FUTURE STATE

With the release of her new book, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, we revisit our fantastic discussion with Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Rice reflects on watching America’s power on the global stage be washed away by an American president, her time in the service of the US government, and the some of the other experiences that inform her new book.

Listen to the some of the best clips from Future State Season 2. This Bonus episode includes conversations with former members of cabinet, technologists, leading scientists, and other experts at the forefront of technology, politics, and national security. Dick Clarke talks to these experts about Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, defense and diplomacy, cyber security, climate change, human genome engineering, and much more. If you enjoy these clips and would like to hear the full conversation, all of Season 1 and 2 episodes are available online at www.futurestatepodcast.com and wherever you stream your podcasts.

In the final episode of the season, we bring you a special live edition of Future State Podcast. Hear host Richard Clarke discuss his latest book "The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats"https://fifthdomainbook.com/https://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Domain-Defending-Companies-Ourselves/dp/052556196XTwitter: @richardclarke

Governor Terry McAuliffe confronted racism in a formerly confederate state, and turned Virginia from red to purple to blue. He was governor when white supremecists and neo-nazis descended on Charlottesville, VA and watched first hand as rioters and protesters clashed in the streets. McAuliffe joins to talk about his new book, Beyond Charlottesville, Taking a Stand Against White Nationalism, that recounts the events that day and how America should move forward against racism. He also discusses his time as Governor, including his economic and legislative success in Virginia and restoring the rights of former felons under strong partisan opposition. Gov. McAuliffe also shares his thoughts in the run up to the 2020 elections, including his view of the Democratic candidates and how the field will likely change over the coming months. All this and more on this week’s Future State. https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Charlottesville-Taking-Against-Nationalism/dp/1250245885https://www.terrymcauliffe.com/Twitter: @TerryMcAuliffe

Eva Galperin is leading the charge to save our civil liberties in cyberspace. On Part 2 of the Future of Privacy and Surveillance, Eva and Dick talk about privacy and security for vulnerable populations around the world, including here in the United States. Eva seeks to take down an industry makes malicious software for monitoring the devices (and lives) of ordinary people. Stalkerware, or spouseware, are programs that can be covertly loaded onto phones and computers of unwitting victims by their abusive spouses, helicopter parents, or nosy employers. She is successfully lobbying the antivirus industry and lawmakers to crackdown on the industry, and recognize its oppressive nature. Eva and Dick also talk about the efforts of governments around the world that use similar tactics to monitor and oppress their own citizens. They discuss how increasingly sophisticated technologies like facial recognition and A.I. are currently unreliable, increasing the likelihood of government abuse of civil liberties.www.eff.org https://www.eff.org/about/staff/eva-galperinTwitter: @evacide

Ashton Carter joins to talk about his tremendous career, decades of public service, and new book Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon.

Jon Callas is a computer security expert, software engineer, user experience designer, and technologist. This week, Callas and Clarke talk about the early days of encryption, where Callas was a major contributor to the field as a co-founder of Pretty Good Privacy software. They discuss government forays into surveillance, like using the clipper chip to secure voice and data messages, as well as the FBI’s attempt to pressure Apple to create software access to iPhones following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. They also discuss the rise in surveillance through facial recognition technology, including Taylor Swift’s security team tracking down stalkers through mass facial recognition at concerts. Overall, they get into the details about the growing capabilities of surveillance state and need for better policies for maintaining privacy under gaze of government surveillance. And the need for more rules and regulations to keep from losing privacy through “a death of a Thousand Cuts.” Twitter: @joncallashttps://www.aclu.org/report/dawn-robot-surveillanceWebsite: FutureStatePodcast.comTwitter: @richardclarkeInstagram: @futurestate

Alperovitch and Knake join host Richard Clarke to discuss current tensions in cyberspace, how companies and the government are (or should be) gaining an edge in defense, and talk about Clarke and Knake's new book, The Fifth Domain.Dmitri AlperovitchCo-Founder and CTO of CrowdStrike IncTwitter: @DAlperovitchRob KnakeAuthor of the Fifth DomainTwitter: @robknakeWebsite: FutureStatePodcast.comInstagram: @FutureState Twitter: @RichardClarke

The promises of Quantum technology could bring revolutionary changes to computing and processing data. And you may not realize it, but quantum computers are already here. Companies like IBM, Google, and Rigetti have created machines that are running algorithms that our laptops would take centuries to process. These algorithms are being merged with other tech like Artificial Intelligence to optimize, for instance, scientific research or modeling the universe. But Quantum also has the potential to completely break long trusted parts of our digital lives. Such as making commercial encryption completely useless for protecting our data and secrets. For those of you that have been looking to get a little more technical in our discussions, this episode won’t disappoint you. Konstantinos does a fantastic job walking us through the Quantum Realm. All this and more on this week’s episode on The Future of Quantum Computing.Websites and Social Media: Twitter - @KonstantHackerhttps://www.protiviti.com/US-en

Simon Rosenberg is a political strategist for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with decades of experience working in multi-platform political campaigns. Rosenberg shares unique insights from the hacking of the Democratic party institutions during the 2016 election. He discusses the tactics used by the Russians that, he asserts, had a determinative effect Donald Trump’s victory. He discusses the evolution of social media disinformation campaigns that impacted the 2018 elections. And how he and his colleagues worked with tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google to combat foreign-source accounts, bots, and trolls online. From these experiences, Rosenberg has ideas on how campaigns, candidates, and the government should be preparing for the next round of interference in the 2020 elections. Websites and Social Media: https://www.ndn.org/ Twitter: @SimonWDC

Christopher Ray the director of the FBI recently said that the Russians are still trying to manipulate our social media and hack their way into our election infrastructure. He said they will certainly be part of the 2020 presidential election campaign. How do we preserve democracy when foreign intelligence services are trying to manipulate it?In the first part of a two part podcast, we talk to Laura Rosenberger how we preserve democracy in the face of attack by foreign states. We discuss how tactics long-perfected by Russia are being used online to sow discord in the US and Europe in the run-up to democratic elections. These tactics are now being used by other authoritarian states like Iran and China, at home and abroad. We discuss the puzzling trend in anti-vaccination movements, and how these communities are being targeted and manipulated by foreign actors to spread new conspiracies. How can ordinary citizens detect when fake accounts are spreading falsehoods and ginning up societal divisions. We expect to see election meddling evolve, what is the government and the public doing to prepare for the 2020 elections? All this and more on this week’s Future State. Websites and Social Media: https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/http://www.gmfus.org/profiles/laura-rosenbergerTitter: @rosenbergerlm

"Isis is defeated," Donald Trump proclaimed. The terrorist group which once controlled a nation the size of England with cities of hundreds of thousands of people has indeed been run out of the cities of Syria and Iraq, but it's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has recently re-appeared on a video vowing vengeance and revenge and claiming credit for the massacre of hundreds of Christians on the island nation of Sri Lanka. What is the future of terrorism? Our guests today discuss trends in terrorism, showing a shift towards populism and localization of jihadist strategy. They talk consequences of US efforts in Syria and Iraq, and differences in the Obama and Trump administrations’ approach to combating terrorism. Our guests also explain how DoD budgets can be manipulated to potentially pay for the Trump administrations southern wall project. All this and more on The Future of Terrorism.

From financial markets to social media to e-commerce, Artificial Intelligence is increasingly integrated into our lives. Amy Webb joins the podcast to discuss the Intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity are now being built by nine powerful companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, IBM, and Apple in the U.S. and Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent in China. While their aims are often altruistic, they’re under pressure for short-term gains instead of long-term contributions, and they are building thinking machines that should, but don’t reflect humanity’s values. Clarke and Webb talk about the concurrent development of AI in countries like China, where government planning and regulation of these technologies is outpacing Western countries. What’s in store for companies, governments, and ordinary citizens, as AI moves from narrow applications, through Artificial General Intelligence. And in the near future, Artificial Super Intelligence - a markedly different level of capability that can “out-think” humans on every level. Learn this and much more on the Future of Artificial Intelligence, on Future State.

Dick Clarke and Ambassador Bill Burns discuss the current state of diplomacy, and its seemingly waning stature in the US foreign policy landscape. Bill Burns spent 32 years as a career Foreign Service Officer. He was the man behind every Secretary of State in recent history. Amb. Burns recounts his unparalleled Foreign Service career from his new book The Back Channel, including undertaking secret diplomatic talks with Libyan and Iranian regimes. They talk about the status of chilly diplomatic relations with adversaries like Russia, China and Iran and where these relations could lead when the diplomacy is no longer used as the weapon of First Resort. They also discuss how the foreign policy establishment and institutions like the State Department should be evolving to meet the needs and expectations of the American public. All this and much more on this week’s episode of Future State.Websites and Social Media:https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/1014https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561709/the-back-channel-by-william-j-burns/9780525508861/Twitter @CarnegieEndow

Dick Clarke and former Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy discuss the near-term and long-term outlook for the United States Department of Defense. With a budget over $700 billion, is the US maintaining military superiority over our adversaries, like Russia and China? Some experts are not convinced. With rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence, unmanned weapons systems, and cyber war, how will Pentagon capabilities and policies change? Is the DoD’s notoriously slow procurement process able to incentivize Silicon Valley companies to produce and field these technologies? What will the future of war look like? All this and much more on this week’s episode of Future State.Websites and Social media: www.WestExec.comhttps://www.cnas.org/Twitter: @micheleflournoy

This week host Richard Clarke sits down with Jamie Metzl, Futurist and Policy Expert, to continue the discussion on the future of gene editing.To find out more about Jamie’s work check out https://jamiemetzl.com or follow him on twitter @jamiemetzl.As always, please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions by reaching out to me @richardclarke and www.richardaclarke.net. You can also preorder my new book “The Fifth Domain” coming out in June on Amazon.And thanks to our sponsors and friends at Cire Travel for helping the host and guests with all their travel needs. Check them out at https://ciretravel.com/

Future State Season 2 - Where technology, national security, and politics come together.In Season 2 of Future State we will be tackling the issues at that intersection of technology, politics, and national security, and we will be talking to some of the most fascinating people on the front lines.The issues that will shape our future are technical and most of us don’t know enough about them. Issues like gene editing and bio-engineering, artificial intelligence, cyber war, quantum computing, nuclear proliferation, the new face of terrorism, and the accelerating pace of climate change.Future State is looking at who and what is shaping tomorrow, today. Join us for Season 2 of Future State starting April 8th.

President Trump’s actions are a risk to the Constitution, but we’re all growing increasingly numb to the threats. What can we do to defend this sacrosanct document?

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe discusses the transformation of the U.S. economy and what policymakers need to do to ensure that the middle class can prosper.

Congressman Seth Moulton speaks on what it means to be a veteran on Capitol Hill, and on recruiting more to run. We look at how the U.S. prioritizes defense spending, and talk about whether we’re doing enough to support veterans.

Cyber experts Rob Knake and Eric Rosenbach speak on the ability of political actors to conduct foreign policy in the cyber domain. We look at the impacts that we have seen so far on infrastructure and the election system, how we can thwart future attempts on our digital democracy, and how we can prevent a full-fledged cyber war.

Fred Kaplan and David Schwartz, preeminent experts on nuclear strategy, discuss the reemergence of the nuclear threat and where we go from here.

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, two award winning investigative journalists, talk about the dangers of a President waging a war on the media.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sits down to speak on the parallels of modern day nationalism to the fascism that threatened Western democracy in the 1930’s. Do we have to worry about the rise of fascism?

Former Ambassador Wendy Sherman illuminates the past and present of U.S.-Iran and U.S.-North Korea relations, whether there exists a path for peace, and how we get there.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor Susan Rice reflects on watching America’s power on the global stage be washed away by an American president.

America’s greatest political analyst—President Bill Clinton—speaks on the 2018 election, cyber war, and more.

Two people who have led America’s efforts against terrorism—Nick Rasmussen and Michael Sheehan—address the current threat and when and how it will end.

During the course of the election campaign this fall, we're going to talk about the issues. We're not going to talk about the races, the numbers, the polls. We're going to talk about the issues we think voters should be thinking about before they vote. And we're going to be doing it with some of the nation's leading experts. People like Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Susan Rice, Wendy Sherman, Seth Moulton and others. We're going to talk about issues like terrorism, the President's assault on the media, the Iranian nuclear deal, North Korea, and cyber war. We're talking about the most important issues of our time. Richard A. Clarke served the last three Presidents as a senior White House Advisor holding the titles of Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs, National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism, and Special Advisor to the President for Cyber Security.Future State begins September 10th.