The Circle Of Insight

Jason Gardner is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, combat leader, and now a leadership instructor and speaker with Echelon Front. Jason spent nearly three decades in the SEAL Teams with nine deployments across the globe. With experience operating in violent cities in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Jason has seen first-hand the power of the leadership lessons taught at Echelon Front. He brings perspective from...

Dave Mech (pronounced Meech) is a wildlife research biologist who has studied large carnivores, especially wolves, and their prey. See Dave’s other site for information related to his official duties and career. Mech’s strong vocational interest in wildlife research and conservation is matched by several avocational interests. This site expands on some of those subjects, including wildlife photogr...

In Arizona on Oct 8, 2014, DPS Trooper Casey (many of you know him from LivePD) was conducting a traffic stop, when the driver of a vehicle pulled out a .357 Magnum revolver, and shot him in the face. After that some would have walked away from the job. But not Trooper Casey. Brian Murphy has been through the kind of thing you see in movies and say to yourself, 'that is so ridiculous. No one could...

Scott Babb is a lifelong martial artist and the founder of Libre Fighting, the most widely recognized knife-based combat system in the world today. He is considered one of the worlds leading and most innovative voices on the subject of knife combat. Scott has worked with members of various security, military, special forces, and law enforcement groups in the United States and Mexico, and his syste...

Ray “Cash” Care is a Navy SEAL veteran with multiple tours and other numerous overseas security details. Upon leaving SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two (SDV-2), Ray turned his passion and SEAL Team experience to the world of self-improvement and team building. He has become an accomplished fitness expert and speaker on topics ranging from fitness and building high functioning teams to organizational...

Scott A. Huesing is a retired USMC Infantry Major with over 24 years of service, both enlisted and as a commissioned officer. His career spanned 10 deployments and he conducted operations in over 60 countries worldwide. During his numerous deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa he planned, led, and conducted hundreds of combat missions under some of the most austere and challengi...

Over the past few decades, adolescence has lengthened, and this stage of life now lasts longer than ever. Recent research has shown that the adolescent brain is surprisingly malleable, making it a crucial time of life for determining a person s future success and happiness. In Age of Opportunity, the world-renowned expert on adolescence Laurence Steinberg draws on this trove of fresh evidence incl...

Rachele Brooke Smith is an American actress and dancer. Her dance talent has been featured in films such as Center Stage: Turn It Up, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, and Burlesque

Louis Ferrante is a former Mafia associate and heist expert who served eight and a half years in prison after refusing to incriminate members of the Gambino Crime Family. He educated himself in prison where he read thousands of books. He's now an international bestselling author, global business speaker, and hosts a series for the Discovery Channel called Inside the Gangsters' Code. This highly ra...

Dr. Mark Dechesne obtained his doctorate in 2001 for an experimental psychological analysis of the effects of fear of death on social behavior. He combined insights from existentialist philosophy and principles of social cognition and decision making. Associate Professor at Leiden University

"At a time when we must adapt to the changing character of conflict, this is a serious book on a serious issue that can give us the edge we need.” —General James Mattis, USMC, Ret. "Left of Bang offers a crisp lesson in survival in which Van Horne and Riley affirm a compelling truth: It's better to detect sinister intentions early than respond to violent actions late. Left of Bang helps readers av...

Dr. Nervana Mahmoud is also a blogger and commentator on the Middle East.

Melanie Smith is a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Her research focuses on the involvement of women in violent conflict, lone-actor terrorism and the online behavior of violent extremist groups.

A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter’s riveting account of the transformation of the CIA and America’s special operations forces into man-hunting and killing machines in the world’s dark spaces: the new American way of war The most momentous change in American warfare over the past decade has taken place away from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, in the corners of the world where large armie...