Sensing the Signal

The UK's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) has finally arrived after a long delay, and not before prompting the Secretary of Defence to resign. As the Prime Minister soon followed, the revised plan has already had a significant, albeit unintended, impact on the UK before even being implemented. What does it tell us about the state of Defence in the UK? And will it deliver the capability improvemen...

In 2026 wars and small conflicts seem endemic around the world and threats to international security appear to be increasing. Yet, there remains a lack of discussion on the role of climate change in driving conflict. With food security becoming an urgent priority around the globe, while melting glaciers reshape our geography, and the competition for natural resources heats up, there is an urgent n...

Russia's military is rapidly overhauling its capabilities through the adoption of new technology, specifically by enhancing command and control functions, while also building an entire ecosystem for advanced drone development adopting military AI. This is giving Russia's military the ability to field test and iterate autonomous drones with the potential to take humans out of the loop for t...

Speed + technology + innovation + faster adaptation = high performance in engineering, all ultimately underpinned by intelligent decision making. These are all concepts we associate with Formula 1, but there is so much more that we perhaps don’t readily consider when we think of the top level of motorsport. For example, the terabytes of data that are generated by each car during a race and then pr...

As the impact of 'AI' tools on the workforce continues to grow and information becomes harder to trust, manage, and analyse, organisations increasingly need people to adapt new tasks and changing environments. But are we doing enough to make the most of the skills and expertise of the people around us? How do we really see people and their potential? And how can data help us to create a be...

Whenever we hear about quantum computing, it's usually in relation to how it will fundamentally change the world once it hits the mainstream. But what is quantum computing? What will it enable us to do that conventional computing can't? And what is the reality behind the hype? On this episode of Sensing the Signal, we were privileged to be invited to peek behind the scenes at the UK's...

Disinformation presents a pervasive and growing threat that is increasingly undermining our fundamental security, affecting us in ways that might not be obvious. More than ever we need to address the vital question: how do we defend our national security (and our own minds) against disinformation? In this episode of Sensing the Signal we talk to Rachele Gilman, an expert who has investigated case...

Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar illegal industry that operates in plain sight. Yet most people very rarely notice the signs, let alone consider how this criminal activity can be stopped. Fortunately, one organisation is dedicated to uncovering and preventing human trafficking. In this episode, we talk to Neil Giles and Alice Nottage from Stop the Traffik and delve into the work of this...

For this episode, we took the show on the road - to DSEI UK 2025, 'the flagship defence event for the UK' which is a global platform for the entire defence industry. This year saw an expanded Tech Zone that gave us several indicators of how defence tech is developing, particularly driven by current wars in Ukraine and elsewhere. We took the opportunity of having thousands of interesting pe...

Ahead of the DSEI 2025 show, we talk to retired Rear Admiral Jon Pentreath, currently a Senior Military Advisor to DSEI, about the key trends in defence technology. In particular, we discuss innovative adoption of hardware and software solutions from non-traditional suppliers and what that means for military end-users. The trends are signified at DSEI by the Tech Zone being the fastest growing sec...

The UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) signals a significant shift in defence posture, with the aim of gearing the UK’s military to be ready to fight a war - perhaps the next ‘World War’ - against a near-peer adversary. The SDR provides an insight into how the UK aims to reshape the military, particularly in light of a stated increase in overall defence spending, and how it will position itself i...

As AI tools become more commonplace in all types of knowledge work, including intelligence, they create benefits, but also risks. Nico Dekens (@dutchosintguy), an expert in open source intelligence and investigations has written about how AI tools are affecting critical thinking and analytical abilities. In this episode, we talk to Nico about his experiences in using AI tools and his recommendatio...

How did an NGO going undercover help to bring down the brutal Khmer Rouge? And how did they go on to uncover corporate complicity in producing blood diamonds? And, more recently, how did they use commercially available data to identify the companies supplying jet fuel to the Russian planes that bombed civilians in Ukraine? In this episode of Sensing the Signal, we talk to Patrick Alley, a founder...

As Ukraine defends itself from an existential threat, it has deployed a variety of technology solutions on the front line to support war fighters, often at high speed and with great effect. In this episode, we talked to Kateryna Bondar from the Center for Strategic and International Studies about her research into military technology in Ukraine, including unmanned systems and command and control p...

The breadth and depth of commercial intelligence capabilities is expanding at a dizzying rate, especially with the rapid growth of AI products coming into the market. These capabilities can have a huge impact on national security and defence, but only if they can be implemented before they are superseded. How can government organisations keep pace with these capabilities and use them effectively,...

Intelligence analysis is all about using structured techniques to apply logic to help us understand uncertainty. But are we applying the full potential of human cognition? In this episode, Dr. Julia Mossbridge, a neuroscientist working at the edge of scientific research describes how intuition can be improved through training and why we should re-consider our perspectives on pre-cognition to help...

Conflict, domestic unrest, climate change, geopolitical shifts… these are all among the drivers of change that shape the world around us. In this episode, we talk to Anna Gilmour, Head of Geopolitical Risk at Verisk Maplecroft about how political risk analysts are continually tracking and monitoring hundreds of data points and combining these with their own expertise and experience to create effec...

China plans to begin building a base on the moon in 2028, with the help of Russia. The US launched its Space Force in 2019 amid expanding interest in space exploration. More countries are developing highly capable space programmes, while an increasing range of private actors are putting satellites into orbit. What will all this mean for geopolitics and the intensifying great power competition on...

In this episode of Sensing the Signal , Terry Pattar speaks with Alison Killing, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who transitioned from architecture to investigative journalism. Alison shares insights into her unique career journey, starting with her background in architecture and spatial analysis, which influenced her investigative journalism techniques using satellite imagery and data visuali...

In the latest episode of  Sensing the Signal , host Terry Patar sits down with satellite imagery expert Allison Puccioni to explore how cutting-edge technology is reshaping intelligence work. Allison shares insights and experiences from her 30-year career, starting as an imagery analyst in the U.S. Army to now running her own consultancy, Armillary Services.  They explore the continuing rise of co...

In this episode Dr. Matthew Ford, an Associate Professor for Strategy Division at Swedish Defence University, explores the role of smartphones in modern warfare, particularly in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. He discusses how smartphones and the Internet of Things transformed the battlefield, making war more participatory and decentralized. Civilians, through smartphones, have become majo...

Parts of weapons, including drones, litter the battlefields of Ukraine, yet each fragment is potentially an important clue that can help us understand the dynamics behind the conflict. Damien Spleeters, Deputy Director of Operations at Conflict Armament Research has devoted his career to investigating these ‘little pieces of truth’, using them to hunt down sources of illicit weapons transfers.

As the world comes to increasingly rely on AI systems for generating and handling information, we may become more beholden to systems that we simply don’t understand. Dave Sully, CEO of adversarial AI company Advai, talks us through how and why we need to ‘break’ AI to fully understand and mitigate the potential risks, if we’re going to take advantage of all the potential upsides. Outline AI syste...

Intelligence is about understanding the future, but what does the future hold for intelligence? Can the agencies keep up with the rapidly evolving world around us? We discuss these questions with Shay Hershkovitz, author of the Future of National Intelligence and delve into how the combination of new technology, generational shifts, climate change, and the competition for attention are changing th...

New technology, particularly generative AI, is enabling us to produce and collect information faster and in greater quantities than ever before. But how do we trust what we see and hear? This is the key question we discuss with Sally Walker, a former director at GCHQ, who now advises organisations on creating human-centric information environments. Outline Using data and technology to inform decis...