First Breakfast

The Unlikely Team That Built an Ironclad and Saved the Union

A disgraced engineer, a young financier, and a risk-taking bureaucrat can teach us about defense innovation.

Nov 11 • Scarlett Swerdlow

25

4

October 2025

Hugh Dowding's Air Defense Revolution

Heretical thinking and a cutting-edge system proved the bomber won't always get through.

Oct 30 • Yoel Margolis

20

2

September 2025

Lord Beaverbrook’s Production Magic

Forceful leadership, media savvy supercharged Spitfire production and won the Battle of Britain.

Sep 16 • Austin Gray

25

3

July 2025

Eugene Fubini, Heretic in the Control Room

He jammed Axis radars, then built the bridge between industry and government in the Cold War.

Jul 23 • Ross Fubini

27

1

Joseph Desch, American Codebreaker

A quiet engineer in Ohio united government and industry to break the Nazi Enigma.

Jul 1 • Peter Minetos

10

2

April 2025

Richard Bissell: The Overhead Economist

Lt Col Matt Sanchez, USAF - Assessments Action Officer, Joint Staff

Apr 2 • Matt Sanchez and Josh Zavilla

13

1

March 2025

Bud Wheelon, Spy Satellites for the CIA

Wheelon fought McNamara and the NRO to give CIA a piece of the overhead reconnaissance mission

Mar 5 • Jon Niewijk

14

3

February 2025

Admiral Jack Fisher, the Royal Navy's Disruptor-in-Chief

By Arthur Herman

Feb 26

18

2

January 2025

Orde Wingate, The Pious Heretic

By Talia Dror and Jordan Hirsch

Jan 29

25

3

Dutch Kindelberger, Mastermind of the Mustang

By John Fredrickson & Brian Fredrickson

Jan 22 • Brian Fredrickson

16

1

Joshua Humphreys, Frigate Forger

Hugh Zabriskie is a Product Manager, Defense & Aerospace, at Applied Intuition.

Jan 15 • Hugh Zabriskie

15

Which Heretics and Heroes Should We Profile Next?

Dear Readers — Happy New Year!

Jan 2 • Shyam Sankar, Madeline Hart, and Greg Little

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1