Daniel N. Hoffman

Halloween-worthy disguises have long been critical arrows in the CIA quiver

My late wife, Kim, always made Halloween an especially joyful holiday for our family, using the accomplished hair and makeup skills she honed while working as a CIA disguise technician.

October 30, 2025

Show Putin his Ukraine strategy is failing

On May 1, 2011, I had a front row seat in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, tracking U.S. SEAL Team operators who were delivering justice to Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

October 16, 2025

Needed: A peace plan that doesn’t reward Putin

A peace settlement negotiated without rewarding Russian ruler Vladimir Putin's imperial land grab would not only guarantee Ukraine's independence but also ensure we protect Europe.

October 2, 2025

Republicans, Democrats can unite in standing up to China’s new world order

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping choreographed the dance of the world's most nefarious dictators.

September 18, 2025

Putin breathes deception and manipulation

Going back to the days of the Soviet KGB, Russian intelligence officers have ruthlessly trained their sites on assessing and evaluating their adversaries.

September 4, 2025

The curative power of laughter

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, I received an unexpected call from Joe Sibilia, who produces the morning radio show for former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Joe Piscopo.

August 29, 2025

U.S. pivot in Iraq offers lesson for Israel in Gaza

I'll never forget the day I first arrived in Iraq in the autumn of 2006. The country was in turmoil, and the George W. Bush administration was dramatically shifting its failing strategy.

August 21, 2025

Father’s Day lessons for life

This year on Father's Day, I joined a slew of parents cheering on our sons in an end-of-season soccer tournament.

August 7, 2025

America’s main enemy is Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been at war with Ukraine since 2014. He has been at war with democracy his entire life.

July 22, 2025

Battle damage assessment will determine next steps in Iran

When I joined the CIA decades ago, the first thing my fellow trainees and I learned was that there was no manual for conducting overseas espionage operations.

July 10, 2025

Iran is down but still dangerous

A nuclear threshold state, Iran found itself in the crosshairs of the U.S. and Israel over its ballistic missile capability, proxy terrorist network and refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

June 26, 2025

The transformational power of fatherhood

I'll never forget that day decades ago when I told my father that the CIA had hired me and I would be starting work there in three months.

June 12, 2025

The enduring lesson of ‘Operation Ghost Stories’

This June will mark 15 years since the FBI arrested 10 Russian deep undercover intelligence officers in an exquisite Justice Department counterintelligence operation code-named "Ghost Stories."

May 29, 2025

America’s China strategy needs urgent overhaul

The US is under siege from the Chinese Communist Party but is not close to doing enough to counter, defend and deter China's multifarious threats to its national security.

May 15, 2025

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