Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment The Cipher Brief

Long-time New York Times correspondent joins us to his new book: “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West”  In the book, Sanger talks about the perilous times the United States finds itself – and the world of trouble presented by Russia, China  - and their military, economic, and technological challenges.
Read The Cipher Brief print review of the book here.

CNN anchor and Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto is out with a new book called “The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China and the Next World War.” Drawing on his reporting from current hot spots like Ukraine, Taiwan and the Middle East - and in depth interviews with top U.S. and foreign leaders, Sciutto has written about the precarious nature of global security and how developments in each of these hot spots impacts the other.  We’ll talk to him about how Chinese President Xi and Russian President Putin have similar views about their destinies in expanding their countries borders.

Cipher Brief Expert Retired Admiral Jim Stavridis has witnessed today’s complicated national security environment firsthand while he served in the Navy and now, as he helps others navigate it from the private sector. He has teamed up with author and former Marine Elliott Ackerman – who served in Iraq and Afghanistan - to foreshadow what national security threats are lurking around the corner and they’re using fiction to do it.  In the pair’s first book together, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, they examine - in page-turning fashion - how the U.S. might stumble into war with China.  In their new novel 2054, they revisit some of their favorite characters to examine how technology and civil conflict can be used as a weapon as great nations vie for power.

Veteran journalist Steve Coll is out with a new book dissecting the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein.  We talk with him about his discovery of unpublished and underreported information  which sheds new light into how “human error, cultural miscommunication, and hubris lead to one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time.” After listening to the podcast, we recommend the review of “The Achilles Trap” that recently appeared in The Cipher Brief: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/book-review/the-cia-and-the-invasion-of-iraq

Best-selling NYT author Mark Greaney returns for his third appearance on a Cipher Brief podcast – this time to mark the publication of his latest novel “The Chaos Agent” which is the latest in his “Gray Man” series. In the new novel Greaney mines the headlines about artificial intelligence. The book connects a car accident in Japan, a  drowning in Seoul, a home invasion in Boston, and someone killing the world’s leading experts on AI. We’ll talk to Mark about the challenge of producing a series of engaging thrillers – staying ahead of the news and satisfying his most discerning readers.

Award-winning author Tess Gerritsen, perhaps best-known for her medical and crime thrillers (like Rizzoli & Isles that was adapted for television), is trying her hand at the espionage game with her new thriller The Spy Coast. It seems in real life, the award-winning author noticed something a little odd about her neighbors in the small Maine town she calls home. She did some investigating of her own, only to find that many of her neighbors are retired spies and diplomats. Like any good novelist, she went back to her keyboard and created an international tale of espionage involving a group of retired spies who refer to themselves as ‘The Martini Club’.  Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly uncovers the details that led Gerritsen down this path in the latest episode of Cover Stories.