Jason Brown: "Software and data are the weapons that matter most"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Jason Brown atop Arlington Tower in Virginia. Washington landmarks are seen behind him. Photo: Colin Demarest/Axios
Jason Brown, general manager of Applied Intuition Defense, doesn't want the national security world to lose sight of a precious resource: a talented workforce.
Why it matters: New guns and things that go boom often attract the most eyes. But when "we look at what matters most, it still comes down to people, then ideas, then technology," Brown told Axios during a Q&A at the company's offices in Virginia.
- "All that said, technology certainly influences ideas and people."
Q: When you hear "future of defense," what comes to mind?
A: Software and data are the weapons that matter most. I actually said that five years ago to a room full of generals and admirals, and I got a look that was interesting and inquisitive by most, and then one admiral actually said, "Well, they're not weapons."
- When we consider ransomware and cyberattacks and, fundamentally, where AI is going, the idea that software and data aren't weapons themselves, I think, is shortsighted.
Q: When will wars be waged solely by robots?
A: The answer is either never or when humans are no longer around and robots are fighting themselves. Humans leverage technology as tools, and sometimes technology drives human behavior, but war is still very much a human endeavor.
- Robots and autonomous systems are clearly, however, becoming more prevalent and more relevant to competitive advantage.
Q: What region of the world should we be watching? Why?
A: If you ever take your eye off the Middle East, you're going to pay for it.
- In my long career in national security, every time we've wanted to take our eye off the Middle East, every time we thought we were doing something that would allow us to take our eye off the Middle East, maybe even in the long term, it's been foolish or shortsighted or just out of touch with the reality of that region and the fact that many long-standing issues are nowhere close to being resolved.
Q: How many emails do you get a day, and how do you deal with them?
A: Very few, because our company is obsessed with Slack.
- There are more Slack messages in my system than there are atoms in the universe.
Q: What's your secret to a successful overnight flight?
A: Don't take it. I'm in California between two and four times a month, and unless I absolutely have to, I avoid red eyes and I get on a daytime flight.
- I take Alaska Airlines because the internet works. It's a direct five-hour flight back and forth, and I get into such a state of flow. This happened to me yesterday, actually — I didn't want the flight to end.
Q: What's a piece of gear or tech you can't go without?
A: Gemini. You could say the same about ChatGPT. I'm using large language models mostly for understanding technology in detail and understanding terms and concepts I may not have before.
- Even if it's not right, even if it's off base, it sparks new ideas. I'm using it constantly, all the time. I rarely ever use it to write.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: Write more, because you do your best thinking when you're writing. I did a lot of writing in the early part of my career.
- Now, most of my intellectual capacity is focused on teaching as an adjunct at Georgetown University, where that is my outlet, where putting that content together for those students really forces me to think about things in new and different ways.
- There's no downside to trying to regularly put out quality content, whether it's blogs, whether it's actual articles that you publish. Write more, for sure.
