FROM A BUNKER IN UKRAINE: TWO FORMER CIA OFFICERS SHARE INTEL — In this week’s State Secrets podcast, former CIA Chiefs of Station Ralph Goff and Glenn Corn joined The Cipher Brief from an underground bunker in Lviv, Ukraine as air sirens dominated the city. After nearly two weeks on the ground in Ukraine, Goff and Corn offered firsthand insights that go way beyond the headlines. The two former senior CIA officers talked battlefield realities, intelligence dynamics, and what Western policymakers may be missing about the current phase of the war - discussing whether current negotiations could be a Russian trap. You can listen to the State Secrets podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
WHAT WOULD PETRAEUS SAY? — Meanwhile, more than 184K people (and counting) have watched The Cipher Brief’s YouTube interview with former CIA Director General David Petraeus (Ret.). We caught up with the general in Munich last week, at the Munich Security Conference, when he was fresh off the train from Ukraine, (where he’s traveled some nine times since Russia’s full-scale invasion - meeting with senior government and military leaders). In our apparently very popular conversation, Gen. Petraeus offered new insights into Ukraine’s drone program, with an eye toward both the innovation that continues to happen in the battlespace (particularly in the no man’s land along the border) as well as an eye toward where the industry is headed now that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has okayed the export of drones. It was fascinating to hear him explain how that one decision is expected to impact future wars. Watch it here.
WHAT’S DANNENBERG DRINKING? — (Just a little something we like to do each week.) Former CIA Chief of Central Eurasia Division (and cocktail aficionado) Rob Dannenberg is toasting the weekend with a Corpse Reviver Number 2. As Dannenberg mentions in his book, A Spy Walked Into A Bar: A Practitioner’s Guide to Cocktail Tradecraft, “Cocktails named under the rubric ‘Corpse Reviver’ have been around since at least the late 19th century. Many of the recipes in that series are lost to history.” But we have this one for you, featured on page 50. You can make your own by cobbling together ¾ ounce of London Dry Gin, ¾ ounce of Lillet Blanc, ¾ ounce of orange liquor, ¾ ounce of freshly-squeezed lemon juice and 1 tsp absinthe. Use a shaker to chill to perfection.
WE’RE GONNA NEED RAINMAN FOR THIS: The Defense Intelligence Agency - more fondly referred to as DIA - has a new boss. Marine Lt. Gen. James “Rainman” Adams has served as a Cobra pilot, budget guru and a rare Pentagon unicorn who helped deliver three clean Marine Corps audit reports without triggering a congressional panic attack. He’s now adding DIA Chief to the list. A Naval Academy grad with 300+ hours in an AH-1W Super Cobra, Adams will now oversee 16,000 personnel spread across 140 countries. His marching orders: modernize, automate and AI-ify the place.
ARE WE REALLY ALONE? — President Donald Trump says he has directed his administration to begin identifying and releasing government files related to aliens, extraterrestrial life, and unidentified aerial phenomena, citing strong public interest. The announcement followed criticism of former President Barack Obama, who had joked in a podcast interview that extraterrestrials are real in a cosmic sense but not hidden at Area 51. The Pentagon has previously stated it found no evidence of alien visitation or concealed extraterrestrial technology.
WHAT DOES THE FORMER CHIEF OF MI6 HAVE TO SAY ABOUT ALIEN LIFE? Find out on Monday, when the latest edition of the State Secrets podcast with former MI6 Chief, Sir Richard Moore drops. For those of us old enough to remember the original X Files, haven’t you always wondered whether other countries have encountered unidentified beings? We have an answer for you from the man who just stepped down as Chief of MI6. We’ll share it with you on Monday, when the next episode of the State Secrets podcast drops. PRO TIP: Listen to the bunker interview with Goff and Corn and then subscriber to make sure you don’t miss any Cipher Brief conversations.
GUESS WHO SHOWED UP FOR DINNER: In what may be the quietest headline of a very loud week, press accounts say that a senior Pentagon delegation made a surprise visit to Caracas on Wednesday - the first U.S. military mission to Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro's capture. General Francis Donovan, new head of the U.S. Southern Command and senior Pentagon official Joseph Humire led the delegation. The two sides reportedly agreed to cooperate on drug trafficking, terrorism, and migration issues. That's a lot of agenda items for a country whose government the U.S. just decapitated. Whether this is genuine diplomacy or a victory lap dressed up as outreach, one thing is clear: whatever comes next in Venezuela, Washington wants a seat at the table.
THE CUBA HAWK'S SECRET BACK CHANNEL: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spent nearly his entire political career as a vocal Cuba hardliner, so it’s interesting that Axios is reporting that Rubio has been holding secret talks with a grandson of Raúl Castro. Critics (including at least one Republican lawmaker) seem confused. Trump advisers are careful to describe the conversations as "discussions about the future" and insist that the administration still wants to see regime change. But at least Cuba is not (currently) surrounded by two carrier battle groups and encircled by strategic bombers like Iran may be…so talking may not be a bad thing.
BROS AND CONS: WHEN THE MANOSPHERE MAKES THE THREAT MATRIX: While many elements in the U.S. executive branch have declared war on “woke,” Canada’s intelligence service is warning lawmakers that anti-feminist ideology is becoming “increasingly relevant” to national security, noting that it can serve as a pathway toward violent extremism. For intelligence analysts, this may mean adding yet another line to the already crowded threat matrix: not just foreign spies, cyber intrusions, and extremist groups, but also online communities built around resentment, grievance, and a steady diet of algorithm-fed outrage.
ANALYST-WRITER-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – Maybe not exactly Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but it still sounds like a pretty exciting career path. Just ask David McCloskey, who Deadline says just signed a deal with Prologue Entertainment for a ‘first look’ at his future work. That means we should be looking for future film and television shows based on his best-selling novels. The State Secrets Podcast talked with McCloskey after his latest book, The Persian was published - and found out a few of the analyst-turned-novelist’s secrets for writing page-turning spy thrillers.
SHIN BETTING SCANDAL: Remember when we speculated in the Dead Drop that someone might make a killing on a prediction platform like Polymarket by wagering that the U.S. would strike Iran in the middle of Bad Bunny’s halftime show? Okay, we didn’t nail the timing... but the concept was on target. This week, an Israeli civilian and an IDF reservist were indicted in Tel Aviv for allegedly using classified insider information to make “informed wagers” on Polymarket. According to The Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media, the duo are accused of placing tens of thousands of dollars in bets in June on hyper-specific outcomes, including: “Israel will strike Iran on Friday,” and “Israel will end its war by July.” The bettor allegedly walked away with over $152,000. Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, says the wins weren't luck but that they were fueled by classified intel obtained during military service. All that cash may come in handy paying legal bills.
GOT NEWS TO SHARE? SEND IT OUR WAY: Editor@thecipherbrief.com
Read more expert-driven national security insights exclusively in The Cipher Brief.
