State Secrets: Recent Episodes
The Cipher Brief
State Secrets is a weekly interview podcast featuring Cipher Brief experts and national security leaders.
Recorded on location in Kyiv, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery joins Suzanne Kelly for a timely State Secrets conversation on how Ukraine is reshaping the future of warfare.
Editor's Note: We caught up with Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery in Kyiv just as President Zelensky announced the firing of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, prompting a wave of protests. Since this interview was recorded, additional developments - including changes in Ukraine's military leadership - have overtaken parts of that discussion. The strategic insights on Ukraine's battlefield innovation, however, remain as relevant as ever.
From Ukraine's increasingly effective long-range drone campaign against Russia's military infrastructure to the growing strain on Kyiv's air defenses, Montgomery explains why this war is becoming the world's most important laboratory for military innovation. He also shares firsthand observations from his latest trip to Ukraine - including conversations with commanders on the front lines - and discusses what the U.S., NATO, and Taiwan should be learning before the next major conflict.
Speaking from the NATO summit in Ankara, Nick Fishwick assesses the alliance's most urgent challenges, from Europe's push to increase defense spending to the need for greater intelligence sharing and military interoperability. He explains why a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine remains unlikely, what NATO is learning from Ukraine's battlefield innovation, and why Russia continues to represent the alliance's principal security threat. Fishwick also discusses the diminishing focus on Greenland as the war with Iran reshapes U.S. priorities.
The battlefield is changing faster than most governments can adapt.
In this episode of State Secrets, Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with retired General Phil Breedlove, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, to examine how drones, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems are transforming modern warfare—and what that means for U.S. national security.
Drawing on lessons from Ukraine, the Middle East and NATO's eastern flank, General Breedlove explains why drones are only one piece of a much larger revolution in military power. He discusses why America must rethink defense acquisition, how adversaries are exploiting gray zone warfare, why protecting critical infrastructure is becoming increasingly difficult, and why the West can no longer afford to fight tomorrow's wars with yesterday's assumptions.
From the future of air superiority to cyber conflict, autonomous weapons and the growing threat to the homeland, this is a conversation about the wars of the future—and whether the United States is prepared for them.
How will wars be fought in the next decade—and is the United States prepared?
In this exclusive conversation, The Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with General David Petraeus to examine the sweeping transformation reshaping modern warfare. Drawing on his repeated visits to Ukraine alongside The Cipher Brief, General Petraeus argues that the battlefield has changed more dramatically in the last three years than at any point in modern military history.
From artificial intelligence and autonomous systems to drone swarms and machine-speed decision making, Petraeus explains why the war in Ukraine has become the world's most important laboratory for military innovation—and why the United States and its allies must move far more quickly to adapt.
What happens when one of Hollywood's most influential futurists sits down with a former NSA Director?
In this special State Secrets conversation, Ronald D. Moore—the creator behind For All Mankind, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek—joins former NSA and U.S. Cyber Command Commander Gen. Timothy Haugh to explore the increasingly blurred line between science fiction and national security reality.
From the new space race and AI-powered disinformation to cyber warfare, Russia, China, and the future of conflict, this wide-ranging discussion reveals how the stories we imagine today may become tomorrow's strategic challenges.
Are we entering a technological revolution as consequential as the space race? And who is best positioned to anticipate what's next—the intelligence community or the storytellers imagining the future?
America's national security challenges are evolving faster than ever—and the traditional defense innovation system is struggling to keep pace.
In this episode of State Secrets, Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with two of the most influential voices in defense innovation: Steve Blank, creator of the Lean Startup methodology and co-founder of Hacking for Defense, and Pete Newell, retired Army officer, founder of BMNT, and co-founder of Hacking for Defense.
Together, they discuss how students at leading universities are tackling real-world challenges from the Pentagon, intelligence community, and NASA; why AI is changing the way innovators build solutions; and what it will take for the United States to compete with increasingly adaptive adversaries like China.
The conversation explores defense acquisition reform, the Pentagon's innovation ecosystem, startup culture in national security, the rise of defense venture capital, and why the biggest challenge may not be technology—but people.
What happens when artificial intelligence, climate disruption, geopolitical rivalry, and information warfare collide?
In this episode of the State Secrets Podcast, Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with retired Admiral James Stavridis and bestselling author and former Marine Eliot Ackerman to discuss their new novel, 2084—the final installment in their acclaimed trilogy that began with 2034 and 2054.
Drawing on decades of military, intelligence, and geopolitical experience, Stavridis and Ackerman explore a future shaped by climate-driven migration, AI-powered conflict, surveillance, shifting global power centers, and the growing competition for influence in the Arctic and beyond. They explain how fiction can serve as a strategic warning, helping readers imagine future crises before they become reality.
The conversation also examines the risks of cognitive warfare, autonomous weapons, U.S.-China tensions, democratic resilience, and why—despite the challenges ahead—the authors remain cautiously optimistic about humanity's ability to navigate the century's biggest threats.
If you care about the future of national security, technology, and global stability, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
What does it take to make a modern espionage thriller feel real?
In this episode of State Secrets, Suzanne Kelly sits down with acclaimed director Andrew Bernstein to discuss Jack Ryan: Ghost War — the new feature-length installment of the iconic franchise that brings shadow conflict, intelligence operations, and geopolitical tension into sharp focus.
Bernstein — whose work includes The Americans and Ozark — reveals how the production worked directly with the Central Intelligence Agency and MI6 to better understand the realities of intelligence work, the emotional toll of covert operations, and the evolving threats facing the West today.
The conversation explores the balance between realism and entertainment, why intelligence professionals connected deeply with the film, and how today's gray zone conflicts — from cyber warfare to disinformation campaigns — are shaping modern storytelling. Bernstein also shares behind-the-scenes insight into filming unprecedented action sequences in central London and what it was like screening the movie at CIA headquarters.
Former Australian Signals Directorate Director-General Rachel Noble joins State Secrets with Suzanne Kelly for a rare insider's look at the cyber battles shaping modern national security. From China's targeting of critical infrastructure to Russia, Iran, AI-enabled threats, offensive cyber operations and the power of the Five Eyes alliance, Noble explains why the next conflict may already be underway - inside our networks.
In this episode:
- Why the Australian Signals Directorate is one of the Five Eyes' most important cyber and intelligence partners
- How China is pre-positioning inside critical infrastructure and telecommunications networks
- Why cyber criminals and state-backed actors are increasingly blurring together
- What Russia, Iran and China are teaching the world about cyber conflict
- How AI is accelerating both cyber defense and cyber offense
- Why private sector companies may now be the first line of defense in modern conflict
- What citizens can do to strengthen national cyber resilience
- Why intelligence agencies need to better explain their mission to the public
Become a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ for deeper national security insight from the experts shaping the conversation.
Jennifer Ewbank dives deep into how algorithmic manipulation and AI are reshaping the battlefield of information.
As threats evolve, our understanding of them must too. The convergence of technology and tactics is unprecedented, and it's vital to recognize the implications of this industrialized production of misinformation.
The developments in AI could be a game-changer, enabling us to identify synthetic media at scale, offering a way to counter this threat without censorship.
Is this the moment we redefine our approach to misinformation?
The reported deaths of two CIA officers in Mexico have sparked questions, sharp reactions, and widespread speculation. But what really happened - and what does it reveal about how U.S. intelligence operates in one of the world's most complex threat environments? In this in-depth conversation, Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly speaks with Ralph Goff, a six-time CIA station chief, who brings rare, firsthand insight into the realities of intelligence operations, the risks officers face, and the truth behind the headlines. Goff explains why the loss of intelligence officers - often far from traditional war zones - remains an enduring reality of the job. He also breaks down how the CIA works with foreign partners, why operations in Mexico are uniquely dangerous, and how missions continue even after tragedy strikes. This conversation also pulls back the curtain on how intelligence operations are actually authorized and conducted - dispelling Hollywood myths about rogue agents and revealing the legal, political, and operational constraints that govern every move.
What does "success" look like in a conflict with Iran - and what comes next? In this in-depth conversation, General David Petraeus joins The Cipher Brief's Suzanne Kelly to unpack the military and strategic realities shaping today's most consequential conflicts. From the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to the unresolved risks around Iran's nuclear program, Petraeus explains what's at stake not just for the U.S., but for the global economy. But the real story? Ukraine. Petraeus calls it the true test case for the future of war - where drones, autonomy, and rapid innovation are redefining the battlefield in real time.
In this episode of State Secrets, former CIA Senior Operations Officer Sean Wiswesser examines the evolution of Russian intelligence - from Soviet-era tradecraft to modern hybrid warfare. He unpacks Moscow's strategic mindset, its transactional relationships with partners like Iran, and its enduring focus on weakening democratic systems. With insights drawn from decades in the field, Wiswesser explains what most people misunderstand about Russia - and why that matters now more than ever.
A mass-casualty attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach in December 2025 shattered assumptions about the decline of ISIS - and raised urgent questions about what comes next.
In this episode of State Secrets, Suzanne Kelly speaks with terrorism experts Levi West and Andrew Zammit to unpack what made this attack different: months of planning, coordinated tactics, and a clear alignment with evolving ISIS strategy.
The discussion reveals a troubling shift - from isolated, impulsive attacks to more deliberate, semi-organized operations fueled by sophisticated propaganda and global events like the Gaza conflict. The group also examines how ISIS is leveraging English-language messaging, rebuilding momentum across regions like Afghanistan and the Sahel, and blurring the line between "inspired" and "directed" attacks.
Most importantly, they explore what this means for U.S. and allied security services at a time when counterterrorism is no longer the top global priority.
Bottom line: ISIS may look diminished - but the threat is adapting in ways that are harder to detect, disrupt, and defeat.
Washington Post columnist and bestselling novelist David Ignatius joins State Secrets to reflect on more than five decades covering intelligence, war, and global power. In this conversation with Suzanne Kelly, Ignatius shares his perspective on what he calls a potentially historic moment in U.S. conflict with Iran and explains why today's battles increasingly unfold in the gray zone - from cyber operations to covert networks operating far from traditional battlefields.
Ignatius also discusses the evolving relationship between journalists and intelligence agencies, the challenges of reporting during periods of restricted access, and why original reporting still matters in an era of AI-generated analysis.
Drawing on decades of travel and firsthand reporting - from Beirut to Kyiv - he explains why being on the ground remains essential to understanding modern conflict, including what he calls Ukraine's emerging "algorithm war."
The conversation comes as Ignatius is honored with The Cipher Brief's 2026 Impact in Journalism Award, recognizing a career spent uncovering how intelligence, technology, and geopolitics shape the world.
Investor Gilman Louie has spent much of his career focused on future national security. Tapped by former CIA Director George Tenet to be the first CEO of the Agency's venture capital arm and later becoming an advisor and venture capital investor, Louie has spent decades working to identify the technologies that will ensure future national security. He told State Secrets podcast host Suzanne Kelly what clues we have about China's future ambitions and why he believes we're facing an Oppenheimer moment with AI.
Sir Richard Moore gets serious with the State Secrets podcast about the impact that intelligence alliances will have on future security, shares what he knows about China and Russia, lays out the ways in which AI and other technologies will impact the intelligence mission and oh yeah, aliens. We actually asked him about that. Find out what he had to say in this episode of the State Secrets podcast - recorded just as he prepares to accept this year's Cipher Brief HONORS Award for Impact in Alliance.
Former CIA Chiefs of Station Ralph Goff and Glenn Corn have spent a lot of time on the ground in Ukraine. In this State Secrets podcast episode, they share details on what they're seeing there now that isn't making the headlines. Get the raw reporting with Goff and Corn in this special edition of the State Secrets Podcast.
The former head of one of the government's most secret agencies, the National Security Agency, and the former Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, General Paul Nakasone (ret.) sits down with State Secrets to talk about the things he wishes every American knew when it comes to today's cyber threats.
It's a rough business, from traveling the world scouting exotic locations to knowing the correct position of your trigger finger on your pistol to understanding how to clear a room in a hostage situation. And all of that comes before your fingers even hit the keyboard. Join State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly as she welcomes spy writer extraordinaire Mark Greaney to talk about his latest book, The Hard Line, what he learned from writing with Tom Clancy and what actually goes into writing a best-selling spy novel.
From cyber vulnerabilities to supply chain risk, Cipher Brief Expert and former National Intelligence Manager for Counterintelligence Sandrea Hwang tells State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly why modern national security threats are no longer distant or abstract and why protecting data, infrastructure, and innovation now requires whole-of-society cooperation.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly catches up with former BBC Correspondent and Author Gordon Corera to talk about the spy story he found in the archives: the subject of his new book, The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB as well as what he's learned from decades of covering the world of espionage and his assessment of MI6's new Chief.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sits down with Executive Producer Sebastian Junger to talk about the Netflix documentary 'Marines' and whether today's fighting force is the one we need in today's threat environment.
In this edition of the State Secrets podcast, we're talking with two men who are carrying one of the most legendary torches in modern thriller history. Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson are the powerhouse duo behind the tier one series and are the authors of the latest novel in the Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan universe - Executive Power. Host Suzanne Kelly talks with them about a covert team wiped out in Angola and a high-stakes hostage with action playing out on a global scale, of course. In other words, all the good stuff.
Join Suzanne Kelly as she delves into the world of Russian intelligence with former CIA operations officer Sean Wiswesser. Discover the intricacies of Russian operations, the impact of propaganda, and the ongoing secret war led by Putin. Gain insights into the challenges faced by the Russian people and the global implications of state-sponsored actions. Don't miss this eye-opening episode of the State Secrets Podcast.
What does "peace through strength" mean in 2025—when AI, drones and great-power rivalry are reshaping the battlefield? In this episode of State Secrets, Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly sits down with David Trulio, President & CEO of the Reagan Foundation and head of the Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF), to unpack how one of the nation's most influential defense gatherings is responding to a far more dangerous world.
Trulio walks through the origin story of RNDF, why it was designed as a bipartisan space for national security leaders, and how this year's forum, taking place at the Reagan Library in California, shapes the tone of debate. Kelly and Trulio discuss this year's agenda - from AI and "deterrence by design" - to fixing the defense industrial base and making acquisition fast enough to compete with China.
They also explore former President Ronald Reagan's enduring principles—from "trust but verify" to the centrality of allies and partners—and how those ideas are being stress-tested today in Europe, the Middle East and in the Indo-Pacific.
In this episode of State Secrets, Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with retired four-star Gen. Stan McChrystal, who served as Commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and is author of the new book, On Character: Choices That Define a Life, about what character really means in an era where everything feels political, whether intended or not.
Former NSA senior executive Mike Driscoll joins Cipher Brief's Brad Christian to dissect how America - and its allies - win or lose in the cognitive domain. From post-9/11 SIGINT dominance and its pitfalls to today's OSINT revolution powered by AI, Driscoll details why democracies keep ceding the narrative, what Oct. 7 revealed about messaging at speed, and how to rebalance "the exquisite" with the open. They break down gray zone tactics, attribution lags, tunnel warfare, and the policy/risk mindset shifts needed to shrink decision timelines from months to seconds. Driscoll argues that education, public-private integration, and mission-driven AI are now decisive. If you care about how the next conflict is fought - and who shapes the truth - this conversation is essential.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys joins Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly in Washington with a blunt warning: Western military restraint is encouraging, not deterring, the Kremlin. Budrys explains why Lithuania is raising defense spending to more than 5% of GDP by 2026—the highest in the democratic world—and pushing NATO toward offensive deterrence and denial "from the very first inch."
He details Belarus' role as a state-enabled criminal actor, from weaponized migration to smuggling operations using high-altitude balloons that forced Lithuania to shut down its main international airport, and why Minsk deserves tougher sanctions. Budrys also walks through recent Russian gray-zone activity in the Baltic Sea and NATO airspace, arguing that only stronger posture—not de-escalation—has stopped undersea infrastructure attacks and drone incursions.
The Minister lays out what a potential Ukraine ceasefire would mean for the Baltics, why Vilnius is committing 0.25% of GDP annually to Ukraine's security for ten years, and how Russian forces redeployed from Ukraine could reshape the threat on NATO's eastern flank. He also highlights Lithuania's energy break from Moscow—now sourcing 75% of its LNG from the U.S.—and its push for tougher economic security policies toward China as it prepares to hold the EU presidency in 2027.
A candid, front-line view of deterrence, gray-zone warfare, and the future of the transatlantic alliance.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with two former directors of the National Security Agency and former Commanders of U.S. Cyber Command about the cyber threat from China, and just what they think Americans need to know. Retired General Tim Haugh – a new Cipher Brief Expert, spoke recently about the threat with 60 Minutes. He is now also working with investors and teaching at Yale University. And retired General Paul Nakasone is the founding director of the Institute for National Security at Vanderbilt University. Both men have a serious warning for America.
Shawn Chenoweth has one of the most fascinating titles in government, Director of Cognitive Advantage at the National Security Council. Sean explains the concept of cognitive advantage, the challenges of measuring success, and talks about the 'Kill Web' concept, which highlights the interconnectedness of information and cognitive processes in modern warfare.
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Author and Stanford Professor Steve Blank has published a phone book of sorts for the Pentagon - at least when it comes to the trickier issue of understanding how the Pentagon buys things – which is a crucial component of future U.S. national security. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks to Blank about his new 'phone book' for businesses trying to sell into the DoW.
As tensions rise globally, so does the risk of conflict. Poland’s Prime Minister has recently warned that Poland is closer to war than at any time since WWII. And while Russia’s war against Ukraine escalates with no clear path to peace in sight, other incidents such cyberattacks and drone incursions across NATO airspace are fueling growing uncertainty among European leaders.
At the same time, U.S.–China competition is intensifying across economic, military, and technological fronts with some arguing that the risk of military conflict between Washington and Beijing is rising. But some experts argue the U.S. is already engaged in a “Gray War” with Beijing - without realizing it.
In this episode of The State Secrets Podcast, guest host Brad Christian speaks with former CIA officers Dave Pitts and Chip Usher, authors of a recent Cipher Brief article called China’s Gray War on America. Together, they unpack Beijing’s doctrine of “Unrestricted Warfare,” explore the six strategic fronts of China’s current strategy against the U.S., and assess America’s vulnerabilities and options. From the fight for AI supremacy to the dangers of strategic defeat, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone concerned with the future of U.S. power and security.
Former CIA Director General David Petraeus (Ret.) doesn’t mince words: Russia’s 19-drone incursion into Polish airspace was no accident — it was a deliberate test of NATO’s resolve. Joining The State Secrets Podcast from Kyiv, Ukraine, General Petraeus lays out Ukraine’s breathtaking innovation in drone warfare, noting that units now fly thousands of missions daily, with entire regiments springing up to meet demand. But the Russians are innovating, too. So, what does that mean for the future of this war and those to come?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited a warship off the coast of Puerto Rico this week, telling Marines and sailors that they are on the “front lines” of a critical counter-narcotics mission. Exactly what that mission is – remains murky but the statement itself was a clue to the administration’s intent. The U.S. has been beefing up military assets in the region and last week, a U.S. military attack on a boat in international waters raised concerns that rippled through Venezuela and the U.S. Congress. In this edition of The State Secrets Podcast, The Cipher Brief is talking with Renee Novakoff, former Deputy Director of Intelligence for Sensitive Activities and Special Programs at the Office of the Secretary of Defense about what we know and what we still don’t - about the Pentagon’s mission off the coast of Venezuela
In this wide-ranging conversation, former CIA senior leader Sheetal Patel warns about the vulnerabilities the U.S. faces from evolving drone threats, drawing lessons from Ukraine’s successful deep-strike operations against Russia. She highlights the lack of clear authorities, resources, and interagency coordination for defending against small drone swarms in America. Patel also stresses the crucial role of the private sector in rapidly advancing both drone and counter-drone technologies and underscores the growing counterintelligence risks U.S. companies face from foreign adversaries like China. The discussion extends to U.S.–India relations, where recent tariffs threaten to undermine years of strategic progress against Chinese influence.
In a recent opinion piece published in The Cipher Brief, former senior CIA Executive Mark Kelton suggests that the country’s leading intelligence organization has a trust problem both with policy makers and the public. One component of that problem that Kelton argues poses an existential threat to the Agency, is leakers. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with Kelton – who oversaw the CIA’s response to the devastating intelligence leaks made by Edward Snowden – about why he believes the future effectiveness of the Agency depends on restoring trust.
Taiwan has launched its largest annual military exercise ever - amid growing concern that China is on the cusp of launching a military invasion. Many national security experts see a Chinese invasion as inevitable. A recent piece published at the cipher brief.com focuses on what Washington will do when it does happen. But first, it’s the Intelligence Community that is on the front lines - charged with gathering as much information as possible about Xi Jinping’s intent. This week, State Secrets is talking with Susan Miller, who retired just a few months ago from CIA, where she served as the Assistant Director for the Agency’s China Mission Center. The Center was established in October of 2021, to better address the national security challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China.
Writing a book was something former senior CIA Officer Rob Dannenberg never thought he’d do, but as he started reflecting on the ways he and his former colleagues would celebrate the successful recruitment of a new agent or the end of an operation that he couldn’t talk about, he started thinking about the cocktails he and his colleagues would order to mark the occasion. Dannenberg recruited former colleague Joseph Mullin, CSW to help him compile not only the best recipes for the cocktails that defined their careers, but also for the stories that make them all the tastier.
Rare Earth minerals might not be at the top of your panic list today but when it comes to U.S. national security, it’s an issue that has the potential to have the greatest impact on both our way of life and our future security. It was on the agenda at the recent G7 meeting where world leaders agreed to prioritize a joint strategy to protect critical mineral supply chains. But is it too little, too late? Tech executive and investor John Watters saw the signs of potential catastrophe years ago and is hitting the panic button with lawmakers and business leaders about just what’s at stake.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainians have used every resource available to fight back. From aid packages and weapons systems acquired from western allies to mobilizing every sector of society to bring innovation to the fight, Ukraine has stayed alive largely because of its adaptations of technology and its ingenuity on the battlefield. As part of a special delegation that visited Kyiv last month – led by former CIA Director General David Petraeus, The Cipher Brief met senior Chief Warrant Officer Joey Gagnard, who retired from the U.S. Special Operations Community earlier this year. As part of that delegation, Gagnard’s unique take on where Ukraine is today when it comes to its use and development of war technologies like unmanned systems – provided some ground truth about where it may be headed.
Beijing has long said that it aims to be the world’s technology leader but the rate at which it is building data centers – and how it’s using them - is raising alarms in national security circles. State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly is talking with SCSP Senior Director of Intelligence Chip Usher, SCSP Director of Intelligence Libby Lange and Principal Intelligence Advisor at Strider Technologies, Chris Gregg about what a major new report tells us about just how quickly and effectively China is using AI and why that should concern you.
CIA veteran Sheetal Patel helped stand up and then lead the spy agency’s Transnational and Technology Mission Center in 2022, at a time when there was no longer any denying that more outreach to the private sector and a better grasp of the technologies that were available had to become more of a focus if the Agency was to maintain its strategic advantage. Patel retired earlier this year after a 25-year career at the Agency and State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly caught up with her to find out how the Agency’s technology mission has evolved.
Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth sits at the helm of the Intelligence Agency that is helping war fighters and Intelligence analysts better understand the world and what’s beyond it. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) works intensely with the private sector to bring the most critical technological advances to the mission – not just here on Earth, but in Space as well. Join us for this State Secretsconversation with Cipher Brief Honoree VADM Frank Whitworth on why getting the technology right – is so important to the broader national security mission.
Despite efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to warm U.S. relations with Moscow amid negotiations for Russia to end its war in Ukraine, Russian sabotage operations, active measures and Gray Zone activities are continuing around the world. Moscow has mastered the art of engaging in operations that push right up to the edge of war, without really crossing that that line, or have they? The Cipher Brief talks with former Senior Member of the British Foreign Office Nick Fishwick and former senior CIA Executive Dave Pitts – who spent the bulk of his time at the Agency working in clandestine operations – about this new reality – that what we are seeing is really “war by a new name”.
When Walter Parkes co-wrote the movie War Games in 1983, he had no idea what he had launched. The movie about a teen hacker played by Matthew Broderick examined what might happen if someone breached the security systems around U.S. nuclear weapons. As it turned out, then-President Ronald Reagan saw the movie and asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time whether it was possible. After an investigation, the answer came back, “Sir, it’s actually worse than you think.” Eighteen months later, the president signed a directive that would lead to an overhaul of cybersecurity in the U.S. Government. As The Cipher Brief honors Parkes with this year’s Impact Through Storytelling Award at The Cipher Brief HONORS Dinner, we sat down with him to talk about the very real power of storytelling.
In this conversation, former Senior CIA Execuvite Chip Usher discusses the recent advancements made by the Chinese AI lab DeepSeq, particularly its new AI models that rival those of American companies like OpenAI. Usher, now the Senior Director for Intelligence at the Special Competitive Studies Project, explains the significance of these developments in the context of US-China competition in technology and innovation, emphasizing the need for the US intelligence community to enhance its focus on techno-economic intelligence to avoid being caught off guard by such breakthroughs. Usher also highlights the implications of DeepSeq's model for cybersecurity and the potential risks posed by hostile actors gaining access to advanced AI capabilities.
In this conversation, Mike Vigil discusses the recent designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, a move he says is largely symbolic with little real impact on the cartels' operations. He highlights the complexities of U.S.-Mexico relations, the ongoing fentanyl crisis, and the risks of military escalation. Vigil also offers advice for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on addressing drug trafficking in Central America, stressing the importance of creating alliances and addressing the broader issues of drug production and trafficking.
Few people have the perspective that Lt. Gen Mike Groen (ret.) has when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and the impact it has and will have in the national security space. Before retiring from the military, Lt. General Groen served as Director of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Today, he’s ringing the alarm about AI. The military is already adapting AI, so how does he think we need to be understanding it today?
Michael Casey is Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the part of the Director of National Intelligence that leads and supports the counterintelligence and security activities of the U.S. Government. NCSC produces the National Counterintelligence Strategy of the United States and includes the National Insider Threat Task Force. NCSC also plays a critical role in conducting outreach to the private sector on foreign intelligence threats: how to recognize them and how to mitigate them. I spoke with him recently from NCSC headquarters in McLean, Virginia about the risks that spies are posing to their enterprises and to future U.S. national security.
The Cipher Brief has been honored to support a number of non-profit organizations over the years that have made giving back their mission – especially in the national security world. In this episode of State Secrets, we’re welcoming David Kramer, a self-described ‘regular guy who wanted to give back’ and Jeremy Morton, a former special operations operator who has done some pretty impressive stuff during his time in the military – to talk about how they’re giving back via a non-profit called SOC-F.
Cipher Brief Expert and former Senior CIA Officer Glenn Corn is asking the questions of former Governor James Gilmore as this week’s guest host. Gilmore served as Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe under the first Trump Administration and says it’s critical that Ukraine wins this war.
The Hon. Gilman Louie has had quite the career in national security, one that – despite his family’s background of service – he wasn’t exactly planning on. Now the co-founder and managing partner of America’s Frontier Fund, a phone call early in his career set him on a path that would lead to a 30+ year career “in the business” as they say. Louie’s focus on investing in future U.S. national security from the private sector side is a fascinating story. And his views on the technology race with China are both informed and concerning. He is one of the few people with a Silicon Valley mindset, who understands the inner workings of Washington D.C. So why is he so worried about America’s ability to protect itself?
Beijing is building its largest military since the 1930s and Matt Pottinger and his colleagues at Stanford are deeply concerned. First as a former journalist, and then as former Deputy National Security Advisor in the first Trump Administration, Pottinger has been watching what Chinese President Xi Jinping both says and does - for decades. He explains to The Cipher Brief’s State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly why those two things are making it very clear that China is on a collision course with the U.S.
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and author Steve Blank thinks way outside the Washington DC beltway. The Stanford Professor who teaches courses on lean start-ups, innovation and the art of entrepreneurship – also blogs regularly. It may not be a state secrets that one of his blogs published earlier this year about why large organizations struggle with disruption – and what to do about it – was a not-so-veiled reference to the pentagon. State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly sits down with Blank to talk about it.
The Defense Counterintelligence & Security Agency touches more than 90% of the personnel security background checks that help determine whether a job candidate receives a security clearance. But the agency has other missions as well, all focused on enhancing national security. State Secrets podcast host Suzanne Kelly talks with Director David Cattler about the agency’s responsibilities, about just how loong it takes to get a clearance, the challenges associated with clearing a workforce and about whether that marijuana you once tried really is a dealbreaker (we couldn’t resist the urge to ask).
An Israeli airstrike against a school building in Gaza City earlier this month, killed nearly 100 people. Israel said the school served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility. Hamas – which regularly sets up operational headquarters in civilian areas - denies it. With so many innocent civilians killed, this is exactly the kind of strike that is drawing intense criticism some ten months into Israel’s war against Hamas. A war that started with Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on Israel last October.
General Jack Keane (Ret.) talks to State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly about the serious threat posed to the U.S. today, by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. And about how Americans need to take what’s happening in today’s world as a wake-up call and come together in ways we haven’t done since WWII, to ensure future U.S. national security.
In this episode of the State Secrets Podcast, Brad Christian interviews Mike Vigil, a former DEA Chief of International Operations, about the recent arrest of Ismael Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, and the implications for the drug trade and US-Mexico relations. They discuss the background of Zambada and the Sinaloa Cartel, the timing of the arrest, the role of fentanyl in the drug trade, and the challenges of combating the cartels. Vigil emphasizes the need for public awareness and education about the dangers of illegal drugs, as well as a comprehensive strategy involving cooperation between the US and Mexico.
Christine Abizaid, who has served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) for the past three years, sits down with State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly to talk about how the threat of terrorism has changed dramatically over the years and why the threat to Americans is still very real.
In this sponsored episode of the State Secrets podcast, host Suzanne Kelly talks with Sujit Raman, Chief Legal Officer at TRM Labs about how the private sector is working with government to address some of today’s most pressing national security challenges and how professionals like Raman, who also served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, are helping bridge gaps between government and the private sector.
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges (Ret.) Former Commanding General of the U.S. Army Europe, talks to State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly about this week’s NATO Summit in Washington DC, what Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky wants, what Europe needs to ensure its own future security and why Hodges thinks that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s greatest weapon is his ability to scare the west when it comes to taking more aggressive action to win the war in Ukraine.
When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt launched the bipartisan Special Competitive Studies Project – known as SCSP - in 2021, he did it with the intention of bringing together the best and brightest minds in technology to make recommendations that would strengthen America’s long-term competitiveness in an increasingly complex world – a world where technology provides game-changing advantages. In this edition of the State Secrets podcast, host Suzanne Kelly welcomes Chip Usher, who spent 32 years at CIA serving in a variety of executive positions before becoming Senior Director for Intelligence at SCSP, to talk about how technology is driving competitiveness when it comes to what the intelligence community knows and when it knows it.
In this episode of the State Secrets podcast, we’re talking with Cipher Brief Expert, Nick Fishwick, a former senior member of the British Foreign Office, about his column in The Cipher Brief titled, “The Lights are Going Out all over Europe”. Fishwick is talking about Europe’s relationship with Russia as it considers the possibility of war after Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The decline of the relationship between Moscow and western governments which, until recently, still cooperated on issues ranging from counterterrorism to athletic competitions, is leading many in Europe to face the reality that war in Europe may be closer than they think.
In this episode of State Secrets, we’re talking with Cipher Brief Expert, retired General Frank McKenzie. General McKenzie served for forty-two years in the U.S. military as a Marine and retired as the fourteenth commander of U.S. Central Command. He also served as Director of the Joint Staff. Perhaps one of the missions he is best known for was overseeing the targeted drone assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in January of 2020. It was a strong and clear U.S. response to the planning and executions of operations that killed Americans. Operations in which Soleimani, a popular Iranian general, had played a key role. The photo that’s on the cover of McKenzie’s new book, The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century sums up the grit that he brought to every role he had. The picture was taken at the Kabul airport in August of 2021, just one day after U.S. troops fought back a breach at the airfield’s southern perimeter and the stories he shares in the book are a true insiders look at some of the most controversial military operations of our time. Here's my State Secrets conversation with retired General and author, Frank McKenzie.
Former Senior CIA Officer Ed Bogan spent a decades-long at CIA focused on the most urgent issues of our time ranging from counterterrorism to Russia in Ukraine. In this episode of State Secrets, Bogan shares his journey from law school to joining the CIA and his experiences in counterterrorism and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He emphasizes the importance of addressing the underlying causes of terrorism and the need to counter Russian disinformation. Bogan’s mission now – with a new 501c(3) – is focused on studying how leader’s use and misuse ‘states of emergency’ and the need for informed decision-making and action.
“Havana Syndrome” - reported by hundreds of U.S. officials, diplomats, CIA Officers, FBI Agents and White House staff - as well as some members of their families – is described as including severe headaches accompanied by loss of balance and often followed by cognitive issues. Some doctors have concluded that the likely source is a directed energy weapon that uses microwave or ultrasound waves to attack the brain and inner ear. In this episode, Cipher Brief Managing Editor Tom Nagorski talks with Christo Grozev, a journalist who served as a lead investigator on Havana Syndrome for a publication called The Insider and Insider Editor Michael Weiss as well as former senior CIA officer and Cipher Brief Expert Marc Polymeropoulos, who says that he himself was struck during a visit to Moscow. Grozev and Weiss also share the findings of their recent investigation conducted in cooperation with 60 Minutes and the German news magazine Der Spiegel that indicates who is behind Havana Syndrome, saying they have uncovered evidence that members of a special Russian military intelligence unit may be to blame. The revelations of their investigation have called into question findings by U.S. intelligence agencies that found – in their own investigations - that the “Anomalous Health Incidents” as they call them - are not the result of a coordinated effort by Russia or anyone else. Full reports of the government’s findings can be found online. This podcast focuses on another side of this continuing story.
The Cipher Brief made its first reporting trip to Ukraine in February of 2022. That’s when we first met Tymofiy Mylovanov, the President of the Kyiv School of Economics. When we sat down with him then, Ukraine was preparing to mark one year since Russia’s brutal invasion. Mylovanov was sober at the time about what it would take to win the war and rebuild the country. Just over a year later, with an aid package that has been held up for months in Washington - I sat down with him again to talk about what it will take to rebuild Ukraine even as the war rages on - and why he still has hope even amid the challenges – for what lies ahead.
Dave Pitts was the CIA’s last man on the ground in Afghanistan as U.S. troops pulled out of the country in 2021. Even though he began his career as a humble private in the U.S. military, he quickly moved into special operations and eventually, to the CIA where he retired last October as the Assistant Director of CIA for South and Central Asia. In his first podcast interview, Dave talks with State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly about how much the world has changed since his early days of fighting terrorism in the military and why it’s more important than ever for the U.S. to be leading in today’s world.
Retired Rear Admiral Mike Studeman is the former Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence. He has extensive experience in intelligence, foreign policy, defense and China. So, it wasn’t a surprise when Taiwan’s Vice President-Elect Hsiao – someone he had briefed along with President Tsai when he was the Navy’s Indo-Pacom Director for Intelligence – invited him back to Taiwan, this time for a series of high-level visits. Studeman met with the chief of the general staff in Taiwan as well as the chief of the Navy. He visited shipbuilding centers and met with leaders of think tanks and when we met up with him, he and his delegation had just returned from the Kinman Islands. Those are the off-shore islands, just a few miles from the coast of China where there have been a series of confrontations as Chinese Coast Guards have flexed their ability to enter the restricted waters.
Former Director of CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence (and Cipher Brief Expert) Andrew Boyd talks to State Secrets about the dynamic relationship between villains, victims and vendors operating in cyberspace. The CIA, he says, has been paying close attention to cyberspace “since the dawn of IP”, so what lessons can he share about how spies, thieves and nation states are using the domain to find and exploit victims and how the private sector and government are partnering to track them down.
Recent U.S strikes against Iranian proxy groups in Syria and Iraq may be just the beginning of a multi-tier response by the U.S. after the killing of three service members in Jordan last month and it’s raising questions about just how far the U.S. should go in limiting Iran’s ability to use these groups to launch attacks against Americans. Former CIA Deputy Assistant Director of the Near East Mission Center and former Chief of Analysis in the Iran Mission Center Andy Dunn talks to State Secrets about what it will take to deter Iran.
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos recently wrote an article exploring the intriguing dynamics of Gen Z in the CIA workplace, sparking a controversial debate. While research suggests Gen Z may display slower independence behaviors and cause tension with older workers in professional environments, they're redefining things like work-life balance and what it takes to succeed in the workplace. We wanted to hear more from Marc about why he felt compelled to take up this issue and what he learned.
Former NSA Chief of Innovation Kevin Keaton left his government job last year – before the age of retirement - to accept a role as a founding partner at a venture capital firm. Today, he’s focused on closing a gap between government and the private sector that he believes is a serious issue when it comes to U.S. national security. In his first podcast interview since leaving government, State Secrets sat down with Keaton to talk about what he sees as the ‘innovation gap’, China is exploiting it, and how he’s now working from the private sector, to try and close it.
Alan Kohler spent 27 years at the FBI, where his priority for decades, was hunting down spies who were operating in the United States. As Assistant Director of the Bureau’s Counterintelligence Division, Kohler had a hand in nearly every espionage operation the Bureau conducted. He also served as Acting Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch and was Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division before he retired last year and joined The Cipher Brief’s Expert Network. He is also President of Pamir Consulting. State Secrets sat down with Kohler to uncover some of the highlights of the cases he was involved in that made national and global headlines.
In his first podcast interview, we also talked about why espionage and elections are still very top-of-mind for him – particularly when it comes to Russia and China.
In his first-ever podcast interview, former 6-time CIA Chief of Station and 35-year CIA veteran Ralph Goff talks with Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly about what’s happening now in the Middle East and the likelihood that the war will continue to spread beyond Gaza, Lebanon and the Red Sea. Goff also talks candidly about his career, which spanned the globe, from the Middle East to Europe to Central and South Asia and included postings in multiple war zones.
In this episode Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian talks with former CIA officer and Cipher Brief Expert Marc Polymeropoulos. Marc served 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in June 2019. His positions included field and headquarters operational assignments covering the Middle East, Europe, Eurasia and CounterTerrorism. Marc joined Brad to discuss what’s happening in the war between Israel and Hamas. What are the signs to watch for that the conflict could escalate? What are the regional implications for the war, and the real risks that the recent improvement in diplomatic ties between Israel and its middle east neighbors could be in jeopardy? What contributed to the intelligence failure, by many countries, to see the impending Hamas attack and finally, what is Russia’s role in the conflict and how might that impact both the future Russia/Israeli relationship, and the Israeli/Ukrainian relationship? Marc shares his very unique perspective on these and other issues.
Welcome to a special episode of the State Secrets podcast. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly recently welcomed the Director of CIA’s Open Source Enterprise Randy Nixon, to the virtual studio for a special briefing to talk how CIA uses OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) in its daily analytic tradecraft. He also talked about a new tool CIA just launched to help IC analysts better navigate the vast amounts of open source information flowing in each day. Listen in to the briefing, which drew fascinating questions from former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence The Hon. Susan Gordon, former Deputy Director of Analysis for CIA, Linda Weissgold, and chief product officer at Janes, Ben Conklin.
Cyber Initiatives Group (CIG) Principal and former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Cyber, Risk, Resilience and Infrastructure Matt Hayden sits down with CISA’s Executive Director Brandon Wales to dig in on just how the government will implement the new National Cybersecurity Strategy and what it means for business.
Earlier this month, the National Counterintelligence & Security Center - better known in the Intelligence world as the NCSC – along with the FBI - issued a joint bulletin warning stakeholders in US companies, journalists, academics and researchers who work in China about how an updated counterespionage law passed in Beijing that could put employees of US companies at risk because of the broad definitions of what it means to spy. Closer to home, the NCSC issued another public warning about foreign regimes who are actively recruiting people inside the US to help them locate and target dissidents on US soil and the people they are hiring may surprise you. Listen to the State Secrets conversation with Acting Deputy Director Mirriam-Grace MacIntyre wherever you subscribe and listen to podcasts.
In this episode of the State Secrets Podcast Brad speaks with Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe Detrani. Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is the former Special envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, as well as former CIA director of East Asia Operations. He also served as the Associate Director of National Intelligence and Mission Manager for North Korea and the Director of the National Counter Proliferation Center, while also serving as a Special Adviser to the Director of National Intelligence. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a trip to Beijing, the first in 5 years for a Secretary of State, and while reactions to the trip were muted, the visit seemed to represent a small step forward in restoring dialogue between Washington and Beijing. Ambassador DeTrani is who we turn to for a level set perspective on what’s happening in Asia and how we should be thinking about the US-China relationship. Here’s our conversation.
A new memoir by former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Dr. Michael G. Vickers offers incredible insights into some of the most consequential intelligence and special operations missions of our time. From the killing of Osama bin Laden to his efforts to try and stop Iran from getting a bomb, to forcing Russia out of Afghanistan, the former Green Beret turned Intelligence leader shares lessons learned with State Secrets co-hosts Suzanne Kelly and Brad Christian.
We’re letting a secret out of the bag this week. The Cipher Brief traveled to Kyiv to host The Kyiv Economic & Security Forum on the eve of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Cipher Brief CEO Suzanne Kelly, COO Brad Christian and a group of national security professionals traveled in and out of the country with Cipher Brief Expert Gen. David Petraeus (Ret.) who – as former director of CIA and former head of five combat commands has a unique perspective on the counteroffensive. Today, he’s a partner at KKR, where he also chairs the firm’s global institute. That means that his perspective on this war – and the aftermath is incredibly unique. He not only is looking at the immediate combat strategy – but also at the aftermath and the ability for Ukraine to attract global investors to help it rebuild.
One man knows better than most, just what cyber tactics Russia has been using to attack Ukraine – not just since the full invasion in February of 2022 – but since the war began in Crimea in 2014. Since then, Ukraine has served as an unwitting testing ground for Russian cyber aggression with an impact that has often spread well beyond the country’s borders. State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly sat down in Kyiv with the head of Ukraine’s Department of Cyber and Information Security at the Security Service of Ukraine to dig in on Illia Vitiuk’s frontline perspective on what he calls the first cyber war in history.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly interviews the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen Robert Ashley to discuss Ukraine, Russia, China, and the impact of technology on todays complicated world. Listen in on what Gen. Bob Ashley has to say about the private sector’s mission in today’s security landscape.
State Secrets Host Suzanne Kelly is joined by co-host Brad Christian in this conversation with Lt. General Michael Groen (Ret.) on the basics of AI and how it’s impacting U.S. National Security.
In this week’s State Secrets, host Suzanne Kelly talks with Dr. Trent Maul. Dr. Maul was appointed to Director of Analysis for the Defense Intelligence Agency in May 2021. Before Dr. Maul joined the DIA, he received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and his M.A. from King’s College, University of London. Dr. Maul discusses the Defense Intelligence Agency’s global outlook on the Russia-Ukraine war and the possibility of Russia trying to expand its influence in the region to other neighboring countries.
Ambassador Joe DeTrani has spent much of his career centered on China. He is not only a former Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, he is also a former director of East Asia Operations at the CIA. In this episode, Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian sits down with Ambassador DeTrani to discuss senior leadership changes in Beijing and a potential phone call between Xi and US President Joe Biden.
Former Senior CIA Officer and Cipher Brief Expert Marc Polymeropoulos was in Moscow in late 2017, when he woke up in his hotel room with a blinding headache. It was the beginning of a 5-year journey that landed him in Walter Reed’s Traumatic Brain Injury Program. What happened? Marc believes he was the victim of a targeted microwave weapon attack – something that’s become known as Havana Syndrome, after US government employees working at the Embassy in Cuba reported similar debilitating symptoms. Now, the Intelligence Community has issued its latest assessment on Havana Syndrome, which it refers to as Analogous Health Incidents and Polymeropoulos says the report leaves a lot to be desired.
In this episode of State Secrets, Suzanne Kelly talks about the ways in which the war in Ukraine is changing the world with author Rajan Menon. Menon, a nonresident scholar in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is co-author of the book, Conflict in Ukraine: The Unwinding of the Post-Cold War Order. Menon, like Kelly, recently returned from Ukraine and shares his first-hand impressions about what’s happening there and how this war is changing the world.
State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly and guest co-host Brad Christian talk with the former NATO Allied Supreme Commander (and former F-16 pilot) about what comes next in Ukraine and what is actually needed in order to win.
In this week’s State Secrets Podcast, Host Suzanne Kelly talks with The Hon. Susan M. Gordon, a career Intelligence Officer, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence and current member of the Defense Innovation Board, about Balloons, China, Ukraine, Russia and the new world order as well as the role that AI plays in all of it.
In this week’s State Secrets, host Suzanne Kelly talks with former Deputy Director of National Intelligence and Presidential Briefer, Beth Sanner about the discovery of classified documents in the homes and offices of former and current political leaders. Beth shares first-hand accounts from her time serving as former President Donald Trump’s briefer and helps pull back the curtain on where the gaps are in securing classified information.
In one of his very first public interviews as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, David Cattler sits down with State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly to talk about one of the most trying times in the alliance’s 74 year history. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is re-shaping the alliance, and fueling expansion as NATO keeps a close eye on China’s global rise.
This week, I’m talking with RAND CEO Dr. Jason Matheny about a host of threats to US national security – how technology is playing a role and why people call him an ‘apocaloptimist’.
Dr. Matheny has been fascinated with existential threats to the human race from the get go and penned a 2007 paper on how to reduce the risk of human extinction. If that isn’t worth reading – I don’t’ know what is.
Matheny brought that kind of curiosity and insight to the Intelligence Community in 2009 as the Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity – that’s the research arm of the Intelligence Community that invests in fascinating research projects. He’s also served on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and was the founder of the Center for Emerging Technology at Georgetown University.
He left that role to become the Coordinator for Technology and National Security at the National Security Council – and at the same time – served as Deputy Director for National Security at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Matheny became the CEO of the RAND Corporation this past summer. Needless to say, I learn a lot every time I talk with Dr. Matheny. So let’s get started.
This week we're talking about the mission to give back and we're highlighting three organizations that are doing just that. Suzanne is joined by Brad for three conversations with charities that are making an impact. First up is the Special Operations Care Fund known as SOC-F.
SOC-F really targets their giving efforts to the special operations community in ways that you wouldn’t normally think of. They support things like treatments for traumatic brain injury but they also focus on providing therapy sessions to save marriages that are often strained by the multiple deployments that affect families. They also provide therapeutic and restorative experiences for gold star kids. We spoke with Co-Founder David Kramer and new Executive Director of SOF-F Jeremy Morton.
Next up we spoke with CSM (Ret) Mike Hall, Executive Director of Three Rangers Foundation an organiztion that serves the Ranger community. Three Rangers manages a significant network of former Rangers who mentor new veterans as they are transitioning, and beyond and offers some pretty impressive ways to build professional networks in the civilian world.
Last but not least we spoke with the Executive Director of the CIA Officer's Memorial Foundation John Edwards. John is a retired senior executive with CIA and now leads the organization that was created following the death of Mike Spann in 2001. Spann was the first American killed in Afghanistan, and was a CIA officer and it became clear very soon after that CIA needed a new type of way to support fallen officers. We talked with John about how the foundation works to provide scholarships and support for the children and spouses of fallen CIA officers.
In 1972, former CIA Executive Director William Colby proposed that the spy agency set up an employee museum as a way to share the unique mission and the impact that CIA had around the world.
It took 16 years for it to come to fruition. And some 34 years after that, a new museum expansion and renovation is helping the Agency mark its 75th Anniversary.
Now, the museum hosts artifacts from some of the Agency’s most successful – and some unsuccessful missions.
In this episode of The State Secrets Podcast, Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sits down with the CIA’s Curator of Secrets – Museum Director Robert Byer, who gave The Cipher Brief team a tour of the new space and the new exhibits. Some of them stretch back to the days of the OSS – the World War II Precursor to CIA. And some, were used in active intelligence operations as recently as this summer. All have been declassified.
Here's a peek inside the world’s most secretive museum at CIA Headquarters, and Suzanne Kelly’s conversation with Museum Director Robert Byer.
In this State Secrets episode, Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sits down with the Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth at NGA Headquarters in Springfield, Virginia to talk about what’s going on in hot spots like North Korea, as the North undertakes a series of missile launches, about NGA’s expected role with the artificial intelligence program known as MAVEN, and about how the agency is partnering with commercial businesses to know the world even better.
Vice Admiral Whitworth took on the role as Director this past June and he brings an impressive intelligence background in the military to the new job. His command tours included serving as commander of Joint Intelligence Center Central, commanding officer of the Navy element of U.S. Central Command and commanding officer at the Kennedy Irregular Warfare Center. He also served as director of Intelligence for The Joint Staff and as director of Intelligence for U.S. Africa Command and as director of Intelligence for Joint Special Operations Command. The list goes on.
In this episode, I’m talking with journalist and author Renee Dudley. Renee is a technology reporter at ProPublica who stumbled onto a band of what she describes as misfits while reporting on the rapid rise of ransomware. What she found was an incredible group of individuals who decided to be a change for good by helping fight cybercrime. She tells the story in a new book she wrote with co-author and fellow journalist Daniel Golden, The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime.
Here's my conversation with Renee Dudley.
China remains the top concern for long-term US national security and tensions over Taiwan have increased steadily over the past several months. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to cement his grip on power – and to make clear where his party stands on its future ambitions, to include the reunification of the self-governing island of Taiwan.
So just how close are China and the US moving toward war over Taiwan?
That's something that Cipher Brief Expert Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.) has been contemplating for some time. He is the author of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War - that he co-wrote with journalist Elliott Ackerman - played out just how that war might start.
Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October - with a speech that makes clear where his party stands on its future ambitions, to include the reunification of the self-governing island of Taiwan.
But tensions between the US and China over Taiwan’s future are really just one part of the story. Beijing has made clear that it has a thorough and organized strategy to achieve its ambitious goals while the US – in part because of a democratic system that can change leadership every four years – is realizing that it must do something different if it wants to remain a dominant power in the world.
I can’t imagine anyone better on this issue that my guest in this episode: former assistant secretary of defense turned Harvard Professor Graham Allison. Allison is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Harvard and he is also the author of the book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’ Trap? If you haven’t read it, it’s a master class in understanding just where both countries are coming from and what advantages they hold in this great power competition.
Here's my State Secrets conversation with Harvard Professor Graham Allison.
In this episode, Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian sits down with former CIA Officer Brett Davis and Entrepreneur Jeremy Hitchcock to talk about the future of US national security from an investor’s perspective.
Brett is a former Senior Executive with the CIA, and a former Special Operations Officer with the US Navy. Jeremy is an angel investor who co-founded a company called Dyn in 2001 that grw out of an open source project. He sold the company in 2017 for $600mm.
The two men are now partners in New North Ventures, which – full disclosure – The Cipher Brief works with. New North is a sponsor of this year’s Cipher Brief Threat Conference.
Brad sat down with the two men – from very different backgrounds – to get their perspective on investing in future US national security.
China’s Communist Party is deep into preparations for its 20th party Congress that begins October 16th in Beijing, where expert observers are expecting President Xi Jinping to be confirmed for an unprecedented third five-year term.
Xi is also expected to announce his new leadership team that will execute on the party’s agenda. And it’s safe to say that near or at the top of that Agenda is the issue of Taiwan.
For context: When it comes to US policy, Washington’s official stance is that Taiwan is in fact, part of China and that if reunification occurs, it must be through a peaceful reunification. Beijing, meanwhile, sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunified, and has not rule out use of force to do so.
Washington is bolstering Taiwanese defenses in the event that Beijing grows impatient and makes the strategic decision to reunify the island by force.
So, diplomatically, the US recognizes one Chinese government yet Washington treats Taiwan like an independent nation when it comes to diplomatic engagement and military support. That’s the reason why China took such offense to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taipei.
Today’s guest agrees that the U.S.’ One China Policy presents a complicated engagement strategy. How did we get here? And what is the likelihood that the world’s two most powerful nations could come to blows over Taiwan?
Ambassador Joe DeTrani has focued much of his career on China. He is not only a former Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, he is also a former director of East Asia Operations at the CIA.
In this episode, Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian sits down with Ambassador DeTrani to unpack the US’ One China Policy.
On the morning of July 31, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has been in hiding since 9/11, walked onto the balcony inside a compound in downtown Kabul. The Egyptian-born physician had taken over the leadership of the terrorist organization after US Navy SEALS killed Osama bin laden in Abbottabad in 2011. For 11 years he had directed al-Qaeda from the shadows and there had been many false starts for the US intelligence agencies and special operations team who were tracking him. But on this day, as he stood outside, a US directed hellfire missile, reportedly fired from a drone killed him. The missile was incredibly precise, it killed the al Qaeda leader but not his family, who are believed to have been inside the building at the time.
Air to surface missiles like this one are just one of the tools that US counter-terrorism teams have been using as they hunt down terrorist leaders around the globe. While Zawahiri’s killing was seen as the end of a long and costly manhunt – both in human lives and resources – what does his death mean to the future of the al Qaeda?
I spoke recently with retired Lieutenant Generals Scott Howell and Mike Nagata. Lt. Gen Howell served as Commander of Joint Special Operations Command Central before he retired just over a year ago and Lt. Gen Mike Nagata served as Commander of US Special Operations Command before retiring in 2019.
As the first Air Force officer to command JSOC, Lt Gen. Howell led a force of 14,000 personnel engaged in special operations across multiple areas of instability and was responsible for the readiness and mission execution of highly-specialized forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
And Lt. General Nagata’s final position before retiring was Director of Strategy for the National Counterterrorism Center – a job he held from 2016 to 2019. He served as Commander of US Special Operations Command-Central and was responsible for Special Operations across the Central Command region from 2013 to 2015 and was heavily involved in the first two years of combat operations against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.
Suzanne talks with former National Intelligence Manager for Iran (NIM-I) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Norm Roule on the impact of a potential deal to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement with Iran.
The former Director of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center joins us in The Cipher Brief Studio to talk about why technology is not enough when it comes to maintaining a competitive edge in national security over China. If the US doesn’t organize as well as it innovates, there will be no victory.
In this episode Suzanne talks with former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence and founder of the Mossbridge Institute, Dr. Julia Mossbridge.
This week Suzanne talks with former CIA officer and author of new book Victor in the Trouble Alex Finley. They talk about her career, her path to becoming an author and how she recenlty became an expert on oligarchs and yachts.
This week, Suzanne talks with Steve Blank, the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur widely recognized as one of the most influential voices in technology today. Blank’s passion for US national security led him to co-launch two classes at Stanford, where he teaches. One is called Hacking for Defense and the other, Hacking for Diplomacy. Hacking for Defense later became a federal program as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. Today, Steve has joined a chorus of voices complaining that Department of Defense ‘culture’ is hindering its ability to truly innovate and it’s putting the US behind it’s adversaries. What does that mean? And how could it impact future US national security and US competitiveness in the world?
In this episode Suzanne catches up with Cipher Brief Expert and author Admiral James Stavridis (Ret) to talk about his new book- To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision.
Former Chief of Counterterrorist Operations Ric Prado spent the bulk of his CIA career undercover, taking on the hardest challenges the Agency had, from Nicaragua to Afghanistan. Now, the Cuban refugee shares the secrets of why he did it, and why he thinks it’s time to set the record straight.
Former Senior CIA Officer Kristin Wood shares her insights on secrets and the world of Open Source Intelligence. Now CEO of Grist Mill Exchange, Wood shares her insights on how businesses and the government can benefit the most from secrets that are sometimes right there in the open.
Cipher Brief Publisher and CEO Suzanne Kelly talks with retired CIA Officer Beth Sanner, who spent 35 years in national security before recently retiring. Her responsibilities included serving as Deputy Director for National Intelligence, and as former President Trump’s Intelligence Briefer. That means that twice a week, for two years, Sanner met with the former President in the Oval Office, sometimes in other locations around the White House, to brief him on the nation’s most classified intelligence. In order to do that, she had to get inside her customer’s mind, anticipate the questions he would ask and have answers ready. What are some of the secrets Sanner has for briefing people in positions of power?
Find out how CIA is thinking about Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Data Analytics in a conversation with Marie Falkowski, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation
This week with all of the heaviness with what’s happening in Ukraine and a new world order taking shape, we wanted to give you a break from the stress of reality, and focus on fiction. What we’re seeing today is something that no many of us could have written about a few months or even a few years ago. And a failure of imagination comes with a price. So I think you’re going to find my conversation with author Mark Greaney as interesting as I did. Many of you already know Greaney as the author of the Gray Man series, and his latest book Sierra 6 is a well-written escape. If you follow Mark you also know that he wrote several books under the Tom Clancy name. In this episode we talked about what’s happening in Ukraine right now, what inspires him as an author and how continues to find the energy and discipline to write two books per year.
I’m your host Suzanne Kelly, and this is the State Secrets Podcast.
In this episode Suzanne welcomes General Joseph L. Votel U.S. Army (Ret.) to the State Secrets podcast. Votel is now the President & CEO of the Business Executives for National Security (BENS) organization. This conversation covers General Votel's perspective on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis and alot more, including the most pressing issues BENS is focused on in partnerhip with the US Government.
In this episode Suzanne talks with Cipher Brief Expert and former Director of Intelligence Analysis for the New York Police Department Mitch Silber. Mitch weighs in on how the recent hostage situation in Texas connects to New York City, and what he learned about protecting NYC during his time at the NYPD.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Walter Pincus about his new book- Blown To Hell: America's Deadly Betrayal of the Marshall Islanders.
In this episode Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with former CIA officer and author James Lawler about his new book Living Lies: A Novel of the Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program. Lawler spent more than half of his CIA career focused on WMD's and led the team that took down A.Q. Khan.
What do Americans need to know about Chinese President Xi Jinping's comments during China's Centennial celebration? Are we likely to see military conflict over Taiwan? What are the risks of a miscalculation in today’s extremely fast moving world and should the U.S. be doing more to ensure we have better insight into China’s intentions? For these questions and more we caught up with Ambassador Joe Detrani for an expert brief.
In this episode we talk with Cipher Brief Expert and former Senior CIA officer and Chief of Station Dan Hoffman about the Russia Problem.
From cyberattacks to the Black Sea, Russian provocations have led to heightened tensions in the US but is it just business as usual for Moscow? Or are we seeing an increased willingness to provoke with a new administration in the White House?
While working for the government, Dan racked up 30 years of distinguished government service including high-level positions not only within the CIA, but also with the U.S. military, U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Department of Commerce. His assignments included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and war zones in both the Middle East and South Asia.
We talk with the authors of a new report by the Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative that looks at one of the largest and most significant cyber espionage campaigns in US' history.
Suzanne talks with author and former intelligence officer Alma Katsu about her latest book, and her first spy novel 'Red Widow', a story about two female CIA officers working against a threat to CIA's Russia Division.
In this episode with talk with former CIA Officer and Author Jack Devine about his new book 'Spymaster's Prism: The Fight Against Russian Aggression.
In this episode we welcome Cipher Brief Expert and former Acting Director, CIA John McLaughlin to the show to talk about what really goes on in the Worldwide Threat Briefings to Congress. The briefings are set to resume this week after a hiatus under the Trump Administration.
In this episode we catch up with General Breedlove to talk about the current state of play with Russia and Ukraine, some possible scenarios that could occur and what to watch for over the near term. We also talk China-Russia and the U.S. relationship with our NATO allies.
Kelly Bissell leads Accenture Security, where he oversees the full spectrum of security services including strategic consulting, cyber defense, digital identity, response and remediation services, and managed security services. He is a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.
In this episode we speak with Former Supreme Allied Commander and Cipher Brief Expert Admiral (Ret) James Stavridis about his new book, co-written with Elliot Ackerman called '2034: A Novel of the Next World War'.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks to Mark Cooter & Alec Bierbauer, authors of the new book 'Never Mind We'll Do It Ourselves: How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers and Changed The Face Of Warfare Forever.
The book tells the once highly classified story of the birth of the Predator program.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with William Evanina, who recently stepped down from his post as Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, a post he held from 2014-2021. They discuss the most urgent counterintelligence and security threats facing the U.S. today.
Welcome to the State Secrets Podcast brought to you by The Cipher Brief. The State Secrets Podcast takes you inside the world of Intelligence and national security through conversations with experts who have spent careers working the toughest issues. Some of the experts in our network have led organizations like the CIA and the NSA - some have held senior positions in the White House - Many are four-star generals, and others have spent their careers undercover, quietly working the issues from the ground level in the shadows of the limelight.
Our guest today is Paul Kolbe. Paul is the Director of The Intelligence Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, before that, he worked in the private sector as the head of BP’s global intelligence and analysis team, but before that, Paul served for 25 years in the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer serving in Russia, the Balkans, Indonesia, East Germany, Zimbabwe and Austria.
This week we’re excited to welcome Jared Maples, to the show. Jared is the Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. I caught up with Jared to talk about how he and his team work to counter threats from terrorism, cyber-attacks and most recently, the growing and complicated issue of state sponsored disinformation.
Peter Singer is co-author along with August Cole of the new book Burn-In a Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. Peter is also a strategist and senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
In this episode Cipher Brief publisher & CEO Suzanne Kelly talks with Richard Hass. Richard is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the new book ‘The World, A Brief Introduction’ . The book is a primer designed to help experts and non-experts better navigate a complex and rapidly changing world in which global literacy really matters. Suzanne caught up with Richard to talk about why he wanted to write this book, what issues worry him the most on the world stage, and why now more than ever, global literacy is so important.
This week we’re joined by Cipher Brief Expert Mike Vigil. Mike is the former Chief of International Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Before his retirement, he was one of the most highly-decorated agents within the agency and was responsible for numerous multi-national operations, the largest involved 36 countries. He was also responsible for developing global intelligence sharing platforms. He is also the author of three books: DEAL and Metal Coffins: The Blood Alliance Cartel and Narco Queen. And this interesting note, Vigil was made an honorary General by the government of Afghanistan and given the key to the city of Shanghai by China, all in appreciation for his efforts battling the drug trade.
Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian caught up with Mike from his quarantine base in New Mexico, to talk about: How the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the cartels. How are the cartels seeking to expand their portfolio to ensure survival during a time when normal revenues and operations are at a near standstill? What’s the state of play between law enforcement and the cartels in the interim coronavirus crisis period, and what’s going to happen when society starts to reopen? And who’s winning the technology race, the cartels or law enforcement? The answer may surprise you.
Welcome to the next episode of the State Secrets podcast. This week we catch up with Brian Raymond, who is the Senior Director of the National Security Group at Primer, a machine intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco. Primer is one of our private sector partners at The Cipher Brief and is part of our daily open source collection team. They are involved in pushing the envelope of technology applied towards national security objectives that use machine learning and artificial intelligence. We caught up with Brian on a recent phone call to discuss a specific aspect of machine learning, known as natural language processing, and how it’s being used to enable missions across the national security community.
Admiral James Stavridis spent more than thirty years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. He served as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded U.S. Southern Command. You can imagine that someone with that kind of experience has seen a lot in his career, so to retire and then write a book about character is an interesting choice.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher talkes with Admiral Stavridis about what made him want to zero in on the issue of character – as he does in his book – by examining the careers and the choices of ten other admirals.
This is part 2 of our border security series. In this episode Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian catches back up with Mike Fisher, former Chief of the US Customs and Border Protection, to talk about recent developments with Mexico, the situation surrounding children in detention along the border, threats of deportations by the U.S. administration and what it will take to get the border crisis under control.
Border security is a complex issue. From conflict zones like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, to geo-political hot spots like Israel and North Korea. International borders are often where military, law enforcement, crime, politics and policy collide. Rarely do countries have the ability to control their entire borders, leaving open the possibility of smuggling and illegal immigration. The United States is among the world’s countries facing a very challenging border security dynamic. Just in the last 12 months we’ve seen controversy surrounding the use of military troops to bolster border security, a crisis over children being separated from their families, heated political debates over budgets and walls, senior leadership in DHS seemingly at odds with White House policy, and intense diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Mexico. Against this backdrop is a worsening humanitarian crisis that is claiming more lives and exhausting resources.
What we’re NOT talking much about in media conversations, is the increased security risk the U.S. is facing due to the crisis. Drug traffickers, human smugglers, and gang members are some of the groups exploiting the current situation. What does that really mean to overall U.S. national security?
State Secrets spoke with two experts on the issue, to see if we could cut thru the rhetoric, politics and sound-bytes, to get to the root of what’s really going on.
Michael J. Fisher is the former Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol and a member of the Senior Executive Service. He was responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating, and directing enforcement efforts designed to secure the Nation's borders.
Chief Rowdy Adams retired in June 2011 as a career Senior Executive Service member in the DHS, CBP Office of Border Patrol after almost 30 years in law enforcement, specializing in border security operations, enforcement technology, strategic and tactical planning, and immigration issues.
We caught up with Mike and Rowdy to talk about the complicated dynamics surrounding the southern U.S. Border in what became a two-part series that can also be found on The Cipher Brief.com.
Richard Clarke has been on the cutting edge of terrorism and cyber issues for quite some time. He served more than 30 years in government and was the first White House official tasked with taking charge of U.S. cybersecurity policy. He’s written eight books, half fiction, half non-fiction and his latest book, ‘The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats’ was written with Robert Knake, who served as director for cybersecurity policy at the White House from 2011-2015. Today both men serve as cybersecurity consultants, advising corporations and investors on cyber-related issues.
If you’ve done any reporting on national security issues in Washington DC, you already know JJ Green. He’s been covering national security for the city’s most popular radio station for 15 years now. As you can imagine, he’s seen a lot of changes in that time.
I sat down with JJ recently in Washington to talk about how national security reporting works, how reporters and correspondents gain access to news and policy makers and how a they navigate the sometimes tricky task of getting the story right, and getting the story first.
The one thing JJ and I both agreed on – is the fact that the job is harder today than at any time in recent memory. Every administration comes in with ‘gatekeepers’ – they are the staffers who decide which reporters get access to decision makers and which do not. Which reporters get called in for background briefings, and which reporters get those exclusive one-on-one sit downs?
It seems like everyone in Washington, DC wants to write a book these days, and more of them are, even if they aren't the big names you're used to hearing. There are stories to tell in this town, and there are sleuths who know how to go about telling them. Keith Urbahn is a co-owner of the literary agency Javelin, which started out getting book deals for smaller names with bigger stories, but when they signed James Comey for his book released in 2017, they knew things had changed.
State Secrets sat down with Urban in his office, in Alexandria, VA.
Christopher Krebs left his role as the Director of Cybersecurity Policy for Microsoft back in 2017 and went back to work for the government. He joined the Department of Homeland Security with a top priority to get anew Agency established- one that put a solid focus on government support for a private sector facing an onslaught of cyber threats.
Krebs saw that dream become reality last November when the President signed the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency Act- which officially elevated an existing component of the DHS to Agency status.
We caught up with CISA's first Director and biggest advocate, Christopher Krebs to talk about what he hopes to do now that the Agency is established.
Steven Hall spent more than 30 years in the CIA, the bulk of them running and managing intelligence operations in Eurasia and Latin America. He has experience both in counterintelligence and counterterrorism and has overseen intelligence operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union. When he retired from the CIA in 2015, he did so as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service, a small cadre of officers who are the senior-most leaders of the CIA’s Clandestine Service.
Hall is also a Cipher Brief expert who was reading the president’s tweets about his Intelligence leaders after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats delivered the IC’s annual threat assessment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last month. A clearly upset President took to Twitter after media reports highlighted differences between the IC’s assessment of threats, and recent statements made by the President. Without missing a beat, the President called his IC leaders ‘naïve’, and suggested they go ‘back to school’.
Two days later, the President followed a meeting with his top Intel team with another tweet, saying he had 'Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc.'
Some intelligence insiders told The Cipher Brief that they believed the media had successfully baited the President, and that, as a result, he responded hastily and angrily to what he saw being reported. Others distinguished between reality and politics when it comes to the threats, saying that the real threats aren't always reflected in the President's political posturing.
The Cipher Brief spoke with Hall specifically about how he believes the President's insults are negatively impacting national security, and about what matters and what doesn’t, in an era where the Intelligence Community often finds itself in the crosshairs.
A recent worldwide threat report delivered to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence by leaders of the Intelligence Community made clear that China is the largest national security threat to the United States.
This week, State secrets talks to one of the world's most renowned experts on the U.S.- China relationship, Graham Allison.
His 2017 book Destined for War: Can American and China Escape Thucydides' Trap? was a national and international best seller.
Allison has just recently returned from China, where he spoke with Chinese officials about the State of Affairs with the U.S. We caught up with him when he was in his office at Harvard University, where he has taught for more than five decades.
We spoke with Cipher Brief Expert John Sipher, to understand the impact of the President's comments towards the Intelligence Community leaders, following a firestorm of debate after the presentation of the worldwide threat assessment by the Intelligence Community leadership to Congress.
This week we’re presenting a special bonus episode of the State Secrets podcast. Each year at the Cipher Brief’s Annual Threat Conference, we open the event with a presentation of our Annual Threat Report. In 2018 former Director of the CIA and NSA, General Michael Hayden presented the annual threat report.
He began with an overview of the top global security threats. On that list were issues related to China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and Terrorism, as you would expect. But Hayden also adds a rich description of how the global world order, the one based significantly on the post WWII, American-led system is changing. That change, he argues represents a major concern for the entire world, in particular for U.S. allies, and represents very serious challenges to the United States.
This week we are pleased to welcome John Carlin to the show.
John was Chief of Staff and Senior Council to Bob Mueller when Mr. Mueller served as FBI Director. Carlin also worked as the National Coordinator for DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program – better known as CHIP, and he has served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
John currently chairs Morrison and Foerster’s Global Risk and Crisis Management practice and is co-head of the firm’s national security practice.
John has written a book recently with author Garrett Graff, titled, ‘Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China and the Rising Global Cyber Threat.
This week we're pleased to welcome former Deputy Director of the NSA, and Cipher Brief Expert Rick Ledgett to the show. Ledgett retired from the NSA as a senior civilian leader in April 2017, capping a career in government that included leading the NSA's Media Leaks Task Force from June 2013 to January 2014, just as the NSA was dealing with a particularly damaging leaker named Edward Snowden.
Now in the private sector, Ledgett works with CEO's, CISO's and CSO's to help them better understand the cyber threat landscape and find better ways to build resilience as cyber threats continue to impact companies bottom line.
We also spoke with him about educating all Americans on basic internet hygiene.
This week we are pleased to welcome General David Petraeus. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sat down with the General, as he was preparing for one of the many international trips he takes these days in his role as Partner with the global investment firm KKR.
On a rainy afternoon in Washington, we spoke with General Petraeus about global security issues, public-private partnerships, innovation in government, U.S.-China relations, Saudi Arabia, Russia and America's leadership role in the future.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with David Sanger, The New York Times national security correspondent and author of The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age, about the current threat environment and what needs to be done to help people better understand how cyber threats impact them.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with former CIA and NSA Director General Michael Hayden about today’s biggest threats, foreign and domestic.
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly talks with former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff about the new threats to the homeland as well as privacy threats, and what to do about Exploding Data…only in the State Secrets podcast from The Cipher Brief
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sits down with (Ret.) General Stanley McChrystal to talk about Jamal Khashoggi, Pakistan’s Incoming Intelligence Chief, and the Generals’ new book: Leaders: Myth and Reality…as well as whether the General himself would consider running for public office.
Cipher CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sits down with the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center Bill Evanina to discuss spies, strategies for catching them and how foreign agents are using social media to identify potential recruits.
The Cipher Brief’s ‘State Secrets’ podcast sits down with the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Susan Gordon to talk intelligence and innovation.
As 2017 comes to an end, we review the relationship between the United States and one of its closest allies, the United Kingdom: how do they address the same security threats the U.S. faces? On this week’s episode of 15 Minutes, The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel, spoke with Nick Fishwick who spent nearly 30 years in the British Foreign Service, and served as Director of Security, Director for Counter-Terrorism, and Director General of International Relations. Looking ahead to 2018, Fishwick offers insights on threats to soft targets, the UK-US relationship, and cyber threats in the new year.
Is Israeli-Palestinian peace achievable? It’s a staggering question, and one that The Cipher Brief explores in this episode of 15 Minutes. Executive Editor Kim Dozier recently spent some time with Amos Yadlin at a forum in Washington D.C. Yadlin is a former Israeli Air Force general, Israel Defense Forces military attaché to D.C., and was head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate. Along with discussion around the two-state solution, the two examine neighboring threats to Israel, and the recent decision by President Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel.
As Former Deputy General of Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, Ram Ben Barak is right on the pulse when it comes to Israeli security. And on this episode of 15 Minutes, he spoke on current Israeli security concerns and it’s partnership with U.S. intelligence channels with The Cipher Brief’s Executive Editor, Kim Dozier.
On December 6, President Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, ordering the State Department to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This move is seen by the international community as cementing Israeli soverignity over the holy city, and has drawn condemnation from leading figures around the world. On this episode of 15 Minutes, Cipher Brief executive editor Kim Dozier spoke with Farah Pandith to get some insight on the effects this move will have on Muslim communities in the region. Pandith was the first person to hold the position of Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the US State Department under Secretary Clinton, and had much to share.
The White House recently released a charter providing transparency into the Vulnerabilities Equities Process, known as the VEP. Around the conversation of how the U.S. government handles software vulnerabilities, The Cipher Brief asks, how are our allies handling the same issues?
On this episode of 15 Minutes, Cyber & Technology Analyst Levi Maxey speaks with Robert Hannigan, the former director of GCHQ, the United Kingdom’s counterpart of the NSA. Hannigan provided some insight on the practices applied in the U.K., and how it differs from the U.S.
This week, The Cipher Brief brings you a special best of episode of one of our most fascinating guests, John Nixon, the first CIA analyst to question Saddam Hussein. As we come upon the 11-year anniversary of Saddam’s death, we hear from Nixon about his time with the Iraqi leader, Nixon’s interrogation tactics, what he uncovered about the weapons of mass destruction, and his views on Saddam’s trial and execution.
Drone warfare, Russian cyber hacking, new advances in genomics: Peter Warren Singer not only researches and covers it all, but can tell you what’s going to happen next.
On the latest episode of 15 Minutes, The Cipher Brief’s Executive Editor Kim Dozier interviews the strategist and senior fellow at his offices in New America, where they discussed his work, who is winning the cyber war between the U.S. and Russia (hint: not the U.S.), and what the future might bring.
From Syria to Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar, war and conflict across the globe have left some 65-million refugees and displaced people world-wide. How should the international community tackle this humanitarian crisis? To find out, Leone Lakhani spends 15 Minutes with David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee and author of Rescue: Refugees and The Political Crisis of Our Time.
In this episode of 15 Minutes, U.S. presidential candidate Evan McMullin talks about his decision to run on an independent platform in 2016 due to his belief that Donald Trump was unfit for office. In the aftermath of the election, McMullin and his running mate Mindy Finn, founded Stand Up Republic and have become a voice for a Republican community that has felt forgotten, or at odds with the current administration. In this extended wide-ranging discussion, McMullin tells The Cipher Brief Executive Editor Kimberly Dozier about how he made his teenage dreams of becoming a CIA operations officer a reality and how he ended up working on Capitol Hill.
For decades, intelligence recruitment has been taking place at American universities. This isn’t only done by the FBI and CIA, but by geopolitical rivals such as China, Russia and Cuba, that recruit students and professors to gain access to sensitive research and gain insight into U.S. culture and policy. In turn, the U.S. enlists foreign students and teachers to spy on their home countries.
Although many may not be aware of this practice, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Dan Golden has spent decades researching it, and recently released a new book on the subject, “Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’s Universities”.
On this episode of 15 Minutes, the Cipher Brief’s Mackenzie Weigner spoke with Dan about his book, some of the examples and cases of intelligence recruitment in American schools, how it started, and what schools aren’t doing to stop it.
There are many issues on the world stage, but on this episode of 15 Minutes, we focus on two of them: national security and economy.
Although not often associated with one another, economic and national security interests frequently align. How does the U.S. generate the funds to pay for military power? And in turn, how do wars and terrorist attacks affect a country’s economy?
Tyler Cowen, economic professor at George Mason University, spends 15 Minutes with The Cipher Brief’s International Economic Analyst Fritz Lodge to get to the bottom of some of the most pressing concerns, namely, has the U.S. lost its position of global economic leadership, and does it matter?
In September 1986, American Joseph Cicippio was abducted in Beirut by captors thought to be linked to Hezbollah. Held until his release in December 1991, Joe was moved to more than 20 locations and chained to another American hostage for four of those years. Here, he spends 15 Minutes with Leone Lakhani and describes how he coped, his views on U.S. hostage policy, and why he has no bitterness towards his captors, even after his ordeal.
At the young age of 33, Brett Velicovich has probably held more positions than someone could in a lifetime: Former US Army Intelligence, humanitarian, business owner, author and drone expert.
Brett recently released his book Drone Warrior: An Elite Soldier’s Inside Account of the Hunt for America’s Most Dangerous Enemies. And the title really does say it all, offering readers an inside view into the world of drone warfare, and the toll it takes on the people who control the UAVs.
In this episode of 15 Minutes, The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel goes even deeper with Brett, examining the importance of the drone program in US military counterterrorism efforts, what drove his dedication, and the recent news of a man Brett spent most of his career hunting down: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Whether it’s the Equifax data breach, border security or Russian state-sponsored election hacking, identifying current and emerging technologies to secure public and private infrastructure is a critical priority for the U.S. government. The Cipher Brief’s Deputy Director of Analysis, Bennett Seftel spends 15 Minutes with U.S. Representative Will Hurd (R-TX) who talks about takeaways from his years working as a CIA operations officer and offers his thoughts on current issues: why a border wall with Mexico and the most expensive and least effective way to do border security, the North Korea crisis and the adversarial U.S.-Russia relationship.
A resurgent Russia, along with broader economic and social trends, is shaking up politics across the U.S. and Europe. Populist parties, like Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), that are supported by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, are challenging the status quo. The AfD came in third in Sunday’s election in Germany, significantly gaining on the two major parties and winning seats in parliament for the first time. For now, the political center in Germany still holds, with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a Christian Democrat, winning a fourth term. This week, The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spends 15 minutes with Rüdiger Lentz, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Germany. Here, they talk about the rise of populism in the West and how it’s impacting liberal democracies.
Military and intelligence professionals around the world view cyberspace and the internet differently. In the West, cyberspace is thought of as a facilitating agent, one that can be leveraged for espionage, disruption and sabotage. In more autocratic regimes, cyberspace is a mode of political control and influence of narratives, both domestically and abroad. To get deeper insight into the matter, the Cipher Brief’s cyber and technology analyst Levi Maxey spoke with Alexander Klimburg, Director of Cyber Policy and Resilience at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and author of a new book called The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace. Levi and Alexander discuss his work, the threats facing the West, and what the current conflict in cyberspace looks like.
On the 16th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Leone Lakhani spends 15 minutes with Michael Leiter, who was Director of the National Counter Terrorism Center from 2007 to 2011. Mike worked closely on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 attacks. Here, he shares rare insight on the operation that killed bin Laden in May 2011.
In Part II of Suzanne Kelly’s interview with Bob Work, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defense, Suzanne digs deeper into the challenges Bob faced in ushering new technology into the Defense Department - as well as the relationship between the public and private sector - when it comes to innovation.
Artificial Intelligence, cyber warfare, C4I network grids: just a few of the things that Bob Work was keeping the Department of Defense updated and innovating on during his time as the Deputy Secretary of Defense. This week, The Cipher Brief brings you a special treat for the holiday week, two podcast interviews between Bob and CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly.
In Part I, Bob and Suzanne discuss some of the biggest challenges he was facing in his position, most especially, convincing the culture of the Department to accept change.
This week Leone Lakhani spends 15 Minutes with Javier Peña, a former drug enforcement agent, who was instrumental in bringing down the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Peña and his partner Steve Murphy – both depicted in the Netflix series Narcos – track the life and eventual demise of Escobar, as consultants on the show. Season 3 of Narcos enters a new chapter in the war on drugs, following the brutal Cali Cartel. While Peña didn’t consult on this season, he did track the Cali traffickers during his career. Here, he tells Leone about the show, his experiences, and what he learned from the hunt for Escobar.
Much of the emphasis of fighting violent extremism in the U.S. is on the Islamist or Jihadist threat. But the attack in Charlottesville earlier in August, was a reminder that other elements, including right-wing extremist groups, are also at play. Have these types of groups been ignored? What are the challenges of counter-terrorism in today’s America? Leone Lakhani speaks to Michael Leiter, former Director of the National Counter Terrorism Center to find out.
On the 16th Anniversary of 9/11, stay tuned for a special Part II of Michael Leiter's podcast, where he tells Leone about his part in the hunt for Bin Laden.
Former National Security Advisor to Joe Biden, Former Deputy Chief of Staff in the State Department, Former Director of Policy Planning, Senior Advisor during the Iran Nuclear Negotiations, Top Foreign Policy Advisor to Hillary Clinton during her campaign, and now, a professor at Yale and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Jake Sullivan has lead a busy life, but he recently took time to sit down with the Cipher Brief's CEO and Publisher Suzanne Kelly to discuss our relations with Iran, the changes at the State Department, and what we can do to face our biggest security threats.
The U.S. State Department recently revealed that some government employees working in the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba were sent home due to symptoms resembling a concussion, with at least one employee suffering from hearing loss. State Department officials have said this was an “acoustic attack,” using sonic devices outside the range of audible sound that were placed either inside or outside the diplomats’ residences. This week, The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spends 15 minutes with H. Keith Melton, an intelligence historian, author, and board member of the International Spy Museum, who recently co-authored Spy Sites of Washington, DC with former CIA Director of the Office of Technical Service Robert Wallace. Here, they talk about the history of espionage activities between the U.S. and Cuba, and which country is the biggest espionage threat to the United States.
This week, The Cipher Brief’s CEO and Publisher Suzanne Kelly spends 15 minutes with Rob Joyce, the White House cybersecurity coordinator. Prior to his role in the new administration, Joyce was chief of the NSA’s elite hacking unit named Tailored Access Operations. Joyce now leads the government’s coordination of all things cyber, a big job to take on considering the number of agencies, departments, and threats. Suzanne spoke with Joyce about his role, and what he sees as the biggest cyber threats today.
This week, The Cipher Brief brings you a special best of episode of one of our most fascinating guests, Jason Matheny, Director of IARPA, the research branch for the intelligence community that works on ways to tell the future. The Cipher Brief’s CEO and Publisher, Suzanne Kelly, spoke with Jason about what exactly IARPA does, what keeps him up at night, and if there’s ways to predict political instability and unrest.
A U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, envoy to Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, and Somalia: James Dobbins has had years of experience representing U.S. interests abroad. Along with his numerous positions, he was also lead negotiator to the Bonn Agreement, which re-created the state of Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion. In this week’s 15 Minutes podcast, The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge speaks with Ambassador Dobbins about his experiences as a diplomat, what role the U.S. has abroad under the Trump administration, and his new book, Foreign Service: Five Decades on the Frontlines of American Policy.
It’s a rough time for liberal democracies – with fake news and election hacking creating a growing erosion of trust in governments. Estonia, a small country in eastern Europe and previously under the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, was hit by a wave of cyber attacks in 2007, which many believe Russia orchestrated. Since then, Estonia and former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves have been focused on building up cyber defenses. This week, The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spends 15 minutes with President Ilves, who is now a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Institute for International Studies. Here, they talk about fake news, twitterbots, and the future of artificial intelligence.
The U.S. Navy protects our seas around the clock. But what else does the Navy do? It innovates – a lot. Ray Mabus, who was Secretary of the Navy under both Obama Administrations and held that post longer than anyone since World War I, created a fully green fleet during his tenure. Now, 65 percent of energy on navy bases around the world comes from non-fossil fuels. This week, The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder spends 15 minutes with Secretary Mabus, who was previously the Governor of Mississippi and U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Here, he tells Kaitlin about other innovations in the Navy, like unmanned underwater vehicles that compete with Russia and China on underwater capabilities.
This week, The Cipher Brief celebrates Independence Day by looking back at interviews we did with men who have served this country in the Armed Forces. From Robert 'Buzz' Patterson, air force pilot and military aide to President Clinton, to Senator John McCain, a former naval pilot and POW, to Jack Keane, a retired four-star general, these men worked tirelessly for the greater good.
As the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force under President Obama, one of Deborah Lee James' principal concerns was U.S. advancement in space. She believes its mission-critical for the United States to better protect its satellite communications and missile warning systems. The Cipher Brief's Fritz Lodge joined Secretary James for a discussion on the role of U.S. armed forces in space - and some of the game-changing advancements that may come soon in space-based missile defense.
From 1985 to 1994, CIA officer Aldrich Ames was actually a spy for the Soviets. At the time of his arrest in ’94, he had compromised more CIA assets than any other mole in history. This week, The Cipher Brief’s Leone Lakhani spends 15 minutes with former CIA officer Sandy Grimes, who was instrumental in uncovering Ames. She had worked beside him as a young officer with the CIA’s Soviet bloc division. Here, she shares her personal experiences with Ames and why she believes he was such a valuable Soviet target.
There’s seldom a day that we don’t hear about cyber attacks, hacks, and how governments and the general public should protect against cyber threats or criminals. One company says its mission is to use technology to do just that: keep people safe online. The company’s called Jigsaw. It’s a technology incubator created by Google. But how do they do it? The Cipher Brief’s Leone Lakhani spends 15 minutes with Jigsaw’s Managing Director Scott Carpenter to find out.
This week, The Cipher Brief's Suzanne Kelly spends 15 Minutes with Ali Soufan. Ali is a former FBI special agent, who recently wrote The Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State. What's unique about the book is that he wrote it like a novel, to bring the readers into the world of Bin Laden and help them better understand it. So how did he come up with the idea?
This week, The Cipher Brief looks back at five groundbreakers in the national security space. Each in his/her own right has blazed a trail for others to follow — in policy, spycraft, and law enforcement. From Pentagon pioneer Michele Flournoy to Steve Murphy, who co-led the demise of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, take 15 Minutes to hear from some of the leaders and change-makers in national security and intelligence. To listen to the full podcasts with each of these trailblazers, search The Cipher Brief podcasts.
How important are the Balkans to U.S. national security? The region remains volatile, with ethnic and socioeconomic tensions rising, and increased Russian meddling in internal affairs. So, this week, The Cipher Brief's Kaitlin Lavinder spends 15 Minutes with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who recently returned from a trip to the Balkans. He also voted in March for the state of Montenegro to become NATO's newest member. Here, he tells Kaitlin what he thinks Montenegro will bring to the table.
What is the most stable country in the world? Which is the most fragile? What determines those qualities? This week, The Cipher Brief’s Leone Lakhani spends 15 Minutes with JJ Messner, Executive Director of The Fund for Peace, which projects the annual Fragile States Index. Judged on 12 indicators – based on social, economic and political factors – the index ranks 178 countries from the most fragile, to the least. So, which countries ranked the highest in 2017? And why does it matter?
In a world of evolving threats, how can the United States innovate to stay ahead in the national security space? That’s a question The Cipher Brief's CEO Suzanne Kelly puts to Milo Medin, a member of the Defense Innovation Board, an initiative set up by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2016. Milo, who is also Google’s Vice President of Access Services, speaks to Suzanne about potential solutions, on the sidelines of Georgetown University’s “Hacking 4 Defense” innovation panel.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer Leone Lakhani speaks to Adam Meyers from the cyber-security firm CrowdStrike. As the Vice President of Intelligence, Adam heads a team that identifies the perpetrators of cyber-crimes, both in the private and public sectors. CrowdStrike helped to identify the hackers behind the Democratic National Committee's email leaks last year, and more recently the mastermind behind the Kelihos Botnet. Leone speaks to Adam about the challenges and procedures in identifying these cyber criminals.
This week The Cipher Brief's CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly spends 15 minutes with Michele Flounoy, CEO & Founder of the DC-based think tank the Center For a New American Security (CNAS). She was formerly the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. When President Barack Obama nominated her for the position, she was the highest-ranking woman in the Pentagon’s history.
After President Donald Trump’s election, General James Mattis asked her to be his Deputy Secretary of Defense, a position she turned down. So, what are her views on the new Administration? And what does she see as the most pressing challenges ahead, from North Korea to Yemen, Syria and Iraq?
This week, The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Jonna Mendez, who spent 27 years at the CIA, eventually becoming the Chief of Disguise. She’s also a founding board member of the International Spy Museum, where she aims to educate people about the world of espionage. Here, Jonna educates Leone on how she learned from Hollywood makeup artists and magicians, to master illusion and disguise.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Carmen Medina, former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence and a long-time advocate of diversity in the Agency. She’s also the co-author of Rebels at Work, a book in which she shares the virtues of being a rebel in the workplace. A self-styled rebel herself, Carmen tells Leone how she shook up the Agency, and why she sees the world differently.
This week, The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge speaks to Michael German, author of “Thinking Like a Terrorist” and a former undercover FBI agent, who infiltrated white supremacist groups in the 1990s. Fritz asks Michael how his experiences shaped his understanding of terrorism and how to best fight violent extremism both at home and abroad.
This week, The Cipher Brief's Senior National Security Editor Steve Hirsch speaks with James Mitchell, a psychologist - and author of Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America. Along with his partner John Bruce Jessen, James carried out debriefings of high profile detainees like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, on behalf of the CIA from 2002 to 2009. Together they created what's known as "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" - or EITS - to question the prisoners. James spoke with Steve about the EIT program and the role they could have in the future.
This week The Cipher Brief’s Leone Lakhani speaks to Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who held the “Nuclear Football” for President Bill Clinton. If the United States faces an imminent threat from a foreign power, did you know the President can order a nuclear attack at a moment’s notice? How? One option is by using the “Nuclear Football.” The Football – also known as the President’s Emergency Satchel – is a briefcase that accompanies the President, at all times. So what’s in it? And how does it work? Buzz gives some insight on these questions.
This week, The Cipher Brief's National Security Reporter and Europe Analyst Kaitlin Lavinder speaks with Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO (2012-2016). A changing external threat environment, internal security concerns, and the rise of populist anti-EU political parties leave Europe in a vulnerable position in 2017. Alexander tells Kaitlin how NATO can play a vital role in European security, and how the United States plays an indispensable role.
This week The Cipher Brief’s Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to John Nixon, author of “Debriefing The President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein.”
John was the first CIA analyst to question the Iraqi leader after his capture. He specialized in profiling world leaders for the CIA and spent much of his career studying Saddam.
In the second part of the interview, John describes the interrogation process, and the challenges of analyzing high-profile targets like Saddam.
This week The Cipher Brief’s Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to John Nixon, author of “Debriefing The President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein.”
John – who spent much of his career profiling Saddam – was the first CIA analyst to question the Iraqi leader after his capture.
In the first part of the interview, John describes his thoughts when he finally came face-to-face with the Iraqi leader, what he uncovered about the weapons of mass destruction, and his views on Saddam’s trial and execution.
This week The Cipher Brief’s Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Vince Houghton, the curator and historian for The International Spy Museum. With all the intrigue and mystique surrounding the world of spies, the museum attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. But as Vince tells Leone, its main mission is to educate the public about the real-life world of espionage – and how spies have shaped the course of history.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Makhani speaks to Chris Taylor, who leads a course at Georgetown University called "Hacking for Defense". Despite the name, the course isn't just about cyber threats; it uses unique new methodology to find solutions to pressing challenges in national security, brought directly to the class by U.S. government agencies.
This week, The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Haras Rafiq, CEO of Quilliam—a UK-based organization whose mission is to counter extremism, in every form. Much of its work surrounds counter-messaging Islamism by creating alternatives and empowering moderate Islamic voices. Leone spoke to Haras about how Quilliam conveys its message.
This week The Cipher Brief'sExecutive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to David Priess, a former CIA analyst and author of The President's Book of Secrets, which shares the untold stories and historical perspectives of the president's daily intelligence briefing. Press, who served during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, once worked as a daily intelligence briefer for the CIA himself. He speaks to Leone about the types of details that go into the President's Daily Brief.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Antony Blinken, who served as Deputy Secretary of State under the Obama Administration. As Donald Trump takes office, Leone asks Antony for his views on the diplomatic and security challenges facing this administration. From Russia to North Korea… Syria and Iraq.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Editor Fionnuala Sweeney speaks to Mary Aiken, advisor to Interpol and author of The Cyber Effect. Fionnuala talks to Mary to explain cyber-psychology and the impact of the internet on human behavior.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Producer and Reporter Leone Lakhani speaks to Corin Stone, Executive Director of the National Security Agency. Leone asks Corin about the evolving role of the NSA amid new threats including cyber crime.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Editor Fionnuala Sweeney sits down with Steve Grobman, Chief Security Officer with the Intel Security Group. When it comes to America's security in the cyberspace, the U.S. government and the private sector haven't always seen eye to eye. Fionnuala talks to Grobman about how best to cooperate to the two sectors.
This week The Cipher Brief's Executive Editor Fionnuala Sweeney sits down with Suzanne Spaulding, Under-Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. Fionnuala talks to Suzanne about the development and execution of cyber security policies in the federal government.
This week, The Cipher Brief’s Executive Editor Fionnuala Sweeney talks toRob Richer, former CIA Associate Deputy Director for Operations and formerly chief of Russian Operations, about Donald Trump’s rejection of a recent CIA finding that Russia helped him win the White House,. She asks him for his opinion on Russia’s objectives and how it conducts itself in the field of espionage.
This week, The Cipher Brief’s Executice Editor Fionnuala Sweeney speaks to Alex Finley, a former CIA officer who served in West Africa and Europe. Alex has gained a niche cult following with the publication earlier this year of her satirical novel, ‘Victor in the Ruble’ which depicts the trials and tribulations of an overseas CIA counter-terrosim officer whose biggest enemy turns out to be Agency red tape. Alex, not her real name, discusses the impact a Trump administration might have on the CIA.