Field notes · 01
Observe
North Star
Welcome to me and my world.
My story. My compass. The quiet current.
The path that brought me here.
Moral compass
The direction beneath the decision.
Facts tell me what is true. Experience helps me recognize the pattern. A moral compass asks what I should do with what I know.
A wider view
My work has always been about understanding what comes next.
I am a former CIA targeting officer whose national-security career has moved through counterterrorism operations, congressional investigations, Department of Defense research and development, intelligence modernization, and emerging technology.
The settings changed, but the purpose did not: understand the problem clearly enough to help people act before a crisis. That same purpose now shapes my investigations, The Watch Floor, public-safety training, humanitarian work, and the practical preparedness ideas I share here.
Across borders · 02
Connect
Working across institutions, borders, and communities.
What remains · 03
Anchor
Staying with difficult work after attention moves on.
Put it to work · 04
Serve
Turning experience into practical help for others.
A wider world
Oh, the places you will go.
Travel has taught me that understanding rarely begins at a distance. It comes from standing in a place, listening before speaking, noticing how people live, and allowing experience to complicate what you thought you knew.
Some journeys were for work. Others began with curiosity or the simple joy of seeing somewhere new. Every one left me with a wider frame of reference, a little more humility, and a better sense of how connected the world really is.
Travel notes✦Places visited
Field noteLook closely.Carry something home.
What I hold, and what could change it
Strong beliefs should still leave room for better evidence.
These are working principles, not walls. I hold them firmly because experience has earned them. I remain willing to change them when the evidence does.
Facts come before narratives.
What I hold: Conclusions should follow verified evidence, not the story we hoped to find.
What could change it: Reliable, independently verifiable evidence that changes the pattern.
Preparedness should create calm.
What I hold: Good preparation builds confidence and reduces fear; it should not become a way of living in constant alarm.
What could change it: Credible outcome data showing another approach consistently produces better decisions without increasing harm.
Relationships are part of readiness.
What I hold: Trusted networks help communities adapt and recover in ways that resources alone cannot.
What could change it: Repeated after-action evidence showing isolated, centralized systems consistently outperform connected local networks.
Technology should strengthen judgment.
What I hold: Tools should help people see more clearly, without obscuring responsibility or replacing thoughtful decisions.
What could change it: Transparent, tested systems that consistently outperform human-led teams on defined tasks while preserving accountability.
Head and heart
Reason and intuition should work together.
What I hold: Gut instinct is often experience speaking before the words arrive. It is a signal worth noticing, not a verdict that must be obeyed.
The practice: Notice the instinct. Name what may be driving it. Test it against facts, consequences, and values. Then choose the most thoughtful next step.
Notice→Name→Test→Choose
Where the current continuesOpen coordinates
The North Star gives us direction. Our values are the anchor that keeps us steady.