The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Elham Tabassi discusses the National Institute of Standards and Technology's missio...

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Ori Brafman discusses implications of the rise of decentralized organizations which...

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Noah Komnick discusses his award-winning thought leadership and writings related to...

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, after a couple war stories, US Air Force pilot MAJ Hasard Lee discusses how the F-3...

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, MGySgt William Hess discusses a variety of topics related to the information enviro...

During this episode, Matt Venhuas discusses the Cognitive Security Proving Ground, which is an initiative he leads at the University of Maryland's Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) . After describing ARLIS' mission areas and how University Affiliated Research Centers fit into the larger United States national security ecosystem, Matt discusses various cognitive secu...

During this episode, Andy Norman presents the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative (CIRCE) and his work on cognitive immunology, which studies the mind's resistance to bad ideas. After describing how the name of his organization was inspired by Circe, the goddess who helped Odysseus avoid the temptations of the siren's song, Andy discusses mental immunity, how epidemics of irrationality occ...

During this episode, Dr. Daniel Ragsdale of Two Six Technologies discusses Department of Defense (DoD) modernization priorities, research & engineering, science & technology, and acquisition and sustainment efforts. After describing the major components of DoD's Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering officer, Rags makes the case that DoD's "appetite for risk must be increased--fla...

During this episode, Dr. Sean Guillory of Booz Allen Hamilton discusses various ways that cognitive neuroscience is being applied within industry and relates these applications to national security, as well. Our wide-ranging covers FMRI brain scanning, human-machine interface and human-machine teaming, automation, cognitive electronic warfare, robotic process automation, adversarial machine learni...

"There is no peacetime in the information environment," according to Greg Radabaugh , who is the former Director of the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center (JIOWC). "Information rounds are being fired at us continually 24/7." While our forces do well at operations in the information environment (OIE) at the tactical and operational levels, Greg discusses the imperative for US leaders to fo...

Alas, now an ancient prophesy has been fulfilled… Telemus said all these things would come to pass someday. — Homer's Odyssey During this episode, the Honorable Dr. Mike Vickers provides his thoughts on a wide range of strategic issues--all of which have connections with the information environment. Mike makes the case that America is like the cyclops in Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Like the cy...

During this episode, Jonathan Rauch of the Brooking's Institute discusses his new book: The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth . The Constitution of Knowledge may be thought of as a distributed network with taproots in the same philosophical lineage as the Enlightenment and the United States Constitution. The Constitution of Knowledge keeps us anchored in reality, mediates social confli...

During this episode, MAJGEN Susan Coyle , Head of Information Warfare for the Australian Defence Force, discusses a variety of projects and whole-of-government challenges that she is confronting relative to information operations. After she recaps her primary role and the branches within her division, our discussion touches on the threat from China, broader gray zone competition in the Pacific reg...

During this episode, Chan Swallow discusses the Air Force's A9 office, as well as how the Air Force builds capability while confronting technology acquisition tradeoffs. The wide ranging conversation also covers manpower and talent acquisition issues--especially the competition for talent which can take raw data and turn it into actionable insights. Link to full show notes and resources https://in...

During this sprawling episode, biologist and author, Dr. Mark Moffet t , discusses societies. Mark observes that the acceptance of strangers was a breakthrough in the evolution of humanity. Moreover, humans maintain allegiance to group identities, and our uneasy coexistence with outsiders is reflected both in the fault lines within societies and in the relationships between nations. These topics a...

During this episode, Prof. Jan Kallberg and COL Stephen Hamilton of the Army Cyber Institute return to the Cognitive Crucible and discuss prisoner of war (POW) considerations in the digital world. After Jan recaps his recent article, In Great Power Wars, Americans Could Again Become POWs , the conversation covers the will to fight, cognitive preparation of the battlefield, and ways the enemy might...

During this episode, we talk with Prof. Kathleen Carley of Carnegie Mellon University about social cybersecurity, the BEND framework, and the challenges and promise of developing understandings and technologies on how to manage the safety of online discourse. Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio : Kathleen M. Carley is a professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon Uni...

During this thought provoking episode, Mr. Bob Jones asserts that governance is a critical and often overlooked source of destabilizing tensions within societies. Simultaneously, governance is the solution for managing irregular warfare. Our discussion centers around a recent article that Bob authored called: " Strategic Influence: Applying the Principles of Unconventional Warfare in Peace ." Bob...

During this episode, Mr. Harrison Schramm of Group W discusses information-related challenges formed by artificial intelligence, supply chains, and data science talent. Our wide-ranging discussion touches upon AI and ethics, life and death decision making, and immigration. Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio : Mr. Harrison Schramm is a principal research scientist at Group W, and works...

During this episode, RADM Steve Parode discusses a variety of information-related topics including the Cold War peace dividend, the Tri-service Maritime Strategy, the Joint Concept of Information Advantage, cognitive preparation of the battlefield, information PTSD, and Information Technology – Operational Technology (IT-OT) convergence, plus more. Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio :...

Mr Clint Watts joins the Cognitive Crucible and gives an FBI-perspective on domestic extremism. The conversation references a recent article on Clint's Selected Wisdom substack: Virtual Insanity to Real World Calamity: "How Will Lies Power Domestic Terrorism in 2021?" Clint asserts that domestic terrorist groups are far from homogeneous. Particularly worrisome are young, largely single, largely ma...

During this episode, CDR Erika Gelen and Prof. Frank Smith discuss their co-authored article: "Advantage At Sea Requires Rethinking Influence." After reviewing the tri-service (Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard) strategy "Advantage at Sea," they make the case that the US Navy handicaps itself in great-power competition--especially relative to military information support operations (MISO). They also...

In this bonus episode, we replay an excerpt from Dr. Michael Vickers' Phoenix Challenge 2021 Keynote address. Dr. Vickers is the former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. He spoke about the growing criticality of Information Operations and the ways in which our adversaries in great power competition have...

During this episode, Dr. David Gioe discusses active measures. Active measures is a term which gained increasing public attention following the 2016 US election meddling by Russia. Dr. Gioe defines active measures as nation state actions which are intended to remain non-attributable. Also known as the "dark arts," active measures are not new. Dr. Gioe recounts some historical active measures examp...

During this episode, Matt Armstong , who was formerly a Governor on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (since renamed the U.S. Agency for Global Media ), discusses the Smith-Mundt Act and public diplomacy. Matt is also the author of the upcoming book: The Right to Know: the War of Words and the Origins and Evolution of the Smith-Mundt Act. Also known as the U.S. Information and Educational Exchan...