Understandable Insights: Information to Intelligence with Sue Gordon

Ep. 08 Cyber to Cornfields: Community and Trust in the Heartland

Sue Gordon & Eric Koepp Episode 8

We’re all ears…let us know what would make Ui better!

In this episode of Understandable Insights, Sue and Eric connect three fronts of resilience: cybersecurity on the home front, the governance of biometrics, and the future of American agriculture. They unpack the reduced capacity of coordinated cyber communication, what policy looks like for biometric data and the claims of disinformation in Greenland. Then they head to the Heartland: shrinking farm counts, tighter margins, and how ownership—foreign buyers, institutional capital, and co-ops—shapes food security as national security.  

Timestamps: 

00:00 Introduction to Understandable Insights

01:46 Labor Day Reflections 

03:37 Cybersecurity Threats and State Responsibilities

10:16 Biometric Data and Privacy Concerns

16:56 Greenland Influence and Arctic Gray Zone

19:17 Agriculture and Food Security as National Security

23:29 Foreign Investment in US Farmland

34:05 Private Equity and Community Impact

39:52 Technological Innovations in Agriculture

47:04 Conclusion and Future Outlook

About the show:

Understandable Insights: Information to Intelligence with Sue Gordon is the national security podcast that provides you an elemental understanding of the world as it is, not how you prefer it to be.

Each week, Eric Koepp — a former Marine, father, and entrepreneur — sits down with the Honorable Sue Gordon, the nation’s former top career intelligence officer. Together, they break down the headlines shaping our world and ask what they really mean for citizens, leaders, and institutions.

From armed conflict to emerging tech, foreign interference to the resilience of democracy — this is where raw information becomes real intelligence. Unfiltered. Candid. Unapologetically clear.

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