The Cipher Brief

Trump Is Getting His Way in Caracas — But It’s Complicated

Washington’s push for stability in post-Maduro Venezuela is forcing a high-risk partnership with indicted power brokers - raising urgent questions about whether short-term gains are enabling long-term threats.

In 2017, Marco Rubio, then Florida’s junior senator, was assigned a Capitol Police security detail because the U.S. received unverified but alarming [...] More

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Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

Romania Pays the Cyber Price for Backing Ukraine. Where is the EU?

Romania Pays the Cyber Price for Backing Ukraine. Where is the EU?

OPINION – When ransomware groups hit Romania’s national water agency, its largest coal-fired power producer and oil pipeline operator all in recent [...] More

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MORE THAN ONE WAY TO MEDDLE IN AN ELECTION: A unit of Russia's foreign intelligence service allegedly proposed staging a fake assassination attempt on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of the country's April 2026 parliamentary elections, according to The Washington Post, citing an internal SVR document obtained and authenticated by a European intelligence service. Officers from the SVR reportedly suggested that drastic action might be necessary - a strategy they dubbed "the Gamechanger." The proposal argued that such an incident would shift the campaign away from voter frustration over the economy and toward [...] More

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State Secrets

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.