Episode 99: David Greenberg on Decision-making in Volatile Markets
OODAcast
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 information and the mental fortitude to move onto the next decision and rapidly learn from both successes and mistakes. In addition to his work as a trader, David also guided the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) through its largest period of growth and...
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Episode 98: John Spencer on Connected Soldiers and the Future of Conflict
OODAcast
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 home parent as his wife deployed. His analysis of connectivity and ints impact from multiple angles makes his book a very well rounded examination of how the Internet age is transforming how nations go to war. In this OODAcast we discuss the book as well as John's career and insights he has for...
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Episode 97: Duyane Norman on Disrupting the CIA to Deal with Emerging Threats
OODAcast
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 CIA Counterterrorism Center’s Incident Response Team. Duyane established a reputation as an innovator and a disruptor looking for ways for the intelligence services to flourish given the fast pace of technological change and the dynamic threats emerging on the global...
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Episode 96: First Federal CISO Greg Touhill on Advanced Cybersecurity by Design
OODAcast
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 first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Touhill is currently the director of the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute's CERT Division. In this capacity he leads one of the most highly regarded organizations in...
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Episode 95: Former Tenable CEO Ron Gula Applies a Hacker Mindset to Investing, Public Awareness, and Philanthropy
OODAcast
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 several successful companies. Ron remains a hacker at heart, and currently focuses his energy on investing in and mentoring emerging companies, improving public awareness on cybersecurity, and engaging in philanthropic efforts. In our...
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Episode 94: Jim Lawler on the Art of Espionage and the Perfect Intelligence Operation
OODAcast
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 served for 25 years as a CIA operations officer in various international posts and as Chief of the Counterproliferation Division's Special Activities Unit. We talk with Jim about his career in intelligence and national security, his views on the current threats including...
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Episode 93: Lifelong Hacker and Experienced Security Executive Alyssa Miller, Author of Cybersecurity Career Guide
OODAcast
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 industry makes her the perfect person to research and write the Cybersecurity Career Guide. The guide is a much needed resource for our community. In this OODAcast we ask Alyssa for context of use to cybersecurity professionals,...
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Episode 92: Dr. Scott Shumate Profiles Russian President Vladimir Putin
OODAcast
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. During this session we explore: Is Putin suicidal? Is Putin a rational actor? How would Putin feel about an escalatory use of cyber attacks? What is Putin's primary motivation in attacking the Ukraine? How does Putin value propaganda? Should we expect more nuclear bravado from...
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Episode 91: Chris Butler on the Value of Adversarial Thinking in Product Design and Management
OODAcast
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 and applicability in product management. As it turns out, he's a big fan of John Boyd's OODA Loop and even made a trip to the Boyd archives where he discovered that Boyd was a fan of a certain science fiction book. Chris Butler is a...
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Episode 90: John Chambers on Risk and Opportunity in the Modern Age
OODAcast
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 known for far more than just revenue growth, he was skilled at building an organization that treated people well, including employees, customers and the community. In this OODAcast we discuss John's book, , which shares his insights into leadership including leadership of organizations that need to disrupt themselves. The...
info_outlineCharity 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, activities and strategic moves by well resourced adversaries, primarily actors operating in China.
In July 2021 she led production of a report on China’s digital colonialism, surfacing aspects of espionage, surveillance and manipulation campaigns that were staggering in scope. China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR) initiative, announced in 2015, is an expansive global data infrastructure that does far more than serve users. It has been proven to have a dark side that includes exporting surveillance technologies to dictators and authoritarian regimes throughout the developing world, in some cases trading technology for access to sensitive user data and facial recognition intelligence. Domestically, China uses this type of technology to assert authority over its citizens, censor the media, quell protests, and systematically oppress religious minorities. Now, over 80 countries are enabled to do the same with Chinese surveillance technology.
In this OODAcast we examine Charity’s approach to analysis and review some of the key elements of her reporting on China’s Digital Silk Road. As we do we also examine ways that open societies can work together to help mitigate these threats.
We also examine Charity’s views on other global cyber threats and seek insights that can help any intelligence analyst continue to improve their craft.
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