Beijing is building its largest military since the 1930s and Matt Pottinger and his colleagues at Stanford are deeply concerned. First as a former journalist, and then as former Deputy National Security Advisor in the first Trump Administration, Pottinger has been watching what Chinese President Xi Jinping both says and does - for decades. He explains to The Cipher Brief’s State Secrets Podcast host Suzanne Kelly why those two things are making it very clear that China is on a collision course with the U.S.

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and author Steve Blank thinks way outside the Washington DC beltway.  The Stanford Professor who teaches courses on lean start-ups, innovation and the art of entrepreneurship – also blogs regularly. It may not be a state secrets that one of his blogs published earlier this year about why large organizations struggle with disruption – and what to do about it – was a not-so-veiled reference to the pentagon. State Secrets host Suzanne Kelly sits down with Blank to talk about it.