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Analysis

  • 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…

  • When Armies Divide: The Security of Nuclear Arsenals During Revolts, Coups, and Civil Wars

    In this brief volume Jenkins takes a detailed look at the General’s putsch, which was a 1961 coup attempt by a group of retired French Generals against President Charles de Gaulle. However, it is not the putsch itself that attracts Jenkins’ analytical attention, but the chaos surrounding the status of a nuclear device that was…

  • West Africa: Terrorism’s New Front Yard

    Introduction There is a new front in the global fight against terrorism and terrorists. Ethnic, religious, and political tensions in West Africa, simmering for the past few years, have boiled over into widespread violence and coordinated military efforts throughout the region. A recent attack at an oil facility in Algeria has highlighted the wealth of…

  • Slavery and Human Trafficking in 2013

    Introduction Reports and statistics from the UN, national governments, and politically diverse NGO’s demonstrate that human trafficking and slavery are as common today as they were during the years when transAtlantic slave trading was a legal enterprise. Estimates place the number of global victims as high as 29 million. The reality of this twenty-first century…

  • Adam Lanza and Dangerous Minds

    We asked Chris Flaherty, author of the recent OODA sponsored monograph entitled “Dangerous Minds: The Relationship between Beliefs, Behaviors, and Tactics” for his thoughts regarding the recent Adam Lanza attacks. What follows is his response. “Adam Lanza, has been the subject of much media speculation, however if some of the reporting is to be credited…

  • The International Drug Trade and West Africa: An Enforcement Quandary

    “In the past decade, there has been significant growth in the illicit trafficking of drugs, people, firearms, and natural resources. Trafficking in these and other commodities is generally characterized by high levels of organization and the presence of strong criminal groups and networks. While such activities existed in the past, both the scale and the…

  • Boko Haram: A Threat to Nigeria and Beyond

    Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Al-Shabaab, Hezbollah, the Haqqani network, and the Taliban are all infamous names to the Western world. These organizations, however, are but a handful of the many dozens of organizations with the official US designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Each organization has its country or region of operations and influence. Hezbollah in Lebanon, the…


OODAcasts

  • Katharina McFarland on Winning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
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    Katharina McFarland on Winning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    Katharina McFarland has led change in a wide array of national security domains including Space, Missile Defense, Acquisition and Nuclear Posture. She is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition (ASD(A) and a former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASAALT).  She currently serves on several corporate boards and as…

  • John Spencer on Connected Soldiers and the Future of Conflict
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    John Spencer on Connected Soldiers and the Future of Conflict

    John Spencer is a writer, thinker, speaker scholar who currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the US Military Academy. He brings the experience of a veteran who has led in combat to his work, and in his latest book, Connected Soldiers, also provides insights from his time as a stay at…

  • Duyane Norman on Disrupting the CIA to Deal with Emerging Threats
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    Duyane Norman on Disrupting the CIA to Deal with Emerging Threats

    Duyane Norman spent nearly 30 years in the CIA with three Chief of Station and multiple other tours in a variety of interesting geographies and also had a focus on technology issues serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Technical Service within CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology, and as a member of the…

  • First Federal CISO Greg Touhill on Advanced Cybersecurity by Design

    First Federal CISO Greg Touhill on Advanced Cybersecurity by Design

    Greg Touhill is one of the nation’s premier cybersecurity, information technology and risk management leaders. As an Air Force officer he led technology efforts in some of our nation’s most demanding organizations including combatant commands during time of war. He is an accomplished speaker and author and business executive and also served as our nation’s…

  • Former Tenable CEO Ron Gula Applies a Hacker Mindset to Investing, Public Awareness, and Philanthropy

    Former Tenable CEO Ron Gula Applies a Hacker Mindset to Investing, Public Awareness, and Philanthropy

    In this OODAcast, we interview Ron Gula, co-founder and CEO of the highly successful Tenable Security(NASDAQ:TENB) and currently President of Gula Tech Adventures. Ron has a long history in the cybersecurity field that includes starting his career as an NSA hacker and then transitioning into an entrepreneur responsible for multiple innovations in the market and…

  • Jim Lawler on the Art of Espionage and the Perfect Intelligence Operation
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    Jim Lawler on the Art of Espionage and the Perfect Intelligence Operation

    In this OODAcast, we talk with Jim Lawler who is a Senior Partner at MDO Group, which provides HUMINT training to the Intelligence Community and the commercial sector focused on WMD, CI, technical and cyber issues. Mr. Lawler is a noted speaker on the Insider Threat in government and industry. Prior to this, Mr. Lawler…

  • Lifelong Hacker and Experienced Security Executive Alyssa Miller, Author of Cybersecurity Career Guide
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    Lifelong Hacker and Experienced Security Executive Alyssa Miller, Author of Cybersecurity Career Guide

    Alyssa Miller is a life-long hacker and highly experienced security executive who has a passion for security and the security community. She is an excellent advocate for continuous improvement in the community and a frequent speaker to audiences of both fellow business leaders and security community audiences. This combined with her deep experience in the…

  • Dr. Scott Shumate Profiles Russian President Vladimir Putin

    Dr. Scott Shumate Profiles Russian President Vladimir Putin

    This OODAcast is a special edition focused on profiling Russian President Vladimir Putin with Dr. Scott Shumate, who has over 30 years of experience evaluating national leaders, terrorists, spies, and insiders.  Scott shares his unique perspective’s on Putin informed by his extensive experience and insight. Is Putin suicidal? Is he a rational actor? Will he escalate…

  • Chris Butler on the Value of Adversarial Thinking in Product Design and Management

    Chris Butler on the Value of Adversarial Thinking in Product Design and Management

    In this OODACast, Matt talks with Chris Butler about how concepts like adversarial thinking can be applied to product design and management.  Chris is an exemplar of someone who has excelled in his field but also looks to study and bring disruptive ideas like randomness and future framing from other disciplines to determine their value…

  • John Chambers on Risk and Opportunity in the Modern Age

    John Chambers on Risk and Opportunity in the Modern Age

    John Chambers is the legendary former CEO of Cisco, a company he helped grow from $70 million in revenue per year when he joined in 1991 to $1.2 billion a year the year he became CEO to over $48 billion a year by the time he retired in 2015. As a leader John was always…

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