After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington last week, the following concerns are likely to be near-term collection priorities for the U.S. intelligence community.

1) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to the Zelensky visit.  Does Putin see the visit as a symbol of U.S. and allied resolve with regard to the war in Ukraine? Or does he see the visit as a reflection that there are cracks in the U.S., particularly with an incoming GOP Congress that may put some strings on future U.S. aid? A key point here: it doesn’t matter what we in the pundit class think was the result of the visit. It matters more what Putin thinks. The U.S. needs hard intelligence, either from human agents with direct access to Putin’s thinking or from intercepts of internal Russian communications.