Breaking Point with David Zere - December 13, 2025

Summary

Breaking Point with David Zere – December 13, 2025

Podcast: Real America’s Voice
Host: David Zere
Date: December 13, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this dynamic and wide-ranging episode, host David Zere explores the shifting landscape of American commercial real estate and the evolving U.S. defense and national security ecosystem. Zere welcomes Ann Hambly (First Service Solutions) for an insider’s analysis of the challenges and future of commercial real estate, then speaks with El Todd Wood (CDM Press) about Christian demographics and geopolitics in the Middle East, aggressive moves by Turkey, and overlooked Christian communities worldwide. Finally, Zere provides an inside look at the U.S. Navy’s Rapid Capabilities Office with exclusive interviews from the Washington Navy Yard, highlighting the drive for public-private innovation, rapid acquisition, and “Trump time” decision-making to counter modern threats.

---

Key Segments & Insights

1. State of Commercial Real Estate — Ann Hambly

[01:16 – 11:24]

Main Discussion Points

• Hambly and Zere both have nearly four decades of experience and discuss how the industry is a bellwether for broader economic trends.
• Massive Debt Maturity Looms:
  • Approx. $5 trillion in U.S. commercial real estate debt exists, with half maturing in the next three years.
  • “A good chunk of that is not going to be refinanceable. So something has to be done.” – Ann Hambly [04:29]
• Foreclosures and Ownership Changes:
  • Anticipated rise in foreclosures and transitions as older owners walk away rather than refinance unfavorably.
  • "We're also looking at a lot of just changing of hands… That doesn't mean that I'm going to necessarily get it foreclosed on. I might sell it to someone." – Ann Hambly [05:19]
• Retail and Office Space Upheaval:
  • Permanent behavioral shifts—online shopping, remote work—are repurposing malls into warehouses or medical facilities and converting office buildings to residential or mixed use.
  • “Malls are just not relevant as much. Right. Office, same.” – Ann Hambly [06:16]
• Industrial/Manufacturing Upside:
  • Industrial property is the “darling” of commercial real estate due to ongoing need for warehousing, especially as U.S. manufacturing returns.

Notable Quotes

• “If you got a loan today in 2025, the lender has to make sure that they know what you're going to do to pay their loan off in 2035. Well, that’s what’s happening now…” – Ann Hambly [04:29]
• "If you have a problem property, or want to invest opportunistically, this is a great time to look." – Ann Hambly [09:34]
• “By the way, I didn’t buy this in a store, I bought this tie online.” – David Zere [11:00]

Resources

• Ann Hambly offers free consultations for commercial real estate owners/investors: 1stss.com or call 817-756-7227 [10:43]

---

2. Pentagon & Middle East Geopolitics — El Todd Wood

[14:17 – 25:33]

Main Discussion Points

• Background:
  • Wood is a former Air Force special operations pilot (MH53J), former Wall Street banker, and now investigative journalist/founder of CDM Press.
  • Both attended recent “New Media Week” at the Pentagon, emphasizing transparency and access under new policies.
• Middle East—Lebanon as a Christian Enclave Under Threat:
  • Lebanon’s Christian population declined from 70% in the 1970s to a marginalized minority today due to orchestrated demographic changes (Palestinian influx, Syrian civil war, funding from outside NGOs).
  • “It was really the only Christian country in the Middle East… Now you have Syrian Sunni refugees that are in Lebanon and they won't go back… It's changing the demographic and economic balance.” – El Todd Wood [17:45]
• Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Ambitions:
  • Turkey is actively seeking to expand influence, particularly by supporting Sunni migrations and controlling militant groups in the region.
  • “They’re reestablishing this power structure… their fingerprints are all over the place.” – El Todd Wood [19:51]
• Policy Blind Spots:
  • U.S. policies over decades have often overlooked or harmed Christian communities (examples: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Armenia).
  • “If you look back over American policy, the consequence is always the destruction of Christian communities, unfortunately.” – El Todd Wood [21:07]

Notable Quotes

• “Why are we listening to everybody but the Christians? That's my point. They are being ignored on purpose, and it's really hurting them.” – El Todd Wood [19:51]
• “There was a video the other day where they attacked a monastery with chainsaws and then beat all the priests inside. This is an attack on the Christian church in Ukraine.” – El Todd Wood [22:11]

Follow & Learn More

• CDM Press for global investigations: cdm.press
• Follow Todd Wood: @RealLToddWood, @CDM_Press [23:28]

---

3. Navy Modernization & Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)

[27:17 – 51:57]

Pentagon & Navy Department Highlights

a) Urgency of Modernization

• U.S. Navy faces fast-evolving threats: missile attacks near the Harry S. Truman, cyber/AI challenges, and rapid Chinese naval expansion.
• “We had a missile come near us in the Red Sea… You’ve got a lot of emerging threats out there.” – David Zere [27:17]
• Trump administration’s push for accelerated, innovative defense acquisition—now being codified under the NDAA.

b) Exclusive Interviews from Rapid Capabilities Office Launch

• Patrick George (Senior Advisor to the Navy Assistant Secretary):

  • "Everything is getting aligned for the first time in a long time… We're doing deals differently and we need you [private industry]." [31:29–32:10]
  • Palantir partnership highlighted for AI-driven shipbuilding (Ship OS); first time public and private shipyards are connected on this scale.
  • “We want to share that risk with [private sector]. We’ll bet on ourselves as entrepreneurs… Protecting taxpayer dollars, rewarding our winners.” [33:47]

• Andrew Maglia Chetty (Director, Small Business Operations):

  • New attitude at the Navy—making it easier for startups and VCs to work with, focusing on “real time” readiness.
  • “The superpower of the RCO is that we cut that red tape and… make things happen quickly. People making the decisions are three stars and above.” [38:16]
  • Emphasis on accountability and rapid scaling for successful tech solutions.

c) Shipbuilding Modernization & Palantir’s Role

• Jason Potter (Assistant Secretary Performing Duties) & Mike Gallagher (former Congressman/Palantir):

  • Ship OS from Palantir brings commercial AI to shipyards, enabling the transition from “desktop to prototypes quicker.”
  • “There is probably no more complex manufacturing problem in the world than how we build nuclear submarines.” – Mike Gallagher [43:46]
  • Acquisition now moves at a “war footing”: what once took months now takes days.
  • “We have to change how we do business. When we see a winner, we double down, we scale up. If something’s not working, we… move quicker.” – Jason Potter [44:05]

• Vice Admiral Seiko O’Connell (Director, Navy RCO):

  • “The character of warfare is changing faster than the acquisition can move… this [RCO] is a culture shift.” [49:08]
  • RCO’s mandate: Identify urgent operational needs, partner with industry, and iterate to field capabilities quickly.
  • “We are absolutely in sync. This is the entire department… I think we’re seeing real movement at scale, at velocity here.” [51:22]

Notable Quotes

• “This is not just an office… This is a culture shift.” – Vice Admiral Seiko O’Connell [49:08]
• “From the president on down… the naval industrial base in particular [needs to be] on a war footing. That sort of emergency mentality… that’s what’s going to make the difference.” – Mike Gallagher [47:24]

---

Memorable Moments

• Zere’s tie anecdote: “By the way, I didn’t buy this in a store, I bought this tie online.” [11:00]
• On generational shifts in shopping/workplace: “My kids or grandkids, they would never think to go to a mall to buy what they're going to buy. They're going to just go online.” – Ann Hambly [06:16]
• On Pentagon media transparency: “We asked the questions that… maybe were not in their agenda, like vax issues, getting service members back in…” – El Todd Wood [16:43]
• On public-private defense: “For the first time, both public and private shipyards have been connected… we are open for business.” – Patrick George [32:10]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Content | |-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:16-11:24 | Commercial Real Estate with Ann Hambly | | 14:17-25:33 | Pentagon & Middle East Geopolitics with El Todd Wood | | 27:17-51:57 | Navy Rapid Capabilities Office; Shipbuilding & Innovation | | 30:18+ | Patrick George on public-private partnerships | | 34:34+ | Andrew Maglia Chetty on Navy as a business partner | | 41:29+ | Ship OS & Palantir/AI for the Navy (Potter & Gallagher) | | 48:32+ | Vice Admiral Seiko O’Connell on RCO’s vision |

---

Episode Tone & Language

• Candid, no-nonsense, and patriotic.
• Host and guests are critical of status quo bureaucracy, openly supportive of “Trump time” efficiency, and highlight American innovation and values.
• Technical but accessible; uses real examples and clear metaphors (e.g., Mike Tyson’s lost dominance, cultural shifts in shopping).

---

Summary

This episode’s deep dive into commercial real estate exposes systemic financial turbulence ahead and an era of transformation as technology and post-COVID behaviors reshape property markets. The show pivots to spotlight U.S. defense—unveiling a new competition mindset at the Pentagon and within the Navy. The rapid acceleration of acquisition and public-private ventures is illustrated with real-world partnerships (e.g., Palantir’s Ship OS/AI integration), signaling a commitment to outpace adversaries. Throughout, Zere’s guests emphasize actionable insights, convey urgency, and reinforce the importance of adapting quickly to new realities, whether in real estate or national security.

---

For continued updates, subscribe to the RAV podcast and follow guests at their provided resources.

Transcript

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[David Zier]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to.

[Ann Hambly]

Know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's unlimited wireless for $15 a month.

[David Zier]

Now you don't even need to wrap it.

[Ann Hambly]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of busy.

[David Zier]

Taxes and fees extra.

[Ann Hambly]

See mintmobile.com hey, this is Sarah.

[David Zier]

Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m.

[Ann Hambly]

Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy.

[David Zier]

But I like it.

[Ann Hambly]

Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell oatmeal. So long you strange soggy.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Break up with bland breakfasts and taste AM PMs bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with cage free eggs, smoked bacon.

[David Zier]

And melty cheese on a buttery biscuit.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

AM PM Too much Good stuff.

[David Zier]

Welcome everybody. You're watching another fabulous edition of Breaking Point on Real America's Voice News. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays to everybody. I'm David Zier. Download the Real America's Voice news app today. Tell your friends and family about it. We got so much going on. I have a packed show for you today. First we're going to hear from Ann Hambly from First Service Solutions and we're going to talk about the commercial real estate markets around the country. It's really important to know what's going on there. Brick and mortar, industrial office space, the future work environments, the economy. Then I got El Todd Wood from CDM Press. This guy is great. He was an MH53C night pil pilot, used to take seals around and special ops around for many years serving our country. And he's in the new Pentagon press corps. I was down on the ground in the Pentagon last week with Hegseth and a lot of undersecretaries and the press secretaries. Really crazy stuff going on right now. I was with the Navy Secretary yesterday at the Washington Navy Yards in the iconic Capitol turnaround, which was the trolley barn for the cars that went to the Washington Navy Yards from Georgetown back in the 1890s. And it's in the Washington Navy Yards, which very historic, helped defend us against the War of 1812 against the British on the Anacostia River. And it's the longest running federal facility in the United States. And I was there with the Secretary of the Navy and Benny Harmony from Real America's Voice. And we talked about nrco, the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office. And I've got great interviews with the staff. We're going to be building ships faster, providing weapons systems faster. America has together, at least under Trump, the House Armed Services Committee pushing the ndaa, which will help codify Trump's executive order. And the Pentagon is on board with this to get weapons systems out to protect America. I want to get to our first guest, though, Ann Hambly from First Service Solutions. Welcome to the show, Ann, how are you?

[Ann Hambly]

Fine. Thank you very much for including me.

[David Zier]

Yeah, it's great to have you here. And I'm a commercial broker for almost four decades. It's hard to believe. And we pay attention to what's going on and try to, you know, gauge the markets and it's a predictor for the future. Right. For the economy and habits. Tell us about what you do.

[Ann Hambly]

Sure, Yeah. I have been also for four decades in commercial real estate. I ran a lot of the servicing shops on the finance side for a long time and then 20 years ago created my firm, First Service Solutions. And we work with owners of commercial properties and we help them with whatever they might need as far as residential resolution on their debt. So when we talk about the different property types, I'll be able to give you some examples. But, but we, we help them just figure out what needs to be done and maybe where necessary, get relief on their debt.

[David Zier]

Right. And you have a lot of concerns for the marketplace because rates are high. They, even if they come down, you're saying there's about 5 trillion in debt out there and half of it might not be soluble. Tell us about that.

[Ann Hambly]

Well, half of it is maturing. So when you have a loan, when you get a commercial real estate loan, the typical kind of most average term is about 10 years. So if you think about it, when you get a loan in 20. Let's just think about if you got a loan today in 2025, the lender has to make sure that they know what you're going to do to pay their loan off in 2035. Well, that's what's happened now is we got a lot of loans maturing that were created, you know, 10 years ago when we all had to go to the office every day as an example. And now we don't. We got hybr work arrangements. So there are about half of the debt that 5 trillion matures this year, next year and the following year. And a good chunk of that is not going to be refinanceable. So something has to be done.

[David Zier]

Are you saying that we may be looking at a lot of foreclosures?

[Ann Hambly]

Yes, we are going to be looking at a lot of foreclosures. We're also looking at a lot of just. I think it's just changing of hands. Right. So if I got my loan 10 years ago and I already got my money out of it and I've, and I'm now 10 years down the road, I might just decide to get rid of it. That doesn't mean that I'm going to necessarily get it foreclosed on. I might sell it to someone.

[David Zier]

Yeah.

[Ann Hambly]

I might have someone else come in and buy it. But yeah, there, there's going to be a lot of change and issues and foreclosures happening. Absolutely.

[David Zier]

Sure. And it's compounded by a couple other problems. Right. Brick and mortar retail is like histoire. Right. And the malls are being converted into Amazon warehouses, medical facilities. Like here in Long island we have a 600,000 square foot mall. Half of it's already gone medical almost. And then you've got the problem of the workplace environment, post Covid, remote home, you know, attendance. Tell us about those problems and what those markets face.

[Ann Hambly]

Yeah, well what you brought up is perfect retail. So I always use the story of, you know, when my mom and I'm using this just generational. My mom, when she needed to buy a new, call it black skirt, you know, black shirt, new tie, like you have a nice tie on there. She would go to the mall, walk around the mall, look for what she wanted and then go home. Well, my generation, we did a little of both. We do on, we go to the mall maybe. And then Covid hit. Now we realized, man, you can do everything online. And yet. And my kids or grandkids, they would never think to go to a mall to buy what they're going to buy. They're going to just go online. Right. So malls are just not relevant as much. Right. Office, same. It's not quite as drastic. But there are people, I mean 20 years ago we all had to go to the office every single day, five days a week, eight to five, you know, whatever. And now you don't have to. So as these office buildings are maturing, you have to think about what are you going to do with them all just like the malls. Like you said, malls are Being converted to other things. That's because we don't need as many malls, if any malls. Same thing with office. They're being converted to multifamily, to just other things because we don't need as much office space. So what do you do with all that?

[David Zier]

Right. So industrial is a little more stable. I would say so. Under Trump's first term, he brought back about 9,000 manufactured distribution operations back to the United States. Now the economy is going to get traction, in my opinion, next year. Maybe not fast enough as people continue to suffer from the last four or five years and Covid and the policies. But do you see with all the reinvestment, the $19 trillion or so that Trump's bringing back, do you think the warehouse, industrial and manufacturing markets will prosper at least?

[Ann Hambly]

Yeah, I do. And I guess the question there is, I mean, I think for the next, you can foresee that maybe for the next 10 years, again using that just as a standard sort of term, we're probably going to always need places to store stuff so that you can ship it. Right. So I think industrial is, is a, is probably the darling of commercial real estate right now. Now, if you go out 20 or 30 years, you know, there's always a question. I'm not proposing that industrial is not a great property type, but the key thing that we always have to ask ourselves now in this modern era of where we live, you know, what will things look like 20, 30 years from now? Will we need storage?

[David Zier]

Will.

[Ann Hambly]

Will they just fly from a drone somewhere? I don't know the answer. But these are the things that I think everyone commercial real estate is trying to figure out right now, you know.

[David Zier]

Yeah. And we on Long Island, I worked in 1990 on an affordable housing analysis to take because we had a recession here, the peace dividend. A lot of properties were sitting dormant. We used to be big plane manufacturers for military aircraft, and we were going to convert industrial space into affordable housing. I don't believe in affordable housing. I'm a builder, too. If the taxes were lower, you wouldn't need affordable housing and subsidies from the government to buy a home. So we're getting abused. We have about two minutes left. I'm going to give you the floor. Tell us about your outlook for business and tell us about where people can follow you and get involved. You know, if they have a property, can you help them?

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Great.

[Ann Hambly]

Sure. Yeah. If you have a commercial real estate property and you are facing, well, it can be a maturity or not a maturity, but you're facing any kind of problem and you're trying to figure out what to do with it. That's what I do. So I will give you do free consultation all the time. I will give you my thoughts based on what I'm seeing done in the market today, what I think lenders are doing and help you figure out a plan to, to go forward. There's also as we talked about with all the change, maybe the foreclosures, the handbags if you call them, call them that. In commercial real estate it presents a lot of opportunities. So for people that have money that are sitting wanting to invest in the properties this is a great time to do that too. Think of an office building. Okay so it's maybe it's worth a fourth of the debt, fifth of the debt today. Well if you can buy it for the right price and you want to hold it for a period of time it's a great investment. So call me if you need, if you want to invest if you have a problem with your property. My website actually it's not on there but it's, it's 1st the number1stss.com and my phone number. Is that fair to give? David?

[David Zier]

Yeah, just go for it.

[Ann Hambly]

Hey, okay, it's 817. I'm all ready for the calls 817-756-7227 so you can call go to our website, reach out to me. Happy to talk to you about either sides of that equation, resolving your own deal or buying.

[David Zier]

By the way, I didn't buy this in a store, I bought this tie online.

[Ann Hambly]

That's my point.

[David Zier]

Yeah, exactly. Well, your wealth and knowledge. I'd love to have you back if there's any particular issues we want to address. It's great to have you on here and I wish you the best holidays with you and your family.

[Ann Hambly]

Thank you David. Same to you. I'm always available if you ever want to talk to me.

[David Zier]

Thank you so much, Ann. Yeah. Everybody, we got to follow what's going on here. The economy's changing. I'm worried about AI getting rid of entry level jobs. Kids out of college still can't find high paying jobs. Used to make 20, 30,000 more and that was 30 years ago coming out of college so it's tougher but I think the economy's in a rebound. Next year maybe take off like a rocket ship hopefully. But thank you for watching Breaking Point. We'll be right back. I've got super stuff ahead. Don't go anywhere. As countries have walked away in the past few years from the US Dollar, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Diversify into gold into Birch Gold. And for over 5,000 years, gold has withstood inflation, geopolitical turmoil and stock market crashes. And the great news is you can still get it. In fact, you can own gold and silver in a tax tax sheltered retirement account. Birch Gold makes it easy to convert your IRA or 401k into an IRA and precious metals. And all you got to do is text the word America the 989898 to claim your free info kit on gold. With 20 years experience converting IRAs and 401Ks into precious metal IRAs, Birch Gold can help you protect yourself with gold today by texting the word America to 989898 with an A plus rating. With the Better Business Bureau, thousands of happy customers and countless 5 star reviews secure your future with gold. Start today with a free info kit. Again, there's no obligation. Check it out. Make the request. Just text the word America to 9898 98.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting? Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com that's iheartadvertising.com or call 844-844 iHeart One more time, call 844-844 iHEART and get podcasting working for you.

[David Zier]

Welcome back to Breaking Point. It's such an exciting couple of weeks on the ground is new media at the Pentagon and then yesterday with the Secretary of the Navy at the incredible Washington Navy Yards, oldest federal facility operating in America. These guys and men and the men and women of uniform are just the best. They're prime. And the civilian personnel at the Pentagon also amazing. And the attitude is so great down there. Everybody's in a good mood, pretty much, you know, on board with Trump's defense acquisition speed up and the rapid capability offices to try to get weapons systems, defense systems to the marketplace. But I want to bring in my next guest here and I Caught up with him again at the Pentagon this past week as part of the New Media Week. El Todd Wood from CDM Press. Todd, how are you, sir?

[El Todd Wood]

Great to be on your show. Thanks a lot. Dave, we have to quit meeting like this, man. It's been.

[David Zier]

I know. Listen, you can't, you can't look the other way for a second. There's so many things going on, right, so many stories and you've been all over it. Tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, and your time as a pilot.

[El Todd Wood]

Sure. I went to the US Air Force Academy. I went into Special operations. I flew MH53J Pablo's. I. It was long range insertion extraction for tier one customers, SIL team six and Delta primarily. And so I did that. Then I went to Wall street for almost 20 years and then started a journalism career when I left the street in 2011, went to work for the Washington Times and just real, I needed to start something on my own because I kind of had a vision and we wanted to be kind of the Reuters without the spin. So CDM Press was born in 19 and now we're 13 digital sites and growing. So we're, we're glad to be with you at the Pentagon.

[David Zier]

Yeah, 100%. You know, I, I've been hearing rumblings at the legacy media msm. Probably mad at their decision. Maybe the lawyers got them fired up too soon. They wouldn't sign this agreement. All they had to do was wear their credentials, stop hiding them, stop ambushing people in the hallway without escorted at the Pentagon, stop leaking stories. Right. And you know, we had it, we had a successful day or two together, three days together last week there. Right. We asked tough questions. Right?

[El Todd Wood]

We sure did. And we asked the questions that, you know, I don't think they were asking. Maybe they, you know, were not in the, in their agenda, like, you know, some of the vax issues, getting service members back in or, you know, questions about what actually is going on in Venezuela or, or other areas where the mainstream legacy press just didn't want to go. So I think it's really positive that we had a really great group of people asking some really informative questions you may not have heard before.

[David Zier]

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. So we're trying to bring you the truth as well to the audience of real America's Voice news here. And we're really in touch with the audience, so it's important. And you've been working on this incredible story and it's disturbing because you've got, but you Know the Christians living alongside Shiites in Lebanon for a long time, about 30% Maronite Christians at one point. But now you've got Sunni control over Syria instead of the Shia. And now the Sunnis are coming into Lebanon. Tell us about what's going on.

[El Todd Wood]

You know, I never knew Lebanon's history until I went over there about a year ago for the first time. I had spent a lot of time in the Middle east, but never there. And I didn't realize that it was really the only Christian country in the Middle east and it used to be 70 plus percent Christian in the early 70s. And then a series of things, I think orchestrated things happened. You had a half million Palestinians come in which created the civil war which the, the Christians lost because they were supported. The, the Palestinians were supported by other, you know, other block countries and the US really didn't step up. You had the Assad invasion of Syria, which, which caused a lot of damage over 15 years. Then you had the port explosion. You had a color revolution which destroyed their financial system. And now you have 2 million plus Syrian refugees, Sunni refugees that are in Lebanon and they won't go back. And they're being paid to stay by the UN, by a bunch of NGOs out of Europe. And it's really disturbing because it's changing the demographic and economic balance away from the Christian sector to the Sunni religion and the ethnicity. And it's backed by Turkey and other groups, the Gulf states. And the Trump administration is pushing it and it's really disturbing the Christians there.

[David Zier]

Yeah. And I was so, I was in touch with Bridget Gabriel many times over the last 12 or so years. And you know, she always told me about our childhood living in a bunker as a Lebanese Christian with Muslim threats there. But, but now they've got this dynamic where 65,000 northern Israelis have been displaced. They're just starting to come back in 2,500 along the border. You've got tensions again, you got Israel bombing again because they're finding weapons caches and stuff like that, or suspected rearming of Hezbollah. A lot of dynamics. But Turkey wants to restore like this modern day Ottoman Empire. Right. So they got their hands in with the AID HTs who took over Syria. Right. They've got their hands all over the place and their fingerprints on this, don't they?

[El Todd Wood]

They sure do. And I think you, you hit on the nail on the head with the Ottoman Empire. They're re establishing this, this power structure. And you know, I want to say, I mean, Israel has its own security concerns, obviously in the region, as does Turkey. But why are we, why are we listening to everybody but the question? Christians, that's my point. I mean, they are being ignored on purpose, and it's, it's really hurting them. And this is where Jesus Christ walked. This is the, the basket of Christianity where it started.

[David Zier]

And you want the Trump administration to address that, right?

[El Todd Wood]

I do. And I, I don't want military action. I want the bully pulpit. Right. I just want to say we're gonna make sure this ethnic group is, is protected. We're a Christian country. Last time I checked, 70% still, you know, and this. Yeah, go ahead.

[David Zier]

Yeah. No, I'm looking back in history. You know, the Bosnia, Herzegovinians in Serbia, Milosevic, you know, a bad guy. Right. Killed a lot of people. But, you know, we were fighting. We were taking the side of the Muslims to a degree in Yugoslavia or in the civil war. And I'm not saying people shouldn't have been protected on the ground, but we bombed a lot of Christians. Right.

[El Todd Wood]

If you look, if you look back over American policy, it always, the consequence is always the destruction of Christian communities. Unfortunately, you look at what's going on in Syria, where we put Galani in charge, who is an Al Qaeda member who is not. The first thing he did was go down south and. Or his militias did and kill a few thousand Christians and about 10,000 Alawites. You had what happened in Iraq, the Christian community be just, you know, destroyed. I mean, yeah, so it's happened over. Look at Armenia. Same thing happened with favoring Turkey and Azerbaijan over the Christian community in Armenia. This is a pattern. And once you see the pattern, you really can't unsee it.

[David Zier]

Is that the godless nation building State Department versus it might have something to do with it?

[El Todd Wood]

Yes.

[David Zier]

All right, so we don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole. I don't want to get off topic here, but you're on the front line. You're exposed corruption in Ukraine and other areas. Tell us what else you got going on.

[El Todd Wood]

Well, we've been really early on a lot of stories like Ukraine. I mean, we still have an intel team on the ground, and that story is still ongoing. And it's one of our focuses. Talk about Christianity, the destruction of the Christian church in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And it's always, well, it's Russia, Russia, Russia. Well, these people have no connection to Russia, just a historical canonical connection. And it is, it's absurd what's going on in Ukraine. They're putting priests in jail. They're beating priests, they are poisoning some of the officials and they're burning churches, stealing churches. It's, it's. There was a video the other day where they attacked a monastery with chainsaws and then beat all the priests inside. I mean, this is an attack on the Christian church in Ukraine. So we're all over Eastern Europe, the Middle East. We, you know, we've got seven papers in the US Election fraud still is rampant in Georgia and Florida. We've been all over that kind of these things that we keep pushing and focusing on. And we're kind of the, as some one retired general told me, you know, CDM is the guy with a knife in his mouth that goes in first and that's kind of us. And then, you know, we get the stories really early because we have people on the ground all over the world literally calling us all night long. That's why I look so tired today.

[David Zier]

Wow. Yeah. And I'm following you on X. Where can people follow you?

[El Todd Wood]

CDM Press is the best place. Put us in your scan like any other, you know, news organization. I'm on real L Todd Wood on X and CDM underscore Press on X are the two best places.

[David Zier]

Yeah. And I was really impressed. I felt like with the DEI stuff being addressed by Trump and Hegseth and others, there's kind of been a fog lifted at the Pentagon maybe. I felt that the undersecretaries and the people that we interviewed were very positive about like the timeline getting it done in Trump time and the impetus for these rapid capabilities. Because these, these rapid capabilities office have existed for a long time in the Air Force and the Army. Yeah, but were they really doing it? I feel like they may really be doing it now, getting the weapons systems out. What do you think?

[El Todd Wood]

Well, I think that's true. I think if you go. I think there's been like a 20, 30 year period where that has has not been the case. It used to be, you know, when I was flying in soft, I mean we would just, you know, I remember one example, we had problems with people, you know, taking rounds in the back of the helicopter. So we found, okay, how can we do this? Instead of going through a laborious process to armor up the machine down under where the, the crew was, we just found armored blankets and we strapped them to the side of the helicopter and walked on. And it was fantastic fix. That kind of thing has to happen. And that's what I hope comes back, that innovative spirit because we've really been invol down with the administrative, you know, bureaucratic stuff and with drone warfare changing so rapidly in Ukraine and elsewhere, we really got to learn and adapt these.

[David Zier]

Technologies and the, the private partnerships because the government moves at a snail's pace, Right? So bringing in private industry, 5050 partners on a lot of these defense acquisition programs, it's pretty encouraging, cutting out red tape and going right to the top for decision making, I think. But I want to thank you so much, Todd. I'll have you back. Look forward to working with you and seeing you on the ground and wish you a merry Christmas, happy holidays and all that.

[El Todd Wood]

Thank you. Look forward to seeing you. We got a great team at the Pentagon. We're going to do good work.

[David Zier]

All right, wonderful. Thank you so much, everybody. El Todd Wood from CDM Press. Guy is a wealth of knowledge and just serves our country in special operations roles, you know, transporting our SEAL teams and other soft forces. And just an amazing guy. So thank you so much for joining us. And when I come back, we've got interviews from the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office. Kickoff day with private industry at the Washington Navy Yards. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ads supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iheartadvertising.com that's iheartadvertising.com or call 844-844-IHEART. One more time, call 844-844-iHEART and get podcasting working for you.

[David Zier]

I was on the ground this week in Washington, D.C. at the Navy yards with the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan and the amazing people who work in the Navy. You know, I think the Navy has the most complicated tasks ahead of it. Rapid changes in threats. You know, we had a missile come near us in the Red Sea to Harry S. Truman from the Houthis earlier in the year, or I think maybe December or January, we had a diesel submarine take out an aircraft carrier in a virtual exercise. I Think recently, you know, we've got a lot of different threats. And then, of course, China Shipbuilding two and a half one, I think, to the United States, although we have superior technology and nuclear aircraft carriers and the likes, still a lot of emerging threats out there and what Trump did. So the Air Force, I think, started the rapid capabilities office in 03, the army in 2016. The Navy started one under the new Navy Secretary appointed. The new Navy Secretary, John Phelan, he's incredible. He made his money by handling, I think, Michael Dell's investments. And very close, I think, to the Trump administration, but an incredible Navy Secretary really showing innovation. Started the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office just a few months ago in August or September. And they've got this incredible, incredible team with Vice Admiral Seiko o', Connell, the director of the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office, and great people here. Right. And their naval research and R and D and acquisitions. I've got two super interviews that I did on the ground with many people working on these programs here. But Trump's executive order to modernize defense acquisitions and spur innovation in the defense industrial base is going to be codified when Congress votes on the ndaa. And really important stuff. So we remain competitive in all theaters in all domains across the world. As we go into the future, we're going to be turning around ships. We had to cancel the Constellation freighter program. The Littoral combat class ships were controversial. So we're going to be updating and we're going to be spitting out defense systems, weapon systems and shipbuilding at a rapid pace going forward. And everybody that I've interviewed on the Pentagon last week with hegseth and other undersecretaries, they all are in a great mood down there and they are on board getting it done in Trump time. As Peter Navarro said, it's really something to watch, you know, so don't believe the legacy media that everything's in turmoil and the Pentagon is. It's not. These guys are on a uniform mission. Check out these great interviews I did with the people from the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office in partnership with private industry. A big day here for the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office here at the Washington Navy Yard. And we have the senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Patrick George. How are you?

[Patrick George]

I'm wonderful. Great to be here.

[David Zier]

It's great to be invited to this event. I think it's important that the people know the imminent threats we face out there, staying relevant. You know, somebody said on stage today that, you know, 20 or 30 years ago, we were always dominant and it's like Mike Tyson sometimes you got to get back, you know, if you, if you, you know, keep, put your guard down or you don't emphasize on real time solutions, you have to get back there. And it feels like that's what you guys are doing now.

[Patrick George]

We're trying. You can't be complacent. And so we've been able to rest a lot on our dominance, both technology and hardware. And so we need to really push the envelope. And that's what the Dawn Department of Navy's RCO is, is focused on, is how do we rapidly deploy technology that the Navy needs now, that the warfighter needs now, not 10 years from today.

[David Zier]

But act like you're at war. Act like you're at war. Yeah. And Navy Secretary John Phelan, it seems like he's really taken the initiative, it's part of Hegseth initiative to do this stuff in real time. It's Trump's, it's the House Armed Services Committee pushing the ndaa. And it seems like you're all on the same page.

[Patrick George]

It feels that everything is getting aligned for the first time in a long time. We have not just the, the political will, we have members that have left their civilian sector jobs to come and serve in this administration, me included. I left. I'm an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and I put on that hole to be a part of this movement because the country needs it. We need to be moving forward faster.

[David Zier]

And you're a U.S. marine for 20 years.

[Patrick George]

20 years in the Marine Corps, plus entrepreneur and NVC.

[David Zier]

Okay. Can you tell us about some of the private partners that attended today? And I understand you're, you're, you were the brainchild or a part of the original team for the shipbuilding.

[Patrick George]

So team effort for sure. On ship OS with Palantir. Very exciting announcement that you just heard from the CEO Alex Karp and the Secretary of the Navy and how we're going to try to bring AI to our shipbuilding and both public and private shipyards and our suppliers so that it's all integrated. Big step forward. First time in history that both the public and private shipyards have been connected. Tonight, today was about bringing venture capitalists, private equity investors and industry to the room to say, hey, we are open for business. We are doing deals differently and we need you. We're not trying to rebuild everything in house. We want to, we want to buy commercial and we need you to bring us your best and brightest ideas, and we need to field them as quickly as possible. So new contracting, new program management, new Rules so that we can push further and faster.

[David Zier]

So there was a time in American history when we were putting out ships every 40 days or so. Right. What will this do? Because I know, you know, issues like the Constellation freighter, the littoral combat ships, and other. What, you guys have to replace those, don't you?

[Patrick George]

We do. And so they. They definitely. So the littoral combat ship is still playing a role in our. In our fleet. Fleet, the frigate. As, as you know, the Secretary canceled that program. We are working towards what the new classes of ships are going to look like. But at the same time, we need to increase throughput on our most critical, exquisite systems. The Columbia, the Virginia. That is a huge part of our deterrence as a Navy. And we need to make sure that we are reducing the cycle time to get those into the water faster.

[David Zier]

And last question. You're trying to incentivize the private sector investment in doing this, because sometimes you're like 50, 50 partners with the private sector.

[Patrick George]

Correct. So we want to share that risk with you. So what we want to see is you come to the Navy with private capital and you say, look, we will take, we will bet on ourselves as the entrepreneur. We're going to put private capital up front first. And as we hit milestones with the Navy, the Navy's money gets released. We're protecting taxpayer dollars, rewarding our winners. And if you are underperforming, we're going to cut that contract and we're going to reallocate capital to. To the companies that are performing.

[David Zier]

All right. Well, that's great. I really learned so much today. And we have the senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Patrick George, with us. And Godspeed. Thank you so much.

[Patrick George]

Thank you for having me.

[David Zier]

Appreciate it. We are here with Andrew Maglia Chetty. You're the Director of Small Business Operations for. Directly for Navy Secretary John Phelan, correct?

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

That's correct, yes.

[El Todd Wood]

Yes.

[David Zier]

Yeah. Amazing day here at the Capitol turnaround. This place was the terminus for the Georgetown trolley, I believe, in the late 1800s.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

I mean, this venue is incredible, right?

[David Zier]

It's amazing, historic. The Navy yards protected us from the War of 1812 right on the Anacostia river here. But today is about the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office, new venture launched by Navy Secretary John Phelan, right?

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

That's correct, yes. So this is our official kickoff today.

[David Zier]

That's great. That's great. So this is about public private partnerships, incentivizing private investment so things can get built in real time. Is there a sea change? No pun. Intended and the mindset. It seems like everybody that I've been around in the Pentagon here, the House Armed Services Committee, the President's office is kind of in unison on achieving a mission for real time development.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. The Rapid Capabilities office is about identifying, onboarding and operationalizing technologies for our war fighters as quickly as possible. However, as part of doing that, we're also trying to change the way we do business. I come from a venture capital background and Navy historically has had a reputation of being one of the, one of the most challenging services to do business with and in particular for the early stage companies that are developing the most important technologies for our fighting services. So part of the Rapid Capabilities office is bringing a new perspective where we are being better partners with private sector capital and with the founders that are creating these amazing technologies, but at the same time holding them accountable for, for performance and making deals that make sense for our warfighters and the American and.

[David Zier]

Helping them cut out some of the red tape to get it done.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

Absolutely, absolutely right.

[David Zier]

So really important.

[Mike Gallagher]

Right.

[David Zier]

We have real time threats around the globe. We have to be dominant in every domain. Right. And it's changing ever so fast. Right.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

You'Re exactly right. And also the Navy has one of the most, has the most complicated mission set of any of our armed services.

[David Zier]

Sure, sure. So I know the, I think the Air Force started the rapid capabilities office in 03, the army in 2016. And it seems like in the short amount of time that the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office is in existence, just a few months, you guys have hit the ground running.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

An amazing amount of progress in a very short period of time hasn't been formally announced yet, but we've sort of identified our first three transactions that will be announced over time. Two other major announcements coming down the.

[David Zier]

Pipe in concert with private companies.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

That's right.

[David Zier]

Okay. How do you find those companies and how do they reach out to get involved? And is someone scouting out the technology?

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

Well, you could look at it in two ways. We have sort of inbound inquiries that we encourage where we define our challenges and ask companies to specifically respond with detailed information about the capabilities they have that will address those challenges. And at the same time, we will reach out proactively to try to find the companies that meet those capability requirements.

[David Zier]

I have one last question for you. What about the RFP process? Requests for qualifications, requests for proposals? I know sometimes I deal with government in New York, unfortunately, but it takes a long time sometimes. So how do you abridge that or get, get it down to a quick process.

[El Todd Wood]

Sure.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

The superpower of the RCO is that we cut that red tape and that we make things happen quickly. People that are making the decisions are three stars and above. Make those decisions quickly, cut the red tape, get things out the door as quick as we can.

[David Zier]

All right. Well, I want to thank you so much for joining us, everybody. Andrew Maglia Chetty, the director of small business. And you're a Trump appointee, right?

[El Todd Wood]

That's right. Yes.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

Proud to serve the president.

[David Zier]

They always say get it done in Trump time. I feel like that's the attitude. Maybe in Today's military it 100% is.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

We've got amazing political appointees across the services working very hard to put the president's policies into action.

[David Zier]

All right. Well, we learned a lot today and we want to educate our audience on what the government's doing. And I appreciate you joining us.

[El Todd Wood]

Thank you.

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

Pleasure to meet you.

[David Zier]

We'll be back with more Breaking Point right after this.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Run a business and not thinking about radio, Think again because more people are listening to the radio and iHeart today than they were 20 years ago. And only iHeart broadcast radio connects with more Americans than TV, digital, social, any other media, even twice as many teens than TikTok. And that reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for your business. Radio's here now more than ever. And iheart's leading the way. Think radio can help your business. Think iheart streaming, podcasting and radio where the reach is real. Let us show [e-mail] that's iheartadvertising.com or call 844-844. Iheart one more time. Just call 844-844-Iheart and get radio working for you.

[David Zier]

Welcome back. You're watching Breaking Point. I'm real America's Voice News. I was with the Navy secretary in the Washington Navy this week for the new Rapid Capability office kickoff down there. And he said that they want to remove barriers and deliver solutions at the pace Navy war fighting demands because this stuff's really important. And I've got super interviews here about shipbuild os. It's an AI generated platform in partnership with private industry Palantir Systems, along with the assistant Navy Secretary for Research and Development and Acquisitions, Jason Potter and former Congressman Mike Gallagher. And then I've got Admiral Seiko o', Connell, director of the new office for Rapid Capabilities don't miss this and thank you for watching today at the Washington Navy Yards for the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office kickoff under the leadership of Navy Secretary John Phelan. An amazing day here and we have two great gentlemen with us performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Navy Research Development and Acquisition, Jason Potter. And we have former Congressman Mike Gallagher and the head of war for Palantir Technologies. How are you, sir?

[Jason Potter]

Doing great.

[Mike Gallagher]

It's a great Navy Day and it's.

[David Zier]

Great to see you, Mike. I covered Wisconsin a lot during the campaign. Go Pac, go. Great state indeed.

[Jason Potter]

The best in the union.

[David Zier]

Love Green Bay.

[Jason Potter]

Green Bay Title Town, USA is what we call it.

[David Zier]

Really, really super. So can you tell us a little bit about what your role is and what makes today so special? Because it sounds like, you know, you have real time threats, you have to develop stuff quicker in partnership with private sector. That can happen, right?

[Mike Gallagher]

Absolutely. So today is all about the launch of the Department of the Navy Rapid Capabilities Office. Secretary Phelan was here. Leaders from private industry, capital market leaders, just to help the Navy speed up the delivery of capabilities to the war fighters that need them to. We had a great rollout with Mike Gallagher and Palantir of the Ship OS AI system that's going to help revolutionize how we build ships. It's just a lot of energy here as we turn the corner.

[David Zier]

So we need ships, we need shipbuilding. We used to build ships every 42 days in a time past. Right. And we had the Constellation freighter program where we're only going to build two of the seven, I believe proposed. And the LCS is, I guess, going to continue in some way.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Way.

[David Zier]

So why is it so important to partner with a company like Palantir and Ship os?

[Jason Potter]

Well, Palantir, we're a commercial software company. So we have a defense technology business and a commercial business which allows us to do at least two things. One, invest our own money into research and development. Billions of dollars we've invested into a cutting edge AI enabled software platform and then give that platform to America's warfare fighters. And that is a unique advantage we have right now. We talk about how do we compete, how do we beat China? Well, we have to leverage our best strengths. Well, geopolitically, one of the advantages we have is our enduring undersea advantage, our submarines and their capability. Economically, one of the advantage we have is that we are the world leader when it comes to software. What Ship OS represents is the marriage of these two things. And I think the manifestation of the Secretary's vision as a private Sector guy bringing the best of industry to bear on really hard problems. There's probably no more complex manufacturing problem in the world than how we build nuclear submarines.

[David Zier]

I think the Navy has the toughest job with that. And you know, Secretary Phelan was talking about how we're going to go from the desktop or PowerPoint basically to prototypes quicker. Tell us about the role from research and development and acquisitions. What part do you play?

[Mike Gallagher]

Sure, yeah. So we are the Navy's acquisition arm. We put, you know, over $100 billion on contract every year. And we're breaking down bureaucratic processes where we're just not getting these capabilities out fast enough. And we have to go faster, we have to change how we do business. Example here, the ship os in just this year, you know, 20, 25, we went from proving this works at one shipyard, seven suppliers. We're now going to to five shipyards, 100 suppliers. We're ready to scale up. That's the kind of thing we're doing across the board. When we see a winner, we double down, we scale up. If something's not working, we recognize we need to shift and move quicker.

[David Zier]

So you're looking for speed and scale.

[El Todd Wood]

Right.

[David Zier]

And the private sector moves faster traditionally than government. How does Palantir work with the government? So they get up to speed as well and be able to keep up with the payment.

[Jason Potter]

Well, Pounder pioneered what we call the four deployed engineer model where basically we take world class software engineers. You know, the genius 25 year olds that I work with every single day, we pre position them, co locate them with the warfighter so they understand the warfighters day to day. And here it's important. It's not like the Navy is paying, you know, for the shipyard just to press a button and download software and somehow it magically works. That's not the way it works. Yeah, we need to understand the decisions that not only the CEO of a shipbuilding company understands, but the every single worker in the yard every day. How do we make their lives easier? How do we give them a tool where they can be more productive, have greater impact? That's what our technology is all about.

[David Zier]

So I recall, you know, I think it was December or January and the Red Sea, you know, the Harry S. Truman had a missile come in proximity to the Truman. There's new threats out there and it changes quickly. Right. How tough is that task to keep up with the latest and greatest threats in maritime?

[Mike Gallagher]

Yeah, we're at it, you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as the Secretary said. We're on a war footing. This is putting acquisition on a war footing to support our war fighting.

[David Zier]

Acting like you're at war 100%.

[Mike Gallagher]

And you know, the ships in the Red Sea, what used to take weeks or months to get software upgrades to, you know, adapt to a threat is now taking us hours or days. We have agile software on our ships. You know, we are at this to make sure there's no threat, you know, that we can't defeat. And it's, it's. The proof is in the pudding and the, you know, the performance of our destroyers in the Red Sea defending the Truman and commercial ships and everything else. And so we're taking that model, what we're seeing in Ukraine as well, and recognizing we have got to speed up, you know, how we get capability to the field and we're doing it. And so it's the RCO today is a formal instantiation of how serious we are about it. And we're putting our best acquisition professionals on it, working directly for the secretary. And you know, ship OS again is just another tangible example of how we're using AI and tools.

[David Zier]

Great, great. And I have one more question for you. Sure. So have you seen a shift versus say the previous administration? Like Peter Navarro used to say, get it done in Trump time. Yeah, I feel like that's the common thread in everyone that I talk to here. Between Hegseth, Secretary of War, the people on the ground that I've interviewed, under secretaries, there's a different mood. Right.

[Jason Potter]

100%. We have a once in a generation opportunity to fix American shipbuilding. And starting from the president on down, I mean the President through multiple executive orders, I mean even a theme of his first term was shipbuilding is essential, revitalizing both commercial and and Navy shipbuilding. And now what Mr. Potter just said about Secretary Phelan's vision, you know, for eight years I was on the CPR subcommittee in Congress. I was waiting for someone to grasp this essential point, which is to say, in order to prevent a war, in order to preserve the peace, you need to put the defense industrial base in general and the naval industrial base in particular on a war footing. That sort of emergency mentality, that focus on near term deterrence, putting hulls in the water, that's what's going to make the difference.

[David Zier]

All right, well, I want to thank you so much. I wish you guys a merry Christmas and happy holidays and keep doing what you're doing. We need to be protected. So thank you so much.

[Jason Potter]

Thank you, sir.

[Mike Gallagher]

Thank you.

[David Zier]

An incredible day on the ground here at the Washington Navy Yards, the Capitol turnaround. And we're joined by the new director of the Rapid Capability Office for the US Navy. How are you, Vice Admiral?

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Yeah, it's a fantastic day. We just launched. We're open for business.

[David Zier]

It's pretty amazing. You were appointed by the civilian Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, recently. In September.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

I was in August.

[David Zier]

Okay, great. So it's really fascinating. So I know the Air Force had a similar office for some time, the army in 2016. Now the Navy is doing that. And you have modern threats. Right. You have a lot of moving parts in the world. Why is it important to do this in real time? And you're partnering with private industry, right?

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

We are. So, you know, look, I think we saw what's happening in the Red Sea. We saw what's happening in the Black Sea. And what we're seeing is that the. The character of warfare is changing faster than the acquisition system can move. And so the Secretary is closing the gap by creating this rapid Capability office. And, you know, you kind of felt it in the room. You know, this isn't just an office. You know, stand up. This is a culture shift. This is us really embedding ourselves within the entire acquisition structure to get at speed, at velocity, for the entire Navy.

[David Zier]

Yes. And really important. And partnering with private sector, which tends to move faster than government. And it's part of Trump's defense. Defense acquisition. Congress may approve the National Defense Authorization act, which is including and codifying that, those defense acquisition programs, which will speed everything up. Tell us about some of the private partners that you're working with.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

So right now, we are just starting this up. We just obviously announced a shipos award with Palantir, and that's really to, you know, transform our shipyards.

[David Zier]

AI Shipbuilding.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

AI Shipbuilding. That's right. And so we're really excited about that. But there's a lot that we're working on. We're starting with what are the urgent operational problems, Hard problems. We're going to combine that with tech and industry. Large, small, you know, you name it, we want their best ideas, and then rapidly get that capability into the hands of our sailors and Marines so that we can, you know, iterate on that and be lethal.

[David Zier]

I noticed that across the board, being at the Pentagon, working with. With the Trump administration and reporting, there seems to be a lot of unity in the mission to do it in real time to get things done. A lot of you guys are in sync, right?

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Yeah, we're absolutely in sync. I mean, this is. This is the entire department. Look, I've been doing acquisition for a while, and I think we're seeing real movement at scale, at velocity here.

[David Zier]

All right, well, I want to thank you so much for joining us today. And we have Vice Admiral Seiko Akane and good luck in your new role as the director. And we expect great things because, you know, we have to maintain dominance in the world, right?

[Andrew Maglia Chetty]

We do.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Absolutely.

[David Zier]

In every domain.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

In every domain Subseated to space.

[David Zier]

Thank you so much for your time today. Appreciate that. I want to thank everybody for joining the RAV family and watching Breaking Point, Unreal America, Erica's Voice News. See you next time.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

I use Shipt same day delivery to.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Stay connected with my sister during the holidays.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

She lives across the country.

[David Zier]

Shipt has tons of stores to order from.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Groceries from Albertsons, crafts from Michaels, even.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Pet supplies from petsmart.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

The list goes on. So when we have long distance movie.

[Vice Admiral Seiko O'Connell]

Nights, I turn to Shipt to get.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Face masks, snacks, and everything else we need delivered to her and to me same day. Download the app or visit shipt.com that's S-H ipt.com this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.