In this episode of The NDS Show, Nick Smith sits down with Edward Donaldson, ExxonMobil veteran and quantitative geoscientist with decades of experience in the oil and gas industry, to explore the surprising connections between subsurface intelligence, national security, and the future of artificial intelligence.

In this episode they cover:

• Why geoscience and national intelligence share the same problem: seeing in the dark
• How seismology, gravimetry, and electromagnetic sensors map what no eye can see
• Cognitive bias in high-stakes decisions, and how the CIA studies it
• What a nuclear submarine, poker, and a geoscience career have in common
• Why agentic AI fluency is non-optional for any technical professional today

Can a machine learn to "see" what's buried under kilometers of rock? What do an oil well and an underground military target have in common? Is the convergence of quantum AI and remote sensing about to change everything?

This is one of the most unusual and eye-opening conversations we've had on the show. If you've ever wondered what lies beneath the surface, literally and figuratively, this one's for you.

In this episode of The NDS Show, Nick Smith sits down with Mark Galeotti, one of the world's leading experts on Russia, banned indefinitely by the Kremlin in 2022, to break down how Russia's intelligence apparatus really works, what's actually happening inside Putin's inner circle, and where the Ukraine war is really headed.

📘 Order Mark's books: We Need to Talk About Putin: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/439532/we-need-to-talk-about-putin-by-galeotti-mark/9781529981094 Homo Criminalus: How Crime Organizes the World: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/445951/homo-criminalis-by-galeotti-mark/9781529148220 Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin and the New Fight for the Future of Russia: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460781/downfall-by-galeotti-anna-arutunyan-and-mark/9781529927382 Forged in War: A Military History of Russia from Its Beginnings to Today: https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/forged-in-war-9781472862518/ 🎙️ Check out Mark’s podcast: https://inmoscowsshadows.buzzsprout.com/ They dive into: - Why Russia's intelligence community operates on a permanent war footing - The truth behind Russian disinformation, and how much of it is actually hype - What ordinary Russians really think about Putin and the war - The only realistic endgame for the Ukraine war - The dirty secret behind the Russia-China "alliance" - How the Kremlin is outsourcing operations to organized crime - What happens to Russia when Putin is gone This conversation offers a rare glimpse into the forces shaping Russia today, from modern warfare and global power shifts to the inner workings of authoritarian systems behind closed doors.

In this episode, Nick sits down with Jonathan B. Smith: Black Swan Group negotiation instructor, author of Fight Less, Win More, and the only entrepreneur on Chris Voss' team of former FBI hostage negotiators. Through his EOS system, Jonathan has helped executives, recruiters, and leaders win rooms they had no business walking into.

📘 Get Jonathan's book: Fight Less, Win More: https://a.co/d/07PMQVRA

They cover:

• Why smart people keep losing negotiations they should have won
• The "accusations audit" and why saying the uncomfortable thing out loud changes everything
• How to negotiate when you have zero leverage
• The Black Swan method: hunting for hidden information that flips the deal
• Why tactical empathy is more powerful than any argument you can make
• The one question that turns deal killers into your biggest advocates
• How to proliferate negotiation skills across an entire organization
• Why low stakes practice leads to high stakes confidence

Whether you're closing a multimillion-dollar contract, navigating a tough conversation at home, or trying to get a hotel upgrade, these skills work everywhere.