This post is based on an interview with Marc Ambinder, Senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.   It is part of our series of interviews of OODA Network members. Our objective with these interviews is to provide actionable information of interest to the community, including insights that can help with your own career progression. We also really like highlighting some of the great people that make our continued research and reporting possible.  For the full series see: OODA Expert Network Bio Series.

Career Progression:   I usually start these interviews with the innocent question: Where were you born?  Marc threw me a curve.  He was born just outside of Yankee Stadium when his parents car broke down!  He’s been a baseball fan ever since.  He grew up, however, in Orlando, Florida.  As a child, he wanted to “become” just about everything – from astronaut to emergency room surgeon.  He had endless curiosity.

Marc received an early acceptance at Harvard University (he’s still not sure why!).  Harvard didn’t have a Journalism Major (his interest), but they did have the Harvard Crimson – an independent student newspaper.  “At Harvard, you are surrounded by intense people with amazing backgrounds.” Marc says.  “You have to find your own niche to become ‘amazing’ or it can be quite intimidating!”  Marc spent 40-50 hours a week in the newsroom and perfected the basic techniques of Journalism, learning how to puzzle different pieces of information together.

During summers, Marc worked as an intern at various ABC local affiliates.   Upon graduation, he moved to Washington D.C. to work as a Political Field Producer at ABC.  He started on September 3^rd, 2001.  Eight days later, he found himself in the middle of absolute chaos, reporting on the terrorist attacks.  Marc recalls the feeling: “You knew something awful had happened, you didn’t have time to grieve or mourn, and no one had an explainable metaphor to put things in perspective.  There was so much uncertainty and everyone was fighting their innate Fight-or-Flight instincts.”

Marc developed an interest in national security architecture with respect to politics, two fields of study that were suddenly intertwined in previously unimaginable ways.  Marc recalls “I wanted to learn all the details of how national security influences politics, and vice versa.  I thought that if I did this right, I could add value to the conversation.”

In 2005, Marc moved to The Hotline, a daily publication to inform readers on political issues around the country.  Marc wanted to add reporting about national security and intelligence issues.   He did a series on ways the government changed post-911. He looked at how Special Service assignments transformed.   He reported how Government improved their Continuity of Operations.  He wrote a series on Joint Special Operations Command and how their special units evolved.  “I loved pulling the pieces apart to see how they all fit together.” Marc says.

Marc is a big believer in the power of reading.  “I read everything, from congressional testimonies to budget books to everything I can get my hands on.  I believe that to be credible on a subject, you have to know enough about it, so your sources take you seriously.”  Marc says.

Today Marc spends much of his time and talents working with future leaders at the University of California Annenberg Center.  He applies his experience to add realism to the curriculum.  He developed relevant field laboratories and prepared coursework on National Security and cyber defense.  “Students have no sense of their vulnerability in the digital space.  I want them to learn more about how to protect themselves and their sources.” Marc says.

Surprises: “I’m always interested in the surprising ways that a crisis can produce innovations.  We saw it after 911.  It will be interesting to see what comes from this pandemic.” Marc says.

Technologies you are watching:  Marc is interested in how defensive cyber operations is evolving.  “Everyone is starting to realize how critical this is going to be.  I am watching how the different communities are incorporating it, and I love being able to explain it to laypeople and policy makers in ways they can understand.”

Technology threats you are interested in:  Marc is well researched on National Elections and understands the threats, especially in the misinformation field.  “Our information platforms have to engage directly with users; they need to understand their role in it.  It might not happen in time for this election, but we need to find solutions at scale to create a more action-oriented community-based way to enlist users as part of the solution.  We can’t do it without their active participation.”

Advice for Decision Makers: “When you are trying to mitigate a crisis, you need to be open minded for things that violate your intuition but might make sense down the road.” Marc advises.   It’s not always immediately obvious what the winners will be.

Quick Hits:

• Book Recommendation: Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards Heuer
• Favorite piece of content on OODAloop: Marc uses OODA to stay on top of emerging trends.
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcambinder/