don't Forget the Human Dimension in the Pursuit of Technological Solutions
The transition to a new presidential administration has coincided with several thoughtful assessments on the future of U.S. intelligence that warn of an urgent need for reinvention in response to rapidly evolving circumstances and threats.
Legal Questions (and Some Answers) Concerning the U.S. Military Strike in Syria
On Friday, President Joe Biden sent a letter to Congress stating that U.S. forces conducted a military strike in the preceding 48 hours targeting “infrastructure in eastern Syria used by Iran-supported non-state militia groups.” The following day, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield submitted a letter to the U.N. Security Council claiming that the United States acted in self-defense consistent with the U.N. Charter.
Struggles of American Democracy and Implications for Human Intelligence
Early appraisals of the foreign policy implications of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol Building have tended to argue that it gravely tarnished the example of U.S. democracy, leaving our adversaries stronger and emboldened. I would like to offer a dissenting perspective and an assessment of its significance for the intelligence struggle now underway between the United States and its autocratic foes, particularly regarding human intelligence (HUMINT).
A Few Words for America's Night Soldiers
Views expressed in The Cipher Brief are individual views and do not represent all experts. Gregory Sims served in the CIA’s Clandestine Service for over thirty years, including multiple field tours as Chief and Deputy Chief of CIA stations. He is currently retired.
What Fuels Autocracies Fuels Corruption
Editor’s Note: This piece is part of Just Security‘s Assessing Emergency Powers During #COVID-19 series, which aims to highlight and give voice to legal and civil society voices from across the globe, assessing the specific legal consequences of declared and de facto emergencies. Previous contributions have covered Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria. The rise of autocratic strongmen obviously didn’t begin with COVID-19. Corruption certainly didn’t either.
United States Killed Iraqi Military Official and Iraqi Military Personnel in the Two Recent Attacks
The New York Times’ leading reporter Maggie Haberman wrote on Friday, “This is the thing that hasn’t fully penetrated for people – Soleimani was part of the state.” She was building off a statement by retired General David Petraeus, who outlined the significance of the General’s position in the Iranian government. But there’s another thing that hasn’t fully penetrated, if at all. The other person that U.S. officials celebrated killing in that same strike was part of another state: Iraq.
Stop Calling It "Incidental" Collection of Americans' Emails: The Gov't's Renewed Surveillance Powers
Former Acting FBI Dir. Andrew McCabe, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, DNI Dan Coats, and NSA Dir. Adm. Michael Rogers testify on re-authorization of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 7, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Now that the President has signed legislation reauthorizing the use of surveillance powers, it is important to reflect on how the terms of the public debate likely skewed public understanding of the privacy interests at stake.
National Security Letters and Leak Investigations
Journalists were reminded again last week of how little legal protection actually exists when the federal government decides to investigate national security leaks. In an ongoing Freedom of Information Act suit, the Freedom of the Press Foundation has sought the guidelines used by the Justice Department in deciding when federal agents can use National Security Letters to pursue information about reporters. DOJ recently produced documents in response to the suit.
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