Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 9, 2017

Washington Post: WikiLeaks disclosure exposes rapid growth of CIA digital operations — and agency vulnerabilities

On his workplace bio, he describes himself as a “malt beverage enthusiast,” a fitness buff fond of carrying a backpack full of bricks, and a “recovering World of Warcraft-aholic.”

He is also a cyberwarrior for the CIA, an experienced hacker whose résumé lists assignments at clandestine branches devoted to finding vulnerabilities in smartphones and penetrating the computer defenses of the Russian government. At the moment, according to his file, he is working for the Center for Cyber Intelligence Europe, a major hacking hub engaged in electronic espionage across that continent and others.

The hacker — whose background appears in the thousands of CIA documents posted online Tuesday by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks — is part of a digital operation that has grown so rapidly in size and influence in recent years that it ranks alongside spying and analysis divisions that were created at the same time as the CIA decades ago.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 9, 2017

Can the Intelligence Community Secure Its Own Hacking Tools? -- Julian Sanchez, The Atlantic

Wikileaks fallout: Should you worry about alleged CIA hacks? -- AP

With the latest WikiLeaks revelations about the CIA – is privacy really dead? -- Olivia Solon, The Guardian

North Korea’s Kim knows exactly what he’s doing -- Peter Apps. Reuters

What's on Kim Jong-un's mind? -- Andrei Lankov, Al Jazeera

North Korea Is Practicing for Nuclear War -- Jeffrey Lewis, Foreign Policy

Time for a Radical Reset with Pakistan -- Ted Poe and James Clad, National Interest

Putin’s Dance with the Taliban -- Brahma Chellaney, Project Syndicate

Brace Yourself for a New Cold War -- Michael Totten, World Affairs

'An extremely explosive combination in the Balkans' -- DW

Where did the money go? How Greece fumbled the refugee crisis -- Daniel Howden and Apostolis Fotiadis, The Guardian

Venezuelan Folly, From Oil Riches to Food Beggary -- Jorge Castro, World Crunch

Hard Power Is Back: Both Obama and Trump discover that peace is maintained through deterrence, not retreat. -- Noah Rothman, Commentary

Trump wants to gut the State Department. Not everyone thinks that’s a bad idea. -- Peter Van Buren, Reuters

A Busy Day in Geopolitics -- Kamran Bokhari, Geopolitical Futures