What Hollywood gets wrong about the CIA

Well thank you so much for having me on your show today.

Sure, well that's that's a great question, and I'm sure that every new company has its own story. So our story is as follows. I retired from government service in the US national security sector about a year ago, after forty two years of continuous service for in in the US government. I spent twenty-one plus years in the US military as an army officer, and then another twenty-one plus years at the Central Intelligence Agency. And after as I was leaving, I had a Series of conversations with an old friend of mine, Michael Morel, who retired as the deputy director of the CIA some 12 years ago. And we saw an opportunity to launch a strategic intelligence and advisory firm, largely based on the fact that we assessed that there was a demand for this service, and also based on the fact that many Of the top talent from the US intelligence community, and State Department and military were for various reasons leaving the US government and were a an incredible talent pool that we would be able to tap into. And so that was the impetus for our starting our company and sort of So to speak, the rest is history, but the history is one of a lot of hard work and much sweat in the year that we have been in existence.

So so our business is has two practices. One is geopolitical advisory service, and the second one is private intelligence. so both of these are catered around offering clients with divergent needs our expertise. and our ability to help them solve complex problems. So in geopolitical advisory, as the title suggests, we offer clients particularly in the financial sector with broad based and and very thoughtful in in my opinion analytic products and and support with respect to Answering the questions that they need answered in order to make thoughtful investment decisions. That's particularly in the case of financial institutions. And in private intelligence, what we focus on is helping normally these are law firms or clients in the process of litigation, really build leverage or to help them in their legal strategies and legal endeavors. And also we offer a broad-based due diligence service, which does quite well in which we help customers, clients answer questions that pertain to reputational risks, country risks, and particular risks that may be associated with partnerships and and alliances with companies. So that's basic due diligence, but what we offer is beyond much of today's AI-driven due diligence, we offer sources who can gain ground truth as to a client's problem.

there's a lot that's quite useful and we do work with AI platforms and we're actually looking at at some point launching our own AI driven platform to support our clients, especially in the geopolitical sphere. It's also useful in private intelligence and in due diligence. But I would say that at the end, there has to be a human component or human face or element to AI. So critical thinking remains extremely important. The ability to judge whether the outcomes that you're getting from AI-driven platforms are in fact accurate. is is extremely important because AI is not perfect. It's a huge it provides huge capabilities to save time, to you know streamline your efforts, you know, fewer people necess may need to get involved in producing an outcome than pre-AI, but nevertheless it's not foolproof and it has to be approached critically, intelligently. not every AI tool is created the same, but in in total I'm a big fan of AI. I don't think we're going back from the period of AI and look forward to to to profiting both intellectually and ultimately financially, we are a business from properly incorporating AI into our workflow.

Yeah, that's a great question. And I can definitely talk about misperceptions specifically as related to our company. Because if you look at our website, Ardwolfglobal dot com, you will see that we pride ourselves on really being a website being a company that is largely consists of Partners who were former senior executives at the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a whole host of cadre supporting us, who also have very solid credentials both on the operational and analytic side with respect to the Central Intelligence Agency and other components of the US intelligence community. But what I hasten to so that is attractive to many clients because there are those who really their entire perception of the US intelligence community and a pair and a and especially the Central Intelligence Agency is shaped by Hollywood. But Hollywood is not where we live and we don't undertake contracts or client engagements that skirt the law or that are illegal or that are outside the ethical boundaries of what we can offer and and are willing to offer. As a private intelligence company. So I do have to tell clients, sometimes you come, you get a client that approaches you and wants your help and our help in solving a particular problem. We offer how we could solve the problem within the parameters of the law, and you see that there's some disappointment on the client's face. And and I am quick to note, you know, if you are asking us, for example, to kidnap someone and stuff someone in the back of a car and deliver a person to from point A to point B. We are not the company for you. That's not the kind of work that we do. So we are very particular about working within the scope of not only US law but international law. And so that that's that's just very important to remind clients. Because, you know, it's understandable there are some clients who who may feel that, you know, just by virtue of our pedigree, we're a very you know, freewheeling, Hollywood esque organization, and that's not the case.

Yeah, that's a great question. And you know, I would say that that the particular skill is solving complex problems. So that's what we do at the CIA. We do it on behalf of the president of the United States and US policymakers. and we solve complex problems, number one, through providing intelligence and number two through providing creative operational solutions to deal with a problem. That's what I did in my previous life, and that's what I do for clients today. So really it's not that much different. Obviously our authorities are a little different as a private organization. and also our some of our access to information is different than what we had working for a governmental organization, but that's not insurmountable. At the crux of it, what it is is bringing y one's years of experience in the public sector into solving complex problems for clients.

So well, I've only been at this for a year, so I can't talk about the past years, but I would say that with respect to the market, the year that we've been an active company, it's a healthy market. But it's and and I think this is a good thing, and especially good for clients, it's a very competitive market. So you can't rest on your laurels, you have to number one. deliver an outstanding product for each and every client. and then secondly, you really need to be focused on business development because just as you land one client or one contract, you need already to be thinking toward the next contract. And you know, we live both in Europe where you are and the United States where where I am in a free market system, and I'm grateful for that. But free market system obviously entails its own stresses because you have to for lack of a better term, hustle for business.

Yeah. Well I think it's important to have an end goal. I think what my partner, Michael Morel, and my end goal is to build and develop a an outstanding company that delivers and provides an outstanding service to our clients. and that is ultimately you know a a profit making outfit because a business at the end of the day is is about making money. So you have to not only generate revenue, but you have to generate profit on that revenue, or else you're not a viable entity. so so our first part of our business development was setting it up. We have not taken any outside money. So we are what you call in America a bootstrap organization. all our efforts are based on revenue that we've brought in and any you know capital contributions that my partner and I have made. but our second phase I think will be to try to develop for our company an AI driven platform that adds value to our clients. And I imagine that in the longer term we will want to see if we create a a viable enough company that Other investors may be interested in procuring. for but but that's a ways off. So we we haven't gotten there yet.

Well, I think that everything at the end of the day is based on hard work. So all of us have very respectable titles from our previous occupations, but that doesn't get you clients and that doesn't produce results, and that in and of itself is not sufficient to sustain a business. So what you need is is a vision, first and foremost, and secondly, you need the energy and the drive to succeed and and that at the end of the day takes hard work. Nothing I've ever done in life has just been handed to me. So everything is based on hard work.

So yeah, that's a great question. So we offer our services are bespoke services. So we tailor every solution to the client's needs. So if client, prospective client reaches out to us, we'll discuss what their need is, we'll determine if it's something that fits into our practices and something that we're willing to undertake. And we'll have a robust dialogue with the prospective client and then we'll think about it for a number of days and provide the client with a written proposal that it will include pricing for that particular undertaking.

Well, again, like any business, if any of your listeners are interested in our services, we'd love for them to contact us. but for businesses that are like ours, which are businesses that are s are basically startups that are developing, I'd say, you know, hang in there, work hard. Be confident, and strive towards delivering your customer the very best service that you can possibly provide because it is a competitive environment that we all work in. And if you don't provide a quality product, someone else will and you will become irrelevant.

So I think that the best place to find us is via our website where you can see us on Ardwolfglobal.com and there is a contact us you know button there that or link. I guess it's not a button, it's a link that you can access and and that will put you in contact with us.

Well, it's been a real pleasure. Thank you for inviting me and best of luck to you and to all of your listeners.