This episode examines how the ubiquitous presence of drones in the Ukraine War has shaped the conflict.

Guest Biographies

Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) is an advisor with CNA's Russia Studies Program. His research focuses on Russian defense and technology developments; uncrewed, robotic and autonomous military systems; artificial intelligence; and Russian military capabilities.

As we enter the fifth year of war in Ukraine, experts from CNA's Russia Studies program sit down to discuss what the war has revealed about the Russian way of war.

Guest Biographies

Dmitry Gorenburg is a Senior Research Scientist in CNA's Russia Studies Program. He is an expert on security issues in the former Soviet Union, the Russian military, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity.

Michael Petersen is a principal research scientist in CNA's Russia Studies Program. He is an expert on Russian military strategy, operations, and net assessments of high-intensity conflict. From 2023-2024, he served as senior advisor to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti.

Further Reading

CNA Report: Russia's Evolving Threat Perceptions Since 2022

This episode covers the most recent wave of protests in Iran, what they mean for the government's stability, and how US regional allies are responding.

Guest Biographies

Michael Connell is an expert in Persian-Gulf security-related issues, the armed forces of Iran, U.S.-GCC security cooperation, and adversary cyber policy and strategy. He has served as CNA's Field Analyst to Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT).

Further Reading

CNA Talks: How Stable is Iran?

InDepth: Russia and China Respond—or Don't—to the 12-Day War in Iran

The Oreshnik Comes to Belarus

Belarus has become the latest stage for Russia's military ambitions, hosting the powerful Oreshnik missile system. We discuss the specifics of this missile system, and what this deployment means for NATO.

Guest Biographies

Decker Eveleth is an Associate Research Analyst with CNA's Countering Threats and Challenges Program. He specializes in open-source analysis.

Gabriela Iveliz Rosa-Hernandez is an Associate Research Analyst at the CNA Russia Studies Program. Her research centers on security orders, deterrence issues, and Russia's security policy, supplemented by her significant in-country experience living in Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and other countries in the region.

Further Reading

CNA Report: When Nuclear Weapons Return to Belarus: Evolving Concepts in Russian Escalation Strategy

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: The 'Zapad' exercise and how Lukashenko learned to love the Bomb

Reuters: Exclusive: Russia likely placing new hypersonic missiles at former airbase in Belarus, researchers find

CNA is committed to using the latest technology to help us deliver for our sponsors. In this episode, we discuss how we are integrating our LLM, Morse Code, into our research process.

Guest Biographies

Dr. Jonathan Schroden is the Chief Research Officer within the Office of the President at the CNA Corporation. In this role, he oversees CNA's Research Office, including the life cycle of research quality excellence, our independent research program, research publications, editing, and support, human subjects research compliance, and research modernization and data governance.

Gregor Goodman is CNA's chief AI officer, acting as the end-to-end technology interlock between study sponsors and CNA on the largest high-impact projects. He works together with business and research leaders to build a technology partnership, ensuring that offered technical solutions deliver exceptional results for clients.

Erin Mohres is the managing director of CNA's Center for Homeland Security and Infrastructure Resilience.

Further Reading

CNA: AI Maturity Model for Government Agencies

Microsoft: CNA and Cloudforce deploy trusted AI to advance national security work

This episode discusses the benefits of drone as first responder (DFR) programs for police departments and public safety offices.

Guest Biographies

Officer J. "Matt" Rowland is a 20-year veteran of the Fort Wayne Police Department (FWPD) located in Fort Wayne, IN. He was a founding member of the FWPD Air Support Unit (ASU) in 2017. He spent 15 years in the Operations division and served 6 years during that time as a hostage negotiator. He is a certified instructor both in the classroom and emergency vehicle driving.

Todd Withers is a 34-year veteran of law enforcement with the last 28 years at the Beverly Hills Police Department. He is currently a Lieutenant in charge of the Real Time Watch Center and UAS/ Drone program. He holds a Master of Science Degree from California State University, Long Beach in Emergency Services Administration and is a certified FAA Part 107 UAS Pilot.

Don Redmond is a retired Chula Vista Police Captain with over 25 years in law enforcement and now serves as Vice President of Drone as First Responder (DFR) at BRINC Drones. He works with public safety agencies to advance drone technology, improve response times, and save lives. During his career, he was instrumental in developing Chula Vista PD's pioneering Drone as First Responder program, which has become a national model.

Dr. Tom Christoff is a Senior Research Scientist with CNA where he is responsible for leading projects involving local assessments, research, and developing technical assistance for agencies nationwide. Dr. Christoff recently served as a Project Director on a COPS Office project where he oversaw the development of a technology implementation guide and six case studies highlighting agencies using technology in innovative ways.

Experts discuss the Fourth Plenum of the 20th CCP Central Committee, where nine senior military officials were expelled from the Chinese Communist Party.

Guest Biographies

Michael Donmoyer is a Research Analyst with CNA's China Studies Program.

Eduaro Jaramillo is an Associate Research Analyst with CNA's China Studies Program.

Further Reading

CNA InDepth: Military Purges at China's Fourth Plenum Have Implications for Readiness

CNA Report: PRC Concepts for UAV Swarms in Future Warfare

This episode examines a new CNA model that can help government officials optimally deploy unmanned systems, and how it overlaps with our existing tools.

Guest Biographies

Arpita Verma is an expert in optimization, modeling, and simulation in CNA's Data Science for Production Program.

John Crissman is an expert in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and natural language processing in CNA's Center for Data Management Analytics.

Rebekah Yang is an expert in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) for FAA NextGen and a specialist in data visualization and modeling in CNA's Center for Data Management Analytics.

Further Reading

UAS Cooperative Airspace Traffic Simulation (UCATS)

First Responder Awareness Monitoring during Emergencies (FRAME)

This episode features a panel of CNA's own Gayatri Gopavajhala and Lizzy Schneider, data scientists, discussing their paths to being in their roles as data scientists at CNA.

Guest Biographies

Gayatri Gopavajhala is a Data Analyst in CNA's Data Science for Sustainment Program.

Lizzy Schneider is a Research Analyst in CNA's Data Science for Production Program.

In this episode, we explore how the war in Ukraine has impacted Russian military thought on combined arms operations, naval surface warfare, and air dominance operations.

Guest Biographies

Michael Petersen is a principal research scientist in CNA's Russia Studies Program. He is an expert on Russian military strategy, operations, and net assessments of high-intensity conflict. From 2023-2024, he served as senior advisor to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti.

Paul Schwartz is a Senior Research Scientist with CNA's Russia Studies Program.

Gabriela Iveliz Rosa-Hernandez is an Associate Research Analyst at the CNA Russia Studies Program. Her research centers on security orders, deterrence issues, and Russia's security policy, supplemented by her significant in-country experience living in Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and other countries in the region.

Further Reading

CNA Report: Russian Concepts of Future Warfare Based on Lessons from the Ukraine War