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#74 Elham Tabassi on NIST, Technology Standards, and Trust

The Cognitive Crucible

Release Date: 12/14/2021

#230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm show art #230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to support his assertion that warfare is informational and the US Department of Defense needs an entirely new information paradigm. Recording Date: 28 Aug 2025 Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned by Norbert...

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#229 David Cook on Digital Discipline show art #229 David Cook on Digital Discipline

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, David Cook discusses his recent article: . In addition to digital discipline in a national security context, David discusses cyber  and AI threats and practical mitigation practices that private sector companies and citizens should be aware of.  Recording Date: 19 Aug 2025...

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#228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System show art #228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Torvald Ask discusses his 2023 co-authored paper: The UnCODE System: A Neurocentric Systems Approach for Classifying the Goals and Methods of Cognitive Warfare. The UnCODE System is an accessible and a practical tool for understanding and addressing cognitive warfare goals....

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#227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute show art #227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Matthew Canham discusses agentic AI's potential to boost productivity by automating tasks and its anticipated influence on user interfaces, potentially creating new security vulnerabilities and opportunities for user manipulation. Matthew emphasized the importance of robust security...

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#226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare show art #226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. James Giordano discusses a broad range of topics related to national security from biopsychology to complexity to neurotechnology to enactivism. Recording Date: 25 Jun 2025 Research Question: James Giordano suggests an interested student or researcher examine: “How might the...

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#225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone show art #225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller discuss cognitive warfare, the gray zone, and intensifying great power competition. The ultimate goal is to compete by gaining and maintaining information advantage without kinetic fighting. Recording Date: 28 Apr  2025 Research...

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#224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare show art #224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Jake Bebber discusses his work related to the concept, challenges, and potential responses to cognitive warfare. Jake explains how cognitive warfare uses technology to manipulate cognition and behavior, emphasizing its distinction from traditional information warfare and its...

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#223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation show art #223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Paul Buvarp contrasts disinformation as a human demand-side problem with the typical supply-side perspective. Additional discussion threads include thinking about online and real-world environments as differently as forests and tropical environments are different, how young people...

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#222 JD Maddox on Emerging IO Opportunities show art #222 JD Maddox on Emerging IO Opportunities

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, JD Maddox discusses new influence opportunities borne out of necessity. JD suggests that listeners consider radical-sounding concepts for, such as letters of marque, indemnification, task-based organization, public-private operations, and new authorities as viable influence pathways...

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#221 Carrick Longley on Influence Automation show art #221 Carrick Longley on Influence Automation

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Carrick Longley discusses Large Language Models (LLM) and influence. Key topics include: LLM 101 Usage and changes in prompt engineering Improving influence resonance and speed The recent DeepSeek model controversy Bias in foundational models and Software development Recording...

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Elham Tabassi discusses the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s mission and various initiatives currently underway. After recapping the areas of focus for each of NIST’s major laboratories, Elham discusses fingerprint biometric identification technology, artificial intelligence standardization, and NIST’s newly released Request For Information soliciting public comment on the People's Republic of China (PRC) policies and influence in the development of international standards for emerging technologies. In order to encourage diversity of opinion and inclusivity, public engagement is encouraged with any of NIST's efforts. Like previous podcast guests, Elham agrees that trust is of utmost importance today, and this applies to nonpartisan technology standards development, as well.

Resources:

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-74

Guest Bio: Elham Tabassi is the Chief of Staff in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (or NIST), whose mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. ITL conducts fundamental and applied research in computer science and engineering, mathematics, and statistics that cultivates trust in information technology and metrology by developing and disseminating standards, measurements, and testing for interoperability, security, usability, and reliability of information systems.

As a scientist, Elham has been working on various computer vision research projects with applications in biometrics evaluation and standards since 1999. For example, she is the principal architect of NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) which is now an international standard for measuring fingerprint image quality and has been deployed worldwide. In late 2020, Elham was recognized by the Washington Academy of Sciences for contributions and leadership in computer vision, fingerprint image analysis, facial recognition algorithms, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

She received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2003, the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 2007, and 2010, ANSI’s 2012 Next Generation Award, and the Women in Biometrics Award in 2016 for her contributions to biometrics. She is a member of the OSAC Friction Ridge subcommittee and co-chairs FIDO Biometrics Certification working group.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.