ABOUT THIS EPISODE
After a three-month break, Eric and Sue return to a world that didn’t exactly wait for them.
From Iran and Ukraine to China, Venezuela, and artificial intelligence, one question connects the headlines: America may still be strong—but is it still powerful?
Sue argues that the “physics of power” are changing as influence shifts between nations, from governments to companies, and increasingly from people to machines. Together, they look beyond the immediate headlines to ask what really matters: What did we get today? And what position did we leave ourselves in for tomorrow?
Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome to Understandable Insights
02:51 Ep. 48 Overview
04:47 Iran Energy Chokepoints
10:43 Greenland Deal as an Example
17:17 Ukraine- Russia
21:10 Allies Intelligence Trust
24:28 Xi Visit Takeaways
31:13 Venezuela Oil Bargain
35:30 AI Risks And Resilience
44:49 Renaming AI
49:14 Ep. 48 Takeaways
52:05 What We Are Watching
About the show:
Understandable Insights: Information to Intelligence with Sue Gordon is the national security podcast that provides you an elemental understanding of the world as it is, not how you prefer it to be.
Each week, Eric Koepp — a former Marine, father, and entrepreneur — sits down with the Honorable Sue Gordon, the nation’s former top career intelligence officer. Together, they break down the headlines shaping our world and ask what they really mean for citizens, leaders, and institutions.
From armed conflict to emerging tech, foreign interference to the resilience of democracy — this is where raw information becomes real intelligence. Unfiltered. Candid. Unapologetically clear.
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