Lt. Gen. (ret.) Mike Dana on AI Vulnerability Maps for Contested Environments

Lieutenant General (ret.) Mike Dana believes the biggest impediment to defense innovation isn't technology limitations but institutional processes that prioritize compliance over speed. Mike advocates for acquisition restructuring to match the pace of modern threats where visibility equals vulnerability.

 

Dana's approach combines operational urgency with practical relationship building. His Pacific theater insights reveal why future conflicts require logistics webs rather than supply chains, with AI systems optimizing force distribution while unmanned platforms deliver sustainment across contested terrain.

 

Topics Discussed:

• Why traditional acquisition processes cannot match the speed of modern threat evolution.
• How successful defense companies translate complex technical capabilities into operational language.
• Why staff members who inform senior leadership often matter more than the principals themselves.
• Why Pacific theater logistics requires web-based rather than chain-based sustainment networks.
• The Ukraine conflict's demonstration that simple, disposable platforms often outperform complex systems where survivability depends on not being detected.
• How simultaneity of attacks across cyber, space, and conventional domains could overwhelm even AI-enhanced decision-making systems without redundant backup capabilities.
• The transformation from World War II supply chains to modern logistics meshes that can regenerate and move sustainment rapidly between dispersed forward positions.
• Why man-machine teaming requires understanding cognitive processing limits and creating AI platforms that enhance rather than overwhelm human decision-making capacity.
• The critical importance of logistics command and control systems that integrate with operational networks rather than functioning as isolated support tools.
• How China's electrical capacity advantage over the United States creates strategic vulnerabilities for AI-dependent military systems requiring high energy consumption.