Interview by Jonathan Kersting
What happens when national security, advanced data technology and a culture of “people first, mission always” all collide inside one fast-moving Pittsburgh company?
That is exactly what we’re digging into on this episode of TechVibe as we welcome back Damon Mathews of Qintel.
The last time Damon joined us, we only scratched the surface of what Qintel is building, and we knew we had to go deeper. This time, we’re pulling back the curtain on the secret sauce behind Qintel’s global threat intelligence work, from helping government partners track and disrupt serious threats to using data, analytics, visualization and AI to save precious time when every second matters.
We’ll also talk about Qintel’s unique culture, why the company hires for people as much as positions, and how Damon’s 22 years as a Marine intelligence officer make this mission feel like a natural next chapter.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Damon, it is fantastic to have you back here in the Huntington Bank Studios. I was just so stoked with the last interview that we did. There was just so much going on at Qintel. I was like, "We gotta circle back and go a little deeper on this."
So I really appreciate you taking the time to walk me through, more the technology and the people and the culture that are making Qintel tick. And I wanna follow up and find out if you found any more tips and tricks around your sign, any new colors, any new fun stuff that you guys are doing.
With that awesome sign that I see in the morning when I'm driving to work, I do see the Qintel up on your building there, which I love hey, JK, thanks for having me, and it was an amazing time last time, and I'm- I'm very happy to be back on. Would love to get into some of the secret sauce, so to speak, right?
Yeah. Behind the scenes that makes the Qintel solution so great. The people, the culture, and some of the backstory on the technology. ... Now as far as the sign, what would you do- ... if we could have you over and let you change colors on the sign? Ooh, I would [00:01:00] shoot over, I would turn it the...
our... the shade of green that we have at the Pittsburgh Tech Council. We could officially bring our two companies together. Well- How about that? We'll call it a cro- we'll call it a crossover event. Yes. We'll let you go behind the curtain and work the sign. I'll see if I can arrange that.
If you can, you might just make my day. That's all I can say. Damon, you're the best. I absolutely love it. Before we jump into it though, just in case anyone's just joined us- Yep ... for the first time, just give us the elevator pitch for what Qintel is all about, and also a little bit a, a little bit about your background.
You've done some pretty cool stuff, and I feel like you're the kind of person who has the perfect fit for a company- ... like Q Intel. I'm the Senior Director for National Security Operations at Q Intel. And mainly handle the Department of War intel community- ... portfolio for them.
And it's very fitting, right? From my background. So I was a Marine intel officer almost 22 years in the Marine Corps. Retired in January of '23, and then almost immediately after that, came on, at Q Intel. And it does fit well. And Qintel, dipping [00:02:00] into about them, does a great job at not hiring for positions, but hiring the right people.
Interesting. So- Yeah ... they as a organization, right? And a really a family, focus on people first, mission always. And the people first part is from start to finish. From whether we bring somebody on with the, Q family, they gotta be a good fit, right? Not only from a business perspective, but from a family and culture perspective.
Yeah. So a lot of thought goes into that. And it really is, ties back to me being in the Marine Corps. One of the unwritten mottos for the Marine Corps is more with less, right? Since 1775. And really that is, kind of something that Qintel does really well, right?
They're a small company, but we do amazing things, right? For national security and across federal law enforcement space- Yeah ... for our partners. Yeah, if you're just joining the Qintel [00:03:00] solution, really provides a global threat intelligence capability to support law enforcement organizations intelligence community partners, and Department of War partners to do a myriad of different things, from things under law enforcement like human trafficking counter-narcotics, and other cybercrime and things like that, to intel activities on the intel community side of the house for foreign intel collection and things like that, to Department of War for our full spectrum, cyber activities to, Counterintelligence activities to other things, across the Department of War's portfolio that needs critical data, right?
To kinda detect, attribute, establish pattern of life, and then take some sort of offensive or defensive action against the threats we face. Yeah. It's incredible work that you guys do. And it bends my mind is the amount that you do, as you said, with, with a very, I won't say [00:04:00] limited staff, but you're able to do a, you're able to do a lot with, w- with we would think would take a lot more people, I think is what it boils down to.
And I, I feel like what's so cool about what you guys do, that's like you're still serving your country, it's... but you're doing it in the public sector in this way. 'Cause everything you're doing literally comes down to keeping this country safe, just as it was when you were a Marine. Simple as that. So that's why I feel like you're living your best life right now, David, in some ways.
It's gotta be really cool for you. Yeah. Everybody in the company from top to bottom- Yeah ... is very much like American innovation, defense of the nation. Do what's right, that kinda thing. From a business model, to a solution, to just the culture everybody wants to help.
Everybody wants to, find the bad guys, right? And mitigate threats and, really support and tie into those government partners and sectors, and a lot of those places where we all came from, right? There's people in the organization probably from every partner we currently support.
We probably have [00:05:00] somebody in the organization that used to work for that organization at some point in time. So it gives us a unique insight into what are the things they really need, and how hard is it really to do that job. And we try to bridge that gap and fill that form and give them that critical tool or solution that they need to leap them ahead, against those threats.
Yeah. I just keep thinking about is the amount of threats coming in against our country just keeps increasing and increasing, and we have to be ever vigilant. And I think about the important role that you play in order to help the government do the things. I think about all the things that could be happening that we don't even know are happening, that are being stymied right now.
And to me, it's just craziness. And I know, and so much just comes down is to using advanced technologies with really smart people in order to make those technologies work. So just maybe walk me through a couple things that, that Qintel does that you think are particularly really cool when it- Yeah
comes to keeping our country safe. [00:06:00] Yeah. So from a data technology standpoint, the company really built an amazing foundation right to that solution pyramid, which is, global data collection, data processing, data integration, data analytics, data visualization, software, and all kinds of things to support that solution on the back end.
Because all of those things are a very critical function in making that quality solution, on the front end for our partners. And really all of that is done to save time. So is You know, you're facing a myriad of nation state, non-nation state, terrorist, criminal threats, right? Hundreds probably, globally going after some piece or part of the- the American dream. You have to be able to save time for our partners. So taking all that vast amount of data and linking that all together and producing a quality threat intelligence solution saves them so much time [00:07:00] and space to be able to get ahead of those threats or mitigate ongoing threats.
And that's really probably a critical part of the solution, is the amount of time and effort it saves our partners in getting it all in one place. I can imagine. Obviously when it comes down to it, when you think about it, is time is of the essence, obviously. Because something could be planned to go, and if you don't have the time to get the data fast enough to find out what they're gonna do, then it's for naught.
So yeah so speed's of the essence, I have to imagine, really underpinning so much of what gets done there. Yeah, think from a federal law enforcement perspective, there's some underground, website hosting, say, fentanyl trafficking, right? Yeah. And how serious that is. And if you ask somebody, "Hey, when do you wanna stop, dangerous narcotics getting in the hands of, any American?"
The answer's gonna be yesterday, right? Exactly. So- Exactly ... anything we can do to speed that up and enable our partners to, to get there faster i- is gonna be our number one priority. Yeah ... [00:08:00] and we really apply that across all of our partners equally, and try to do what's best for the whole effort, and develop things that they can all kinda use to get after, no matter what the threat is.
Yeah. I thought... I'm curious, and maybe I should probably know this, but I'm gonna ask you just because I need to know. I think our listeners might wanna know as well too, is so much of your work, is it just with the government? Do you also work with private organizations as well too? How does that work?
Yeah. So we do. Most a lot is with the government, but we do have some commercial- Okay ... work that we do. And we do keep those private, so it's hard- Sure ... to get into the, the commercial piece. Yeah ... but it, we do help them on a smaller scale with some individual organization- defensive type protection things for those organizations with cyber vulnerabilities and other issues that they face. It's not as widespread as it is, 'Cause they don't have as big a mission or a footprint as a lot of- Exactly ... federal partners, right? They're not going after global threats if you're, company X in Silicon Valley, right?
So the footprint there is a little smaller, but we [00:09:00] definitely support, our private industry or commercial partners- That makes sense ... where we can. 'Cause that's the thing. If I were running my own business, a big business, private business, I'd be like thinking, "If I need to keep my security locked down, I think I'd want Q Intel checking my stuff for me on a regular basis and fighting back when needed," yeah, and I think for them, one of the biggest issues is, mo- a l- a lot of them, especially nowadays, the bigger organizations are good at on their network kinda defense, right? Okay. Inside vulnerabilities and things like that. What a lot of them struggle with is the external vulnerabilities. Yeah.
So think, global organizations, they have people that work everywhere, right? Work remotely and travel and do other things, as well as have a customer base that access their domain, right? But since they don't have that network monitoring from the outside, we can help them with detections for compromised usernames and passwords and, and- Okay
other things that create vulnerabilities for them that they [00:10:00] don't normally detect or see, on their network. Absolutely. Makes sense. Makes sense. So I wanna go back to some of the culture. I'm thinking about when you're working at Q Intel, and I brought this up before, the fact that I feel like you're living your best life 'cause you're able to do so much of the of the spirit of the work of being a Marine is now brought into this world.
I'm feeling like, and you mentioned that when Q Intel is hiring, like you, you hire for the person. You don't necessarily hire for the position, which I think is something really important for us to talk about. Because I see a lot of companies where they're like, they could be passing up on good hires because they don't have this exact credential on their resume or so forth.
But y- you go past that and you see the whole individual as like someone that could fit really well, and how that culture then builds this base of folks that are coming to work every day knowing that they're kinda fighting the good fight. A- is that... Am I correct in the assumption that's kinda driving the spirit there when I visit and turn that sign green at Q Intel?
I could see folks in there, like, all charged up because they know they're combating all this evilness in the world that's [00:11:00] directing its ire at us here in the United States. Yeah, for sure. You gotta think everybody that, that works there, focuses on that culture of helping the government, American innovation, doing the right thing.
And they get up, every morning for the stars and stripes. Yeah. To keep those people safe and to make bad things, happen to bad people. So that, that drive, that culture, has to be a good fit from the beginning 'cause just not everybody's that way, right?
And to each their own. And some wanna, join the workplace just to turn a buck and climb the ladder. But that's not necessarily the, right culture for every organization. Yeah. So when we look at, what can we do for the government, what can we do for our partners, what is the best use of all the resources we have, that's the kind of culture and values, that we're [00:12:00] looking for, especially when you get into, quality over quantity.
The business model that we have when we meet with federal partners where we try not to, take little bits and pieces and Borderline, some have borderline ethically questionable, business practices sometimes in the federal space. And we wanna try to make sure that we are a partner.
We're not just another- Yeah, 100% ... contractor or transactional kinda relationship, right? And it prioritizes a culture of trust, readiness, adaptability, and creativity that you really just don't find anywhere else. I- Yeah ... I was a core in the government. I had contractors that worked for me before I retired.
I've seen all shapes and sizes, and I- ... I will tell you hands down, I have never seen or heard of a place, like Q Intel with the people and the culture that they have. Absolutely ... and how they put people first, but mission always. You really can't say it any better than that. [00:13:00] Yeah. I feel like you're someone that could probably work any place you would want to work, and so you're choosing Q Intel for a reason, which I think is pretty cool.
I'm curious, switching gears just once again, 'cause I'm always popping around here thinking about cool stuff. It's not often I get to talk to folks that are on the front lines of this. What are some trends that you're seeing out there? I was just at our Cyberg conference a couple weeks ago, where it just seems like AI, of course, is infiltrating everything when it comes to helping hackers and all this kind of good stuff.
What are you seeing out there that's kinda new and, I don't wanna say exciting, but maybe crazy or whatever that may be, that you think is interesting, is probably the best word to use? So I think it's interesting how fast, innovation and AI, especially with this current administration, is really pushing, across the- the federal space. A- and it's good and bad, right? The government doesn't usually do a great job at innovation leaps unless there's some extreme pressure or event that normally makes you [00:14:00] skip, a whole bunch of steps or bureaucracy- Yeah ... to get to- ... that point. Like a World War II scenario- Sure.
Yeah ... where it's like- like- ... my God, we're solving this now. Yeah. The answer is yes, and everybody's doing it, right? Exactly. Short of that, I think this is the fastest I've probably ever seen it move, right? That's good to hear. Other than an event like that. Yeah. And which is awesome. But it's not all synchronized right across in every space.
Of course. Some are moving faster than others. And AI is one of those areas where speed isn't always equal to quality, right? Ah, that's a good insight. So just because- Yeah. Okay ... yeah, just because you're getting to the newest version of something, or you can deploy it now or whatever, doesn't mean it's necessarily the best quality.
And I think you're seeing some of that play out especially, if we look at some of the Chinese, versions or companies. They're very much speed, get it out. They see it as an arms race with this from an [00:15:00] AI perspective. So they do push out a lot more quantity over quality.
Domestically, when you look at folks like, Anthropic with Claude or Mythos or OpenAI or some of the others, it... They are better for sure than the ones who prioritize speed and getting it out there over quality. And a lot of folks need to realize, AI for most of the federal partners- It's still gotta have a human in the loop, for the most part.
I'm glad you bring that up, because that is something that keeps coming up. A- and to know that's being recognized is so important, because we all know the power of these tools, but they cannot be just used blindly. Yeah. And we need human beings no matter what. Yeah. I, it... You can do a lot with it, and we use it in our solution- on the back end to help us, ingest and sort data- ... and other stuff, but also on the front end to, again, help save time and summarize things and do stuff [00:16:00] like that. But we're not at the point where you can just say, "Hey, Bob, the AI told me the answer was X," right? And everybody's gonna be okay with that without seeing the whole math problem and without knowing, what guardrails are in place.
Is there any bias, in the development of it? Is there any bias in the data being put into it? Like- ... you still gotta have some humans involved in the utilization of that to achieve quality results on the other end. Yeah ... and it, but it's amazing to watch how fast it, it's moving forward.
It's a crazy front row seat that you get, and seeing the pace of the change is pretty crazy, but especially when you, but when you see some of the positive results that can come out of it, when you are seeing that quicker gap of time that you can get to the threats faster, those are the things where you see, wow, it all comes together.
And I was really happy to hear you, that you're actually seeing the government being able to move quickly, 'cause I know one of the biggest things for I think ages is government can't keep up with the pace of technology all the time, 'cause it does change so fast. And so seeing that there's some movement in that direction, to me is [00:17:00] very promising.
And I just get excited to know that there's companies like Q Intel out there that are working with the government to do the work that we'd have we often take for granted. Because, when we know n- when nothing's happened, we're not thinking about it. They are working on it. I think there's a press release coming out soon from the White House that'll talk about, the voluntary, kinda AI review board, that they're gonna have in the government, because it's a hard line to walk, right? You don't wanna, as a government, shouldn't be sticking their fingers into private industry- ... and then telling them, how to do stuff, because that can stifle innovation and growth and other things like that.
But at the same time, things like AI and other stuff have national security implications, and if the government's gonna use it, they gotta know, that the right things are in place and that things are being done correctly. So there's a real fine line, right? That they're gonna have to walk, in reviewing AI tools and other stuff before they implement them.
Because, [00:18:00] imagine being company X in Silicon Valley, and they go to this voluntary thing, and they take their AI tool through it, and they get to the end, and the government's like- Like I don't think you should do that, but here they are, a publicly traded company or something, and their shareholders- Yeah
are like- Interesting ... "i've put all my eggs into this basket. Here's our thing," and "We're gonna roll this model out." And the government's "Eh, I don't know." So like those are... It'll be some interesting times ahead to see, when those things collide. Yeah. How is that worked out?
And can cooler heads prevail? 'Cause again, at the end of the day, the answer should be yes, America first, American innovation, protecting Americans. It shouldn't be politics shouldn't trump that. It shouldn't be making a buck shouldn't trump that. So those things when they come together, it'll be interesting to see how they actually work that out and solve those problems.
Yeah, it's good stuff. I don't know, what a fun conversation with you today. I've learned so much, and it's always great to circle the wagons on what you guys are up to, because [00:19:00] there is so much great work going on there with Q Intel, and I encourage everyone to check out their website. We got the links in the description to this.
And Damon, first off, thanks for what you do, and of course, thank you for your service that you've provided this country. That's pretty impressive when you retire from the Core and now you're in public service doing even more work. It's great stuff, and I just have so much fun being able to learn more and tell a little bit about what's going on with Q Intel, and I cannot wait to flip the switch and make the sign turn green.
So let's see what happens. Let's do it. And thanks to PTC and you for having us. We love the relationship we have with you guys, and it's crucial to us for- Likewise ... maintaining, those good networks and connections that help- ... organizations like us, especially in Pittsburgh in the technology area to grow and to move about in the space.
So we thank you, and we'd love to have you by some time, and- Perfect ... and show you around. Perfect. I love it, Damon. Appreciate your good vibes as always. And in case you forgot, this is Jonathan Kersting. I'm with the Pittsburgh Tech Council and of course, Tech Vibe Radio, and I cannot wait to see you on the [00:20:00] next one.