Intel at the Edge

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.