NatSec Tech

Data has been called the new oil, but for AI, power may be the real bottleneck. In this episode of NatSec Tech, host Jeanne Meserve is joined by Jennifer Obernier, CEO of Gristmill Exchange, to discuss why commercial data, not just government-collected intelligence, is now central to national security. 

Obernier explains how a century of stovepiped, agency-by-agency data acquisition is giving way to shared infrastructure that lets the US and its allies buy exactly the data they need, at the speed missions demand, and why nations that master data velocity, not just data volume, will hold the real edge over rivals like China.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

In this episode of NatSec Tech, host Jeanne Meserve is joined by Aliya Haq, President of Clean Econ, to discuss why "speed to power" may be the biggest constraint on America's ability to win the AI race. Haq breaks down why the century-old U.S. electric grid, with roughly 1.3 terawatts of capacity, is struggling to keep pace with surging demand, and how China has added that same amount of capacity in just three years.

They discuss the two terawatts of energy projects stuck in interconnection queues, why hyperscalers are resorting to building their own power plants "behind the meter," the political battle over renewables versus fossil fuels under the current administration, and the growing case for next-generation nuclear technology.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Conflict no longer requires troops or tanks. Increasingly, authoritarian regimes wage war through cyberattacks, disinformation, election interference, sabotaged infrastructure, and even weaponized migration, deniable tools designed to catch open societies off guard and erode trust from within. In this episode, we ask: As AI supercharges these hybrid threats, can the world's democracies build the resilience to withstand them? 

Dr. Teija Tiilikainen joins NatSec Tech from Helsinki to share her perspective on hybrid warfare and how democracies can defend themselves. Teija is Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and previously served as Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and as State Secretary at Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

She explains why hybrid attacks are so hard to detect and attribute, how Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea use them to test Western vulnerabilities, why AI currently favors the attacker, and why broad societal resilience, education, and public-private cooperation may be democracy's best defense.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Disinformation has always shadowed elections, but artificial intelligence now lets bad actors produce it at a scale and speed never seen before. With the midterms approaching and government election-security agencies diminished, the question grows urgent: Can the same technology fueling the threat also be used to defend against it? 

Mark Murray joins NatSec Tech to share his perspective on AI, disinformation, and election integrity. Mark is Editorial Director at OpenAI and previously served as senior political editor at NBC News. Drawing on decades covering elections and his work at the frontier of AI, he explains how AI can empower both bad actors and good ones, how tools like digital watermarking and verification aim to combat deepfakes, and why he's confident the midterms can still be free and fair.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.

Disinformation has always shadowed elections, but artificial intelligence now lets bad actors produce it at a scale and speed never seen before. With the midterms approaching and government election-security agencies diminished, the question grows urgent: Can the same technology fueling the threat also be used to defend against it? 

Mark Murray joins NatSec Tech to share his perspective on AI, disinformation, and election integrity. Mark is Editorial Director at OpenAI and previously served as senior political editor at NBC News. Drawing on decades covering elections and his work at the frontier of AI, he explains how AI can empower both bad actors and good ones, how tools like digital watermarking and verification aim to combat deepfakes, and why he's confident the midterms can still be free and fair.

NatSec Tech is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.