With Donald Trump's second term on the horizon, questions around the president-elect's posture towards Europe loom over longstanding partners. What will he ask of NATO? What is the future of Ukraine? What happens to Europe when the US shifts focus to the Indo-Pacific? Jan Ruzicka, Chief External Affairs Officer at PPF Group, joins host Marshall Kosloff to explain why Central and Eastern Europe are primed to thrive during a second Trump administration because of a rising entrepreneurial mindset and a first-hand perspective on the consequences of communism that will make them a new center of European power and partnership.

"Today, we're reliant on space for basic everyday military effectiveness. Without our assets in space, we're blind, we're mute, and we cannot fight to our ability." These are the opening statements from President and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA) Tory Bruno as this week's guest with host Marshall Kosloff. As one of the few rocket manufacturers in the market, and a seasoned space innovation hub, ULA is reckoning in real time with the public-private explosion of space technology—both for domestic use and essential national security deterrence. In their conversation, Kosloff and Bruno discuss the state of the rocket industry, what great power competition with China looks like in space, and what the future of private space innovation looks like. 

Hudson Institute Senior Fellow, Jonathan Ward, joins host Marshall Kosloff to preview the potential outcomes and impacts that a new administration, on either side, could have on the newly established China security consensus. However, Ward argues that this isn't just about politics. Leaders all across tech, banking and international business will have to decide what type of role they want to play, or have to play, to ensure the freedom of tomorrow's global economic landscape. 

Justin Fanelli, the first ever Acting Chief Technology Office (CTO) for the Department of the Navy, joins host Marshall Kosloff to explain why public and private partnerships should be cornerstone of America's defense innovation strategy. Finalli is striving to radically adopt innovation to disrupt and bolster our future defense capabilities, and with battlefield-defining technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum on the horizon, he argues that not only will private sector competition create better solutions but those solutions will pay dividends in sectors far beyond defense. 

Show Notes:

Accelerating Change Design Concepts

https://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=16683

https://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=16716

https://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=17883

https://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?ID=16804

Atlantic Council Report: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/scowcroft-center-for-strategy-and-security/forward-defense/defense-innovation-adoption-commission/

Innovation Adoption Kit: https://www.peodigital.navy.mil/Portals/96/Documents/PDFs/PEODigital_Innovation_Adoption_v3.pdf

Jobs 

STEM talent: https://noblereachfoundation.org/talent-opportunities/scholars-program/

Direct employment: https://www.usajobs.gov/

Reservists: https://www.marforres.marines.mil/MIU/ and https://gigeagle.mil/

America's colleges and universities are world-renowned for a reason. They are the best free spaces for teaching strong young minds to build the future we desire. But what if those universities aren't teaching those students to build the future that America desires? Gabe Scheinmann, Executive Director of the Alexander Hamilton Society, joins host Marshall Kosloff to detail why critical thinking and free speech are under attack on campuses, all the while the long tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party are leveraging influence throughout the troubled system. Scheinmann and Kosloff discuss how we right to ship to get our intellectual pipeline back in the camp of building a strong America. 

With wars occurring in Europe and the Middle East, and China asserting itself in the Indo-Pacific, energy security and national security have become synonymous. Moreover, power-hungry technology like artificial intelligence will fuel tomorrow’s Arsenal of Democracy, so secure and sufficient energy has become an issue too big to ignore. Bret Kugelmass, CEO of Last Energy, joins the show to explain why the answer is simple: nuclear power, but not in the giant form people have known for decades.

What if the aggressive schoolyard bully tactics that the Chinese Communist Party uses in the South China Sea were deployed globally? This week's guest, Michael Sobolik, argues that this question will soon be answered and illustrates how the CCP's  Belt and Road Initiative, once considered a purely economic plan, could really have a "second phase" that places military demands and action on the balance sheet. As a result, we attempt to address how the American Arsenal of Democracy can counter a global Chinese economic alternative that is primed to be militarized on a global scale. 

With new technology and weapons systems being developed for 2030 and beyond, how do we reconcile readiness with a new cold war with the Chinese Communist Party that is here now? Founder of SolidIntel, Dr. Megan Reiss, joins the show to emphasize that American leadership has to communicate clear-eyed strategies about who are adversaries are, what's at stake, and how our technological innovation is applying that risk in development timelines. 

Matthew Kroenig and Dan Negrea, authors of We Win, They Lose: Republican Foreign Policy and the New Cold War, do not wonder whether a new cold war against the Chinese Communist Party is afoot. Instead, they join the show to explain that when it arrives, America will need a fusion of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump foreign policies to ensure complete and total victory. Whether it’s kinetic military capabilities, diplomatic willpower, or economic maneuvering, defeating China will require a whole-of-country approach.

Co-founder and CEO of Roadrunner Venture Studios, Adam Hammer, joins host Marshall Kosloff to explain what "deep tech" is, why the Arsenal of Democracy is often fought and won by people in white lab coats, and how the spoils of defense innovation are shared commercially.