On today’s Technology Report podcast, sponsored by Elbit America, Scott Sloan, the president of Stratascorp Technologies, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his commentary on the AFCEA website — “Data Won’t Solve Everything, But It Will Help: Interdepartmental data-sharing could be a game-changer for the future of the maritime industrial base workforce” — how to leverage data to more thoughtfully address workforce challenges; the importance of structuring data collection systems with sharing in mind; engineering data systems to ensure collaboration across government and industry; roles of artificial intelligence and machine learning in data collection and analysis; how to scale recruiting beyond the maritime industry to also include air, land, space, and cyber fields; opportunities and challenges as the Trump administration implements the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification approach to improve cybersecurity.

On today’s Technology Podcast, sponsored by Elbit America, Justin Sherman, the founder of Global Cyber Strategies advisory firm and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his new report for the Center for Naval Analyses — “Hacking and Firewalls Under Siege: Russia’s Cyber Industry During the War on Ukraine (https://www.cna.org/reports/2025/08/Hacking-and-Firewalls-Under-Seige.pdf)” — the nature of the cyber war between Russia and Ukraine; the role of Russian state, corporate and general public actors in advancing Moscow’s tactical and strategic aims from offensive cyber actions to hacking and information operations; the government’s role in controlling these actors; how many have been sanctioned; the impact of Kaspersky’s role in support of the Russian government and how that’s impacting the company’s global business; analysis of Russia’s “Secret Blizzard” operation against foreign embassies by exploiting a Microsoft vulnerability; cyber lessons from Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia; and  happens to efforts to counter Russian in cyberspace when Washington normalizes relations with Moscow.

On today’s Technology Report podcast, Dr. Jim Lewis, a distinguished fellow with the Tech Policy Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss President Trump’s new strategy to maintain America’s artificial intelligence lead against rising competitors; status of the Stargate Project AI effort launched by the administration in January; whether cuts to technology investment accounts impacting US government, academic and industry research will undermine efforts to preserve America’s technological leadership; data rights in an AI age; quantum computing and communications as the US Air Force prepares to launch Boeing’s X-37B spaceplane on it’s eight mission to test laser communication and quantum positioning technologies that are jam proof; China’s hack of Microsoft’s SharePoint servers that hold top secret US data including from the National Nuclear Security Administration that oversees America’s nuclear weapons; the administration’s cybersecurity strategy and how cuts across government will impact security; and an analysis of the latest version of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification that will soon be adopted by the Pentagon to improve industrial base cybersecurity.

On today’s Technology Report, David Schild, the executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the Trump administration’s approach to bolstering the US printed circuit board industry; impact of tariffs and thoughtful policies on bolstering the entire PCB ecosystem; role of Congress; impact of science and technology funding cuts; and striking the right regulatory balance that protects the environment while allowing necessary facilities to be built more quickly.

On today’s Technology Report, Bryan Clark, the director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at the Hudson Institute think tank, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss President Trump’s plan to build an “Iron Dome” over America to defend against air and missile threats; what would be required to protect the nation; what areas would be protected and where not; how much such a system would cost; how effective it would be; the tradeoffs Americans would have to make in terms of diminished connectivity as bandwidth is shifted from commercial wireless cell and data services are shifted to powerful air and missile defense radar installations nationwide; and how adversaries would adapt to these new defense systems, including through novel means of delivering nuclear weapons including long-range unmanned underwater systems.

On today’s show, Jay Meil, the vice president for artificial intelligence and data analytics and the chief data officer at SAIC, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss US AI capabilities in comparison to adversaries and the key to remaining ahead in a global race, abilitiesm, what constitutes AI, how it differs from machine learning, better gathering in standardized and usable form the vast amounts of data the Pentagon produces, whether the DoD should be developing its own AI capabilities of become a smarter buyer of the technology from commercial industry, how to get AI to the edge and be usable in emission denied environments, and more.

On today’s Technology Report, David Schild, the executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, discusses proposed Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates legislation as part of the tax reconciliation package that would cut taxes on printed circuit boards and substrates by 25 percent, the case for supporting an industry that left the United States in search of lower production costs, and the association’s 2025 agenda; and Dr. Charles Middleton, the chief technology officer at Critical Frequency Design, discusses the role of photonics technologies that promise to revolutionize military communications, the company’s Free Space Optics (FSO) communications solution that was recently tested under the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division’s Silent Swarm 2024 exercise, the future of the technology, and the outlook of the company as it seeks to navigate the Valley of Death with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.