Now

Studying

Yergin's The New Map, which keeps rearranging how I think about energy security. The USCC's annual reports and its evaluation of Made in China 2025, drier on the cover than they are inside. And the current generation of quantum hardware from IBM Quantum, where I work, because keeping up with the machines is the only way to keep the rest of my quantum writing honest.

Classes at NDU start this month, so this list is about to change.

Building

This site, for one. And a set of tools built on public data with help from IBM Bob: a Defense Industrial Base Atlas, which is the furthest along, and a European Energy Dashboard. Both are attempts to see industrial capacity plainly: who can make what, where, and how fast.

Writing here weekly, starting now. If a week gets away from me, I'd rather post a short note than nothing.

Asking

Whether the data we already collect can be made to answer new questions. The US has world-class economic statistics. But the numbers sit in many places with no way to see them together, and a question like who makes a given part, and where, falls between the datasets. This is my exercise in learning to work with public industrial data and make it simpler to use for the people designing industrial policy.