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The Manhattan Project, Take Two

October 29, 2026 · 46 min

Show notes

In the new era of global competition, being at the forefront of Super Intelligence innovation equals geopolitical power. To maintain leadership and establish the next world order, the U.S. is moving to cement its lead.

Barnett Koven is a Managing Director of AI and Data at Accenture Federal Services. He came to Accenture Federal Services after stints in industry and a faculty job at the University of Maryland, where his counterinsurgency research showed that some of the most influential quantitative studies got the answer exactly backwards.

We discuss…

  • Why “inaction is in and of itself risky” — and how government risk-aversion compounds against less-cautious competitors

  • The “gun-armor race” in classified AI environments, where defense costs grow exponentially against linear offense

  • Entity resolution and predictive modeling for BIS export-control enforcement, and unwrapping the PLA’s shell-company maze

  • DOE’s Genesis Mission and Accenture Federal’s “backbone for scientific research”

Thank you to Accenture Federal Services for bringing us this episode.

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