Start your day with intelligence. Get The OODA Daily Pulse.

Home > Example Query Loops


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

OODAcons

  • OODAcon 2025

    OODAcon 2025

    We are in the planning stages of OODAcon 2025, which will be held 29 October 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Reston. For an overview of last year’s OODAcon see: OODAcon 2024 Welcome to OODAcon 2025

  • OODAcon 2023

    OODAcon 2023

    OODAcon 2023 October 25th – Reston, VA The anticipation of disruptive technologies has allure for those of us trying to develop informed strategies about the future, but what if those disruptive technologies already exist today? Our theme for this year’s OODAcon is FUTURE NOW as we focus on the technologies, ideas, and risks that exist right now…

  • OODAcon 2024

    OODAcon 2024

    The conference will feature an impressive lineup of speakers—pioneers who are steering the direction of their respective fields towards a unified vision of the future. OODAcon 2024 is your arena to witness, participate, and contribute to the dialogue that drives innovation forward. Join us in hacking the future, together, as we navigate the complexities of…