Cache Me If You Can
Host Matt Pearl examines the technologies and policies shaping the future and U.S. innovation leadership. The podcast covers topics at the intersection of emerging tech, national security, and economic competitiveness. Through expert interviews and analysis, it explores how government, industry, and society must adapt to rapid change. It aims to inform listeners about the decisions that will define America's role on the global stage.
Episodes
Making AI Work for Cyber Defenders
In this episode of Cache Me If You Can, we explore how advances in artificial intelligence are reshaping the balance between cyber attackers and defenders. As increasingly capable AI models discover vulnerabilities, navigate complex systems, and accelerate sophisticated cyber operations, organizations face a critical question: can defenders harness these same capabilities quickly and safely enough
The Cyber Threat to U.S. Water Infrastructure
On this special edition episode, Lauryn Williams joins Will Todman on the State of Play podcast for a crossover episode of Cache Me If You Can.
Cyberattacks targeting water and wastewater utilities have been reported in at least a dozen U.S. states since late July. While there has been no widespread contamination or immediate threat to public drinking water, the attacks appear serious and potenti
The Next Industrial Revolution: Advanced Manufacturing, National Security, and Shared Prosperity
In this episode of Cache Me If You Can, we explore why advanced manufacturing has become a cornerstone of U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. As strategic competition with China intensifies and supply chain vulnerabilities become increasingly apparent, the United States faces difficult questions about what it will take to rebuild its industrial base for the twenty-first century.
Building Cyber Resilience: The Future of U.S.–ROK Cyber Cooperation
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we explore one of the most consequential cyber alliances in the Indo-Pacific: cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Korea. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, from state-sponsored operations and ransomware to cryptocurrency theft and attacks on critical infrastructure, both countries are grappling with how to strengthen resilience a
U.S. Cyber Force: Building a Service for the Digital Battlefield
In this special edition of Cache Me if You Can, we explore the evolving cyber threat landscape facing the United States and what it would actually look like to stand up a dedicated U.S. Cyber Force.
As cyberattacks on critical infrastructure become more frequent and sophisticated, questions around how the Pentagon organizes, trains, and equips cyber operators have become increasingly urgent. From
Europe’s Cyber Deterrence Dilemma: Countering Russia in the Gray Zone
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we explore how cyber conflict and hybrid warfare are reshaping the European security landscape. As Russian operations increasingly blur the line between peace and war, Europe faces mounting pressure to rethink how it approaches deterrence, resilience, and competition in the digital age.
Our guest, Dr. Alexander Klimburg, joins us to discuss his recent repor
Innovation to Deployment: Fixing the Pentagon’s Acquisition Gap
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine a core challenge at the heart of U.S. technology competition: the Pentagon’s struggle to procure and field emerging technologies at the speed of innovation.
Our guest, Jerry McGinn, joins us to unpack the Department of Defense’s latest push to transform its acquisition system, an effort aimed at accelerating how the military identifies, buys, and
SpaceX vs. Huawei: Innovation, Power, and the New Tech Rivalry
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine how two of the world’s most influential companies, SpaceX and Huawei, are increasingly shaping the trajectory of global technology competition. Once operating in entirely separate domains, space infrastructure and telecommunications, these firms are now converging across critical frontiers, including AI, connectivity, and data ecosystems.
Our gue
Iran’s Cyber Threat: What’s Real, What’s Noise and What Comes Ahead
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine Iran’s evolving cyber strategy and what recent activity reveals about the role of cyberspace in modern conflict. While headlines often highlight disruptive attacks and hacktivist activity, the reality of Iran’s cyber operations is more complex—blending state-backed actors, proxy groups, and information campaigns to shape perceptions, signal resolv
From Cloud to AI: Engineering Next-Gen Data Centers
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we explore how artificial intelligence is driving an unprecedented expansion of data center infrastructure. While the cloud era transformed digital services, AI workloads are fundamentally changing how data centers must be designed, powered, and cooled.
Our guest, Ty Schmitt, Vice President and Dell Fellow in Dell Technologies’ Infrastructure Solutions Gro
Beyond the Cloud: The Future of Data Centers
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we go beneath the cloud to examine the physical infrastructure powering today’s digital economy: data centers. As demand for cloud services, AI workloads, and high-performance computing accelerates, data centers have become critical national assets—while also emerging as flashpoints for debates over energy use, land, labor, and local governance.
Our guest,
Sovereign Cloud and Sovereign AI, Explained
In this special Cache Me If You Can episode, we bring you a CSIS event featuring Matt Pearl, Director of the Strategic Technologies Program, in conversation with Bill Whyman, Senior Advisor with CSIS Strategic Technologies and author of the new CSIS paper Sovereign Cloud–Sovereign AI Conundrum: Policy Actions to Achieve Prosperity and Security.
The discussion explores the global push for sovereig
Quantum Statecraft: Policy, Power, and the Next Tech Frontier
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we dive into quantum technology and why it’s quickly becoming one of the most consequential frontiers in U.S.-China strategic competition. Once confined to research labs and academic theory, quantum is now moving toward real-world applications that could reshape cybersecurity, intelligence collection, advanced sensing, and the global balance of power.
Our g
Space in the Digital Era: Security, Competition, and Governance Beyond Earth
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we explore how space has become a central arena for geopolitical competition, economic activity, and national security in the digital age. Once dominated by government-led exploration, space, particularly low Earth orbit, is now crowded with commercial actors, new technologies, and emerging security risks that challenge existing rules and norms.
Our guest,
The Global Rulebook: Competing Visions for Tech Governance
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine how governments around the world are shaping the rules of the digital age. From the United States’ market-driven approach to the European Union’s rights-based frameworks, competing models of tech governance are redefining innovation, privacy, and security.
Our guest, Shane Tews, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and
Invisible Infrastructure: How Spectrum and 5G Shape Global Power
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine the invisible infrastructure that powers our digital lives: spectrum and telecommunications networks.
Our guest, Diane Rinaldo, former Acting Administrator of NTIA and a leading expert on 5G and supply chain security, breaks down the strategic stakes of next-generation wireless systems. We explore how spectrum competition shapes U.S.–China tech r
Views from the Cyber Trenches: Understanding U.S. Military Cyber Dynamics
In this special edition episode of Cache Me if You Can, we dive beneath the surface of the U.S. military’s cyber enterprise to uncover the hidden challenges facing today’s cyber warfighters. CSIS Deputy Director Lauryn Williams is joined by three retired cyber operators—Col. Sean Kern, LtCol Tony Siciliano, and Col. Ben Ring—for a candid conversation about the real conditions inside the cyber tren
Cables Under Pressure: Securing Europe’s Subsea Cables
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we dive beneath the surface to explore the fragile networks that keep the world connected. Our guest, Dr. Anna-Maria Osula, Cyber and Economic Counselor at the Estonian Embassy in Washington D.C., unpacks the geopolitical and technical stakes of securing subsea cables. We discuss Europe’s emerging Cable Security Action Plan, NATO’s new Baltic Sentry surveill
Swords, Shields, and Scaling Laws: Rethinking AI Power
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we speak with Drew Lohn, Senior Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and former Director for Emerging Technology at the National Security Council. Drew has been ahead of the curve in debates on scaling laws, AI’s impact on cyber offense and defense, and the economic and political risks of extractive AI models. We discuss key fac
Building Resilience: How the U.S. Can Regain a Cyber Advantage
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, host Matt Pearl sits down with Anne Neuberger, former Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies, to unpack how the United States can build a resilient cyber strategy in the face of growing Chinese aggression.
Drawing on her recent Foreign Affairs publication, Neuberger explains why China is winning the cyberwar, how AI-enabled “d
Why We Can’t Break Up: Antitrust & Big Tech
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, host Matt Pearl is joined by Philip Luck, Director of the Economics Program and Scholl Chair in International Business, and Bill Reinsch, Senior Adviser and Scholl Chair Emeritus in International Business at CSIS. They explore how the U.S. can balance antitrust enforcement with the need to stay competitive against China’s state-backed tech giants, what break
Byte-Sized Dragon: China’s Approach to Tech Supremacy
In this first episode of Cache Me if You Can, host Matt Pearl sits down with Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS and a leading expert on China’s innovation system. They explore how Beijing’s massive investments in sectors like semiconductors, AI, and electric vehicles are reshaping global competition, what lessons the U.S. can draw from allies,
Introducing Cache Me If You Can
Who will lead the global innovation race? Find out on Cache Me If You Can. New episodes drop biweekly starting September 17.
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