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Intel at the Edge: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Special Competitive Studies Project - SCSP
Where technology meets intelligence. Intel at the Edge is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), hosted by Chip Usher, Senior Director for Intelligence. Chip explores the latest innovations transforming the intelligence community with experts who are shaping the future of national security.
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- 3 days ago33 min
Iran's Nuclear Program: "Down But Not Out" with Amy McAuliffe
Four and a half months into the Iran war, what's actually left of Iran's nuclear program — and what would it take to keep it that way? In this episode of Intel at the Edge, host Chip Usher sits down with Amy McAuliffe, who recently retired from the CIA as the Assistant Director for Weapons and Counter Proliferation. Amy also served as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council and Assistant Director of CIA for the Near East. Amy breaks down: · Why she describes Iran's program as "down but not out" after the June 2025 and 2026 strikes on Natanz and Fordow · The uncertainty around Iran's 60%-enriched uranium stockpile and where it may be located · The impact of losing key nuclear scientists — and how much technical knowledge Iran has actually retained · How the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei and the rise of new IRGC leadership could shift Iran's calculus toward weaponization · What a credible future nuclear deal would need to include, from enrichment caps to IAEA verification · Whether a purely military solution can ever fully resolve the nuclear question · Her advice for young people considering a career in the U.S. intelligence community Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- 4 days ago24 min
Kimi K3: What China's Latest Model Means for the US with David Lin
Kimi K3, China's largest open-weight AI model yet, just hit the public — and it's rewriting the terms of the US-China AI race. In this emergency episode, host Chip Usher sits down with David Lin, Senior Director for Tech Platforms at SCSP and CIA veteran, to unpack what K3's release really signals. They dig into how the competition has shifted from a simple US-vs-China contest into a two-axis battle of open weights vs. closed weights, why K3 dropped right alongside Xi Jinping's World AI Conference speech, the eye-popping cost gap between K3 and frontier US models, and the question of large-scale model distillation and IP theft. They close out with a look at Nvidia's Jensen Huang and a growing coalition of US companies pushing back against a closed-weight future. It's a fast-moving landscape — and this conversation captures exactly where things stand today. 00:00 — Intro: Kimi K3 drops 01:20 — What K3 is and how it compares 03:18 — Open weights vs. closed weights 07:14 — Beijing's role and export controls 12:42 — Security risks of open weights 15:32 — Distillation and IP theft 21:22 — Nvidia and the US open-weight push 24:25 — Closing thoughts Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- 2 weeks ago40 min
How Agentic AI is Enabling A New Industry: Intelligence-As-A-Service with Ansel Stein
In this episode of “Intel at the Edge”, Chip Usher sits down with Ansel Stein, Vice President of Operations at Crisis24 and a former CIA analyst, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way private-sector companies access intelligence analysis. Stein discusses how Crisis24 is delivering AI-generated intelligence directly to corporate C-suites — from geopolitical risk to tailored daily briefings built on a company's own institutional knowledge. The conversation digs into the tradecraft behind the tools: how intelligence community standards are codified into AI systems, how human oversight fits into an AI-driven analytic process, and how self-improving models are changing the relationship between analysts and decision-makers. Ansel and Chip also look ahead to how this "intelligence-as-a-service" model might eventually influence government intelligence organizations, and why deep organizational context and culture will remain a human differentiator even as raw intelligence becomes cheaper and more democratized through AI. 0:00 – Introduction 0:46 – Welcome, Ansel Stein 1:12 – Ansel's path from government to Crisis24 2:32 – Why join a company at the intersection of intel and AI 3:48 – What Crisis24 delivers 6:39 – Serving private-sector clients 6:56 – Tailoring intelligence for corporate use 8:46 – Intelligence-as-a-service for the C-suite 10:13 – How AI-generated analysis works 10:40 – Where's the human in the loop? 12:14 – The National Intelligence Priorities Framework 15:23 – Intelligence Community Directives and analytic standards 16:13 – Codifying tradecraft into AI systems 17:44 – Real-world example: a global executive's daily briefing 18:28 – Building in company-specific expertise 19:43 – Trust and adoption among clients 22:11 – Self-improving AI systems 24:27 – Speed, scale, and organizational accountability 26:15 – Correcting AI mistakes and shifting analytic lines 26:42 – Data ownership and client control 29:26 – Educating companies on the value of intelligence 29:54 – Structuring human-AI analytic teams 33:13 – Will government adopt this next? 35:07 – Where the industry is headed 36:57 – Early movers and the future of decision-making 38:39 – Why organizational culture still matters 39:15 – Closing thoughts Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- 3 weeks ago38 min
Why America Stopped Thinking About the Future with Ari Wallach
Futurist Ari Wallach joins Intel at the Edge to discuss why the U.S. government canceled its long-range forecasting program — and what it costs us. From scenario planning and megatrends to AI, loneliness, and narrative warfare, Wallach makes the case for embedding foresight into how America thinks and acts. Wallach is the founder of Long Path Labs and the former host of the PBS television series A Brief History of the Future. He has advised the Department of State, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and consulted on strategic foresight — the discipline of mapping not just what is likely to happen, but what could happen, and how to recognize the early signals that tell you which future is taking shape. Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- Jun 17, 202639 min
Inside the US-UK Intelligence Partnership with Gen. Tim Haugh & Sir Jeremy Fleming
In this episode of “Intel at the Edge”, former NSA Director General Tim Haugh and former GCHQ Director Sir Jeremy Fleming sit down for a rare, candid conversation about one of the most consequential intelligence relationships in the world. From the wartime roots at Bletchley Park to the age of AI and quantum computing, they explore how the US-UK signals intelligence alliance has evolved over 80+ years — and what it must do to stay ahead of an increasingly complex threat landscape. Topics covered: The origins of the NSA-GCHQ SIGINT partnership How AI is transforming intelligence work China, cyber threats, and the scale of modern adversaries Space, climate change, and emerging national security domains The critical role of private sector partnerships Advice for the next generation of intelligence leaders Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- Jun 3, 202634 min
Why Supply Chain Blind Spots Are a National Security Problem
From rare earth minerals to nitrocellulose, Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels warns that invisible vulnerabilities in America's supply chains pose serious national security risks. He also makes the case for smarter public-private partnerships and AI-driven tools to close the gap before adversaries exploit it. Recorded at the AI+ Expo, Daniels draws on his experience leading one of the world's most advanced supply chain intelligence platforms to argue that the U.S. must move beyond reactive policy and invest in proactive visibility. Additionally, he shares a candid and measured assessment of where generative AI stands today — acknowledging its promise for workforce augmentation while cautioning that complex, large-scale applications still require significant human engineering talent. Topics: National Security, Critical Minerals, Public-Private Partnerships, China Competition, Supply Chain Resilience Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- May 20, 202629 min
How Israel uses AI for Intelligence & Why It's Not Enough with Amos Lahav
In this episode of "Intel at the Edge", host Chip Usher is joined by Amos Lahav, founder of Airis Labs, to examine one of the most consequential questions in modern defense: what happens when AI becomes the backbone of intelligence collection and battlefield targeting? Drawing on hard lessons from the October 7th intelligence failure, the rise of systems like Gospel, and the growing threat of adversarial AI, Lahav offers a firsthand account of how the technology is changing — and sometimes failing — the people who depend on it most. Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
- Apr 22, 202632 min
Is AI Actually Useful for Intelligence Analysis? with Wayne McCool & Bruce Frost
Two senior CIA veterans — Wayne McCool, former Associate Deputy Director for Analysis, and Bruce Frost of "Rhombus Power" — cut through the hype. They discuss how AI is being used inside the intelligence community today, what the real limitations are, and what the future of all-source analysis looks like. 0:00:10 — Introduction & Context 0:01:24 — Panel Introductions: Wayne McCool & Bruce Frost 0:02:28 — AI as a "Silver Bullet"? Where It's Delivering Real Value 0:05:39 — Rhombus Power's Approach: Empowering the Analyst 0:06:55 — Predicting Threats: Undersea Cables & Satellites 0:08:20 — Building Trust in AI: Human-in-the-Loop at CIA 0:09:48 — Experiment Widely, Adopt Specifically 0:11:09 — The Sourcing Problem: Can You Cite AI in Intelligence Products? 0:13:02 — Trust & Model Auditability: A Decade-Long Journey 0:14:26 — Defining Good Analysis in an AI-Augmented World 0:15:56 — Speed to Insight & the Data Overload Problem 0:18:09 — The Repeatability Problem with LLMs 0:19:32 — Retrieval-Augmented Generation & Managing Hallucinations 0:21:12 — Analyst Skepticism as a Core Tradecraft Skill 0:22:43 — Curating Data: Giving Analysts Control Over Outputs 0:24:39 — The Human Side: Will AI Replace Analyst Expertise? 0:25:46 — Automation Bias & the Risk of Eroding Critical Thinking 0:27:46 — How AI Is Changing the Editing & Review Process 0:29:07 — The Future Role of the Reviewer 0:29:52 — AI as a Training & Feedback Tool for Junior Analysts 0:31:09 — What Does the Analytic Team of the Future Look Like? 0:32:06 — Closing Thoughts & Final Takeaways Intel at the Edge Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.
About Intel at the Edge
Where technology meets intelligence. Intel at the Edge is a podcast by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), hosted by Chip Usher, Senior Director for Intelligence. Chip explores the latest innovations transforming the intelligence community with experts who are shaping the future of national security.
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