State Secrets
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 2034 and 2054.
Drawing on decades of military, intelligence, and geopolitical experience, Stavridis and Ackerman explore a future shaped by climate-driven migration, AI-powered conflict, surveillance, shifting global power centers, and the growing competition for influence in the Arctic and beyond. They explain how fiction can serve as a strategic warning, helping readers imagine future crises before they become reality.
The conversation also examines the risks of cognitive warfare, autonomous weapons, U.S.-China tensions, democratic resilience, and why—despite the challenges ahead—the authors remain cautiously optimistic about humanity’s ability to navigate the century's biggest threats.
If you care about the future of national security, technology, and global stability, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
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 and Ozark — reveals how the production worked directly with the Central Intelligence Agency and MI6 to better understand the realities of intelligence work, the emotional toll of covert operations, and the evolving threats facing the West today.
The conversation explores the balance between realism and entertainment, why intelligence professionals connected deeply with the film, and how today’s gray zone conflicts — from cyber warfare to disinformation campaigns — are shaping modern storytelling. Bernstein also shares behind-the-scenes insight into filming unprecedented action sequences in central London and what it was like screening the movie at CIA headquarters.
Former Australian Signals Directorate Director-General Rachel Noble joins State Secrets with Suzanne Kelly for a rare insider’s look at the cyber battles shaping modern national security. From China’s targeting of critical infrastructure to Russia, Iran, AI-enabled threats, offensive cyber operations and the power of the Five Eyes alliance, Noble explains why the next conflict may already be underway - inside our networks.
In this episode:
- Why the Australian Signals Directorate is one of the Five Eyes’ most important cyber and intelligence partners
- How China is pre-positioning inside critical infrastructure and telecommunications networks
- Why cyber criminals and state-backed actors are increasingly blurring together
- What Russia, Iran and China are teaching the world about cyber conflict
- How AI is accelerating both cyber defense and cyber offense
- Why private sector companies may now be the first line of defense in modern conflict
- What citizens can do to strengthen national cyber resilience
- Why intelligence agencies need to better explain their mission to the public
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Jennifer Ewbank dives deep into how algorithmic manipulation and AI are reshaping the battlefield of information.
As threats evolve, our understanding of them must too. The convergence of technology and tactics is unprecedented, and it's vital to recognize the implications of this industrialized production of misinformation.
The developments in AI could be a game-changer, enabling us to identify synthetic media at scale, offering a way to counter this threat without censorship.
Is this the moment we redefine our approach to misinformation?
