Cartel Attacks Against Americans Coming? Ed Calderon on the Rising Threat

Our guest today is Jonathan Alpeyrie, a photojournalist who has spent over two decades embedded in conflict zones across the world. In 2013 he was kidnapped and held captive for 81 days by Syrian rebels. His latest book, Drug Wars: Supply and Demand, is an unflinching look at the global drug trade. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (00:00:00) Cold open / Intro / Guest bio(00:07:42) The Syria kidnapping - Capture, Captivity, Ransom, Escape(00:16:10) Bouncing back and pivoting to drug trade coverage(00:20:55) Cartels vs. European gangs, and their growing alliances(00:24:56) Europe's weak law enforcement and no-go zones(00:29:19) Immigration, demographics, and EU sovereignty(00:35:11) Cocaine's resurgence in Europe(00:42:01) Africa's role in the global drug trade(00:43:18) War, humanity, and closing advice Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Marek Health: Visit https://marekhealth.com/ and use code IRONCLAD to receive 10% off The Uprising: From the director of JASON BOURNE, Paul Greengrass brings you THE UPRISING. Andrew Garfield stars as the leader of a ferocious rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II. Set against the true events of the Uprising that helped inspire the legend of Robin Hood, he forms an army of the people to face the King’s might in a fight for justice. Only in theaters September 10. Get tickets. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf/id1677415740 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3SKmtN55V2AGbzHDo34DHI?si=5aefbba9abc844ed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Benn Jordan. He is a science and technology expert whose YouTube investigations into Flock cameras and their security flaws have garnered millions of views. You can check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCshObcm-nLhbu8MY50EZ5Ng Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original Chapters(00:00) – Cold Open (01:21) – Benn's Flock Camera Investigations (09:07) – Flock vs. the Fourth Amendment (12:06) – Flock's Business Model & First Contract (17:15) – The Danger of Unchecked Surveillance (20:06) – Can Civilians Actually Fight This? (27:42) – Crashing Flock's Private Convention (31:06) – Flock's Legal Threats vs. Researchers (39:37) – How the Cameras Actually Work (43:32) – Live Hacking Demo: Proving It's Not Encrypted (45:54) – The Dunwoody Scandal (48:40) – The Legal Case Against Flock (49:41) – Dark Web Data & the FTC Investigation (53:23) – Congress' Response (56:28) – The Threat to Gun Owners & Foreign Adversaries (59:29) – The Chinese Backdoor Discovery (1:02:59) – What People Can Actually Do (1:05:42) – Closing Message: Privacy as a Human Right Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf/id1677415740 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3SKmtN55V2AGbzHDo34DHI?si=5aefbba9abc844ed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ed Calderon is a cartel expert, security specialist, combatives instructor, and former law enforcement officer who specialized in organized crime investigations. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf travels to the headquarters of Born Primitive in Virginia Beach to spend time with founder and CEO Bear Handlon. A former Navy SEAL, Yale football player, and CrossFit Games athlete, Bear built Born Primitive from the ground up into a global fitness apparel brand, one that's now expanding into outdoor, tactical, lifestyle, and footwear lines with a massive new headquarters on the way. Today, Bear's approach to risk, faith, and family shapes how he leads the company through its next chapter. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (01:44) – New HQ risk / "moderation is for cowards" (09:34) – HQ walkthrough (20:11) – Plant Medicine Retreat (26:02) – Born Primitive Office Tour (29:16) – Risk Tolerance as Stakes Grow (40:15) – Early Grind Years (42:10) – Market Timing / IP (43:17) – Motivation Board Story (45:03) – False Summits / Celebrating Wins (53:11) – CTA Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Tania Rashid. She is an award-winning correspondent and producer who reports across the globe, with a career spanning CNN International, PBS NewsHour, NBC News, National Geographic Channel, VICE News, and others. She was a correspondent on VICE's Criminal Planet series, including the episode "Butchered for Profit: Inside Organ Trafficking," which goes inside the global black market for organs to meet the surgeons and traffickers profiting from it, with reporting spanning Mexico, China, and Pakistan.You can find more of her work at: https://www.taniarashid.com/ Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at ⁠https://firecracker.farm/⁠ (00:00) "I Think I'm Going to Sell Their Kidneys" (00:29) Meet Tania Rashid (01:00) From Saudi Arabia to Salt Lake City: Tania's Origin Story (09:51) Inside "Butchered for Profit": Pakistan's Organ Trade (20:31) Mexico's Cartel-Run Organ Trafficking Networks (28:34) Why Exposure Doesn't Equal Change (30:40) Earning Trust With Traffickers and Cartel Members 35:24 Trauma, Healing & Advice for Future Journalists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annie Jacobsen is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author known for her research and writing on topics related to national security, defense, and intelligence. Her investigative work has focused on some of the most secretive areas of government and includes the titles Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base, The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency, Operation Paperclip, and Nuclear War. Her latest, Biological War: A Scenario is out now. Video Chapters: (00:00) – Intro: Nations With Bioweapons Programs & Meet Annie Jacobsen (01:15) – Panic vs. Pressure: Writing About Doomsday & Trusting the Algorithm (04:58) – Covid's Airborne Denial: A Case Study in Institutional Fallibility (09:58) – Nuclear vs. Biological: Case Fatality Rates & Which Scares Her More (17:41) – Pentagon War Games: Outbreak to Anarchy in Six Days (26:06) – Global Threat Landscape & Anatomy of a Lab Accident at Vector (34:03) – Close Calls, AI-Enabled Bioweapons & Rebuilding Public Trust (44:00) – Gain-of-Function, "Devolution," Live Outbreaks & Closing Thoughts Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Change Agents, Andy is joined by Brian Streem, the founder and CEO of Vermeer, a defense tech company with forward operations in Ukraine. He went from using drone technology and Hollywood projects ranging from Steven Spielberg movies, The Fast and the Furious films, and Beyonce music videos to the frontlines of war. This technology lets drones navigate when GPS is jammed, spoofed or gone entirely. Brian pivoted his company into Vermeer in 2018, after the Department of Defense showed strong interest in his team's XR technology, building AR command controlled and visualization tools for unmanned swarms in GPS denied environments. Video Chapters: (00:39) – Meet Brian Streem: Hollywood to the Frontlines (09:39) – The Pivot: From Film Sets to Defense Tech (10:19) – Landing DoD Funding & Moving Vermeer to Ukraine (21:06) – GPS Jamming & Spoofing Explained (25:33) – Fiber Optic vs FPV vs Starlink Drones (31:41) – The Outsider Advantage: Why Being in Kyiv Matters (35:10) – Drone Swarms, Autonomy & Kill-Authority Ethics (42:50) – Pentagon's $150M Drone Dominance Program (47:13) – Russia's Drone Tech: Speed, ATR & What's Next (50:14) – Pilot Psychology, War Outlook & Final Thoughts Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf travels to Virginia Beach to spend time with Dom Raso aboard his boat near Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story. Dom spent 12 years in the SEAL teams before founding Dynamis Alliance, a gear and combatives training company built from everything he learned in the teams. Today, Dom's life largely revolves around his faith, family, and protecting time with them has become his priority. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (00:00) Cold Open (01:11) The Power of "No" (02:44) Family, Faith & Current Ventures (05:05) Gladius Christi: Protecting the Church (10:51) Combatives Philosophy (19:11) Should Young Men Join the Military? (28:58) Faith and Military Discipline (41:44) Extortion 17 and the Path to Catholicism (49:23) Redefining Success (54:15) Fatherhood as the Front Line (57:09) Leaving the SEAL Teams (1:01:52) Gift Exchange Sponsors: Firecracker Farm  Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf welcomes Jonathan Hackett to unpack the escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran. He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps interrogator, counterintelligence agent, and special operations intelligence officer who ran assignments for the NSA, DIA, and Special Operations Command, and is the author of Iran: Shadow Weapons, Covert Action, Intelligence Operations, and Unconventional Warfare. Co-host the podcast Eyes on Geopolitics:  @EyesOnGeopoliticsPod  Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (00:01:33) Explaining Iran in one sentence (00:09:04) Mirror imaging the regime (00:14:28) The experience gap at the negotiating table (00:19:02) A broken decision-making process (00:27:29) Losing our intelligence assets in Iran (00:32:12) Where the nuclear program really stands (00:39:41) Why an executive agreement won't hold (00:50:08) The truth about Iranian sleeper cells (00:59:36) What Americans get wrong about Iran Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Kubota Tractor Corporation: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kubotatractorcorp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf travels to the headquarters of GBRS Group in Virginia Beach to sit down with co-founder DJ Shipley. He spent 17 in years in the SEAL teams where he served at SEAL Team 10 and Naval Special Warfare Development Group before medically retiring in 2019 due to injuries sustained in combat and training. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (00:00:41) The Mental Health Void in the SEAL Community (00:02:25) Feeling Alone on the Island (00:05:16) Ibogaine Therapy in Mexico (00:08:15) Missing the Tribe (00:11:11) The Electrocution (00:13:04) Building GBRS Group From Nothing (00:16:11) The Cost of Having No Balance (00:19:21) Would You Do It All Over Again (00:24:47) Tour of GBRS Group HQ (00:30:04) What Would You Have Changed (00:38:49) Supporting Gold Star Families (00:42:14) The Physical Toll (00:54:56) Recovery Room Tour (01:00:20) What Would You Do If You Lost It All (01:05:20) The Most Effective Way to Talk About Mental Health (01:11:40) The Veteran Suicide Epidemic - Is It Fixable? (01:19:37) Closing Thoughts & Where to Find DJ Sponsors: Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Norwood Sawmills: Learn more about Norwood Sawmills and how you can start milling your own lumber at: https://norwoodsawmills.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=ironclad&utm_campaign=ironclad Kubota Tractor Corporation: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kubotatractorcorp Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf/id1677415740 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3SKmtN55V2AGbzHDo34DHI?si=5aefbba9abc844ed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices