The Defense Tech Underground

Dan Berkenstock is an entrepreneur, aerospace engineer, and Stanford PhD who co-founded Skybox Imaging, a satellite imaging company acquired by Google in 2014. He is a Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, focusing on space and defense policy research and recommendations. Dan sits on several boards of venture-backed aerospace start-ups and teaches aerospace entrepreneurship in the Stanford Schoo...

Dr. Jeff Decker is managing director of the Technology Transition for Defense Program and co-instructor of Hacking for Defense at Stanford University. Before academia, Jeff served in the U.S. Army as a 2nd Ranger Battalion light infantry squad leader in Iraq and Afghanistan. After, he received his PhD in International Relations and went on to teach at Stanford.

On this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, Dr. Decker discusses h...

Representative Rob Wittman is a Republican representing Virginia’s 1st Congressional district in the US House of Representatives. Representative Pat Ryan is a Democrat representing New York’s 18th Congressional district, and is a former Army intelligence officer who deployed to Iraq.  Together, they formed the House Modernization Caucus, driving key policies in national security innovation.

On this episode of the Defense Tech Under...

On this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, RADM (ret.) Wyman Howard - the former commander of the elite Navy Special Warfare Group and later the entire SEAL community - shares leadership lessons learned from his 32 years as a naval officer. He dives into the changing nature of warfare, crafting the SEAL brand with lessons from Louis Vuitton, and the importance of technical innovation in near-peer competition. 

Wyman Howard is...

John Goodson is the co-founder and CEO of Darkhive, an early stage drone startup based in San Antonio, TX. John served from 2007-2016 in the United States Navy, primarily as a combat technician supporting the West coast SEAL Teams. John completed 4 tours of duty in Afghanistan and received multiple awards, including the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V" Valor designator. After separating from active duty, John joined CTI and ...

Raj Shah is a former US Air Force F-16 pilot and was the head of the Defense Innovation Unit, Experimental.  He now leads Shield Capital, an early stage venture capital firm investing in technologies that will secure America’s future.  Raj is the author of Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War. 

In this episode of the Defense Tech Underground, we discuss Raj’s journey from small town Georgia...

Trae Stephens is the co-founder and executive chairman of Anduril, and partner at Founder’s Fund.  After fighting his way into Georgetown University, Trae began his career working in Congressman Rob Portman’s office and at the Embassy of Afghanistan to the United States.  He went on to work at Palantir and then found defense tech juggernaut Anduril, which raised a $1.5B fundraising round at a $14B valuation this month.

In this epis...

Nand Mulchandani joined the Central Intelligence Agency as its first-ever Chief Technology officer in 2022, but his career started a long way from Langley.  With degrees from Cornell, Harvard, and Stanford, he spent more than 25 years in tech as a serial entrepreneur and senior executive.  He then served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC)...

Michèle Flournoy served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012 where she was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. With decades in defense policy, Michèle has led and advised many critical national security innovation entities, i...

Steve Blank came to Silicon Valley after serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. Over nearly six decades, he witnessed the advent of the internet, built multiple companies, and developed “the scientific method for entrepreneurship” - the lean startup methodology.  Steve then applied all he had learned as an entrepreneur to a new form of service to the country, building the Hacking for Defense program that is now taught at ...