The Convergence - The Army's Mad Scientist Podcast
The Convergence is an Army Mad Scientist podcast that explores technological, economic, and societal trends disrupting the operational environment. It features divergent viewpoints and challenges assumptions through insights from thought leaders and subject matter experts. The podcast aims to gather diverse opinions on the character of warfare.
Episodes
119. No Winning Without Fighting: How China’s View of Hybrid Warfare Has Evolved with Dr. Howard Wang
“The PLA expected Russia to run the same playbook it did with Crimea on a larger scale. And it didn’t work.”
[Editor’s Note: Today’s post welcomes back proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. Howard Wang, who recently served as a subject matter expert on our Ukraine, the Middle East, and Proxy Wars around the Globe: Emergent Trends and Associated Implications
118. Sinews of War: A gaming Approach to Sustaining the Force
[Editor’s Note: Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory blog site know that wargaming is a vital cognitive tool for understanding the complexities of the evolving Operational Environment (OE). Wargaming helps facilitate “cognitive warfighting proficiencies” among its practitioners. Unlike passive classroom lectures, wargames provide an immersi
117. From Campus to Command: The William & Mary Wargaming Lab with Luke Miller
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist and the Georgetown University Wargaming Society co-hosted our Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment Conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, last November, exploring:
Trends in hobbyist wargaming;
How wargames can address unconventional and neglected aspects of the Operational Environmen
116. Do Androids Dream of Electric War: The Reality of Autonomous Weapons with Dr. Mark Bailey
“I think there’s a moral question that one has to ask in general about whether it’s appropriate for a machine to make a decision as to whether or not a human ought to live or die”
[Editor’s Note: As observed in TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92, The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Operations:
“The increase in the production, employment, and
115. 15 Layers Deep: Supporting Soldiers with Geospatial Intelligence
[Editor’s Note: As observed in TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92, The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Operations:
“LSCO will be marked by the democratization and proliferation of advanced technologies and hyperconnected global communications, creating an increasingly transparent battlefield that makes it difficult to hide from the enemy.”
To
114. Data to Dominance: AI & Gaming to Create Decision Advantage with Jon Pan
“Agentic warfare is here, whether we welcome it or not. The era of military planners manually gathering limited data and compiling static crisis response options on briefing slides is over. In the next few years, the defense community will see the emergence of AI agents representing military planners, logisticians, intelligence officers, and operators
113. Beyond Venture Capital: How the Government is Investing in Innovation
[Editor’s Note: Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory understand the transformative potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have on the character of warfare — for a comprehensive list of previously published blog posts and podcasts exploring the potential application of these technologies across the Operatio
112. Battle Tested: Revolutionizing Wargaming with AI featuring Dr. Billy Barry
Today’s The Convergence podcast welcomes back proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. Billy Barry, Professor of Emerging Technology at the U.S. Army War College, to discuss his latest innovation — an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled digital war game. We tested this capability with two of the TRADOC G-2’s most experienced wargamers to get their thoughts on how
111. Tactical Tech: How Smartphones are Countering Jamming in Ukraine with Dr. Sean Gorman
“The hope is that we can begin to profile what the capabilities of the jammer are that we’re seeing out in the field with enough measurements from enough devices”
[Editor’s Note: In last week’s post, Sherman L. Barto posited a fictional intelligence (FICINT) scenario detailing China’s swift victory over Taiwan and the United States — achieved in part
110. Generative AI: The New Ammunition in the Data Arms Race with Ben Van Roo
[Editor’s Note: Today’s The Convergence podcast welcomes back Ben Van Roo, recent author of our Unlocking TRADOC’s Potential with GenAI: Opportunities and Challenges blog post, to continue our exploration of the transformative potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) — specifically its ability to democratize access across the U.S. Arm
109. Ghosts in the Battlespace: The UAP Threat with the James Gang
“We have craft that defy physics as we know it and are moving at speeds that are at least a hundred times faster than anything a human or robot… can produce on the planet.”
[Editor’s Note: Today’s The Convergence podcast welcomes back our very own James Gang — proclaimed Mad Scientists Dr. James Giordano and Dr. James Canton — discussing a topic featur
108. Soldier Dominance and Battlefield Primacy
Soldier Dominance and Battlefield Primacy
“What we’ve got to think about is, how do we make our Soldiers more effective, how do we maintain that battlefield primacy for our commanders, for our Soldiers, and for our units.”
[Editor’s Note: At the conclusion of Ian Sullivan‘s insightful blog post from almost four years ago, we were provided with a sage a
107. Hybrid Intelligence: Sustaining Adversary Overmatch with Dr. Billy Barry, LTC Blair Wilcox, & TIM
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment Conference, co-hosted with the Georgetown University Wargaming Society, on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the links to the conference agenda and registration site may b
106. Whipping Wargaming Into NATO SHAPE with COL Arnel David
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment Conference, co-hosted with the Georgetown University Wargaming Society, on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the link to our registration site may be found at the end of t
105. Taking the Golf Out of Gaming with Sebastian Bae
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment Conference, co-hosted with the Georgetown University Wargaming Society, on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the link to our registration site may be found at the end of t
104. Achieving Victory & Ensuring Civilian Safety in Conflict Zones with Andrew Olson
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist first introduced Andrew Olson to our community of action with his insightful submission to our Calling All Wargamers crowdsourcing effort entitled Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) Considerations in Wargaming LSCO. In today’s episode of The Convergence podcast, we sit down with Mr. Olson to learn more about
103. On the Ground and In the Air in Ukraine with Wolfgang Hagarty
“I don’t think America, or the West in general, is prepared in any sort of way to fight a static war like we’re seeing over there in Ukraine.”
[Editor’s Note: One of the twelve key conditions driving the Operational Environment (OE) in the next ten years is its increased lethality. According to the TRADOC G-2‘s recently published The Operational Envir
102. War, Inc: The Private Sector in Contemporary Conflict with LTC Kristine Hinds
[Editor’s Note: The Mad Scientist Laboratory featured LTC Kristine M. Hinds‘ assessment of private sector involvement in future conflicts in “Sixth Domain” – Private Sector Involvement in Future Conflicts last June. While some Army purists have taken exception to the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security‘s use of the term “Sixth Do
101. Precursor to Victory: Understanding the Operational Environment with Mr. Ian Sullivan
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist is pleased to publish its 500th post! Since its inception on 09 November 2017, the Mad Scientist Laboratory has continuously sought to explore the Operational Environment (OE) and the changing character of warfare on behalf of the U.S. Army. Given this enduring mission, it’s fitting that this milestone post features
100. The Dictator's Dream: A Conversation with COL John Antal (USA-Ret.)
[Editor’s Note: Last week’s Mad Scientist Laboratory blog post featured a timely “what if?” nightmare scenario by COL John Antal (USA-Ret.), set in a not-too-distant-future — imagining an Operational Environment where today’s National Defense Strategy threat members, colluding as a coalition of autocracies, launched simultaneous surprise strikes agains
99. Blending: The Art of Hiding in Plain Sight with LtCol Erik Keim
[Editor’s Note: Last week’s Mad Scientist Laboratory post featured an assessment by U.S. Army War College student LtCol Erik Keim (USMC) that “militaries will blend with civilian transmissions instead of relying solely on the specific military electromagnetic spectrum by 2030 due to the availability of Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and the proven succ
98. The OSINT Odyssey: Unmasking Digital Clues with Mr. Shawn Nilius
[Editor’s Note: The TRADOC G-2 appreciates the value of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) in informing us about emergent trends across the Operational Environment (OE). For almost two years, analysts within the G-2 ACE collated insights on Russia’s on-going “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine to learn about the contemporary Russian way of war, under
97. Threat #49: I Think There's Trouble Brewin' with Dr. James Giordano and Dr. James Canton
[Editor’s Note: Humanity is entering an era of hyper-innovation as the potential of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Neurocognitive Sciences are harnessed to revolutionize human endeavors. As these exponential convergences of technologies spin ever faster cycles of adaptation and innovation, the quest for dominance and advantage will favor thos
96. Calling All Wargamers and Mad Sci Update!
[Editor’s Note: Crowdsourcing remains an effective tool for harvesting ideas and concepts from a wide array of individuals, helping us to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (i.e., you — our community of action!) with two concurrent opportunities this Spring. In ou
95. African Skies: Space Exploration and National Security Perspectives with Selina Hayes
“China sits in INDOPACOM, but the playground is Africa.”
[Editor’s Note: Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory will recall that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reported, “Relatively poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will account for almost all global population growth during the next two decades…”
94. A surprise Interview With a Mystery Guest
This is a special off-schedule episode of The Convergence where we talk with a mystery guest, possibly for the last time!
93. Insights from the Israel-Hamas War with LTC Kenneth Hardy
[Editor’s Note: It has almost been a decade since U.S. forces and coalition partners assisted Iraqi government forces in dislodging ISIS fighters from Mosul in what some observers described as the toughest urban battle since World War II. With the Islamic Resistance Movement’s (aka Hamas) October 7, 2023 cross-border terror attacks on Israel and subse
92. Know Your Enemy: Army Doctrine Starts with the Threat
[Editor’s Note: Grizzled readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory will recall their well-thumbed copies of the forty-year-old FM 100-2 series, The Soviet Army. U.S. Army Soldiers and Leaders from the Cold War-era were expected to know their Soviet adversaries’ Operations and Tactics; Troops, Organization, and Equipment; and Specialized Warfare and Rear
91. Building Beyond: Preparing the Army for Lift-Off featuring Dr. Olga Bannova
[Editor’s Note: As longtime readers of the Army’s Mad Scientist Laboratory know, our adversaries are deploying capabilities to fight the U.S. Joint Force through multiple layers of stand-off in all domains – space, cyber, air, sea, and land. Per the Defense Intelligence Agency‘s Challenges to Security in Space 2022: Space Reliance in an Era of Competit
90. NeuroNudge: The Science Behind Brain Manipulation with Dr. Guosong Hong
[Editor’s Note: Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory are familiar with the potentially disruptive effects of cognitive and neurowarfare. As guest blogger Robert McCreight observed, “Most non-kinetic threats — or the NKT spectrum — consist of silent, largely undetectable technologies capable of inflicting damaging, debilitating, and degrading
89. Live From D.C., it's Fight Night! (Part Two)
[Editor’s Note: Regular consumers of Army Mad Scientist content — via this blog site and The Convergence podcast — understand how wargaming can enhance Professional Military Education (PME), hone cognitive warfighting skills, and broaden our understanding of the Operational Environment. Wargaming removes hierarchies and encourages players to attempt in
88. Metamaterial Magic: Demystifying the Science of Cloaking with Dr. Andrea Alù
[Editor’s Note: As we reported earlier this month, “The Operational Environment is increasingly lethal with the ubiquity of sensors and proliferation of battlefield automation facilitating effective precision and massed strike capabilities. Forces that can be sensed are targeted, and if targeted, are destroyed or rendered inoperable. ” This increasing
87. Live from D.C., it's Fight Night! (Part One) with the Hon. Mac Thornberry
[Editor’s Note: Regular consumers of Army Mad Scientist content — via this blog site and The Convergence podcast — will understand how wargaming can enhance Professional Military Education (PME), hone cognitive warfighting skills, and broaden our understanding of the Operational Environment. Wargaming removes hierarchies and encourages players to atte
86. Death From Above! The Evolution of sUAS Technology with COL (USA-Ret.) Bill Edwards
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist continues to explore issues impacting the Operational Environment, especially those directly affecting U.S. Army operations in the contemporary battlespace. Over the past decade-plus, dual use automation technologies have increasingly been weaponized by state and non-state actors alike, democratizing warfighting capab
85. Do You Have What It Takes? Let's Check Your Brain! with Mr. Loran Ambs
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist has extensively explored how Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) can be harnessed to enhance our Warfighters’ ability to fight at machine speed and sustain our decisive Soldier overmatch. But as frequent contributor COL Stefan J. Banach (USA-Ret.) has noted, the evolution and convergence of technologi
84. The AI Study Buddy at the Army War College Part 2 with Dr. Billy Barry
[Editor’s Note: Regular readers of the Mad Scientist Laboratory and listeners to The Convergence podcast know that our Pacing Threat — China — is feverishly modernizing its People’s Liberation Army (PLA). In addressing the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on October 16, 2022, China’s President Xi Jinping stated that quickly
83. Shattering the Mirror: The Key to Understanding Adversarial Decision-Making with LTC Nathan Colvin
[Editor’s Note: Sunday morning’s tropical idyll was shattered as the adversary’s surprise attack caught our naval, ground, and air forces completely unprepared. An hour and a half later, more than 2,400 U.S. Service members and civilians had been killed, with almost another 1,200 wounded. Despite three missed tactical warnings that could have alerted o
82. The AI Study Buddy at the Army War College with LtCol Joe Buffamante
[Editor’s Note: In recent weeks, Mad Scientist Laboratory has featured a number of podcasts and associated blog posts exploring the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential ramifications for Warfighters and the Operational Environment (OE). From generating better proposals from a broader array of defense contractors, exploring t
81. Where Creativity Meets Combat: Exploring the USC ICT with Dr. Keith Brawner and Dr. Bill Swartout
"We found that people systematically were more willing to reveal confidential or sensitive information to a virtual human than to a real person"
[Editor’s Note: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an emerging game-changer technology for our Warfighters — as Dr. James Mancillas espoused in a previous post, “AI systems offer the potential to continue maximi
80. You Can't Predict the Future: Finding Signals in the Noise with Grant Rafter, Air Force Futures
[Editor's Note: Crowdsourcing and Storytelling are two of Army Mad Scientist's most effective tools in exploring future possibilities regarding the Operational Environment. Crowdsourcing helps us harvest ideas, thoughts, and concepts from a wide variety of interested individuals, helping us to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions.
79. One brain chip, please! Neuro-AI with two of the Maddest Scientists! Dr. James Giordano and Dr. James Canton
[Editor’s Note: Mad Scientist is an Army initiative and Community of Action that continually explores the Operational Environment and the changing character of warfare. We connect the intellect of the Nation to the Army and serve as an on-ramp for academia, industry, and other parts of the Government to share their ideas and innovations. Our latest epi
78. Task Force Wolf with LTC Daniel Gomez
In today’s post and podcast, we feature the winning submission from our Back to the Future Writing Contest — Task Force Wolf — as a short audiobook and then interview its author — proclaimed Mad Scientist LTC Daniel Gomez — about his inspiration for the story, the impact of democratized technology and ubiquitous connectivity on the future of warfare, an
77. Chatty Cathy, Open the Pod Bay Doors: An Interview with ChatGPT
“The Convergence of AI, robotics, and cyber-warfare could create new and highly complex military capabilities such as autonomous weapons systems that can make decisions in real time” — ChatGPT
[Editor’s Note: As described in the previous episode of The Convergence podcast, large language models like ChatGPT — democratizing the power of artificial intel
76. Hey, ChatGPT, Help Me Win This Contract! with LTC Robert Solano
[Editor’s Note: Large language models like ChatGPT — democratizing the power of artificial intelligence — have rocked industry and academia with their potential to revolutionize how humans process vast quantities of information and generate content. Our Federal Government, including the Department of Defense and its
constituent Services, will similarly
75. Volatility in the Pacific: China, Resilience, and the Human Dimension with GEN Robert Brown (USA-Ret.)
General Robert Brown (USA-Ret.) is an experienced commander who has led at every level, from platoon through Army Service Component Command. Serving as Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific, General Brown led the Army’s largest service component command responsible for 106,000 Soldiers across the Indo-Pacific Region before his September 2019 retiremen
74. Synchronizing Modernization Across the Army with GEN Gary M. Brito
General Gary M. Brito assumed duties as the 18th Commanding General, United States Army TRADOC, on September 8, 2022. He is responsible for building and sustaining a highly trained, disciplined, and fit Army by acquiring the best people, training the most lethal Soldiers, developing the most professional leaders, guiding the Army’s culture, and shaping
73. Law of the Land: Geopolitics Through an International Lens with Dr. Joanna Siekiera
Joanna Siekiera is an international lawyer and Doctor of Social Sciences in public policy sciences. She studied under a New Zealand Government scholarship at the Victoria University in Wellington. Her specialization is legal and political relations in the South Pacific, and the law of armed conflict. She is prodigious author, having written a book, co-a
72. Complexity, Entropy, and Faster Battlefield Decisions with John Bicknell
John Bicknell founded More Cowbell Unlimited to help America remain a beacon of hope and strength on the world stage. America must adopt Process Dominance as a core capability in order to innovate and survive in the Information Age. His vision is for process technologies to be as ubiquitous as processes are. John is a national security thought leader
71. Go with the Flow: Enhancing Human Cognition with Dr. Maria Kozhevnikov
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist is pleased to present our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, recorded on location at I/ITSEC 2022, the world’s largest modeling and simulation conference in Orlando, Florida. Co-hosts Luke Shabro and Matt Santaspirt spoke with Dr. Maria Kozhevnikov about non-relaxing meditative states, enhanced cognition, the
70. Imagining the Future Fight Through Emerging Technology with Jenny McArdle, Whitney McNamara, and CDR Paul Grøstad live from I/ITSEC
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist is pleased to present our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, recorded on location at I/ITSEC 2022, the world’s largest modeling and simulation conference in Orlando, Florida. Co-hosts Luke Shabro and Matt Santaspirt spoke with proclaimed Mad Scientist Jenny McArdle from the Center for a New American Security
69. Making Quick Decisions, Quicker with Jason Sherwin
[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist is pleased to present our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, featuring our interview with proclaimed Mad Scientist Jason Sherwin, CEO and Co-Founder of deCervo, discussing the science of quick decision making, how deCervo blends gaming with science to help individuals make the best decisions in high stakes and
68. Back to the Future: Using History to Forecast Conference Preview
The Army Mad Scientist Initiative is hosting our Back to the Future: Using History to Forecast conference, November 8th and 9th, at the National Museum of the United States Army. It is our first in-person conference since 2019!
The conference will feature world renowned historians, thinkers, innovators, futurists, and industry leaders. We’ll use histo
67. There Will Be Data With Dr. Inderpal Bhandari
Inderpal Bhandari rejoined IBM as Global Chief Data Officer in December 2015. In this newly created role, he has leveraged his extensive experience to lead the development of IBM’s data strategy and drive IBM’s internal cognitive enterprise transformation. The work has culminated in the AI Enterprise Blueprint; a roadmap for IBM’s clients on their own j
66. Forging the Future to Find the Next Great Disruptor with Amy Webb
Amy Webb advises Chief eXperience Officers (CXOs) of the world’s most-admired companies, three-star admirals and generals, and the senior leadership of central banks and intergovernmental organizations. Founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm that helps leaders and their organizations prepare for complex futures, Amy
65. Turkey and the TB-2: A Rising Drone Superpower with Karen Kaya
Karen Kaya specializes in Middle Eastern affairs with a particular focus on Turkey for the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) within the TRADOC G-2. She has worked on numerous projects in national security as a defense and security policy analyst. Ms. Kaya has a BA from Boğaziçi University (in Istanbul, Turkey), and an MA from Brandeis University.
64. It’s All In Your Head: How the Brain Makes Better Soldiers with Zach Schonbrun
Zach Schonbrun is a senior editor covering business and technology at The Week. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fast Company, ESPN the Magazine, SB Nation Longform, Vice, The Athletic, and Yahoo! Sports, among other publications. Zach is the author of The Performance Cortex, which explores the neuroscience of m
63. Gaming the System: How Wargames Shape Our Future
Army Mad Scientist interviewed the following world-class SMEs to explore how wargaming can enhance traditional training and education methods to help build better Leaders:
Ian Sullivan serves as the Senior Advisor for Analysis and ISR to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC G-2). This is a Tier One Defen
62. Sooner Than We Think: Command Post Survivability and Future Threats with COL (Ret.) John Antal
COL John Antal (USA, Ret.) is a lifelong student of leadership and the art of war. His purpose in life is “to develop leaders and inspire service.” Today, he is an Amazon best-selling author, a defense analyst, a military correspondent, and a galvanic speaker. John has appeared on radio, podcast, and television shows and is the author of 16 books and hu
61. How Russia Fights 2.0 with BG (Ret.) Peter B. Zwack, BG (Ret.) Peter L. Jones, Ian Sullivan, Dr. Mica Hall, Samuel Bendett, Katerina Sedova
Army Mad Scientist interviewed the following world-class SMEs to address what we’ve learned about How Russia Fights 2.0:
Ian Sullivan serves as the Senior Advisor for Analysis and ISR to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC G-2). This is a Tier One Defense Intelligence Senior Level (DISL) position. He is
60. Ukraine: All Roads Lead to Urban with Maj. (Ret.) John Spencer
MAJ John Spencer (USA-Ret.) is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum. He served over twenty-five years in the U.S. Army as an infantry Soldier, with two combat tours in Iraq as both an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander. He has also served as a Ranger Instructor with the Army’s Ranger School, a Joint Chief of Staff
59. Outsiders Solving Wicked Problems with Shubhi Mishra
While Shubhi Mishra, founder and CEO of Raft, is a lawyer and data scientist by training, she’s better known as an intentional government technology (GovTech) disruptor at heart. She loves solving complex problems, even the kind that give you a headache while you’re working through them. But that process of discovery, of realization, and coming to a so
58. The Light on the Hill: America and Non-Terrestrial War
COL Stefan Banach (USA-Ret.) is a Distinguished Member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and served in that organization for nine years, culminating with command of the 3rd Ranger Battalion from 2001-2003. He led U.S. Army Rangers during a historic night combat parachute assault into Afghanistan on October 19, 2001, as the “spearhead” for the Global War on Te
57. The Most Consequential Adversaries with GEN Charles A. Flynn
Gen. Flynn is a native of Middletown, Rhode Island and Distinguished Military Graduate from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in Business Management. General Flynn is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses at Fort Benning, GA. He holds two master’s degrees, one in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United Stat
56. The Secret Sauce of America's Army with GEN Paul E. Funk II
Gen. Paul E. Funk II, CG, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. (U.S. Army photo)
General Paul E. Funk II assumed duties as the 17th Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), on June 21, 2019. As TRADOC commander, Gen. Funk is responsible for 32 Army schools organized under 10 Centers of Excellence that re
55. Going Boldly: Military Thinking with Science Fiction
To Boldy Go, edited by COL Jonathan Klug and Steven Leonard, and published by Casemate Publishers in 2021, is subtitled “Leadership, Strategy, and Conflict in the 21st Century and Beyond.” Army Mad Scientist’s The Convergence podcasters Luke Shabro and Matthew Santaspirt explore how science fiction can inform the Army about the Operational Environment a
53. Innovation at the Edge
In today’s interview, Senior Leaders and Soldiers discuss how the Army is successfully harnessing its disruptive thinkers to cultivate innovation at the tactical level. The following bullet points highlight key insights from our interview:
The 3rd Infantry Division’s The Marne Think Tank, the 101st Airborne Division’s EAGLEWERX, and the 18th Airborne C
52. War in Ukraine: The Urban Fight is Happening Now with Maj. (Ret.) John Spencer
MAJ John Spencer (USA-Ret.) is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum. He served over twenty-five years in the U.S. Army as an infantry Soldier, with two combat tours in Iraq as both an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander. He has also served as a Ranger Instructor with the Army’s Ranger School, a Joint Chief of Staf
51. Then and Now: Using the Past to Secure the Future with W02 Paul Barnes
Paul Barnes is a serving Warrant Officer in the British Army, employed as a Doctrine Writer at the Land Warfare Centre. He is uniquely a Chief of the Air Staff’s Fellow, a Chief of the General Staff’s Fellow, and a former MWI fellow at West Point in 2021.
In today’s interview, Warrant Officer Class 2 Paul Barnes, British Army, discusses his article Lear
50. Disinformation Threats to the All-Volunteer Force with MAJ Joe Littell and CPT Maggie Smith
MAJ Joe Littell is a U.S. Army officer and researcher assigned to the Army Cyber Institute at the United States Military Academy. He has been an instructor in the Math and History departments, teaching statistics and intelligence history. His research includes computational propaganda, open source intelligence, narrative warfare, de-platforming, and gen
49. Weaponizing Weather: The Global Security Threat of the Future with Dr. Elizabeth Chalecki
Elizabeth L. Chalecki is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Nebraska Omaha, a Research Fellow in the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and a Research Chair with Fulbright Canada. Her expertise lies in the areas of climate change and security, inter
48. Through the Soldiers' Eyes: The Future of Ground Combat with Denys Antipov, Heydar Mirza, Nolan Peterson, John Spencer, Jim Greer, and COL Scott Shaw
The character of warfare has consistently changed over time, with technology evolving from edged weapons, bows and arrows, gunpowder, and battlefield mechanization, to more advanced technologies today, including long-range precision weapons, robotics, and autonomy. However, warfare remains an intrinsic human endeavor, with varied and profound effects f
47. How China Fights with Ian Sullivan, Kevin Pollpeter, Amanda Kerrigan, Peter Wood, Elsa Kania, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, and Doowan Lee
Over the past two decades, China has transformed its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) through a holistic approach — modernizing its weaponry, force structure, and approaches to warfare, to include operations in the cyber and space domains, while improving its professional military education. Although Russia remains a near-peer threat, China has ascended t
46. How Russia Fights with Ian Sullivan, Samuel Bendett, Katerina Sedova, and Andrea Kendall-Taylor
Russia is a formidable adversary that is currently undergoing transformative modernization. Its combat proficient force has inculcated lessons learned from recent combat operations in Syria, Crimea, and eastern Ukraine; selectively invested in niche capabilities (e.g., autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence) to add precision strike to its alre
45. Learning About the Future Through History with Dr. Brent L. Sterling
Brent L. Sterling has been an adjunct lecturer at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University for the past twenty years, teaching courses on security studies, military strategy, and operations. He is the author of Other People’s Wars: The US Military and the Challenge of Learning for Foreign Conflicts and Do Good Fences Make G
43. A New American Way of Training with Jennifer McArdle
Jennifer McArdle is an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a Product Strategist at Improbable LLC, an emerging global leader in distributed simulation technology for military planning, training, and decision support. Her research focuses on military innovation, readiness, and synthetic trai
42. Global Entanglement and Multi-Reality Warfare with COL (USA-RET) Steve Banach
COL Stefan Banach (USA-Ret.) is a Distinguished Member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and served in that organization for nine years, culminating with command of the 3rd Ranger Battalion from 2001-2003. He led U.S. Army Rangers during a historic night combat parachute assault into Afghanistan on October 19, 2001, as the “spearhead” for the Global War on Te
Disinformation, Revisionism, and China with Doowan Lee
Today’s episode of “The Convergence” podcast features our conversation with Mr. Doowan Lee, CEO, VAST-OSINT and Board Advisor, Zignal Labs, originally published last October. Mr. Lee is a National Security expert in influence intelligence, disinformation analysis, data analytics, network visualization, and great power competition. Before joining Zignal
Bias, Behavior, and Baseball with Keith Law
In this latest episode of “The Convergence,” we talk with Keith Law, Senior Baseball Writer at The Athletic, which he joined in January 2020 after spending thirteen and a half years at ESPN. Before joining ESPN.com in June 2006, Keith spent just over four years as the Special Assistant to the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, and prior to that had written fo
40. Gamers Building the Future Force with Air Force Gaming
Air Force Gaming (AFG) is the official gaming program and competition hub for the United States Air Force and Space Force. Over 86% of Airmen and Guardians between the ages of 18-34 identify as gamers. AFG was started to help Airmen of all ages, ranks, and backgrounds find common ground through video games, while also promoting mental acuity, fine mot
39. Algorithms of Armageddon with CAPT (Ret.) George Galdorisi
CAPT George Galdorisi (USN-Ret.) is a career naval aviator whose thirty years of active duty service included four command tours and five years as a carrier strike group chief of staff. He is currently the Director of Strategic Assessments and Technical Futures at the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific in San Diego, California. He is also a contri
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