Cyberattacks and Closed Straits — Defending Pharma on Two Fronts | Former CIA Supply-Chain Director & Microsoft Strategist

Clinton West is President of the Supply Chain Security Practice at Aardwolf Global Solutions. He brings 25+ years of experience across the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), US Navy, and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). At the CIA, he held multiple senior leadership roles including Director of the Office of Supply Chain Risk Management, Chief of Supply Chain and Risk Management for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and Afghanistan Transition Manager — overseeing crisis response and strategic transition in high-risk environments.

Mike Walker is a healthcare and life-sciences technology strategist who spent years leading global health and life-sciences digital strategy at Microsoft, and earlier worked at Gartner. He sits on multiple boards and does independent strategic consulting for some of the largest pharma and biotech companies in the world. He was nearly kidnapped in Cairo.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

• “I Was Nearly Kidnapped in Cairo” — The Dangers of Global Supply Chain Work
• Only 3% of Pharma Knows Their Supply Chain End to End
• 70% of API Comes from India and China — The Hidden Dependency
• What the Iran War Reveals About Healthcare Supply Chains
• “Supply Chain Doesn’t Collapse — It Erodes Slowly”
• Lessons from Afghanistan and Ukraine — What Irreversible Looks Like
• CIA Tabletop Exercises — “Let’s Play a Game”
• “Family Counseling” — The Emotional Intelligence of Risk Management
• The AI Race — Only Two Superpowers: US and China
• “What’s an AirTag?” — Meeting People Where They Are
• How to Build a Supply Chain Risk Strategic Plan
• From Somalia at 19 to CIA Supply-Chain Risk Director — The Personal Journey

Resources:

• Clinton West on LinkedIn
• Mike Walker on LinkedIn