In the final episode of our Disruptive by Design: Intelligence Edition, guest host Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Bob Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and current member of AFCEA's Intelligence Committee, leads a conversation on agentic AI and the future of intelligence analysis.

Featuring:

Neil Wiley, former U.S. Navy officer who held prominent roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Linda Wiessgold, former Central Intelligence Agency officer and intelligence briefer to President George W. Bush. CIA’s Deputy Director for Analysis from 2020 to 2023. Now teaches at Texas A&M’s Bush School and serves on the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation board.

Staffan Truvé, CTO and Co-Founder of Recorded Future. He has co-founded more than 15 research-based technology startups. From 2005 to 2009, he was the CEO of the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS).

In this special episode of Disruptive by Design: Intelligence Edition, guest host Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Bob Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and current member of AFCEA's Intelligence Committee, leads a candid, high-level conversation on one of the most consequential shifts in modern warfare: the rise of autonomy and artificial intelligence.Joined by two leading voices in the field, Paul Scharre, executive vice president at CNAS and author of Four Battlegrounds, and retired Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, former director of the Pentagon’s Joint AI Center, the discussion cuts through hype to explore what autonomy really means on the battlefield today—and where it’s headed.Grounded in real operational experience and policy insight, this special episode offers a sober, nuanced look at how AI is transforming the character of war—and why getting the human-machine balance right will define the future of global security.Stay tuned for the third and final episode in this series released on June 29.

AFCEA International’s Intelligence Committee takes over the Disruptive by Design podcast for a special intelligence 3-part series exploring the technologies and challenges shaping national security.

In this first episode, guest host Ret. Lt. Gen. Bob Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, dives into the rapidly evolving world of quantum technology and its implications for intelligence, defense and global competition. We've heard on repeat that AI is going to change everything, but we haven't heard too much conversation about quantum. Quantum is no longer theoretical—it’s approaching a tipping point. Ashley sits down with two leading experts to unpack what quantum really means for national security, from breaking encryption to reshaping warfare. As breakthroughs accelerate and that global competition—especially with China—intensifies, the panel explores why the next 3–5 years could define who leads in this high‑stakes technology race, and what happens if the United States falls behind.

Tune in as Ashley is joined by Dr. Costanza Vidal Bustamante, fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, and Dr. Mihir Bhaskar, senior vice president for global research and development at IonQ.