What does AI converging with quantum look like, for instance? So I was doing

a podcast with Aaron Freeberg last year.

I can't remember which one it was.

And I was listening to him, and the word that popped into my head was convergence.

And It's going to be incredible if you think about it, David.

So we're already seeing AI and sort of cyber converge and what that looks like.

Michael's done a very good job of talking about that.

Mike.

Spent, uh, two and a half years there, moved over to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which if anyone's familiar with, is, uh, basically the only committee in the Senate that still legislates on a regular basis other than the Appropriations Committee.

Committee.Uh, spent 12 and a half years there, uh, until Senator Levin retired.

Senator Reid, who's now the Democratic ranking member on the committee, uh, kept me on.

Uh, it was very nice of him.

And then in 2016, um, I got a call from the Schumer operation, and then they s- asked me if I'd consider, uh, applying for the job, and I said, "Absolutely." It was one of the dream jobs in the Senate.

So I moved over to become, uh, his na- uh, then Democratic leader, Schumer's national security advisor in, uh, January... on January 3rd, 2017.

So his first day on the job was my first day on the job, and it was a fantastic opportunity.

Really? Okay.

How do you read what's happening in terms of China's military security posture in the region?

Great question.

You know, the simple answer is we have no idea, right, Mark? I mean, it's very hard to sort of figure out what is in General Secretary Xi's mind at any given moment.

And there's sort of two reads you can have on it.

One, you can look back at Chinese history, and my colleague, Randy and I's colleague, Hal Brands, has looked at this and Seeing that purges of Chinese military leadership in advance of a conflict is sort of a normal thing to happen, which in my mind is sort of extraordinary.

And the other way you can think about it is, you know, President Xi has put a lot of pressure on the PLA to be ready to go.

by 2027.

is for that? And what do you make of the way that Taiwan is starting to build up its own defenses in How should we be thinking about the Taiwan issue? Because I remember going to Washington a few years ago and everyone was very, very focused on the data and the dangers and things seem to have been somewhat overshadowed by other preoccupations in recent times.

But, but does the US state have to become more involved, bigger, more activist to al-allow the US to compete with China?

I think Randy touched on a few points, and let me just raise a few others.

Randy talked align- about alignment.

The other thing I always think about, uh, when I think about this recommendation is unity of command.I mean, right now we have all of these entities talking to various economic actors across the American economy and across the sort of democratic world.

And I think one of the things we saw is it was becoming like warring feudal states, um, rather than, you know, a place where you were, uh, driven to make decisions, and that was the big thing that we were trying to correct for.

There's always been a role for the public sector in the American economy.

That doesn't mean that we're driving it and making decisions.

Mike, do you agree with that, that the US, th-this is a doable challenge? And if it's doable, what sort of timelines are you looking at?