All Quiet on the Second Front

Latest Episodes:

119. Building a Cyber Force That Can Keep Up with Katherine Sutton (Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy, DoW) May 12, 2026

Show notes

Cyber isn’t just a compliance problem anymore.

It’s operational. It’s persistent. And it’s moving faster than the systems built to manage it.

Katherine Sutton (Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy and the Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of War) joins Tyler Sweatt to talk about keeping pace across policy, technology, training, experimentation, and most importantly - the people.

What’s happening on the Second Front:

Why cyber can’t be treated as a compliance exercise anymore
The real bottleneck to adopting new technology (and it’s not the tech)
How to get capability into operators’ hands faster
Rethinking talent, training, and career paths in the cyber force
Why incremental change won’t keep up—and what transformation actually requires

Connect with Katherine Sutton

LinkedIn: Katherine Sutton

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

118. Understanding Government Demand with John Price, Founder and CEO of Highground Apr 21, 2026

Show notes

John Price, Founder and CEO of Highground, has worked across special operations, the Senate, and private markets. Now, he’s focused on helping investors and builders understand what the government actually wants and how it buys.

He joins Tyler Sweatt to break down how demand shows up, where teams misread it, and how to identify where real programs—and real money—actually sit.

What’s happening on the Second Front

How government demand actually shows up, and why it’s often misread
What separates real opportunities from noise in defense markets
How investors and operators evaluate where to place bets
Where founders lose time (and how to move earlier in the process)
Making the system more predictable instead of relying on luck

Connect with John

LinkedIn: John Price

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

117. Infrastructure at the Edge of Everywhere with Armada, Microsoft, and DISA Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Today, Armada is opening its first Galleon Experience Center in Washington, DC.

A live environment showcasing what it actually takes to run AI at the edge—bringing together ruggedized infrastructure, cloud, and secure software deployment. With 2F Frontier as part of the stack, extending DevSecOps to disconnected, real-world environments.

And with Offset 2026 right around the corner, it felt like the right time to revisit a timely conversation from last year.

On the Offset stage, Tyler Sweatt, Pradeep Nair (Armada), Leigh Madden (Microsoft), and Korie Seville (DISA) got into:

The gap between data and decision at the edge
What breaks between connectivity, compute, and deployment
Why speed to mission still comes down to authorization

And if you want to be part of where this is going next, register for Offset 2026.

______

From oil platforms to special‑ops posts, cloud infrastructures are now being deployed in environments they weren’t initially designed for. This panel explores how customized edge architectures and commercial integrations orchestrate distributed services and securely manage intermittent connectivity. All while addressing ongoing challenges in latency, interoperability, and standardization to deliver resilient, mission‑critical private clouds.

Connect with the speakers:

116. AI, Trust, and the Cognitive Battlefield with Igor Jablokov Mar 24, 2026

Show notes

Are we even having an honest conversation about AI?

Right now the public discourse seems to bounce between two extremes: AI will save the world and AI will destroy the world.

Neither is particularly helpful.

The more interesting questions are things like: Why is there so much distrust of AI? How should governments actually think about adoption? And how can technology shorten the distance between knowledge and decision-making?

In this episode of All Quiet on the Second Front, Tyler Sweatt sits down with Igor Jablokov, Chairman & Founder of Pyron to unpack the conversation we should probably be having about AI, trust, and the future of technology.

Connect with Igor

LinkedIn: Igor Jablokov

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

115. Andrew Vanderhoof, Director of DAF CLOUDworks at AFRL Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

Winning a contract isn’t the same as deploying capability.

This week, Andrew Vanderhoof (Director of DAF CLOUDworks at AFRL) joins Tyler to talk about what actually happens between “award” and “operational.”

They cover:

Getting commercial software into classified environments
Why OTAs and zero-dollar agreements matter
The real weight carried by DAOs and AOs
Scaling innovation without breaking trust
And why the timeline is now weeks to months — not years

If you care about commercial-first actually meaning something, this one’s for you.

Connect with Andrew

LinkedIn: Andrew Vanderhoof

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

114. Derek Hoyt, Co-Founder of GovSignals Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

Government contracting moves $750B+ a year.

But the system still runs on PDFs, spreadsheets, and human bottlenecks.

This week, Derek Hoyt — CEO & Co-Founder of GovSignals — joins Tyler to talk about what happens when you aim AI directly at procurement.

They dig into:

Why contracting shops are gutted but the dollars keep growing
The hidden cost of B&P burn inside defense companies
Why most new defense startups underestimate procurement
How shrinking a 30-day cycle to a week changes everything
And what it would take to move from risk-averse to risk-on

Connect with Derek

LinkedIn: Derek Hoyt

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

113. Sir Tom Copinger-Symes, Former Deputy Commander of UK's Cyber & Specialist Command (CSOC) Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

If we want to win the next fight, we have to outlearn first.

This week, Tyler sits down with Sir Tom Copinger-Symes, former Deputy Commander of UK's Cyber & Specialist Command (CSOC), to talk about the hard shift from infantry officer to cyber leader — and what that journey reveals about where defense is behind.

What’s happening on the second front:

Industrial-age systems in an information-age world
Why cyber and electronic warfare are decisive
Why recruitment is a flow problem, not a patriotism problem
The cognitive battlefield shaping outcomes every day
And what dialing up risk really means

No backbone → no speed.

No speed → no advantage.

Connect with Sir Tom Copinger-Symes

LinkedIn: Sir Tom Copinger-Symes

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

112. Brian MacCarthy, Managing Partner at Booz Allen Ventures Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

This week on All Quiet on the Second Front, Tyler sits down with Brian MacCarthy to talk about why defense innovation keeps getting stuck between good ideas and real delivery. They dig into why the ecosystem keeps confusing motion with progress, and what it takes to get past pilots and into production.

What’s Happening on the Second Front:

Why capital without execution doesn’t move the mission
The real friction slowing commercial tech adoption in government
Culture change as the hardest (and most necessary) battleground
Why “prime vs. neoprime” misses the point
What it actually takes to move from pilots to scaled impact

Connect with Brian

LinkedIn: Brian MacCarthy

Connect with Tyler

LinkedIn: Tyler Sweatt

111. Bill Wall, CEO of Accrete AI Government Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Leaving the uniform doesn’t mean leaving your identity behind.

In this episode of All Quiet on the Second Front, Tyler Sweatt sits down with Bill Wall — former Green Beret, JSOC veteran, and CEO of Accrete AI Government — to talk about transition, purpose, and why the skills forged in special operations translate far beyond the battlefield.

What's happening on the Second Front:

How military frameworks like F3EA translate directly to business growth
Why identity loss — not skills — is the hardest part of leaving the uniform
What it really takes to drive innovation inside institutions that resist change
How AI is maturing inside government, and where it actually delivers value
The role of risk tolerance and financial resilience in post-military success
Why meaningful progress rarely comes from easy or comfortable answers

110. Brad Carson, President of Americans for Responsible Innovation (Former DoD & U.S. Congress) Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of All Quiet on the Second Front, Tyler sits down with former US Congressman Brad Carson to examine one perspective in the evolving debate around AI governance, public trust, and national security.

Brad brings decades of experience across government, academia, and policy, having served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and in senior Department of Defense leadership roles. He is now President of Americans for Responsible Innovation, where he focuses on AI policy and public trust.

The conversation explores frontier AI risks, innovation versus regulation, and the tradeoffs policymakers face as public skepticism around AI continues to grow.

What’s happening on the Second Front: