LEDx: Destruction and Creation (D+C)

The Air University Innovation Accelerator (AUiX) presents LEDx: Destruction and Creation—a timely and provocative event exploring the emerging battlespace of Cognitive Warfare. Drawing inspiration from Colonel John Boyd’s seminal essay Destruction and Creation, this LEDx challenges participants to confront the reality that in modern conflict, the mind itself is the terrain. Thought leaders from across the Department of Defense, academia, and industry will come together to examine how adversaries target human orientation—our mental models, narratives, and decision-making processes—as a deliberate act of warfare.

LEDx: Destruction and Creation offers a dynamic blend of experiences, including visionary keynotes, thought-provoking panel discussions, and immersive breakout sessions. Attendees will explore topics such as narrative disruption, information overload, memetic influence, and the strategic implications of perception manipulation in the age of algorithmic warfare. Sessions will emphasize the need for mental agility, institutional adaptability, and the continual destruction and reconstruction of outdated paradigms—principles at the heart of Boyd’s thinking.

The event’s “Destruction and Creation” theme evokes Boyd’s dialectic engine, a process of unlearning and synthesis vital for cognitive survival in contested information environments. As Boyd argued, orientation—not firepower—is the decisive domain in fast-moving, uncertain conflicts. This LEDx will embrace that insight, offering practical and philosophical tools to help leaders, educators, and strategists navigate ambiguity, resist manipulation, and build resilient cognitive architectures in themselves and their organizations.

Whether confronting disinformation threats, reimagining strategic decision-making, or engaging in Boydian war-gaming for the mind, attendees will emerge with fresh perspectives on how to thrive in complexity. This event is an invitation to embrace intellectual maneuver warfare—by destroying what no longer serves, and creating what the future demands.

Join us at LEDx: Destruction and Creation and be part of the conversation shaping the future of strategic cognition and leadership in an era of invisible conflict.

For more information on the event, visit us at auix.org. For any additional questions, please email DeVanté Snell, Chief of Events & Public Outreach at [email protected].

PARKING DETAILS: Please park in the dedicated parking garage - City of Montgomery Municpal Parking Facility (35 Monroe Street). Once you recieve your parking ticket, please bring it inside and a member of The Eagle Institute will validate your parking free of charge.

Info: No-Host Coffee Social at Prevail Union (Same Building—39 Dexter Ave)

Info: Dr. Bill DeMarco, Director at AUiX and Mo Barrett, Emcee

Info: Mark McGrath and Brian “Ponch” Rivera (AGLX)

Info: Sarah Kernion, Founder at Saturday’s Story

Info: Dr. Michael Hankins, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Info: Military Track: SMSgt Jen Thurman, Cognitive Warfare and China | Ray Powell, Gordon Knot Center for National Security at Stanford University | Nathan Fry, Cognition Under Fire | Leadership Track: Andy Christiansen, Tenacity | Future Cain, Flow Research Collective

Info: Lieutenant General David A. Harris, Deputy Chief of Staff, Air Force Futures, Headquarters, United States Air Force, Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia

Host or Publisher AUiX + LeMay Center