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Analysis

  • 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…

  • American Cities Going Bankrupt: Making Sense of the Growing Trend

    Financial fallout in many US cities following the recession has left a growing number of US cities in economic crisis of their own. With no ability to pay runaway pension promises and even basic salaries, more and more cities are declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy, however, is a last resort option that leaves a deep and uninviting…

  • The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Crisis

    Known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, there isn’t much on these five uninhabited islands between China, Taiwan, and Japan besides goats and strife. Recent disputes over the islands amid rising nationalism and unstable internal politics in both China and Japan, however, have put relations between the two countries in their worst state…

  • Islamism and the Attacks on the US Embassy: A Historical Analysis

    The following is an analysis of the whole based off of a single “index.” Here the analysis is indexed off of movements within history. This index explains recent events in terms of connections to the past. There is much truth in this sort of analysis. It is not, however, capable of fully explaining current events.…

  • Dangerous Minds – The Relationship between Beliefs, Behaviors, and Tactics

    This research monograph – Dangerous Minds, examines the relationship between the individual beliefs, behaviours, and tactics of an attacker. It was developed out of work, following human factors research for a ‘Scripted Agent Based Microsimulation Project’, which is currently being developed at the University of Wollongong (NSW, Australia). Another contributing factor to the development of…

  • Jordan’s Uncertain Future

    Public protests erupted throughout Jordan in February of this year. While security officials in Amman are well accustomed to demonstrations within the city limits, the February protests also reached further out into the tribal regions, leading some to think that these small tremors of unrest are signs of a larger movement to come. Like the…

  • Haiti: How Much More Can it Fail?

    Since the 2004 coup d’etat of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the 2006 installation of René Préval, Haiti underwent profound chaos and political instability coupled with a dire economic climate which left 86 percent of Port-au-Prince residents living in slum conditions. Then, in January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake left 1.5 million people homeless, 220,000 dead, and 10…

  • The Empire State Building Shootout and Use of Force

    On Friday morning, August 24, police shot a man who had murdered a former coworker and drew a gun on them outside of the Empire State Building. The two officers shot the man dead, hitting him 7 to 9 times from fewer than 10 feet, but they also injured 9 bystanders, none fatally. This incident…

  • The Pussy Riot Case Was A Victory for Putin

    On Friday, August 17, three members of a Russian feminist punk rock band were sentenced to two years in prison for singing an anti-Putin song at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They were found guilty of hooliganism and religious hatred against the Russian Orthodox Church, though the verdict was transparently a message for other opposition protesters. Since the band’s arrest,…


OODAcasts

  • Adam Shostack on Cybersecurity and What Every Engineer Should Learn From Star Wars

    Adam Shostack on Cybersecurity and What Every Engineer Should Learn From Star Wars

    Adam Shostack is widely known in the cybersecurity world for his pioneering work on disclosing and discussing computer vulnerabilities (the CVE  (common vulnerabilities and exposures) list). He also helped formalize and train leading approaches to threat modeling and wrote the foundational book on the subject (Threat Modeling: Designing for Security). In this OODAcast we seek…

  • Sebastian Mallaby on How Venture Capitalists and Hedge Funds Achieve Success

    Sebastian Mallaby on How Venture Capitalists and Hedge Funds Achieve Success

    Sebastian Mallaby joined the OODAcast for a discussion about the Power Law in venture capital and the rise of the global hedge fund and private equity industries.

  • Former Head of National Intelligence Council Neil Wiley on Intelligence Analysis

    Former Head of National Intelligence Council Neil Wiley on Intelligence Analysis

    Neil Wiley has lead some of the US Intelligence Community’s most important analytical functions. His career in intelligence began as a Naval Intelligence Officer in an operational intelligence center focused on support to critical operational naval missions. He would later serve joint intelligence missions in Europe, would rise to lead all analytical activities at the…

  • Michael Gibson Wants to Light the Paper Belt on Fire

    Michael Gibson Wants to Light the Paper Belt on Fire

    This OODAcast features a fascinating conversation with Michael Gibson, the author of the book “Paper Belt on Fire” who is also the co-founder of the Thiel Fellowship program and the 1517 Fund, both of which focus on identifying unconventional ideas and individuals that can drive disruptive innovation in technology, arts, and science.

  • Jimmy Soni on Why PayPal Was Successful
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    Jimmy Soni on Why PayPal Was Successful

    In this OODAcast, we talk with Jimmy Soni, the author of the book “The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley”. Jimmy takes a deep, historical look at the founding story of PayPal with detailed analysis, interviews, and access that you won’t find in any other telling of the PayPal…

  • Jen Hoar on Corporate Intelligence and Investigations

    Jen Hoar on Corporate Intelligence and Investigations

    In this OODAcast we interview one of our close friends and OODA network members, Jen Hoar. Jen is a former journalist-turned-corporate investigator who has leveraged the potent act of asking, and listening, to turn strangers into sources and contacts into clients. Her expertise, which is clearly also her passion, is identifying and interviewing smart people…

  • Joseph Menn on Observations From Tech Journalism
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    Joseph Menn on Observations From Tech Journalism

    Covering technology issues, and specifically cybersecurity as a journalist is a tough endeavor. Some of these technologies are complex as are the security vulnerabilities often inherent in their deployment and making these topics broadly accessible can be a challenge. Many of the underlying issues touch upon national security and civil liberties creating an interesting nexus…

  • Lawrence Gasman on Assessing the Business Impact of Quantum Technologies

    Lawrence Gasman on Assessing the Business Impact of Quantum Technologies

    Lawrence Gasman has researched and reported on quantum technologies from the beginning of the discipline of quantum computing. He is now the President of Inside Quantum Technology (IQT), which provides in-depth business intelligence for the quantum technology industry. IQT also runs several major quantum technology conferences as well as a quantum industry news service. On…

  • 100 Episodes of OODAcast: Providing actionable insights for future risks and opportunities.

    100 Episodes of OODAcast: Providing actionable insights for future risks and opportunities.

    In 2020, we launched the OODAcast video and podcast series designed to provide insightful analysis and actionable intelligence to decision makers. In this 100th episode, co-hosts Matt Devost and Bob Gourley review some of the key insights from the series. Matt and Bob also discuss a OODA’s recent assessment of risks and opportunities given the…

  • David Greenberg on Decision-making in Volatile Markets

    While the OODA Loop was been heralded in the domain of conflict, we often find the concept in business and there is no greater business analogy to dogfighting that David Greenberg’s experience as a trader on the floor of the world’s largest physical commodities exchange. David’s job required rapid decision making based on constantly changing…

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