Explore every episode of the podcast State Secrets

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 long 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.

Former Senior CIA Officer Ed Bogan spent a decades-long career 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.

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 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. 

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.  

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.

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?