March 03. 2021
The Chinese are leading the effort to implement a digital currency. Starting first within China and then expanding to other nation’s around the globe, the People’s Bank of China, or PBOC, is developing a form of digital currency that enables controlled anonymity - privacy between parties involved in a transaction but full visibility of the transaction details by the Chinese state, in real time, of any and all transactions employing this digital currency system.
My guest for today’s podcast is Mr. Yaya Fanusie, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). His research focuses on the national security implications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Mr. Fanusie explains how this new digital currency system operates, the risks and benefits of this system to both the Chinese state and the commercial participants, and some issues that the US and its western allies need to bear in mind as this system begins to expand around the globe.
You can download a copy of Mr. Fanusie's paper here: https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/chinas-digital-currencyTags: china, podcast, digitalcurrency
January 01. 2021
Innovation is the heartbeat of advancement in many areas of life, including commercial technology for defense. In this second episode of our discussion with Mike Courtney, a technologist and futurist, we discuss how innovation begins . . . and how it proceeds. Mike talks about “great leaps” as well as “incremental steps.” He explains why one approach may be more appropriate than the other.
To provide a context for this dynamic, we use the evolution of aerial bombardment to illustrate both incremental innovation and great leaps of innovation that have undergirded the changes in this method of war fighting.
We discuss what kind of perspective is needed to be an innovator and our examples include Leonardo DaVinci and Isaac Newton, two men whose backgrounds and range of expertise may surprise you.
Emails: mark@commercebasix.com and mike@apirioninsights.comTags: podcast, innovation, airforce
January 01. 2021
In this first part of a two part series, I talk with noted technologist and futurist, Mike Courtney, about innovation. We discuss what it takes for individuals or organizations to succeed at innovating, things that stand in the way of best practices, and lessons that can be learned from past innovation failures and successes.
Because our audience is focused on military innovation and high technology, our discussion ranges widely: from the Maginot Line and Noorden bombsight, to the iPhone and ethical concerns about some classes of innovation.
As someone who guides organizations in the process of imagining and innovating their future, Mike offers concrete advice to both commercial companies and the military on how to innovate successfully as well as suggestions on pitfalls to avoid.
Email: mike@apirioninsights.com
Tags: podcast, innovation
January 01. 2021
The Pentagon’s drive to engage the commercial sector in developing dual use technology involves more than a search for technical innovation; it requires finding those firms whose commercial business case overlaps with the Pentagon’s military use case.
This is important because sustaining a dual use solution requires that the commercial firm generate revenue and profit from the private sector and not just the government.
In this podcast, I discuss the application of agricultural technology (agtech), advanced, intelligent ground sensors, and commercial LEO satellite networks as being a potential solution for the Pentagon’s need for low cost, efficient, and accurate situational awareness in remote places around the globe.
My guest, Mr. Peter DeNagy, is a co-founder of IoT America, an agtech startup, and a subject matter expert on terrestrial and space-based communications.
Email: pdenagy@acommence.com
Tags: podcast, agtech, Situationalawareness, dualuse
December 12. 2020
How do we secure 5G networks?
Defense Department officials announced in October 2020 the award of $600 million in contracts to 15 prime contractors to perform testing and evaluation of 5G technologies at five military installations across the United States.
Michael Kratsios, the acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering stated that “5G networks - and the technologies that will be built upon them — are an integral component of the National Defense Strategy. Kratsios went on to say that “we at DoD are committed to the advancement of this critical emerging technology to improve the lethality and modernization of our force.”
While 5G does promise great advances that can be of use to the US military, our guest today, Pete DeNagy, discusses some of the risks associated with this new communications standard. A particular focus are the risks outlined in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report titled, “CISA 5G Strategy.”
Email: mark@commercebasix.com and pdenagy@acommence.com
Original music by Josh Goode Music: joshgoode1@mac.com
Tags: podcast, 5g, cybersecurity, Networksecurity
December 12. 2020
The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win...in air, space and cyberspace.
But doing that requires a new level of coordination and integration of both manned and unmanned systems. And a way to connect “sensors to shooters.”
In today’s episode, we talk with Ohad Harlev, co-founder and CEO of LyteLoop, a firm based in New York, and a recent participant in the Air Force Space Command’s Catalyst Accelerator. Ohad and his team have been working for four years to create the first space-based data center using a set of patentable techniques to store information on lasers connected to a constellation of low earth orbit satellites.
LyteLoop’s innovation, a space-based data center or a “cloud above the clouds,” could be a key part of helping Dr. William Roper’s vision of accessing data anywhere become a reality.
Email addresses:
Mark Goode: mark@commercebasix.com
Ohad Harlev: ohad.harlev@lyteloop.com
Original music composed by Josh Goode Music: joshgoode1@icloud.com
Tags: podcast, Space, innovation, catalystaccelerator, airforce, leo
November 11. 2020
The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win...in air, space and cyberspace.
Achieving that mission means, among other things, that the pace of innovation must accelerate and do so quickly.
Three yeas ago, the Air Force stood up AFWERX, a new program designed to integrate several innovation initiatives already underway. One of the co-founders of that first team, Joey Arora, is my guest today.
Joey Arora explains his journey into the Air Force and then the creation of AFWERX. Joey articulates why AFWERX’s mission is so critical and why Air Force leadership and airmen are working hard to make this program a success.
Email: mark@commercebasix.com and joseph.arora@gmail.com
AFWERX: https://www.afwerx.af.mil
Original music by Josh Goode Music: joshgoode1@mac.com
Tags: podcast, afwerx, defense
November 11. 2020
In our previous episode, the first part of my conversation with Michael Lewellen, we discussed the basics of blockchain and how it could be used to improve the integrity of battlefield networks.
In this episode, I put Michael to the test. As he entered the studio for this recording, I handed him a 1.5 page story that was published a few months ago. It announced a second phase AFWERX SBIR award to a startup based in North Carolina named Fluree. Based solely on the limited information in the news article, I asked Michael to speculate on what AFWERX (and the Air Force) might be funding Fluree to develop. Michael had never heard of Fluree nor did he do any research during the show prior to this segment.
I did this for two reasons. First, I was interested in what he might posit as within the realm of the possible given his subject matter expertise in blockchain. Second, I wanted to demonstrate - without any coaching or preparation - what can happen if a commercial developer is presented a military use case in terms they can understand. America has many bright and capable commercial innovators. But if the needs of the military aren’t explained in ways that are understandable to the commercial sector, few commercial firms will respond to the invitations to innovate for the military.
Email: mark@commercebasix.com and michael@tarski.tech
Original music by Josh Goode Music: joshgoode1@mac.comTags: podcast, blockchain, battlefieldcommunications
November 11. 2020
This is the first episode taken from my conversation with Michael Lewellen, a subject matter expert on blockchain technology. Michael is the president of Tarski Technologies, and a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas.
The key driver of the Pentagon’s many efforts to harness commercial innovation for its military systems is the growing threat from China. Christian Brose, a former senior staff member of the Senate Arms Services Committee, writes in his book “The Kill Chain,” that “China has devised strategies not to beat America at its own game but to play a different game—to win by denying the US military the opportunity to project power, fight in its traditional ways, and achieve its goals. China has rapidly developed arsenals of advanced weapons intended to break apart US battle networks, destroy the US military’s traditional platforms, and shatter its ability to close the kill chain. ”
A battle network can be broken apart in many ways. But one of the more effective and nefarious methods is to exploit weaknesses relating to the identity of the participants in the network so that a bad actor can masquerade as a good actor. One technique for attenuating this class of attack is to integrate blockchain technology within the battle network.
In this first episode of a two episode series, Michael and I discuss what blockchain is, some of its commercial use cases, and its potential value for ensuring the integrity of battlefield communications.
In the second episode, we speculate on how the Air Force may be planning on using blockchain technology, based on the recent announcement of a SBIR contract in June of 2020.
Participant emails: mark@commercebasix.com and michael@tarski.tech
Original music by Josh Goode Music. Email: joshgoode1@mac.comTags: podcast, defense, battlefieldcommunications, blockchain
November 11. 2020
This is the second episode taken from my conversation with Eric Lofgren.
In our first episode, Eric and I discussed the challenge of how DoD counts costs, a system that is based on an industrial view of the defense industry and one that dates back to the second world war. His conclusion and a view that I share is that DoD’s cost accounting system is outdated and does a poor job of providing guidance to the department’s decision makers as well as members of Congress.
Yet, as the department accelerates its efforts to woo commercial innovators to bring their best ideas to the military, that begs this important question: how will the department value these innovations? Will it be based on a “works for hire,” “time and materials” accounting method as used by the defense prime contractors? If so, many commercial firms won’t engage with DoD. For them, value is determined by a broader market and is imputed based on a variety of factors, many of which are unrelated to the underlying cost of goods sold - or services rendered.
You can listen to the full episode here on our show, Commercial Innovation for Defense, on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Email: mark@commercebasix.com and Lofgren.e.m@gmail.com Tags: podcast, defense, defenseaccounting , innovation
November 11. 2020
This is the first episode of a conversation I had with Eric Lofgren. If you aren’t familiar with Eric, you may have heard of his blog https://acquisitiontalk.com or his podcast “Acquisition Talk with Eric Lofgren.” Eric is a subject matter expert on defense cost accounting and budgeting.
Why does this cost accounting and budgeting matter? Peter Drucker, a legendary management consultant, observed that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” DoD’s cost accounting system and budgeting process were developed immediately after WW II and reflect the experience of that time, which was principally industrial and the biggest weapons’ systems were platforms.
But today, weapons are rapidly morphing into systems that bear far more resemblance to a high technology system - with both hardware and software - and the issue of accounting for the costs of these systems bears little resemblance to the current method of DoD cost accounting and budgeting. There are at least two implications to this: 1) how does the department budget for systems whose cost structure doesn’t resemble systems they are used to developing? 2) how does the department value commercial innovation that it seeks as an accelerant to both innovation and lethality?
You can listen to the full episode here or at our show, Commercial Innovation for Defense, on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Email: mark@commercebasix.com and Lofgren.e.m@gmail.com
Tags: podcast, defense, defenseaccounting
November 11. 2020
In this fourth and final episode of our discussion with David Shaw, he tells the story of how the Astrapi team discovered AFWERX, competed for a Phase 1 SBIR, and won.
This concluding episode provides the perfect capstone to the rollercoaster ride most entrepreneurs ride, particularly as they pursue opportunities with the Department of Defense.
Email: dshaw@astrapi-corp.comTags: podcast, afwerx, defense, Startup, Shaw
October 10. 2020
In today’s episode, we talk with David Shaw, an entrepreneur and co-founder of a firm that has developed what many believe are innovations that will change in fundamental and substantial ways both the bandwidth and the efficiency of wireless communications.
In this first part of our multi-episode interview, David takes us through his interesting career journey from an entry level sales executive into entrepreneurship. David, who is in his mid-sixties, is a sterling example of the truism that entrepreneurs are made and not born.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
Email: David Shaw-dshaw@astrapi-corp.comTags: podcast, entrepreneurship, astrapi
October 10. 2020
In today's episode, we talk with Peter DeNagy, a subject matter expert in telecommunications, a thought leader in the area of 5G (and particularly in IoT applications), an entrepreneur, and a consultant to major organizations. Pete's career in telecom spans nearly four decades.
Pete explains in layman's terms what 5G is, the changes it will bring to business, commercial, and military communications, and the particular challenges the US faces in catching up to the lead the Chinese have developed in 5G.
Pete can be reached at pdenagy@acommence.com
Tags: 5g, podcast, china, defense
October 10. 2020
In this third and final part of our discussion with Stephen Ellis, we discuss both the AI start up market space as well as the activities of large established enterprises such as Microsoft. We then pivot to a discussion of China’s innovations in AI, why they are making such advances, and some strategies for how the US military could accelerate the integration of American commercial AI into its systems.Tags: ai, podcast, defense
