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 leaders, including leaders in business. We examine: The US Army Rangers, their mission and spirit and ability to focus How lessons in leadership from John's early career informed his leadership in combat Boredom in war and how soldiers fill down time and how connectivity and new technology is used in down time Ways connectivity and gaming impacted soldiers under John's command in combat What it was like for John to be a stay at home dad when his wife deployed and how connectivity impacted that experience Unit cohesion and unit motivation and lessons relevant beyond the military Lessons from history being repeated in the Ukraine situation. John Boyd and the OODA Loop as an example of studying our own way of thinking and seeking to learn better and optimize decision making For more see: John Spencer Online Connected Soldiers The Modern War Institute

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 landscape. In this OODAcast we discuss his career in the CIA, how the agency must adapt over time, and the role disruptive technology will play in the geopolitical landscape. We also talk about his Station of the Future project and how that can serve as a roadmap for future innovation. Official Bio: Duyane R. Norman retired from CIA in March 2019 as a member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service with 28 years of distinguished service. He currently leads the Defense Innovation Unit’s engagement with the Department of Defense’s Agencies and Activities and serves as DIU’s link to the Intelligence Community. He is the District of Columbia Chairperson for the National Board of State Funeral for World War II Veterans and an occasional consultant to a range of government agencies and private companies. Mr. Norman has substantial leadership, operational and technical experience across a broad spectrum of military and government. He is a recognized leader in innovation, having founded and led the Central Intelligence Agency’s Station of the Future Program. He served seven overseas tours in the Directorate of Operations, in Central and South America, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Middle East, including three tours as Chief of Station and one tour as a War Zone Chief of Base. He served multiple assignments at CIA Headquarters including Chief of Operations for Latin America Division, with oversight and responsibility for all CIA operations in Latin America, as the 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. Mr. Norman earned a BA in Latin American Studies from Vanderbilt University. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. Book recommendations: Ghost Fleet Flashman series

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 the cybersecurity community. The CERT is a diverse group of researchers, software engineers, security analysts and digital intelligence specialists who work together to research vulnerabilities, contribute to long term changes and develop cutting-edge information and training to improve the practice of cybersecurity. In this OODAcast we examine Greg's approach to leadership and then get into: Operational views of the cyber threat that can help drive collective action in mitigating risks. Ways security leaders can continue to learn and grow The CERT's role in improving security through cybersecurity Lessons learned in communicating security topics with non technical audiences (including a fantastic discussion of lessons from SciFi)

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 conversation with Ron, we explore his career history, the state of cybersecurity, where we should focus our innovation investments, and how cybersecurity professionals can help solve not just global problems, but get engaged in local solutions at scale. Ron is President at Gula Tech Adventures which focuses on cyber technology, cyber policy and recruiting more people to the cyber workforce. Since 2017, GTA has invested in dozens of cyber start-ups and funds and supported multiple cyber nonprofits and projects. Ron started his cybersecurity career as a network penetration tester for the NSA. At BBN, he developed network honeypots to lure hackers and he ran US Internetworking’s team of penetration testers and incident responders. As CTO of Network Security Wizards, Ron pioneered the art of network security monitoring and produced the Dragon Intrusion Detection System which was recognized as a market leader by Gartner in 2001. As CEO and co-founder of Tenable Network Security, Ron led the company’s rapid growth and product vision from 2002 through 2016. He helped them scale to more than 20,000 customers worldwide, raise $300m in venture capital and achieve revenues in excess of $100m annually. Ron is President at Gula Tech Adventures which focuses on investing and advisement of two dozen cyber-security companies. Ron was honored and humbled to receive the 2017 Betamore BETA award, be named a 2016 Baltimore Tech 10 leader and a 2013 Maryland entrepreneur of the year by Ernst and Young. Additional Resources: Gula Tech Adventures Ron on Twitter Book recommendations: Shards of Earth A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

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 some of his fictionalized accounts in his novels, and his most notable intelligence operation; the A.Q. Khan nuclear takedown. Mr. Lawler was a member of CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (SIS-3) from 1998 until his retirement in 2005. He was a specialist in the recruitment of foreign spies, and he spent well over half of his CIA career battling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. As Chief of the A.Q. Khan Nuclear Takedown Team, which resulted in the disruption of the most dangerous nuclear weapons network in history, Mr. Lawler was the recipient of one of the CIA's Trailblazer Awards in 2007, marking the 60th anniversary of CIA. In 2004, former DCI George Tenet sent Mr. Lawler a note which stated, “Jim, what you and your team have achieved will rank up there as one of the most spectacular intelligence accomplishments in the history of the CIA. It occurred because of your exemplary leadership. Not only are we in the process of taking down a network, we are also in the process of disarming a country as a result of your fine work. With respect, George J. Tenet” And former DDCI John McLaughlin noted that the effort was “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a perfect intelligence operation.” Mr. Lawler also received the Director's Award from DCI George Tenet, the U.S. Intelligence Community's HUMINT Collector of the Year Award, and the Donovan Award from the CIA's Deputy Director of Operations. He is a graduate of Rice University, Houston, Texas; and the University of Texas School of Law. He is married to Ellen and has three children and seven grandsons. He has completed two novels: “Living Lies,” an espionage story of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, and “In the Twinkling of an Eye,” about recruiting a spy at the heart of a devastating covert Russian-North Korean genetic bioweapons program. Both have been cleared by the CIA’s Publication Review Board and are to be published in 2021. He is currently writing his third espionage novel, “The Traitor’s Tale,” which is about treachery and treason deep within the CIA. Additional Resources: Jim's book Living Lies Book Recommendations:  The Recruiter First Casualty Slow Horses

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, including discussing insights important to those just starting out, those seeking to continue their self improvement journey, and those seeking to laterally move into the community. In the discussion we also capture the fact that the book is also a great resource for the most experienced cybersecurity professionals, since these more senior individuals are frequently asked for mentorship and other career advice and will find this to be a good source of current insights. We seek to go beyond the advice in the book and believe you will find this interview and excellent window into the decision-making processes and perspectives of Alyssa. The attitudes and approaches of a hacker, including those great traits of curiosity, persistence and continuing self education are apparent and an example for us all. The book is available now for pre-order and purchasing at this link will enable an advanced electronic copy for review:  Cybersecurity Career Guide

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 him? Is he a narcissist? Plus lots of additional insights... OODA Loop members can find our quick summary of this profile here (Link) R. Scott Shumate is the president of Valutare, LLC. He has overseen contracts with the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security. Scott worked for 19 years as an undercover operations officer, psychologist for the Central Intelligence Agency, he is seen as an expert in Counterterrorism, Middle Eastern, South-East Asian, Euroasian cultures including Russia and Chinese cultures. Scott left the Agency in 2003 to Join the Department of Defenses, Counterintelligence Field Activity as a Senior Executive where he led a multimillion-dollar Behavioral Sciences program that infused operational guidance to FCI programs as well as investigations. Currently, Dr. Shumate has developed a new and creative Insider Threat program that uses big data to analyze metadata on a network that uses Context and Motivational analysis. The model is based on an offensive recruitment, crime and changes in the person’s environment. Through Valutare, he provides Counter-Surveillance, Elicitation, and Interviewing training as well as TSCM scanning.

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 chaotic good product manager, writer, and speaker. He facilitates critical decision making for teams that build new and innovative products. Chris focuses on bias, uncertainty, and randomization to help build robust and resilient teams. He has over 20 years of product management leadership at Microsoft, Waze, KAYAK, and Facebook Reality Labs. He is now Assistant Vice President, Head of Product Operations, at Cognizant where he PM's the PM experience.   Additional Information:   Book Recommendation:  Why Greatness Cannot be Planned https://amzn.to/3tvkIeN   Chris on LinkinedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbu/   Chris on Twitter https://twitter.com/chrizbot   Chris on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTR1CgetbclHfZvNAR8BTCpA5Hz9qFxqf Chris on Medium https://chrizbot.medium.com/

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, Connecting The Dots, which shares his insights into leadership including leadership of organizations that need to disrupt themselves. The lessons of this book can help those at any stage of a career improve in their ability to lead innovative companies. John speaks to many learning points in his career including early lessons on how governments and companies ignore transitions at their own peril. He draws lessons from lost opportunities that include things West Virginia could have done differently, as well as transitions missed by IBM and Wang. We asked John to elaborate on his ability to spot market transitions and assess how they should impact business strategy and operations. This is a skill we are always seeking to improve at OODA and found his recommendations very consistent with our methods of keeping our ear to the ground and seeking insights from multiple sources, then dealing with reality as it is, not as you hope it will be. We also ask John for his assessment into the changing economic situation because of the pandemic. We discuss how his projections at the beginning of the pandemic played out. We then get his assessment on what is in store for the coming months, resulting in advice which should be heard by any CEO seeking to serve. He tells us agility, a word he used to dislike because it sounded like marketing, now needs to be the mantra of every CEO. "Agility is the watchword for leaders today" John is currently the CEO of JC2 Ventures, a venture capital firm he founded to invest in and mentor startups he believes are positioned to become core drivers of economic growth and job creation in the digital age. We discuss his approach on finding these firms and mentoring them. The CEO of a key firm in his portfolio, Guarav Banga of Balbix, was interviewed for the OODAcast last year). John concludes with advice for any leader seeking to succeed: "You deal with the world the way it is, not the way you wish it was." He also reminds us all that "The winners are those that do not do the right thing for too long. The winners are those that are willing to disrupt themselves."

In this OODAcast, we talk with Simon Clark. Simon a British journalist and writer. He previously worked at the Wall Street Journal. His investigative reporting has led him to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the copper mines of Congo and to many banks in the City of London. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2016. Simon is the author of the "The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale ". The book tells the story of Arif Naqvi and his Dubai-based private-equity firm Abraaj and how he attracted  billions of dollars in investment and shared the stage and social scene with the world's global elite in what would become one of the most audacious large scale frauds of recent times. The book also made my Top 10 Security, Technology, and Business book list for 2021. We discuss the rise and fall of Arif and specifically look at the tragedy of root causes that shifted Abraaj from the beacon of emerging economy investments to a shell game of alleged deep investor fraud. We also spend time discussing why Arif was able to attract so much attention and the role transparency could have played in discovering the fraud sooner. Podcast Version Simon's Book: The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale Book recommendation: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty