State Secrets is a weekly interview podcast featuring Cipher Brief experts and national security leaders.
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Iranian-American businessman Emad Shargi spent more than five years detained in Iran, enduring solitary confinement, brutal interrogations, a mock execution and a 10-year prison sentence after being accused of cooperating with the United States. Now, Shargi joins The Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly to tell the extraordinary story of his arrest, imprisonment, attempted escape from Iran…
Former CIA Director and retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus joins The Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly for a wide-ranging conversation about the wars reshaping the global security landscape — and why the United States needs to fundamentally rethink how it prepares for the conflicts of the future. From the war with Iran and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine to China's military…
Artificial intelligence is transforming cyber warfare - and former NSA Director and U.S. Cyber Command Commander Gen. Paul Nakasone says the speed of that transformation demands a new approach to America's defense. In this episode of The Cipher Brief's State Secrets podcast, Suzanne Kelly sits down with Gen. Nakasone to discuss how AI is reshaping offensive and defensive cyber operations - and why…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
