FreeMind Network: Unveiling The Grit

Uncovering Global Insights with Kervin Aucoin from 'This Week Explained' | EP82 - FreeMind Network Podcast

In this episode of the FreeMind Network Podcast, we sit down with Kervin Aucoin, founder of Aucoin Analytics and co-host of the popular podcast "This Week Explained." Kervin shares his incredible journey from serving as a military intelligence analyst to becoming a thought leader in civilian intelligence. Discover the pivotal moments that shaped his career, the challenges he faced transitioning to the civilian sector, and the unique insights he brings to global events through his podcast.

What You'll Learn:

Kervin's transition from military to civilian intelligence
The founding and mission of Aucoin Analytics
Behind-the-scenes insights from "This Week Explained" podcast
Predictive analysis of global events and its importance
The role of unbiased intelligence in today’s world

Why Listen?
Gain a deeper understanding of how intelligence analysis works, the importance of separating facts from emotions, and how to apply these insights to better understand current global events. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in intelligence, geopolitics, or simply wanting to stay informed in a world of misinformation.

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Duration:: 28m
Broadcast on:: 17 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) ♪ You know my story, right? ♪ ♪ Rise the fame from the pain of glory, right? ♪ - Yeah, thanks a lot. This is Curvin' Oakland. I am the CEO founder of the private intelligence company Oakland Analytics. We founded in November of 2018. And we've been pivoting ever since due to the climate of this entire globe. - And let's jump right in a little bit. And we'll talk specifically about the analytics in your company and what it is you all do and as much as you can share, obviously, in the onset of what you can share there. So just start with the beginning. And let's talk about the moment when you transition from your career and realize you wanted to take the jump into running your own business. - Yeah, so, you know, I signed up for the army in October of 2001. That's when I officially signed the paperwork. Now there was a lot that, you know, months before going into all of that, taking the Asfab and things like that. But I signed up the paperwork there to become a geospatial intelligence analyst, which is just known as an imagery analyst, taking satellite imagery and then analyzing all of the information that's on there to then effectively create an intelligence product to present to military commanders or government leaders. So that's how my career started through the years, through my 15-year military career. I, you know, I did the imagery stuff. I was also a human intelligence analyst. And then, you know, after my first deployment to Iraq, I told my commander, you know, I really want to learn a language and try to do something that will really challenge me in the future endeavors that I'm gonna take. And they said, well, perfect. You can go and go to the Defense Language Institute, which is in Monterey, California to study Arabic. The funny thing was that was I thought maybe, you know, I'd learned Spanish or something pretty easy, maybe even French because of my background, just to do the course, have that and have that language background. Well, you know, this was 2006 and the global war on terrorism was at its peak. And so there was only one language that our unit was allowing anyone to learn. That was Arabic. You know, I'm super excited. And looking back on it, I'm thankful and grateful that I was able to do that. You know, it really challenged me. It made me refocus my life, I think. At that same point, I got married with my, then my wife became pregnant through starting a family and doing all of this stuff. So there were all those challenges as well. So after I finished that and did another deployment, the special operations came calling and I augmented with special operations for about eight to 10 years, deploying once or twice a year, every year, providing intelligence analysis to special operations forces all over the globe. That's where I really started to travel a lot. It went to a lot of austere locations, like Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, obviously. Also all over Africa, where I was able to live on, what we would call on the economy or within the community. So we'd have a house in the middle of the city. And between our work, we would do whatever we wanted to do in the city and I really love that. And I used my intelligence background to just kind of identify what's going on there, help other people while they were coming out. If we had a new guys coming out to certain cities or locations that we were at, I would try to help them so that when they get into the country, they can integrate very easily. And that was the point where I thought I could really, I could probably really do this from a civilian level. And at that point, I was still traveling to Africa. I traveled to Poland. We did, we sort of did this overt. So I work a lot in covert. That was a lot of special operations, but going into Poland was the first time I very much worked as an intelligence analyst in the overt market, which means everyone knew we were there, why we were there and it was overt anti-Russian aggression. And that was 2017 and we see what has happened now within Ukraine with Russia. So at that point in 2017, the Polish people were very concerned about what Russia was gonna do in that country. I think their worries were justified in 2022, in February of 2022. So doing that sort of overt anti-Russian aggression, I really felt myself thinking, I missed my entire families, like all my kids, I have three kids. And they're, between the ages of 15 and 20 right now, I missed their entire lives. And that still hurts me on a very singular level that I wasn't there for them for everything. I, during their most formidable years, the years that parents worked the hardest to develop their worldview and their personalities, I wasn't there and I left that all to my wife. Something I struggle with even today. So that was when I decided, I've got to stop doing this, I've got to stop doing this, what we would call targeting, find, fix and finish, meaning you find the enemy, you fix onto their location and then you destroy the enemy, you kill that person. And that really did a number on my mental health. And so all of those things converging at once I decided, I needed to get back home and find a job that I can do that can actually help people, bring people back. And within that, I could be with my family again and stay with them, work a nine to five job where I'm back home every day. And luckily, a terrific organization and agency had a position open on the civilian side, needing an analyst to do lessons learned for personnel recovery. So I signed on as an independent contractor to be an analyst for personnel recovery. Well, because I'm a 1099 independent contractor and I set up a business just to, you know, for tax purposes and things like that. But as I'm doing it, I just decide, you know that I've got this great opportunity with JPRA to do great things for the war fighter. But I have this also this other time that I can use maybe to provide intelligence analysis to the civilian side, not just the Department of Defense or the military. I could do something for the civilian side. And so that was about January of 2020. I started to, you know, create the brand that is Oakland Analytics right now. From that, there was a former intelligence officer who's living in South Carolina now. He had put out a request looking for intelligence analysts to help him within a what's called a protective intelligence or travel security. Within the travel security, what we would do is take high-level leadership CEOs from Fortune 500, Fortune 100 companies. And if they need, if they're going overseas or they're traveling, we would provide everything that they need, right, the right flights, the right hotel locations. What it, giving contacts for people who are in country that they're gonna be in that can help them out. Just a full suite business helping these individuals out. So that was January of 2020. We signed the contracts and we were ready to go. He was building up a software that people could go into and kind of, you know, they would go into, they'd sign up. And then they would get all of the information that they need, all the intelligence that they need. And so he's working on that and we're going back and forth on how to fine tune everything. And we have a set date that we wanna release this. And that date was gonna be in April of 2020. And as we all know, April of 2020 was probably the worst day for travel in human history, maybe. So that was the shutdown dates from COVID. So that was the moment all travel stopped. And we kept it going. He said that he was hearing things that in the next six months it might open up. So we kept feeding money into it just to keep it propped up that way when travel does open back up. We'll get this rush of people coming in for all this intelligence and that never happened. And it was just too much, too cumbersome to keep open. And as a business, we decided to go our separate ways. Now we are still really good friends and we still work together on a lot of things. He's a very Peter Morten as his name. He's still the best protective intelligence right now. And so he went his separate way and then I had to figure out what am I gonna pivot to? I just shut all of this down and go back to just doing what I was doing as an independent contractor or do I figure something else out. And it sat on it for a few months. And then in 2021, after seeing everything that had gone on with COVID and all of the massive amounts of misinformation and disinformation that were being put basically based off of your politics and what worldview and what bias you had is what you believe was really going on. And as an analytical, logical thinker, I read all of these things going, all of these people arguing back and forth thinking they're right or the other person's wrong or any of that stuff that you are both wrong. Even my initial emotional reactions are wrong. And then I understood that at that point, you know, intelligence, which is supposed to be unbiased and it's supposed to be logical. You get all this information in and you analyze it logically and you put out factual unbiased information. I figured this is something that can be used onto the civilian market for people who were just out there, confused about everything that's going on around them and how it affects them personally. So then I said, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to provide intelligence reports for anyone and everyone who may need it. I'll do travel, I will take big geopolitical events and I will offer up ideas on how to protect yourself protected, how to do various things to protect your finances, your family, and it was at that point where I decided, you know, I'm doing all of this, writing it all down, not everybody is like me, a visual learner who needs to read a lot of stuff. Some people just wanna hear it. And as somebody who does like to talk a lot, I decided I should probably do a podcast that takes all of these big geopolitical events that are happening, this was, you know, summer of 2021. I was already identifying things at the US Southern border that were going on, that being infiltrated by various terrorist organizations, adversarial countries. I also noticed a push from Russia to go onto their border with Ukraine and there was a possibility that a major conflict could be coming up. So we started the podcast and, you know, I was gonna do this solo. I was gonna be, you know, one of those guys who just talk, you think of all the political guys like a Ben Shapiro who can just talk, talk and talk about all these big political things, I was gonna take the politics out of it and just offer an intelligence side of you. And I immediately, as I'm recording for the first time, understand that I cannot do that. That is not who I am. I've never sat alone by myself and just talked into the ether and I knew, well, this isn't gonna work. So I've gotta pivot again. I'm gonna need somebody else there going back and forth with me. And I didn't know how I was gonna do that. And so I went to my wife, Tiana, and I said, you know, you've been so supportive in all of this, I need a co-host. Would you mind doing this just for a little while so that we can build it up and then we'll go from there? And, you know, she was very cautious about it. She's not somebody who wants to be out there, who wants her face on everything. She definitely doesn't want her voice everywhere and people knowing who she is. But God bless her because she said, you know, I love you and I support you so much. And I think what you're doing is an incredible thing. And so I will do this with you for a while. So we did, and those first episodes aren't out anymore, not because we said anything that was outlandish, but because any podcaster will agree with this, those first few episodes are the worst. You're trying to get your feel for it. It gets frustrating, they're very short episodes, but we kept doing it. And it turned into something not that I was thinking it was going to turn into. And, you know, it started, I think December of 2021, I believe it was December 3rd was the episode we put out where through all of my analysis, I realized what was happening on the border between Russia and Ukraine. And I did historical views. I brought in data from all over and said, I think I know the date that this is going to happen. And I mentioned it on that episode, you know, in February after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Putin is going to make that move into Ukraine. It's most likely going to be the, you know, moments after the closing ceremony. I had a lot of people, I mean, we didn't have a lot of listeners, maybe 20 to 30 listeners at that time. They were mostly friends and family, but the majority of them either said, I think you're wrong, I know you're wrong, or I hope you're wrong. And I hope you're wrong, I get very, very much. Like I hope I was wrong as well, but I could see it. And so I let it keep going. And we kept harping on it and harping on it, hoping somebody would listen, you know, Putin met with Emmanuel Macron in France, that image of this like eight foot table with the two of them at opposite ends. And Macron came out of that and said, you know, I trust this guy and he says, he's not going to do it, he's not going to do it. And that was the moment I was like, even our, the world leaders don't even understand what's going on, that is how backwards we are right now. And then the moment happened, the invaded Ukraine. And that's when our podcast kind of blew up on a micro level. I mean, I remember that day, my wife and kids had gone down to Louisiana where we're from, what a family thing that happened. And so I was home by myself and I had gotten COVID at that point and my voice was gone. And I just had journalists after journalists reaching out, hey, can I talk to you, can I talk to you? And I was completely just, just done at the end of that day, it was a wild, wild experience. And I think that was a turning point for me that, you know, I say a lot of things and, you know, maybe there's some things I don't even believe that I'm saying, but I'm putting it out there. But that, yeah, I think I am understanding this correctly maybe and I get things wrong and that's always going to happen. But if I keep, if I keep to the task that is intelligence, then I think taking my worldview and my bias out, my political views out and presenting just the facts of it that I am actually giving people factual information that they can use to better their lives. And through that, what we found with the podcast is, you know, this whole conversation that Tien and I have every week on the podcast becomes, you know, cathartic. It literally is, the conversations we have on the podcast are the conversations that we're having. Like we record Thursday nights and it comes out on Fridays, but, you know, Saturday to Thursday, those are the conversations we're having in the house. New, big news pops up and there's different news articles and we're texting back and forth these news articles and trying to understand what is going on in this world. And we have now this space on the podcast to come together and bounce those ideas off of each other and try to figure out, you know, what is going on. And so that has been the trajectory. And so the podcast has become what I've focused on a lot more than the business, just because I'm still trying to figure out how to market it to the civilian consumer because for good reason, the civilian consumer doesn't understand why they would even need it. Why am I going to spend money on something that I don't even know what it is? So we're trying with the podcast to show what that is and how it's beneficial and to that effect, hopefully it turns into, it's a very novel idea. There is no, you know, basic intelligence, private intelligence for the civilian consumer. For the guy or gal, the couple, the family that's making it day to day paycheck to paycheck, they don't get this information that your Mark Zuckerbergs of the world get on a day to day basis who can have a full sweet intelligence program, that they don't get that. And I don't like that. I want to offer that to everyone. And you know, I've offered it up to people for free, how I had friends go to France a year ago. And they just hit me up and say, "Hey, we're going to France. "What do you know, anything?" There were huge protests going on at that time. That was the timeframe when France was on fire. There's that photo of the people sitting outside of a restaurant eating and a cross from them is just trash burning in the streets. And they're just sipping their wine and eating. So I provided that for free because I'm passionate about it and I'm passionate about people's safety and security. I've offered up, you know, I've also done intelligence for companies that have gone into Ukraine and have pulled civilians out of Ukraine and done cross border operations. That was paid for. It was for profit. But, you know, I could have done it for free and it would have meant the same to me because we've saved people's lives at that point. And those are my passions. I really, I end my podcast every time. It's what I would call my catchphrase or whatever. And it's always stay safe out there. And I truly mean that. It's not just some phrase that I say. I tell it to people on a day-to-day basis. You know, I'm in Las Vegas right now and I see people walking around the streets and we'll say hi or have an interaction. And I always end it with stay safe out there. So I think that's the most important thing. - I think there's so many, there's three valuable aspects that everybody needs to understand with your podcast and your story that also going to the podcast. And there's a lot of things that dissect and what we just talked about in all the positive way, to be honest with you. I think that what you're doing with the podcast now realizing your actual intent of the analytics company. I think the podcast is exactly that. It's the showing, not selling. Because I think we also live in a world where exactly you said it's not, you have to distill down. The most, let's say the most engaged and confused or consumed things online are distilled complicated things that are distilled down to a very digestive manner. I think that that's what your podcast does for me specifically. I am a fan of your podcast. I love everything about it. I also love, and I used a phrase just now that actually was better or clearer than what was in my head, which is the politics, all intelligence. And it's like that was really, like you see so many times now, and I do curse on here, so I apologize. All the bullshit media stuff where it's like fair and balanced and all these other things, but it's all bullshit at the end because they're driving you to the sponsor or they're driving you to this. This is just straightforward. And it's no politics, all intelligence, and what do they sell? They're selling intelligence. So if you want further intelligence, then yeah, I've talked to reach out and to Curvin and start a conversation, but there's no gimmicks, there's no anything, there's no ulterior motives. This is everything distilled down in a non-biased way. And if you want deeper, there's a paid option down the road that we can talk about customly. That right there is such a powerful number one, we generation opportunity for your business, but number two, public service. It is a huge public service that you're doing every week. And I know that aside from the non-politics and just the intelligence, the current events, I want people to watch it from a humanistic standpoint and listen to it in the way because there is no fear mongering, there is no elevated voices. The delivery is in a common to meeting way that allows you to digest the information and also for anybody that's aspiring to be married or is married taking, take note of the way that they interact with each other because there is such compassion and empathy and respect between the two of you as you interact. Even to the point where she talks about being overwhelmed this week and working hard and she's like, you got it? And I just, I love the delivery. I loved how it was like you break away from the intelligence for a human moment. And it's organic and it's not like a script where you're like, oh, let's pause to be married. You guys are just being yourselves. And I really just wanna, I wanna bring that forward as well because yes, it's about the intelligence and it's about being safe. But there is a real human element to that people can relate to as far as that goes on. Even if you're not in the current events, it's a great listen to hear you two interact and deliver such powerful information. - Yeah, first of all, I just, I wanna say thank you 'cause you don't know, you, I say this a lot to people all the time, you will never know what that does for me on a personal level and how it does to my mental health. I've got tons of mental health issues from my background that we just won't get into, but just hearing that because you put your voice out there into what I was to put into the ether and sometimes we'll get an email or something like that. But if no one's telling you, you could have six million people listening. And if no one is saying, "Hey, I really appreciate it what you said." Or, "I appreciate your delivery and how you did that "and how it affected me on a personal level." Why, it, it, why keep doing it? You know, I don't care how many people listen, I care how about how many people are affected in a positive way by it. And I found, over the last year, you know, being a content creator now, I guess 'cause we've gotten thousands of people on Instagram and we do things on X and stuff like that. That now I have my biggest pet peeve are grifters. And it's a grifter is exactly what you explained. It is, "Oh, look, this is, we're fair and balanced, "but not really, we're grifting. "We are going to try, like we have done all the analytics "to identify who is listening with the personality "of those people are and what they wanna hear." And it's not what that person believes. It is what they think the listener wants to hear. And even what other listeners don't want to hear so that they have an angry emotional response to what they're saying. And the only thing they want is money. That is what it's all about. You will see posts on Twitter/X all the time and these people are grifters. They are either a person who just is trying to get money and saying stuff they don't believe, or they are a adversarial foreign country or a foreign asset that is putting stuff out to engage with the US population, the Canadian population, whatever population it is to sow those seeds of discord within the population to disrupt. Like what's going on in the US right now with people bickering back and forth on Twitter. And I'm gonna say this right now, I appreciate you saying you curse on the podcast 'cause now you've opened up my vocabulary a bit. (laughing) So the bickering back and forth doesn't mean shit. Like this social bickering back and forth that we're talking about is a distraction for what's coming up. And I can tell you from my experience and the jobs that I do and the briefings that I am in on a day-to-day basis, that a global conflict is coming. And it didn't start with Russia invading Ukraine. It is starting with a blockade of Taiwan or the reunification of Taiwan into the Chinese Communist Party.