#186: Communication Wins Wars - Former Chief Technology And Innovation Officer at USSOCOM & US Space Force Dr. Lisa Costa

Communication is the backbone of every military operation. How well our forces talk to each other across air, land, sea and space is what sets the American military apart from everyone else. Without communication leaders can’t lead, and militaries can’t win. 

From the Global Special Operations Symposium in Athens, Greece, Fran Racioppi sat down with Dr. Lisa Costa, a leading technologist, former Chief Information Officer for U.S. Special Operations Command, and the first Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for the U.S. Space Force, to discuss how innovation, cyber, and modernization are reshaping Special Operations across all domains.

Dr. Costa brings decades of experience at the crossroads of defense, technology, and strategic innovation. From running one of the Department of Defense’s largest IT enterprises supporting elite global SOF operations to spearheading digital transformation efforts in the Space Force, she has helped architect the future of how our forces fight, communicate, and adapt.

She addressed the evolving threat landscape, including cyber attacks, space domain challenges and why staying ahead through technology, data, and innovation is no longer optional. She emphasized the importance of agility, integration, and forward-thinking capability as the bedrock of a modern force ready for tomorrow’s missions.

This discussion is about building advantage through technology, strengthening alliances across domains, and protecting America by ensuring the force evolves with the threat.

Highlights

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:36 Welcome to GSOF Europe
• 3:15 USSOCOM CIO & Space Force's CTIO
• 6:02 Communications Evolution
• 8:51 DoD Civilian Workforce
• 13:43 Special Operations LSCO
• 16:41 SOF Space Cyber Triad
• 19:24 The Space Battlefield
• 22:17 Lunar South Pole
• 24:35 War Today
• 26:18 Combatting misinformation
• 28:38 Defining AI
• 30:22 Human in the loop
• 31:33 Guardrailing AI Weaponization
• 34:06 Advancing Time to Technology
• 35:48 Citizen Based
• 37:06 Ground Level Innovation
• 40:46 Buying Commercial Resources
• 45:10 The Next Battlefield

Quotes

• “I might be the only person wearing both a SOCOM and Space Force pin.” 
• “Communications is absolutely critical.” 
• “It has gone from big bulky equipment to a binary signal.” 
• “Civilians are part of the force.” 
• “I look at SOF as the tool and capability to prevent us going to war.”
• “The best battle space is the one we never have to put a boot into.” 
• “There is not even a position, navigation, and timing capability on the lunar surface.” 
• “Is it the person who discovered it or the person who gets there first?”
• “We’re fighting for data.”
• “It’s not there because we’re using AI.”
• “I do not define AI as just Large Language Models.”
• “There are going to be mission specific incidents where AI is going to have to be trusted to make that decision.”
• “Don’t sign up for Chinese AI.”
• “Operation Spiderweb was one pilot to every drone. That is not scalable.”
• “It’s going to have to take everyone.”
• “It comes down to the operational planners that are doing that risk assessment.”
• “I believe that we will rely greatly on commercial assets.”
• “There are areas of space that we have not taken advantage of.”
• “I hope that the future of the battle space is much more cognitive.”
• “I always put the operator in charge of a project, not a PhD.”
• “Always prepare for the next unknown mission.”

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