The Cipher Brief

At the Center of the World’s Most Dangerous Chokepoint

As threats mount in the Strait of Hormuz and oil markets react, former Iran intelligence chief Norm Roule breaks down the military, economic and strategic risks ahead

EXPERT INTERVIEW – Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and growing concerns about the security of global energy supplies, the Strait of [...] More

The Open Source Report

Expert Insights

Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

The Drone War’s Real Problem Isn’t Technology — It’s Speed

The Drone War’s Real Problem Isn’t Technology — It’s Speed

OPINION — When Steve Blank and I sat down over coffee a decade ago and realized that the customer discovery process in Lean was identical to what I'd [...] More

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TUCKER’S DEEP STATE TALES: Tucker Carlson posted a five-minute video Saturday night claiming that the CIA read his texts with Iranian contacts and is preparing a criminal referral against him to the Department of Justice - punishment, he implies, for his journalism before the U.S. struck Iran. Let’s explore some context, shall we? The CIA is statutorily barred from domestic surveillance on U.S. persons. So if Carlson's texts were collected, it most likely would have been NSA incidental collection under FISA 702 - standard intake when the foreign end of a conversation is a valid target. Carlson claimed the charges against [...] 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.