The Graham Plaster Podcast

Dr. Frank DiGiovanni aka "D9", has 41 years of government service and 26 years as a U.S. Air Force officer holding aviation ratings as a B-52H navigator and F-15A and A-37B pilot. He retired from the Air Force at the rank of colonel. Dr. DiGiovanni also held several command, director, and staff positions across the Air Force related to training policy, advanced training technologies, and sustaining the military's access to land, sea, and air training resources. He has served three operational deployments with the last in Pakistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Dr. DiGiovanni is a member of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Navy Senior Executive Service, serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for 11 years as the deputy director, where he was responsible for the programming and execution of the $900 million the DoD invests in worldwide joint training and training technologies.

Jesse Anglen is an Idaho native who owned a real estate company for a number of years before deciding to bet big on Ethereum in 2015. He’s worked side-by-side with some of the biggest names and brands in the industry, and now currently heads Rapid Innovation; the now largest and fastest growing blockchain app development company in the world. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rapidinnovation.io/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rapidinnovation.io/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rapid-innovation  YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/RapidInnovation  Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/innovationrapid  Newsletter: https://blog.rapidinnovation.io/

James Farwell is a National security expert, attorney, Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), expert in cyber policy, strategy and cybersecurity; information warfare. He advises the U.S. Department of Defense and companies on cyber, information warfare, and strategic communication. He has seven published non-fiction books; and has written a new opera, THE FABULIST, to open in London.  Mr. Farwell is an Associate Fellow, King's Centre for Strategic Communications, Department of War Studies, King's College, London and non-resident Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.

Barbara Estes is an All-Source Intelligence Analyst for the United States Air Force, National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Mrs. Estes served as the Chairman of the Weapons and Space Intelligence Committee (WSSIC), Electronic Warfare Systems Subcommittee (EWSS), 2018-2021, and was Head of Delegation (HOD) for Electronic Warfare Radar Intelligence Exchange (EWRIE) under the Chiefs of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (CSTI) program. To mitigate strategic surprise and risk, Mrs. Estes leads intelligence community (IC) collaboration on simultaneous ongoing research efforts to deliver all-source intelligence analysis and products to drive policy makers, acquisition customers, and operators to modify doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and system designs to improve U.S. survivability in threat environments. Mrs. Estes, a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, began her Air Force career upon graduation from Advanced Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), Dayton, Ohio. With twelve  years of intelligence analysis experience, customers recognize her as a subject matter expert on PACOM and EUCOM adversary deception capabilities across the information spectrum. Resides with her spouse, Mr. Jay Estes in Beavercreek, Ohio, and their son, Jace and daughter, Ani.

Christopher (Chris) Lay is the Co-Founder and CEO of LEONID, a leading financial services provider to US national security, defense, and space entrepreneurs. His team has seen first-hand how a lack of resources can deny many people the chance to fully use their talents- which is why LEONID invests 50% of their profits towards supporting veterans, veterans’ families, and their communities. Chris holds a B.S. in Biology form the College of Idaho, a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of California (Irvine), and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He lives with his wife Katelyn and their three children in Southern California.

Dr. Lydia Kostopoulos is a Science and Emerging Technology advisor at the U.S. Joint Special Operations University, and previously served as Innovation Advisor for the USSOCOM J5 Donovan Group, where she analyzed strategic trends relevant to Special Operations in the context of emerging technologies.  The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces.  The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) is the designated agency within USSOCOM to conduct joint Special Operations Force (SOF) education.  Dr. Kostopoulos’ work lies in the intersection of national security, strategy, and technology. She forecasts emerging threats around disruptive technologies, participates in the NATO Science for Peace Program, is on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers -USA AI Policy Committee, and has been awarded the U.S. Presidential Service Award for her service to the cybersecurity community.   Separate from her work at SOCOM, Dr. Kostopoulos is passionate about social tech awareness, has an art series about AI (#ArtAboutAI ) and released an open source game on technologies that affect humanity called Sapien 2.0.  Dr. Kostopoulos is also the Founder of a fashion label called Empowering Workwear by Lydia, which has an agenda to promote awareness for change around women's issues and UN's sustainable development goals.  Dr. Kostopoulos is also very focused on wellness and currently exploring epistemic wellness and human performance.  Dr. Kostopoulos has a PhD in Political Science & Security Studies from  University of Siena, Italy, an M.A. in Security & International Conflict  from University of Innsbruck, Austria, and a B.A. in  International Relations  from  American University Sharjah, UAE.   Dr. Kostopoulos fluently speaks English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and Greek.

Pete Newell is a nationally recognized innovation expert whose work is transforming how the  government and other large organizations compete and drive growth. He is the CEO of BMNT, an internationally recognized innovation consultancy and early-stage tech  accelerator that helps solve some of the hardest real-world problems in national security, state and  local governments, and beyond. Founded in Silicon Valley, BMNT has offices in Palo Alto, Washington  DC, Austin, London, and Canberra. BMNT uses a framework, called H4X®, to drive innovation at speed. H4X® is an adaptation of the  problem curation techniques honed on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan combined with the best  practices employed by successful Silicon Valley startups. The result is a disciplined, evidence-based,  data-driven process for connecting innovation activities into an accountable system that delivers  solutions and overcome obstacles to innovation. Pete is a founder and co-author, with Lean Startup founder Steve Blank, of Hacking for Defense (H4D)®,  an academic program taught at 47+ universities in the U.S., as well as universities in the UK and  Australia. H4D® focuses on solving national security problems. It has in turned created a series of sister  courses – Hacking for Diplomacy, Hacking for Oceans, Hacking for Sustainability, Hacking for Local and  others – that use the H4X® framework to solve critical real-world problems while providing students  with a platform to gain crucial problem-solving experience while performing a national service. Pete  continues to advise and teach the original H4D® course at Stanford University with Steve Blank.  In addition, Pete is Co-Founder and Board Director of The Common Mission Project, the 501c3 non profit responsible for creating an international network of mission-driven entrepreneurs, including through programs like H4D®.  Prior to joining BMNT, Pete served as the Director of the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF).  Reporting directly to the senior leadership of the Army, he was charged with rapidly finding, integrating,  and employing solutions to emerging problems faced by Soldiers on the battlefield.  From 2010 to 2013 Pete led the REF in the investment of over $1.4B in efforts designed to counter the  effects of improvised explosive devices, reduce small units exposure to suicide bombers and rocket  attacks and to reduce their reliance on long resupply chains. He was responsible for the Army’s first  deployment of mobile manufacturing labs as well as the use of smart phones merged with tactical radio  networks. Pete retired from the US Army as a Colonel in 2013. During his 32 years in uniform he served as both an  enlisted national guardsman and as an active duty officer. He commanded Infantry units at the platoon  through brigade level, while performing special operations, combat, and peace support operations in  Panama, Kosovo, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an Army Ranger who has received  numerous awards to include the Silver Star and Presidential Unit Citation.  Pete holds a BS from Kansas State University, an MS from the US Army Command & General Staff  College, an MS from the National Defense University and advanced certificates from the MIT Sloan  School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship.  Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.  Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual which revolutionized how startups were built. His Harvard Business Review cover story redefined how large companies can innovate at speed.  Steve blogs at www.steveblank.com.

Tom Suder is Founder and President of the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC).  Tom is a two-time winner of a Federal 100 Award, a prestigious honor that recognizes government and industry leaders who played pivotal roles in Federal IT and made a made a difference in the way technology transformed the government. He is the co-author of over 25 White Papers that were jointly published by MITRE and ATARC following collaboration sessions during the ATARC Federal IT Summit Series. Topics of these educational symposiums include Mobile Technology, Cloud & Data Center, Data & Analytics, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Health IT, Network Transformation and the Internet of Things.  Tom is also the Founder & President of Apcerto, a mobile DevSecOps company, and he serves on a variety of technology advisory boards, including the Professional Science Master’s Advisory Board, which is a part of the Telecommunications Management graduate program at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC).

Louis B. Tucker is the CEO of Mission Sync, a national security sector consulting firm focusing on the intelligence and special operations communities. He serves on George Washington University’s Counterterrorism Task Force, on the advisory board of multiple technology companies and on the advisory board of Mission Link - an executive level forum designed to foster collaboration and innovation among CEOs, decision makers, critical thinkers and pacesetters from the most promising companies dedicated to the mission of defense, intelligence and national security. Within the federal government, Louis advises several intelligence/defense principals. From 2007 - early 2011 Louis served as the Republican Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). As staff director, he led a team of legal, policy and intelligence professionals overseeing the $80B+ operations of the Intelligence Community and crafting landmark legislation like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008. Louis is a Navy Reserve Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) Commander who mobilized on active duty from June-December 2009 at the request of General Stanley McChrystal to serve on his Strategic Advisory Group and in Ambassador Karl Eichenberry’s Interagency Provincial Affairs Office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Louis served from 1996-2003 on active duty as a Navy SEAL, from 2003-2004 as a Central Intelligence Agency officer overseas, and in 2005 as U.S. Senator Richard Shelby’s Chief of Staff on Capitol Hill. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1995 with a B.A. in History and earned a Master’s of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in 2006. Louis learned the importance of timing when he formed an internet start-up company in 1995-6 and unsuccessfully tried to convince businesses that the Internet could be used to sell their products (most businesses caught on in 1997).