Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

Ed Calderon is a cartel expert, security specialist, combatives instructor, and former law enforcement officer who specialized in organized crime investigations.

Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original.

Sponsors:
Firecracker Farm
Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf travels to the headquarters of Born Primitive in Virginia Beach to spend time with founder and CEO Bear Handlon. A former Navy SEAL, Yale football player, and CrossFit Games athlete, Bear built Born Primitive from the ground up into a global fitness apparel brand, one that's now expanding into outdoor, tactical, lifestyle, and footwear lines with a massive new headquarters on the way. Today, Bear's approach to risk, faith, and family shapes how he leads the company through its next chapter.

Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original.

Chapters
(01:44) – New HQ risk / "moderation is for cowards"
(09:34) – HQ walkthrough
(20:11) – Plant Medicine Retreat
(26:02) – Born Primitive Office Tour
(29:16) – Risk Tolerance as Stakes Grow
(40:15) – Early Grind Years
(42:10) – Market Timing / IP
(43:17) – Motivation Board Story
(45:03) – False Summits / Celebrating Wins
(53:11) – CTA

Sponsors:
Firecracker Farm
Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Tania Rashid.

She is an award-winning correspondent and producer who reports across the globe, with a career spanning CNN International, PBS NewsHour, NBC News, National Geographic Channel, VICE News, and others. She was a correspondent on VICE's Criminal Planet series, including the episode "Butchered for Profit: Inside Organ Trafficking," which goes inside the global black market for organs to meet the surgeons and traffickers profiting from it, with reporting spanning Mexico, China, and Pakistan.You can find more of her work at: https://www.taniarashid.com/

Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original
Sponsors:

Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at ⁠https://firecracker.farm/⁠

(00:00) "I Think I'm Going to Sell Their Kidneys"
(00:29) Meet Tania Rashid
(01:00) From Saudi Arabia to Salt Lake City: Tania's Origin Story
(09:51) Inside "Butchered for Profit": Pakistan's Organ Trade
(20:31) Mexico's Cartel-Run Organ Trafficking Networks
(28:34) Why Exposure Doesn't Equal Change
(30:40) Earning Trust With Traffickers and Cartel Members
35:24 Trauma, Healing & Advice for Future Journalists

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annie Jacobsen is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author known for her research and writing on topics related to national security, defense, and intelligence.

Her investigative work has focused on some of the most secretive areas of government and includes the titles Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base, The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency, Operation Paperclip, and Nuclear War.

Her latest, Biological War: A Scenario is out now.

Video Chapters:
(00:00) – Intro: Nations With Bioweapons Programs & Meet Annie Jacobsen

(01:15) – Panic vs. Pressure: Writing About Doomsday & Trusting the Algorithm

(04:58) – Covid's Airborne Denial: A Case Study in Institutional Fallibility

(09:58) – Nuclear vs. Biological: Case Fatality Rates & Which Scares Her More

(17:41) – Pentagon War Games: Outbreak to Anarchy in Six Days

(26:06) – Global Threat Landscape & Anatomy of a Lab Accident at Vector

(34:03) – Close Calls, AI-Enabled Bioweapons & Rebuilding Public Trust

(44:00) – Gain-of-Function, "Devolution," Live Outbreaks & Closing Thoughts

Sponsors:
Firecracker Farm
Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Change Agents, Andy is joined by Brian Streem, the founder and CEO of Vermeer, a defense tech company with forward operations in Ukraine. He went from using drone technology and Hollywood projects ranging from Steven Spielberg movies, The Fast and the Furious films, and Beyonce music videos to the frontlines of war.

This technology lets drones navigate when GPS is jammed, spoofed or gone entirely. Brian pivoted his company into Vermeer in 2018, after the Department of Defense showed strong interest in his team's XR technology, building AR command controlled and visualization tools for unmanned swarms in GPS denied environments.

Video Chapters:
(00:39) – Meet Brian Streem: Hollywood to the Frontlines
(09:39) – The Pivot: From Film Sets to Defense Tech
(10:19) – Landing DoD Funding & Moving Vermeer to Ukraine
(21:06) – GPS Jamming & Spoofing Explained
(25:33) – Fiber Optic vs FPV vs Starlink Drones
(31:41) – The Outsider Advantage: Why Being in Kyiv Matters
(35:10) – Drone Swarms, Autonomy & Kill-Authority Ethics
(42:50) – Pentagon's $150M Drone Dominance Program
(47:13) – Russia's Drone Tech: Speed, ATR & What's Next
(50:14) – Pilot Psychology, War Outlook & Final Thoughts

Sponsors:

Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices