Conflict no longer requires troops or tanks. Increasingly, authoritarian regimes wage war through cyberattacks, disinformation, election interference, sabotaged infrastructure, and even weaponized migration, deniable tools designed to catch open societies off guard and erode trust from within. In this episode, we ask: As AI supercharges these hybrid threats, can the world's democracies build the resilience to withstand them? 

Dr. Teija Tiilikainen joins NatSec Tech from Helsinki to share her perspective on hybrid warfare and how democracies can defend themselves. Teija is Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and previously served as Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and as State Secretary at Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

She explains why hybrid attacks are so hard to detect and attribute, how Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea use them to test Western vulnerabilities, why AI currently favors the attacker, and why broad societal resilience, education, and public-private cooperation may be democracy's best defense.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Disinformation has always shadowed elections, but artificial intelligence now lets bad actors produce it at a scale and speed never seen before. With the midterms approaching and government election-security agencies diminished, the question grows urgent: Can the same technology fueling the threat also be used to defend against it? 

Mark Murray joins NatSec Tech to share his perspective on AI, disinformation, and election integrity. Mark is Editorial Director at OpenAI and previously served as senior political editor at NBC News. Drawing on decades covering elections and his work at the frontier of AI, he explains how AI can empower both bad actors and good ones, how tools like digital watermarking and verification aim to combat deepfakes, and why he's confident the midterms can still be free and fair.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than any technology before it, yet the United States still has no federal framework to govern it, leaving a patchwork of state and foreign rules that startups can barely navigate. With Europe regulating aggressively and China surging forward, the central tension is sharper than ever: regulate too much and risk falling behind, regulate too little and risk chaos. In this episode, we ask: As AI reshapes jobs, children's lives, and the integrity of our information, can America strike the right balance between innovation and safety before it's too late? 

Teresa Carlson joins NatSec Tech to share her perspective on AI policy and the global technology race. Teresa is CEO of General Catalyst Institute, which bridges venture capital and government to advance national resilience, and previously founded and led Amazon Web Services' Worldwide Public Sector business. Drawing on more than two decades at the intersection of big tech and government, she explains why the recent federal executive order on frontier models is only a first step, how the "Mythos moment" became a wake-up call for Washington, and why she believes the gravest risk isn't regulation, but a failure to act with urgency.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

For decades, the path from scientific breakthrough to real-world impact has taken ten to twenty years, with researchers relying on tools not far removed from a high school chemistry lab. The Department of Energy's Genesis Mission aims to change that, harnessing artificial intelligence to compress discovery from decades to mere years. In this episode, we ask: Can a "Manhattan Project 2.0" for science deliver the breakthroughs America needs to stay ahead of China? 

Angela Sheffield joins NatSec Tech live at the 2026 AI+ Expo to share her perspective on AI's power to revitalize American science. Angela is the Director of AI Strategy for Energy at Accenture Federal Services, one of the private partners building the digital infrastructure behind the Genesis Mission. Drawing on her experience as a national lab scientist, military officer, and DOE program manager, she explains how connecting data across the national laboratories could unlock everything from critical mineral independence to next-generation nuclear reactors — and why the mission's aggressive deadlines signal a new era for American scientific ambition.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Propaganda has existed for centuries, but artificial intelligence and neurological research are transforming it into something far more dangerous: cognitive warfare. Today, adversaries aren't just shaping what we think, they're targeting how we think, exploiting fear, anxiety, and tribalism at massive scale. In this episode, we ask: As AI gives bad actors the power to destabilize populations and cloud the decision-making of leaders, is the world prepared for this new kind of war? 

Anshu Roy joins NatSec Tech live at the 2026 AI+ Expo to share his perspective on the rise of cognitive warfare. Anshu is the founder and CEO of Rhombus Power, an AI company delivering predictive intelligence for national security. Drawing on his experience building predictive intelligence tools and supporting active military operations, he explains how information warfare and kinetic warfare are converging and why cognitive warfare may be the next nuclear weapon.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

In Ukraine and the Middle East, cheap and easy-to-produce drones have fundamentally altered the battlefield. But while technology moves at the speed of a text message, the Pentagon’s procurement process remains stuck on a different clock. In this episode, we ask: Is the Department of Defense actually equipped to counter this evolving threat, or are we just buying the wrong things faster?

Pete Newell joins the show to share his perspective on the drone revolution. Pete is a 32-year Army veteran, the former Director of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF), and the co-founder and CEO of BMNT. Drawing on his experience deploying the first military UAS systems in Iraq and the Switchblade in Afghanistan, he explains why today’s drones are essentially "IEDs that fly"—and why the military's biggest hurdle isn't technology, but institutional inertia.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

In this episode of NetSec Tech, host Jeanne Meserve sits down with Sal Khan, the visionary founder and CEO of Khan Academy, at the AI+ Education Summit. As AI reshapes national security and the global workforce, Khan shares how his nonprofit is leveraging artificial intelligence to solve the "two-sigma" problem: providing every student with a personalized, one-on-one tutor.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

To celebrate our 100th episode, NatSec Tech is evolving. We are moving from audio-only to a full video and audio experience. You can now watch our deep dives into the intersection of technology and national security on the SCSP YouTube channel and Spotify, or continue listening on your favorite podcast platform. 

For this milestone, host Jeanne Meserve welcomes Keith Strier, Senior Vice President of Global Markets at AMD and a leading global voice on the geopolitics of computing. In a wide-ranging conversation, Strier breaks down the transition from "AI as a novelty" to "AI as a matter of sovereignty."

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

In this episode of NatSec Tech, Former Rhode Island Governor and Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb joined host Jeanne Meserve, live at the AI+ Education Summit, to discuss how states can stay competitive as AI reshapes the workforce. The conversation focused on outcome-based retraining programs, stronger employer participation, AI literacy and education reform, and state-led efforts to prepare workers for automation. Raimondo & Holcomb emphasized aligning public-private incentives, expanding digital infrastructure, and making states “AI-ready” rather than attempting to restrict the technology.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

In this episode of NatSec Tech, host Jeanne Meserve sits down with Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and member of the newly formed SCSP-NVIDIA Task Force on AI and the Future of Work. 

Dr. Brynjolfsson argues that we are entering a "Second Machine Age" that will be ten times faster and significantly larger than the Industrial Revolution. As artificial intelligence races ahead of our economic institutions, the United States faces a critical turning point: will we lead the most advanced workforce in history, or succumb to a new "technology shock"?

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.