CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE

When it comes to the adoption and deployment of modern software, the U.S. military has a speed problem. That’s where innovative companies like Second Front Sytems come in. A public benefit corporation, Second Front has made its mission to provide a pathway for new commercial entrants to navigate stringent government technology compliance and provide their emerging technologies to the Pentagon and other federal agencies in an accelerated manner. Tyler Sweatt, CEO of Second Front, joins this episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to spotlight the unique mission of his company, how his time as a soldier informs his leadership style and how the defense tech ecosystem is tranforming.

Scott Kupor built a storied career as employee No. 1 at preeminent Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. So why uproot that to take a job as the director of the federal government's HR agency, the Office of Personnel Management? On this episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, Kupor answers that question and delves into the Trump administration’s plans to reinvent and modernize tech talent management in a way that could have major impacts on the government's national security readiness.

Defense modernization often gets talked about in terms of platforms, programs, and technology. But there's a harder, less glamorous question underneath all of it: Can the money follow the mission fast enough? On this episode of CTRL+ALT+DEFENSE, we're joined by Hon. Marc Andersen, the Army's Assistant Secretary for Financial Management & Comptroller, for a conversation about fiscal agility — what it means, what gets in the way, and why the ability to redirect resources quickly has become a genuine strategic variable in an era of rapid technological change. Andersen draws on an unusual background: founder, EY Senior Partner, venture advisor, and now the Army's top financial officer. He's one of the few people who can talk honestly about where private-sector financial thinking applies to defense — and where the analogy breaks down entirely.

Back in 2015, then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter launched the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, as small team of innovators and bureaucracy hackers to bridge the Valley of Death between Silicon Valley and the Beltway. Since then, the unit has expanded its team and portfolio, undergoing several evolutions and shedding its "experimental" designator along the way. Mike Madsen served as deputy and acting director of DIU during five of its more formative years. Madsen, now vice president of Obviant, joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to recount the journey of DIU over the past decade and how it has transformed the business of innovation for the U.S. military.

To truly understand the Pentagon’s approach to adopting AI and how it navigates the moral and ethical dilemmas present with the use of autonomy for lethal decisions, you really have to go back to the start. And in many ways, that was Project Maven. In this new episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, journalist and author Katrina Manson joins to discuss her new book on Maven, the secretive decade-long Pentagon program that put artificial intelligence at the heart of American warfare. Manson traces the story from a windowless government room in 2017 to AI-enabled systems now operating across every branch of the U.S. military — unpacking the bureaucratic battles, the Google employee revolt, the rise of Palantir, and the deeper question no one can fully answer yet: will AI make war more precise, or will it make catastrophic mistakes at scale?

Defense analyst and YouTube creator Preston Stewart joins the podcast to discuss how independent creators are reshaping how the public understands modern warfare. Drawing on years of coverage—and a recent trip to Ukraine—Stewart shares lessons on drones, AI, and battlefield innovation, what defense tech companies still misunderstand about combat, and why millions now turn to YouTube to make sense of global conflict.

Jack Shanahan has become synonymous with the adoption of artificial intelligence in the U.S. Department of Defense. As the founding director of the Joint AI Center, which was subsumed by the Chief Digital and AI Office, Shanahan oversaw the Pentagon's early efforts to institutionalize and deploy AI, including through the infamous Project Maven. Now retired from the U.S. military, he serves as a consultant and fellow for organizations like the Center for a New American Security. Shanahan joined CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to explore how AI adoption has evolved since his time leading the JAIC, the track 2 conversations between the U.S. and China on the technology, and the challenges the Pentagon faces balancing speed and safety in building its AI arsenal.

In early 2026, Rob Slaughter led Defense Unicorns — the company he founded to transform software delivery for the U.S. military — to become the newest defense tech unicorn on the block, receiving a $1 billion valuation after its Series B round of fundraising and touting a 300% increase in adoption year-over-year in military systems. Slaughter joined CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to share the news, discuss how Defense Unicorns is tackling software modernization for the Defense Department, recount his path from DOD's software factories to startup founder and make the case for why software is the department's newest weapon system.

In recent years, autonomy how completely transformed how future wars will be fought and won. And with that, a new crop of defense startups have emerged with a focus on bringing autonomy and artificial intelligence to the battlefield at scale. On this episode of CTRL + ALT +DEFENSE, Brandon Tseng, co-founder and president of Shield AI, shares how autonomy has moved the needle in foreign conflicts, how upstart tech companies are injecting innovation into the Department of Defense, and what's ahead.

If you’ve paid attention to the defense acquisition space long enough, you’ve surely heard of the “Last Supper” — the secret 1993 dinner meeting in which Secretary of Defense Les Aspin invited the CEOs of America's largest defense contractors to share the news that the Pentagon was going to scale back spending leading to a consolidation of the defense industrial base. While that meeting and the decisions tied to it came to define the past three decades of defense contracting, it has also been riddles with myths, according to Margaret Mullins, Director of Public Options and Governance at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. Mullins joins this episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to share the reality of defense acquisition consolidation and how that history can best inform how the Pentagon should approach the current pivotal moment of transformation it’s encountering where it must scale industrial innovation to compete with adversaries like China and Russia.

While Steve Blank might be best known for his ultra-popular Lean Startup methodology that has inspired a generation of American entrepreneurs, he's spent much of the past decade working to infuse that thought leadership in the defense innovation ecosystem, largely at the academic level. Through his work as a founding faculty of Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation and the school's Hacking for Defense program, Blank is helping shape a new class of startups dedicated to defense-aligned missions. And most recently, he launched a PEO Directory that he refers to as "a phonebook for the Pentagon" that's meant to make it easier for those founders to do business with the Department of Defense. The legendary Blank joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE for a wide-ranging discussion about the state of defense innovation, why budding entrepreneurs are turning to defense problem sets at greater rates, and how startups can navigate the bureaucracy of the Pentagon amid a variety of Trump administration reforms.

Venture capital has become an integral part of of the defense innovation ecosystem. And there’s perhaps no Silicon Valley VC firm leaning in to support national security- and defense-focused startup more than Andreessen Horowitz through its American Dynamism initiative. Matt Cronin, senior national security advisor at Andreessen Horowitz, joins this episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to explore that evolving intersection of venture-funded innovation and defense, and how the nation can make more room for early-stage startups to bolster national security.

The Department of Defense is quickly running out of time to modernize and build capacity in anticipation of a potential conflict with China. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Brose, Chief Strategy Officer at Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain, to discuss how emerging technologies — and the industrial partners building them at scale — could reshape national defense. Brose shares insights on the future of U.S. military innovation, the role of software and autonomy in modern warfare, and how the defense industry must evolve to stay ahead of global competitors.

When Katie Arrington was named to her role performing the duties of the CIO for the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration is now calling the Department of War, she took that charge seriously. As such, she’s not just keeping a seat warm until the Senate approves a new CIO. Instead, Arrington, who knows what it takes to get things dones in the Pentagon, has been helllbent to drive IT reform to deliver better software and digital services that warfighters depend on. In an energetic new episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, Arrington shares why she returned to the Pentagon during the second Trump administration, what’s in store for the department’s IT and much more.

Despite dramatic advance in AI and compute power, the Pentagon still largely operates as an organization driven by spreadsheets and PowerPoint. To become a truly data-centric force, the U.S. military services must move beyond this to adopt advanced data analytics and AI tools for making critical decisions with speed and accuracy. Govini is one of the top commercial entities leading that charge, and its CEO, Tara Murphy Dougherty, joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE this week to discuss why the U.S. must move decisively and without hesitation into this new era, or risk putting itself in a losing position against its top adversaries.

The debate rages on — and it's coming to a head. Does the U.S. military need an independent cyber force? Or should the services retain their own cyber organizations with specialization in the domains in which they operate? Josh Stiefel, vice president of government relations for Second Front Systems and a former professional staffer for the House Armed Services Committe, is one of the prominent voices advocating for studying the prospect of an independent cyber force, recently helping launch the Commission on U.S. Cyber Force Generation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Stiefel joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to dig into the debate and share what's ahead.

Can venture capital unlock the Pentagon’s innovation problem? Alex Harstrick of J2 Ventures, an Army reservist and former leader of the Defense Innovation Unit's National Security Innovation Capital team, joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to explore how startup speed and private-sector risk-taking could reshape defense. We dig into where VC is making a real impact, where it struggles against DOD bureaucracy, and what it will take for government and investors to actually work together to deliver the next wave of national security technology.

After a more than three year stint in various roles across the Pentagon, Radha Plumb was appointed as Chief Digital and AI Officer in April 2024, a position she served in until the end of the Biden administration. Now on the other side of that service, she joined CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to reflect on her tenure, the direction of the CDAO, the adoption of AI in the context of the U.S. military, and much more.

The U.S. Department of Defense knows what it faces in modern adversaries like China and Russia. Yet, the joint forces are more focused on building PowerPoints instead of power projection. As the deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements, retired Lt. Gen. Clint Hinote was one of the Air Force’s top strategic thinkers. And on this episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, he doesn't hold back on what the next fight will look like and why he believes the U.S. isn't ready for the conflicts ahead.

Palantir has emerged over the decade as a unicorn in the defense and national security space, leveraging its innovative roots to disrupt the legacy defense industrial base. As CTO and employee #13, Shyam Sankar has helped transform and scale Palantir from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in AI and data analytics software. Sankar joins CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE to share his vision for Palantir as it continues to cement itself as leader in the American national security space, his thoughts for how the Pentagon can continue to evolve to rapidly adopt technology at scale, what his new role as a member of the Army's Detachment 201 will entail, and much more.

As the leader of human capital for the U.S. Space Force, Katharine Kelley is on the frontlines of creating the workforce of the future for the military’s newest service. That effort could serve as a launch pad for modernizing the way the Department of Defense manages its workforce across the entire HR lifecycle, from recrutiment and hiring to retention and retirement. On this energetic episode of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, Kelley shares how she’s leading the effort to rethink the role of HR in the U.S. military, how the Space Force Personnel Management Act will serve as a gamechanger on that journey, and why workforce innovation isn’t just about technology.

The Army is in the midst of a once-in-a-generation transformation. As part of that Army Transformation Initiative, Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command are merging to form what's called the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command. Ahead of that, Gen. James Rainey, commanding general of Army Futures, joined CTRL+ ALT +DEFENSE as one of the podcast's inaugural guests to discuss the latest on the Army Transformation Initiative, how the service is going about shepherding in such massive change, and what leaders like himself are doing to ensure its success. ⁠ Learn more. ⁠ Tune into new episodes of CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE every Monday.  Make sure you don’t miss the most crucial conversations at the intersection of defense and innovation — subscribe to CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE on Apple Podcast, ⁠Soundcloud,⁠ ⁠Spotify⁠ and ⁠YouTube.⁠ Follow DefenseScoop + Dcode on Social Media  • X: ⁠DefenseScoop⁠ | ⁠Dcode⁠ • LinkedIn: ⁠DefenseScoop ⁠| ⁠Dcode ⁠ • Instagram: ⁠DefenseScoop ⁠| ⁠Dcode ⁠ • YouTube: ⁠DefenseScoop⁠ • Bluesky: ⁠DefenseScoop ⁠ • TikTok: ⁠DefenseScoop ⁠ About CTRL+ALT+DEFENSE  Defense innovation is evolving at a disorienting pace, as cutting-edge technology collides with bureaucracy, strategy, and national security imperatives.  CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE, a raw, high-energy, no-holds-barred podcast brought to you by DefenseScoop and Dcode, pulls back the curtain on the most pressing challenges and game-changing technology breakthroughs shaping the future of defense.

Coming August 4: CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE podcast hosted by Billy Mitchell and Meagan Metzger!  A raw, unfiltered new podcast from DefenseScoop and Dcode, exploring how cutting-edge technology, institutional barriers, and evolving national security priorities collide in today’s defense landscape. CTRL + ALT + DEFENSE features candid conversations with leaders across defense, tech, venture capital, and policy—bringing forward diverse perspectives on the future of defense innovation. From the front lines of government to the forefront of technology, this series examines the challenges and breakthroughs shaping tomorrow’s mission-critical decisions—with no spin, no agenda, and no filter. ⁠Stay tuned. ⁠ Follow DefenseScoop on Social Media  • https://www.twitter.com/DefenseScoop • https://www.linkedin.com/company/defensescoop • https://www.facebook.com/DefenseScoop/ • https://www.instagram.com/defensescoop/ • https://www.threads.net/@defensescoop • https://www.youtube.com/@defensescoop • https://bsky.app/profile/defensescoop.bsky.social • https://www.tiktok.com/@defensescoopnews About DefenseScoop  DefenseScoop is the premier community-driven news source dedicated to the U.S. military’s acquisition, development and use of technology as a force for modern defense. As the Department of Defense moves in the direction of Joint All Domain Command and Control and other initiatives to connect the joint force and fight future battles, DefenseScoop will deliver the latest insights, trends and analysis on this pivotal transformation and engage Pentagon and service senior leaders to discuss ways technology can be a central fixture in our nation’s ability to understand threats, make decisions and take action in a rapid manner. ⁠https://defensescoop.com/about/