Followers of the Axios Future of Defense weekly newsletter will be familiar with this month’s subject of the “Gov & Beyond” podcast. Colin Demarest, Future of Defense reporter for Axios, spoke with hosts Luca Pagni and Joyson Cherian about his career path, the topics that he finds most interesting for the newsletter, trends that he sees coming to the forefront in 2026 and (not to sound redundant) the future of Future of Defense.
As you might deduce from its title, Future of Defense hews closely to the technology side of the defense and warfighting arena. But Colin’s coverage also dips strongly into related business issues involving defense research and development (R&D), venture capital (VC) investors and Pentagon acquisition. As he says in the podcast, “I cover every military service, wars abroad, contracts and contractors of all sizes, the defense tech advancements, R&D, military exercises, VCs…and the Pentagon and their policies.”
The Human Element of Defense
Asked what he thought the most important trends in the world of defense are, Colin noted that AI would be the “easy answer” but quickly veered into financial and business issues as his main areas of interest. Specifically, he said “the absolute avalanche of private capital into the defense tech world and the potential bubble that is forming is really worth watching.” He also said the evolving relationships between various types of contractors supporting the defense mission (large vs. small, primes vs. startups) will continue to draw his interest in the coming months.
But beyond all of the technology and business maneuvering, Colin said he strives to hold onto the human element of the defense sector. To that end, he publishes a series of Q&A interviews with industry defense leaders. He told Luca and Joyson he finds much of the reporting on defense news “dry and robotic and serious,” which he said he understands given the life-or-death aspect of the subject matter. “But I also think sometimes people forget that the people making these big decisions go home and cook dinner and walk their dogs and get stuck in traffic and get stuck on a red-eye or get stranded at an airport they are unfamiliar with,” he said. “So at its most basic, the Q&A is like good happy hour material…But at its most high end, it can be an examination of us standing in the world.”
He added that he’s always open to interviewing new subjects for the Q&A feature. “If anyone listening has a Q&A candidate in mind, hit me up,” he said.
The Importance of Live Events
Looking to the future and to new topics that might become more prominent in 2026, Colin pointed to the events end of Axios’ business. Colin noted the synergies between his coverage in Future of Defense and the topics discussed at Axios events like the Future of Defense Summit – coincidentally a point that was also raised during a previous Gov & Beyond episode by Stephen Overly, the editorial director of POLITICO Live and host/producer of the “POLITICO Tech” podcast. It appears that the integration of editorial coverage with live events is proving increasingly important to many media outlets.
For Axios Future of Defense, that means increasing attention to topics such as the Golden Dome missile defense initiative at upcoming events. As Colin noted, “That’s what everyone’s talking about at all these events anyway. Supply chain and rare earths are definitely of interest; I’m going on stage tonight to talk about exactly that with a few people. And then there’s room for a VC event or two for sure.”
You can hear Colin discuss all of this and more on this episode of “Gov & Beyond.” And if that isn’t enough, he reveals to Luca and Joyson that he has a gang tattoo! (It’s a fictional gang from his favorite movie of all time, but still.) Listen to find out more.
Timestamps
0:34 – Colin’s background and career path
2:50 – The topics and news captivating Colin’s attention
5:14 – The Future of Defense newsletter + its Q&A series
7:57 – The types of resources Colin looks for
13:39 – The future of The Future of Defense newsletter and Axios events
17:17 – Colin’s favorite movie (Hint: Warriors, come out to play)
23:04 – Seafood and cheese just don’t belong together
24:04 – Pop or modern country are on Colin’s “no play” list
Transcript
Intro: Welcome to Gov & Beyond. I’m your host. Luca Pagni, here with my cohost Joyson Cherian. This podcast features conversations with the newsmakers and influencers at the center of today’s public sector news cycles from our studio at W2 Communications, let’s go Gov & Beyond.
Luca Pagni (LP): Welcome, everyone, to “Gov & Beyond.” I’m your host. Luca Pagni, here with my cohost Joyson Cherian. We’re excited to be joined today by Colin Demarest, Future of Defense reporter at Axios. Colin, welcome to the show.
Colin Demarest (CD):Yeah, guys, thanks for having me.
LP: Of course. Colin, we’d love to start off by learning more about your background and role at Axios. Could you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your career so far?
CD: Yeah, I guess it depends on how far back you want to go, right? So I was born and raised in Jersey, best state in the union, dual citizenship with the Netherlands. Spent a lot of time up in New England. Spent about a year in England proper, went to University of South Carolina – go, Gamecocks – for journalism and photography. First few gigs outside of college were really covering government and politics, like planning commission and local local elections. That was in Massachusetts, and then I ended up back in South Carolina again around 2018 and started covering the Energy Department and its National Nuclear Security Administration and nuclear waste. And it basically has all spiraled or spawned from there, right? I was at Defense News and C4ISRnet for about two and a half years. And Luca, I think that’s where we met. And then Axios reached out to launch Future of Defense, and that’s where I’m now at. And I’ve been writing the newsletter, the weekly newsletter, for about two years now, which is crazy to say out loud. But it’s been a fantastic experience, and I think we could not have timed the launch much better. If that was coincidence, if that was planned, I don’t know. But I’m here for the full ride.
Joyson Cherian (JC): What specifically inspired you to covering the defense industry?
CD: I think it was an accident, not inspiration, but I’m very happy I’m doing it now and I’m totally dug in. My first exposure to this world was back in South Carolina; as I mentioned it was covering the nuclear weapons and nuclear cleanup industries and the big players there – the Amentums, the Battelles, the BWXTs, Fluors, Honeywells, those guys. That was kind of jumping into the frying pan at the time. I was writing for the Aiken Standard and the Post and Courier, as well as the Exchange Monitor. That’s local press versus trade press. And I was taking trips up to D.C. to occasionally write about it all. And I found the dynamics, weapons production, arms control, contracting, and deterrence, and especially the money in China and Russia and all that really fascinating. And so I was bit by that bug. And then when the Defense News job opened up, when the actual job opened up, I was like, I want to go full bore on this. Let’s see how far I can ride this train.
JC: You sort of hinted at it in your first answer, but obviously this is an industry that’s had immense change and influence and activity over the last few years. But just looking back at the last year alone, you know, there’s been a lot of evolution. What stood out to you, and what are the things that you’re keeping an eye on as we head into the year ahead?
CD: Yeah, the easy answer is, AI, right? Like large language models. I don’t want that to be my answer. I think the absolute avalanche of private capital into the defense tech world and the potential bubble that is forming is really worth watching. That has taken up an increasing amount of Future of Defense. People have their own descriptions of the situation we’re in with venture and private capital. And many of those people are much more financially literate than I am. I would plug Julia Hornstein of Business Insider. She does cool work at this intersection of money and influence and West Coast weapons bros and defense. But just this week, like Emil Michael, the Pentagon chief technology officer at a Defense Writers Group lunch, said he was pumped by the pace of investment, and he said he wanted five more Andurils and Palantirs and SpaceXs to flourish. And if that happens, he’ll consider it a job well done. And I wrote about that in the Future of Defense. And that leads me to another point where it’s the rise of the neoprimes. And I have definitely gotten flack for using that phrase. Some people have said, I am abusing that phrase, but these evolving relationships between big and small and primes and startups and expensive and cheap, what exactly a tradable is is probably a conversation for another time. But that dynamic will keep us busy for a long time moving forward.
JC: I think, yeah, it feels like with that investment coming from the VC community and the West Coast, you know, the future of the Future of Defense, has really been emphasized. And I think the people taking approaches to innovation has and different approaches has been the theme this year. Would you agree, and has that been sort of the conversations that you’ve been having?
CD: Yeah, I often kind of look back in my inbox and see what trends are in there. And I never thought I’d be writing so much about defense companies coming out of stealth, or seed rounds, or series A’s, those sort of things. And that seems to be the majority of my inbox these days. So I would, yeah, I would generally agree with that.
LP: Colin, I know that we already kind of brought it up of how you are leading the charge on the Axios Future of Defense newsletter, which I know has definitely been super helpful for trying to stay on top of all these rapid changes. But could you tell us a little bit more about not only the newsletter, but I know you also do a Q&A series within it as well.
CD: Yeah, the newsletter comes out every Wednesday morning. It gets locked in every Tuesday night. So if anyone’s hearing this and is planning a pitch or something, keep that in mind. I was at Reagan last weekend, and I pitched it on stage as the best defense newsletter ever written. It got no laughs from the audience. I was joking, but I also like to think that, right? But I cover every military service, wars abroad, contracts and contractors of all sizes, the defense tech advancements, R&D, military exercises, VCs like we just spoke about, and these stealth exits and the Pentagon and their policies and recently, like the press crackdown. I don’t cover Congress much. Axios has a fantastic Hill team. So anyone that’s interested in that is in good hands. The newsletter is typically bigger picture analysis up top, followed by smaller, more news of the week stuff down below, including, like, a news roundup that typically has like three or four industry insights in there. And the Q&A series is and was originally designed to humanize kind of what we’re all so interested in. I think a lot of defense coverage can be dry and robotic and serious, which makes sense. This is life-or-death stuff, and people are fighting and dying with these weapons and with this tech. But I also think sometimes people forget that the people making these big decisions go home and cook dinner and walk their dogs and get stuck in traffic and, like, get stuck on a red-eye or get stranded at an airport they are unfamiliar with, right? So at its most basic, the Q&A is like good happy hour material. That’s how I originally pitched it in a conversation starter, if it helps you network at one of D.C.’s bazillion happy hours, that’s great. But at its most high end, like it can be an examination of us standing in the world, or like a meditation on when war stops being a human endeavor, like the question about when will robots solely fight wars. Like that’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, and I think everyone I’ve asked that knows that. But it also has led to some very interesting answers and, you know, shameless self-plug. If anyone listening has a Q&A candidate in mind, hit me up. I’m always happy to take a look. We have a pretty decent running queue or pool that we’ve interviewed and are looking to publish, but I’m happy to put more people in that queue.
JC: That’s a great lead into my followup question. Obviously, you know, as we’ve talked about, VCs and even the Pentagon’s budget, there’s a lot of organizations that are trying to get involved. And I’m sure your inbox is overflowing with people trying to pitch you on a variety of topics, issues, trends. But when people reach out to you, what are you looking for in terms of stories and resources that you want to engage with?
CD: So right now, across three different email addresses, I only have 19 unread emails. I try to get back to everyone. I’m not an inbox zero guy. That’s just way too intense. But what I look for, what I need, is a little tricky, because it honestly depends on the hour or the day or the week, right? One day I’ll need on-the-record think tanker analysis. Another, I’ll need on-background details about peace negotiations overseas, like what we saw with Russia-Ukraine a few weeks ago. And then another, only like dollar figures from a stubborn contractor that, like, refuses to share important details about their announcement. But generally speaking, I’m always on the hunt for smart people with sharp things to say, and real world experience really helps in that. Like, there’s a lot of clutter out there. I’m sure you all have seen it. I call it, you know, LinkedIn pontification. I love to take a job at LinkedIn in the newsletter a good bit. I don’t want that. Everyone else already has it. So kind of standing out from that crowd is useful. and scoops, exclusives always helps sweeten the deal. But the pitches I like most are typically sharing like these in common, right? They’re on topic for Future of Defense. You wouldn’t believe how much slop I get in my inbox, or maybe you would, right? They’re to the point. They include relevant numbers and customers, who’s buying how much and for how long. If we’re doing a contract story, they lightly explain the achievement or the item, or the product, or the advancement, especially if it is like super weedsy. Like quantum, I’m no expert, but it’s becoming a thing I have to write about more, especially regarding encryption. And so like, some expert insight in a pitch never hurts. And then are there contacts listed, names, numbers, emails, whatever, if I want to follow up? If people are available, how can I get them? And this is really petty, but like, spell my name right – one L, one N, it’s not it’s not hard, or just get it right in the first place. I’ve been called all sorts of things, and I think that’s, I think those are all pretty easy factors. But obviously it depends on what the announcement is.
JC: I don’t know what to respond to first, the misspelling of your name as someone who’s been called Joy and Joyce in emails at times, or the phrase “LinkedIn pontification,” which I may have to steal in my regular conversation.
CD: Yeah, I love it. Also, getting called “Mr. Demarest” still does not sit well with me. Even though I’m like 31. I’m like, “Oh no, that’s not me, man.”
LP: Colin, if it’s any consolation, I have on the record been called Luigi via email.
CD: Yeah, I feel, we share that pain, all three of us here.
LP: Just kind of staying onto the theme of, you know, the newsletter and just looking ahead, are there any areas specifically that you’re hoping to expand the newsletter in the upcoming year?
CD: I think we already cover a ton. I think the topic expansion will really come from our events. And hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn for our events team, but we’re very interested in space, like everyone else is. At the moment, I think we’ll see more events around Golden Dome-style topics. That’s what everyone’s talking about at all these events anyway supply chain and rare earths are definitely of interest. I’m going on stage tonight to talk about exactly that with a few people. And then there’s room for a VC event or two for sure. We’re kind of bending that idea back and forth. Outside of that but also in the event space, we’re planning a ton of things around the big get togethers, right, like AUSA, West, Sea Air and Space, Farnborough, SOF Week, etc. And then we’ll have the third Future of Defense Summit in 2026 that’ll be bigger and better than ever. This year was pretty bonkers. It was the biggest year yet. The night before featured kind of like the world reveal of Shield AI’s X-BAT in the parking lot of an art museum in Navy Yard. And those words strung together in the same sentence are pretty, pretty wild. So definitely, definitely expect some cool things to come next year. But I think the topic expansion will really be in our events in live kind of performance areas.
LP: That’s perfect. And yeah, like you said, the second event this year was really a sight to see, especially with all the cool technology that you guys were able to set up in the room next door, and even the guests that you were able to secure for that. I know you started touching on it, but any sort of, you know, exclusive preview that you may be able to share about the events that we should be on the lookout for next year?
CD: I think I’m gonna have to keep that quiet. I think I want to surprise people. Yeah, I know, I know. I’m always after juicy details, but I have none to provide in this one. I’m sorry.
LP: All good.
JC: Yeah, as marketing guys, we can appreciate building tension.
CD: Yes, exactly.
JC: You know what? Colin a little bit earlier, when you talk about the Q&A series, you mentioned how it’s an avenue to sort of show the human behind some of the activities and events that are going on. You know, we have a series of questions that we like to close these podcasts with that are get-to-know-you questions. Get to know the person behind the byline at times. And I’ll start with the first one: What is one of your most frequently watched movies? If you come across it, you’re going to stop what you’re doing and start watching?
CD: So before I answer that, I think it’s very funny. People are always like, “When are you going to do your own answers in your own newsletter on your own Q&A questions?” And I’ve resisted that thus far, but this is, I guess, a good appetizer to that. But for the movie, it’s definitely “The Warriors,” 1979. I have a Baseball Furies tattoo on my chest. It’s just an all time great. It’s like, campy. It’s like, serious. It reminds me of home. And I’ve subjected way too many people to that movie, and they’re like, halfway through they’re, “Can you turn this off? This sucks.” And I’m like, “No, it’s, it’s like, the best movie ever.” So “The Warriors.”
JC: I wish I had two empty bottles…
CD: I should have brought props. I really should have brought props, yeah.
JC: So, yeah, you know, when we started asking these questions, what we learned is, if we ask someone what they like, they’ll – just like you did – obviously tell us what they like. But if we ask them about what they do not like, they are passionate about that answer. So I’m curious, what dish or food ingredient do you hate?
CD: I don’t think I have one. I like everything food-wise. And that’s a bit of a cop out answer. So if you’re dying for a proper answer, I would say, like a seafood cheese combo, like a shrimp Alfredo. Just, why do a Fra Diavolo or something like, I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of cheese and shrimp in a dish, but I’ll eat it, right?
LP: So no seafood quesadillas.
CD: No, no, no, no, no. That’s steak, chicken, tongue, etc, territory. Yeah, we’re not doing, we’re not doing shrimp quesadillas.
LP: Well, kind of continuing along the line of what Joyson was saying, is there a song that if you never had to hear it again, you’d be extremely happy?
CD: Anything pop or modern country like, just across the board, we can just axe that genre. And I have a bit of a running joke with friends, and I’m not joking about it, but I think John Summit is an incredibly mid DJ, so I would also put him up on that list as well. I don’t need to hear proper modern country, and I don’t need to hear John Summit’s discography ever again.
LP: We may need to axe that out for some of the other agency members.
CD: Yeah, I figured that was probably the hottest take of this interview.
LP: So, well, Colin, thank you so much for your time today. If any of our listeners wanted to learn more about you and the work you’re doing at Axios, what would be the best way to get in contact?
CD: Yeah, my phone’s always in my hand. It’s on. Email I’m at colin.demarest@axios.com. My alternative is CDemarest@protonmail.com. On Signal, I’m at Ctdemt.09, and on Twitter I’m at Demarest_Colin. And I’m sure there’s like 12 other ways to get a hold of me. Carrier pigeon works, but I’m not going to give out my address on here.
LP: Good call. Well, thank you to everyone who tuned into this episode. And Colin, thank you again for helping us go “Gov & Beyond.”
CD: Have a good one, guys.
Outro: Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of Gov & Beyond to learn more about our podcast and hear all of our episodes, please visit us at w2comm.com/govandbeyond, and make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter at govandbeyond. You can also subscribe anywhere podcasts are found.