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.  

State Secrets

A Conversation with Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe Detrani

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.

A Conversation with former CIA Chief of Station Dan Hoffman

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.  

Broken Trust: Lessons From the Sunburst Cyber Espionage Campaign

The Cipher Brief Open Source Report for Wednesday, May 19, 2021

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.  

Alma Katsu- Author of spy novel 'Red Widow'

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.  

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.  

Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Threat Hearings

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.  

The State of Play with Russia and Ukraine with General (Ret) Philip Breedlove

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.

A Cyber Conversation with Kelly Bissell, Global Managing Director Accenture Security

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'. 

Admiral James Stavridis

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.  

Mark Cooter & Alec Bierbauer, co-authors of 'Never Mind We'll Do It Ourselves'

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. 

William Evanina, Former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center

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. 

Paul Kolbe- Director of The Intelligence Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center

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.

Jared Maples- Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness

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.

Peter Singer

State Secrets is a weekly interview podcast featuring Cipher Brief experts and national security leaders.

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State Secrets

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