FDD Morning Brief

China has prepositioned destructive cyber capabilities in U.S. energy and transportation infrastructure. Russia has capabilities to disrupt undersea cables and industrial control systems. Iran has exploited unprotected networks to deface machines monitoring water systems. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security is charged with collaborating with the private sector to secure critical systems. Since its creation in 2018, CISA has led federal efforts to understand and mitigate systemic cyber risk. How vulnerable is America in cyberspace? How has public-private cyber collaboration changed over the past six years? And, as U.S. adversaries become more aggressive in cyberspace, how can CISA bolster national cyber resilience?

FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation hosts a fireside chat with CISA Director Jen Easterly on protecting critical infrastructure in the cyber age. The conversation will be moderated by RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, CCTI senior director and former executive director of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2024/01/15/infrastructure-security-in-the-cyber-age-a-conversation-with-cisa-director-jen-easterly/

FDD Research Analyst Mariam Wahba fills in for Jon Schanzer on the FDD Morning Brief. She delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Middle East scholar and author Samuel Tadros. The pair will be traveling west of Israel to analyze the latest news relating to Egypt.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

The character of war is constantly evolving. Those changes are happening not just on land, at sea, and in air – but also in the subterranean realm. The combatant that best understands these ongoing changes and adapts the most effectively is more likely to be successful in future wars.

Few modern militaries know subterranean warfare better than Israel. That’s because terrorist groups such has Hamas and Hezbollah have for years attempted to use tunnels to infiltrate Israel and conduct attacks there. Following the October 7 terror attack on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah used tunnels in Gaza and Lebanon, respectively, to protect terrorist forces and their arsenals from counterattack, imprison hostages, extend the conflicts, and further political warfare strategies. In response, Israel has developed world-class technologies, capabilities, and tactics to detect and destroy tunnels.

What is the nature of subterranean warfare, how was it used in Gaza and Lebanon, and was this an anomaly peculiar to those wars and places or rather a sign of things to come elsewhere? What lessons should be learned, and how should Israel, the United States, and its allies respond?

To discuss these questions and more, FDD hosts MAJ (Ret.) John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Daphné Richemond-Barak, Assistant Professor in the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy at Reichman University in Israel, and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus, Senior Fellow at FDD. The conversation is moderated by Bradley Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power with introductory remarks by FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2025/01/13/tunnel-vision-us-israel-cooperation-and-thefuture-of-underground-warfare/

RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber Technology and Innovation (CCTI), fills in for Jon Schanzer on the FDD Morning Brief. He delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Isaac 'Ike' Harris, adjunct fellow at CCTI and retired commander in the U.S. Navy.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Bonnie Glick, FDD adjunct senior fellow and former deputy administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Brigadier General (Res.) Professor Jacob Nagel, FDD senior fellow and former head of Israel's National Security Council.

Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

Four years ago, Congress created the Office of the National Cyber Director to serve as the president’s senior advisor on cybersecurity, implementing national strategy, supporting whole-of-nation cyber resilience, and working with the Office of Management and Budget to align federal resourcing to growing cyber threats from criminals and nation states including China, Russia, and Iran. The office led the charge developing a new national cybersecurity strategy and executed dozens of technical, governance, workforce, and policy solutions to implement the strategy. Has this implementation bolstered national cyber resilience? Has the government developed a whole-of-nation response to cyber incidents? Are federal resources aligned to thwart and deter U.S. adversaries in cyberspace?

FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation hosts remarks and a fireside chat with National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Jr. on the role of the Office of the National Cyber Director, its past successes, and lessons learned for the future. The conversation will be moderated by RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, CCTI senior director and former executive director of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

For more, check out: fdd.org/events/2025/01/07/cyber-strategies-and-successes-a-conversation-with-national-cyber-director-harry-coker-jr/

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Dr. Kenneth Stein, founding president of the Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education and former director of the Institute for the Study of Modern Israel at Emory University.

Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Major (Ret.) Andrew Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.

For more: www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/

FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Joseph Gebeily, founder and former president of the Lebanese Information Center.

Learn more at: www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/