Uh, can you kind of tell us how you're working in the academic world to continue to stay on top of this and to kind of bring a lot of that research and that expertise to these problems?

When we stood up the Institute of National Security at Vanderbilt University two years ago, there were a series of ideas that really kind of were at the foundation of what we wanted to do.

First of all was the idea that national security, the definition of national security had changed dramatically.

You know, when I entered the Army, it was all about, you know, having two very friendly neighbors to our north and south and two wide oceans to our east and west.

Well, I would tell you today that geographic boundaries no longer keep out things like artificial intelligence and cyber.

We've gotta think differently about how we define national security.

The second piece is, hey, we need a whole new generation of young people that are gonna work national security.

So my question is, how do you think about informing more Americans about the real risks, the real sort of cybersecurity environment we're living in, and, and how easily it might be for adversaries to exploit some of the things they're able to do in our critical infrastructure without causing panic? H- h- how [laughs] would you communicate that? You're a great communicator.

I asked General Nakasone to talk about the three main drivers of cybersecurity and national security that he's tracking right now.

I think the first main driver clearly is the rise of China as the major adversary in cyberspace.

I think this is an inflection point that took place a couple of years ago.

We've all heard about salt and typhoon.

But let me give you just a little bit of perspective.

In 2015, we were all surprised that the Ministry of State Security was able to get into the Office of Personal Management and steal 20 million records.

And now, 10 years later, the FBI reports that given Salt Typhoon's ability to get into nine telecommunications companies, you know, probably every American is touched by China in cyberspace today.

How are we doing against China right now, offense, defense, and how do we take this message to America and deliver it in a way that people understand how it impacts them on a daily basis?

What's the scenario you worry about when it comes to Taiwan?

Miscalculation.

I returned to 2001 with regards to an American intelligence plane that was clipped by a Chinese fighter.

In April 2001, an American spy plane and Chinese fighter jet collided.

The American plane lands at Hainan Island.

There's a series of days where there's negotiation.

We finally get our crew back.

Should people's hair be on fire about that?