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Analysis

  • Radioactive Thefts and Dirty Bomb Threats

    The recent theft of a truckload of highly radioactive material in Mexico unearthed a series of panicked questions about the homeland security threat of dirty bombs. “What are they?”, “what can they do?”, “who has them?”, and “who could have them?” were questions the media found themselves mostly unprepared to answer. Before long, however, the…

  • Did Snowden Escalate the Cyberwar?

    Edward Snowden is guilty of lot of things. But contrary to Kurt Eichenwald’s recent Newsweek analysis, he did not “escalate the cyberwar.” Eichenwald interviews a host of business, intelligence, cybersecurity, and Asia experts and argues that Edward Snowden’s disclosures deep-sixed any American attempt to restrain China’s epidemic computerized corporate, technical, and military-intelligence espionage. Because the US’s…

  • Football and the Illusive Stability of Coalition Governments in the MENA States

    An Arab Spring political cycle is emerging. Single-party domination gives way to multi-party democracy which crumbles back into single-party domination. Football: An Introductory Anecdote Sitting with a group of western-educated, politically active Tunisians at a restaurant in Tunis, I commented on my surprise at the absence of soccer-playing children. I had been there for ten…

  • The Growing Threat of Maritime Terrorism

    Introduction The 21st century has seen large-scale, well-organized terrorist attacks by Islamist terrorists on nearly every continent. These same terrorists and terrorist organizations have leveraged the cyber domain to support recruitment, training, and attacks. The maritime frontier, however, is perhaps the one that has continued comparatively untouched throughout the history of modern Islamist terrorism. Attacks…

  • Frame Reflection:A Critical Review of US Military Approaches to Complex Situations

    We are pleased to present this monograph on frame reflection. As the authors note: “Our hope is that the insights gained from institutional barriers in the modern military may provide insights for designers in other walks – with ideas on framing messy situations. We have advocated that frame reflection is essential to design practice in…

  • Why “Cyberwar” Isn’t Happening

    “Cyberwar” is an imprecise and ugly term. Equal parts misleading and ambiguous, the term cyberwar has somehow battled its way into our modern lexicon and is used vaguely to describe acts of virtual aggression. Most often, cyberwar is used to describe an ill-defined and inevitable sate of computer-centric conflict between two nation states or groups.…

  • We’re only Human: Addressing the Cyber Threat Origin

    Private entities are pouring money and manpower into creating the best technologies to help mitigate a host of threats in the cyber realm. The US federal government is increasingly following this strategy. Yet, even cutting edge technology cannot determine one of the most critical and elusive intelligence questions: motivation. What drives the adversary? What does…

  • Destruction and Creation

    To comprehend and cope with our environment we develop mental patterns or concepts of meaning. The purpose of this paper is to sketch out how we destroy and create these patterns to permit us to both shape and be shaped by a changing environment. In this sense, the discussion also literally shows why we cannot…

  • Skid Row Terrorist

    The rubric of terrorism studies embeds terrorist TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) within the overall context of motivations and intent that a terrorist are/is presumed to have. This is further fundamentally subordinate to the over-arching al-Qaeda framework. However, if we consider characters such as the ‘dishevelled or nihilist terrorist’ (Flaherty, 2012), then terrorist TTPs have…

  • The Cyber Moscow Rules: Trust no one. Trust no device.

    Lessons learned from US agents who operate in enemy territory have been captured for years and transformed into a code of conduct popularly known as “Moscow Rules.” Those old rules existed for a reason. Real-world experience proved their effectiveness when agents had to operate in the presence of adversaries. Since modern cyber defenders are also…


OODAcasts

  • Simon Clark on Investigating the Key Man and a Billion Dollar Fraud

    Simon Clark on Investigating the Key Man and a Billion Dollar Fraud

    In this OODAcast, we talk with Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist Simon Clark about his book the “The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale “. The book tells the story of Arif Naqvi and his Dubai-based private-equity firm Abraaj and attracted he billions of dollars…

  • Charity Wright on China’s Digital Colonialism
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    Charity Wright on China’s Digital Colonialism

    Charity Wright is a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst with over 15 years of experience at the US Army and the National Security Agency, where she translated Mandarin Chinese. Charity now specializes in dark web cyber threat intelligence, counter-disinformation, and strategic intelligence at Recorded Future. Her analysis has provided deep insights into a variety of incidents,…

  • Jan Chipchase on Field Research for Actionable Insights

    Jan Chipchase on Field Research for Actionable Insights

    Jan Chipchase is the founder and director of Studio D Radiodurans, a research, design and innovation consultancy. He specializes in identifying nuanced patterns of human behavior. The insight it generates informs and inspires design, strategy, brand and public policy. Jan describes his work in design anthropology in terms of a satellite launched into space that…

  • Ben Dubow on Detecting and Countering Malign Influence Operations

    Ben Dubow on Detecting and Countering Malign Influence Operations

    Ben Dubow is CTO and founder of Omelas, a firm that provides data and analysis on how nations manipulate the web to achieve their geopolitical goals. He has a background in research on Russian and Chinese online information operations and is a recognized expert, having appeared on international media including Reuters, Bloomberg and Roll Call.…

  • Jahon Jamali On Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Coming Metaverse

    Jahon Jamali is a leading expert on emerging technologies, global risk management and international relations. He began his career as a U.S. Intelligence Officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He also has extensive experience in the high tech community creating and growing startups through to successful exits. All this makes him an even more credible…

  • Maury Rogow: Every Corporation Will Have A Metaverse Strategy

    Maury Rogow: Every Corporation Will Have A Metaverse Strategy

    Maury Rogow builds a solid case that your brand will live or die based on the story you tell in the metaverse. Maury is a pioneer in applying the art of storytelling to convey the value of technology in the Internet age. He built a successful approach to storytelling that made direct contributions to the…

  • Alan Cohen of DCVC on Investing in Deep Tech For Humanity

    Alan Cohen of DCVC on Investing in Deep Tech For Humanity

    Alan Cohen is a partner at DCVC, a highly regarded venture capital firm who pioneered the concept of investing in Deep Tech. He has helped lead and grow some of the most influential enterprise IT companies in the world. We talk tech with Alan, and he is the perfect guy to examine some of the…

  • Digital Self Sovereignty and Avoiding the Long Night with John Robb

    Digital Self Sovereignty and Avoiding the Long Night with John Robb

    John is one of the most disruptive thinkers of our time and is capable of drilling down on critical issues like security, society, and technology with deep authority and insights. In this conversation we cover a lot of topics, including John’s concept of OODA Shear, data and digital self sovereignty, Afghanistan, AI, Bitcoin, and the…

  • Inman’s Rules: The Enduring Principles of Operational Intelligence

    Inman’s Rules: The Enduring Principles of Operational Intelligence

    Admiral Bobby Ray Inman retired from the US Navy in 1982. But his influence endures. His principles, which he codified into a list still exchanged among intelligence community leaders today, is now known as Inman’s Rules. In this OODAcast interview of Admiral Inman we review these rules, seeking insights into how they can be applied to…

  • The Man Who Protects Our Secrets: Bob Bigman on Mitigating Enterprise Risks
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    The Man Who Protects Our Secrets: Bob Bigman on Mitigating Enterprise Risks

    Bob Bigman spent a career in the intelligence community. He was the CISO of the CIA where he was tasked with leading efforts to protect the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Since 2012 he has provided direct consulting services to CISOs, CIOs, CTOs and CEOs seeking to reduce risk and improve security programs. Through it all…

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