Making Intel Fun Again: Why Play Belongs In Serious Work

Can intelligence work be serious, mission-critical—and still be fun?

In this episode of NeedleStack, hosts AJ Nash and Kacper Piwowar sit down with Cat Self, Senior Director of Adversary Research at Tidal Cyber, to explore how play, creativity, gamification, and psychological safety can make cybersecurity and intelligence teams more effective.

Drawing on Cat’s experience in military intelligence, red teaming, threat hunting, MITRE ATT&CK, adversary research, and team leadership, the conversation examines why challenging problems and meaningful missions make intelligence work rewarding—and what happens when burnout, repetitive tasks, and productivity pressures take over.

The discussion dives into research on learning through play and the “Batman Effect,” including how imagination and role-playing can improve engagement with tedious or difficult tasks. The group connects those findings directly to cyber threat intelligence, adversary emulation, red teaming, tabletop exercises, and wargaming.

They also explore the changing role of AI in cybersecurity and intelligence, why faster content generation isn’t the same as intelligence analysis, and how AI may actually raise the standard for what humans consider “good enough.”