Three Things That Cannot Be Separated — or Replicated
ODRA — Compliance Infrastructure, Not a Feature
Every C2 system on the market loses decision state when the network degrades. SHIELD cryptographically signs, timestamps, and custody-tracks every command decision in DDIL conditions at the moment it is made.
FEMA Public Assistance reimbursement (44 CFR Part 206) requires contemporaneous documentation of emergency response decisions. Guard DSCA after-action reports require defensible decision chains (NGR 500-1/ANGI 10-8101). When networks degrade, those records disappear — and reimbursement is denied, disputed, or indefensible. ODRA is the only system that preserves them offline. Palantir can't retrofit it. ATAK can't retrofit it. You'd have to rebuild from the foundation. We built from the foundation.
The Bridge Nobody Built
Every competitor picked a side — military OR civilian. Guard units today carry two laptops and manually transcribe between systems. We're the only architecture that runs identically in a military operations center on Tuesday and a civilian EOC on Monday. Twenty years of the problem being unsolved because solving it required simultaneous expertise in both domains. That expertise is the founding team.
The Domain Expert Is the Founder
A 131A targeting officer who experienced DDIL failure in the field, built the platform himself, and understands why good systems fail in organizations. That combination doesn't exist at any prime contractor. They'd have to hire it. You can't hire 17 years of operational experience. Non-dilutive SBIR Phase I ($305K) → Phase II ($2M) → Phase III sole-source means investors are funding scale, not R&D.
"Palantir needs Palantir's network. ATAK needs TAK infrastructure. Every vendor-locked battle management system gives you a map — if the network's up. We give you the fight, regardless.
SHIELD/ATLAS passively connects to what every system already broadcasts — Patriot, Q-53, AEGIS, ATAK, WebEOC, Link 16 translated copies — and fuses 43 sensor types across land, sea, air, space, cyber, and spectrum into one common operating picture. We don't modify a single piece of their equipment. Their operators don't even know we're there.
Then we add what nobody else has: ODRA — every decision, cryptographically signed and custody-tracked at the moment it's made, in DDIL conditions. When the network goes down, we don't lose the fight. We capture it.
And when a junior soldier on a GPS-denied ridgeline plugs a $30 microphone and a $48 SDR into her phone — she becomes a counter-drone, counter-indirect fire, positioning node. Every soldier is a sensor. Full battalion C-UAS capability: $49K versus $15 million for legacy systems.
"We are not replacing Palantir, ATAK, WebEOC, or the sensor stack. We are the offline-first decision and translation layer that lets all of them keep producing usable command state when the network degrades."
You don't have to take our word for it. Go to secureassure.app right now. Enable airplane mode. Run the kill chain. Watch it work.
That's not a demo. That's the product.
The Seam That Kills — and Why Nobody Fixed It
In defense operations
When communications degrade or are denied, units lose common operating picture. Decision records disappear. Command authority is disputed. After-action reconstruction is manual, incomplete, legally indefensible. This is true of deployed TRL 9 systems today.
In civilian emergency management
When a hurricane, wildfire, or mass casualty event overwhelms local capacity, mutual aid requires interoperability between jurisdictions running incompatible platforms. FEMA's WebEOC, state systems, and local EOC platforms do not share a common operating picture. ICS-209 reporting is manual. CAP/IPAWS authoring is error-prone under time pressure.
At the DSCA seam — the worst of both
National Guard units activated for civil support operate simultaneously in military C2 (CoT/TAK) and civilian emergency management (WebEOC, ESF frameworks). No commercial system bridges both. Guard operators carry two laptops and manually transcribe between systems. This is not a quality problem — it is an architecture problem.
The gap has existed for 20 years because solving it requires simultaneously understanding military C2 doctrine, civilian emergency management operations, and behavioral science explaining why good tools get abandoned. That combination does not exist at any commercial vendor. It exists here.
SHIELD/ATLAS + AMBER — Core Capabilities
Originating Decision Record Authority (ODRA)
Cryptographic decision custody chain. Every command decision is signed, time-stamped, and custody-tracked. Defensible after-action reconstruction under DDIL conditions. No commercial C2 system has a peer capability.
LIVE — /api/odra/metricsMulti-Domain Common Operating Picture
Real-time fusion of ADS-B (34-region global), AIS maritime, FIRMS wildfire, GOES satellite, acoustic C-RAM/C-UAS. Acoustic-to-custody in <2.5 seconds. Unified threat picture across air, ground, maritime, and cyber simultaneously.
LIVE — /api/ecosystem/capabilities9-Protocol Bridge — Executing What Congress Mandated
CoT/TAK, AFATDS, TITAN, STIX, OGC, VMF, IPAWS/CAP 1.2, FEMA WebEOC/ICS-209, CoT-to-GeoJSON fire support. Congress mandated open, interoperable architecture for all federally-funded defense systems via 10 U.S.C. § 4401 (MOSA). Every legacy vendor is legally required to support this — and none of them have. This is the only platform executing that mandate in the field today.
LIVE — 9 adapters activeDoctrine-Grounded AI (OODA / MDMP / IPB)
US-origin AI reasoning grounded in OODA, MDMP, IPB, ASCOPE/PMESII, DIME, D3A/F3EAD. All outputs tagged [GREEN]/[AMBER]/[RED] by confidence tier with verification paths. Reasons from doctrine — no ungrounded assessments.
LIVE — multi-model, confidence-taggedOffline-First — Fail-Loud — No Silent Fallbacks
Full decision state capture when networks degrade. The platform that works in the data center is the platform that works in the field. When a sensor feed drops, the system shows a clear failure state — never stale data presented as current.
LIVE — core architecture, all modulesAMBER — Multi-Hazard Consequence Intelligence
Flood, wildfire, wind, mass casualty, critical infrastructure consequence assessment. bettersciencelab.com RPLICE integration active. Serves FEMA, state/local EOCs, NGB DSCA, and utilities. Same architecture as SHIELD/ATLAS — separate market.
LIVE — bettersciencelab.com integratedWhy This Cannot Be Replicated
| AFRL Criterion | ISS Claim | Why It Holds |
|---|---|---|
| Niche Expertise | CWO 131A Ret. — doctrine embedded in architecture | Dr. Flood is a 131A targeting / EW / fires / intel officer. OODA, MDMP, IPB are not layered-on features. They are the design language. No competitor can replicate this without 17 years of 131A operational history. |
| Technical Edge | ODRA + multi-domain fusion — no peer | Building a cryptographic decision custody chain that functions under DDIL requires simultaneously solving distributed hash consensus under intermittent connectivity, tamper-evident state, and legal-grade chain-of-custody. ISS built this as a foundational layer. It cannot be retrofitted. |
| Domain Edge | Dual-use civil/defense — one platform, two markets | Same decision state machine tracks a targeting decision and a mass casualty triage decision. Built dual-use from the foundation — not adapted after the fact. Competing primes would need to rebuild from scratch to replicate this. |
| Operational Advantages | 6 acquisition on-ramps, all accessible now | SBIR Phase I/II/III, STTR, OTA prototype, AFWERX Spark/STRATFI, CRADA, FAR Part 12. No single-vehicle dependency. ISS can enter through whichever door opens first. |
| Delivery Edge | TRL 5-6, live, verifiable today | secureassure.app. Every advertised capability has a public verification endpoint. No account required. "Trust us" is not a procurement strategy. |
| Customer Experience | Founder available directly, 24hr response | SDVOSB-pending. "Train as we fight" — exercise mode and ops mode are architecturally identical. Small team = zero bureaucratic delay. Founder access is a structural advantage over prime contractors. |
| Congressional Mandate Execution | 10 U.S.C. § 4401 (MOSA) + 44 CFR Part 206 + NGR 500-1 | Congress mandated open, interoperable architecture for all federally-funded systems (MOSA). FEMA PA reimbursement requires contemporaneous decision documentation (44 CFR §206). Guard DSCA requires defensible AARs (NGR 500-1). No commercial system delivers all three. ISS is not building toward a compliance standard — it is the only vendor executing compliance obligations that already exist in statute and that no one else is meeting. |
Three Tailwinds Converging in 2026
FY26 DoD IT/cyberspace budget is $66.1B. Mission-relevant C2, COP, DDIL, fusion, and interoperability are a $35B+ slice — before FY27 CJADC2 ($2B+) and counter-UAS ($20.6B request) accelerants.
FEMA/DHS federal flows plus 3,000+ counties, 50 state EOCs, and critical-infrastructure protection. Stafford Act PA documentation and Safer Skies C-UAS grants drive platform spend beyond software-only estimates.
FY2025 SDVOSB prime awards (Fed-Spend). DoD alone: $12.8B. DHS: $2.1B. ISS competes in a protected lane large primes cannot enter — sole-source threshold up to $5M.
Why 2026 is the right moment: CJADC2 funding is allocated and in execution. Ukraine demonstrated DDIL warfare at scale — DoD's institutional response is accelerated DDIL-native C2 investment visible in published SBIR topics and AFRL BAA priorities. Climate-driven disaster frequency has increased 400% since the 1980s. Political will and federal funding for civilian EM modernization are at a decade high. ISS is positioned at the intersection of all three tailwinds simultaneously.
Three-Layer Capital-Efficient Growth Architecture
Non-Dilutive DoD R&D Funding
SBIR Phase I ($305K per award, 6-month) and Phase II ($2M per award, 2-year). Multiple concurrent awards possible. STTR with bettersciencelab.com resolves research institution requirement. AFWERX Spark OTA ($250K, pitch-format). No equity dilution. Funds platform development.
Federal Contract Vehicles
OTA prototype agreements ($1M-$10M), BIG/BAA research contracts, SDVOSB sole-source (up to $4M for services), CRADA collaborative agreements, GSA Schedule commercial item pricing. Past performance from SBIR unlocks larger vehicles.
Commercial SaaS — Civilian EM
State EOC platform licensing ($100K-$500K/year), county/municipal SaaS ($20K-$100K/year), utility critical infrastructure monitoring ($50K-$300K/year), National Guard DSCA bundle ($200K-$2M/year). Funded by Layer 1/2 revenue — no external capital required to build Layer 3.
SBIR Phase III — No Dollar Cap
SBIR Phase III has no statutory dollar cap. A Phase III contract — where a DoD agency buys the commercialized technology — can be sole-sourced to the SBIR awardee for any dollar value. One Phase III award can be worth $50M+. This is the exit mechanism, not venture exit.
| Revenue Stream | Year 1 (ROM) | Year 2 (ROM) | Year 3 (ROM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBIR Phase I awards (2-3 concurrent) | $610K–$915K | $610K–$915K | $610K–$915K |
| AFWERX Spark OTA | $250K | $250K | $250K |
| SBIR Phase II (1 award) | — | $2M | $2M |
| STTR Phase I (bettersciencelab.com) | $305K | $305K | $305K |
| Civilian EOC SaaS (early stage) | — | $100K | $500K |
| ROM Total | ~$1.2M | ~$3.2M | ~$3.6M |
ROM estimates based on published program caps. Actual revenue depends on award outcomes. Not a financial projection.
What Is Built, Submitted, and In Motion
Why This Team Closes a 20-Year Gap
Dr. Terry D. Flood
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) 131A, USA (Ret.) — Army Targeting, Electronic Warfare, Intelligence, and Counterfire. 17 years operational service. Dr. Flood is not a business school founder who hired domain experts. He is the domain expert — the targeting officer who experienced DDIL failures in the field and built the platform to close them.
His multi-disciplinary credentials are directly reflected in every architectural decision: the ODRA custody chain reflects targeting doctrine, the dual-use architecture reflects 131A/DSCA operational experience, the behavioral science grounding in AMBER reflects his healthcare administration and implementation science training.
Computer Engineering Professor — NYU
Named technical co-PI for agentic-cyber SBIR and STTR proposals. Provides academic and engineering depth for program technical sections.
bettersciencelab.com — 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Standing STTR research institution partner. Active AMBER/RPLICE integration. Resolves the ≥30% work-share requirement for all STTR submissions — a structural advantage over SBIR-only competitors.
Why DoD Is Good Business for a Deep-Tech Startup
Non-Dilutive at Scale
$305K (Phase I) → $2M (Phase II) → unlimited sole-source (Phase III). Multiple concurrent awards possible. 60-90 day award cycles at AFWERX. Not the 2-year procurement cycle investors fear.
Fast Prototype Agreements
Other Transaction Authority bypasses FAR procurement. Awards in weeks, not years. ISS is OTA-eligible as a non-traditional contractor at TRL 5-6. $1M-$10M range. No competitive set-aside restrictions.
Structurally Smaller Pool
$28.6B in FY2025 SDVOSB prime awards ($12.8B DoD). Large primes cannot compete in set-aside lanes regardless of capability. ISS competes where credentials are a direct evaluation advantage — sole-source up to $5M.
$1M–$100M Scale Vehicle
AFWERX STRATFI requires prior Phase II equivalent. With a Phase I and Phase II in hand, ISS is positioned for a STRATFI award that bridges to $100M+. The compound effect is nonlinear — each award unlocks the next tier.
Honest Assessment
| Risk | Severity | Mitigant |
|---|---|---|
| No Federal contract history | MEDIUM | SBIR/OTA designed for exactly this stage. White paper pipeline active. SDVOSB set-aside reduces competition. 7 submissions already demonstrate agency engagement. |
| No facility clearance (FCL) | MEDIUM | UNCLASSIFIED work is accessible now. Dr. Flood held active clearance during service. FCL sponsorship available through cleared prime. Architecture designed for incremental classification — no structural rework required. |
| Single-founder concentration | HIGH | bettersciencelab.com STTR partner active. NYU co-PI named on technical submissions. Engineering contractor network in place. Explicit succession planning in progress. Capital raise funds headcount expansion. |
| DoD procurement timelines | MEDIUM | AFWERX Spark OTA and SBIR Phase I are 60-90 day award cycles. The slow-procurement narrative applies to ACAT programs, not SBIR/OTA. ISS is pursuing fast-lane vehicles by design. |
| Competitive response from primes | LOW | Primes cannot compete for SDVOSB set-asides. ODRA IP moat requires rebuilding from the foundation to replicate. Dual-use architecture requires simultaneous domain expertise primes do not hold. |
| CMMC / FedRAMP certification | MEDIUM | CMMC Level 1 roadmap in place — required pre-CUI contract. FedRAMP Tailored required only for civilian agency SaaS scale — planned pre-Layer 3. Neither blocks current SBIR/OTA pursuit. |
Honest Evaluation — Pre-Seed Deep Tech
| Category | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Technology differentiation | A | ODRA is unreplicated. Dual-use architecture closes a 20-year seam. No direct peer. |
| Founder-market fit | A+ | 131A targeting officer who experienced the failure, built the solution, owns the IP. Cannot be replicated by a prime. |
| Market timing | A | CJADC2 in execution. Ukraine demonstrated DDIL warfare at scale. Climate-driven disaster frequency up 400%. All three tailwinds simultaneously. |
| Platform maturity for stage | A | TRL 5-6 across 8 domains. 95 live modules, 43 sensor types, 28 federal data feeds, 9 protocol adapters. Zero external capital to reach this point. |
| Revenue traction | C | Pre-revenue. Fully offset by non-dilutive SBIR/OTA pathway — investors are funding certifications and BD, not R&D already complete. |
| Team depth | B- | Single-founder concentration is the highest-flag risk. NYU co-PI, bettersciencelab STTR partner, and contractor network mitigate. Capital raise funds key hires. |
| Capital efficiency | A+ | Single founder. Zero outside money. Live platform, 95 modules, global sensor coverage. That combination does not exist at any prior stage startup in this category. |
Full Package — Download or Print
Capability Statement (Print-Ready)
SDVOSB capability statement with CAGE, UEI, NAICS codes, core competencies, differentiators, past performance, and AFRL Tier-1 engagement pathways.
Open / Print to PDFEvaluator Quickstart
Three guided evaluation paths for federal acquisition teams. Includes live endpoint catalog, RFI form, and structured capability verification walkthrough.
Open Evaluator SurfaceContracting Vehicles
Authorities held and not held, acquisition vehicle options, engagement pathways by program type, contact information for ISS direct engagement.
Open Contracting PagePublic API Endpoint Catalog
Every advertised capability maps to a live API endpoint. The catalog includes a 30-second curl smoke test — verify claims before any engagement. No account required.
Open API IndexSHIELD/ATLAS — Live Platform
The platform itself. Multi-domain COP, ODRA dashboard, acoustic sensor bay, AI decision support, IPAWS authoring, and all deployed capability modules.
Open PlatformStandards Alignment
NIST CSF 2.0 alignment, MIL-STD-2525D, OGC, CAP 1.2, MOSA architecture documentation, and authorities-held/not-held canonical reference.
Open Standards PageThe Ask: $500K–$1.5M SAFE
To fund certifications and BD — not R&D. The R&D is done.
You're not betting on an idea. You're accelerating a platform that already exists, already runs in DDIL conditions, and already has 15 active opportunities in the pipeline. Enable airplane mode. Open secureassure.app. Run the kill chain. That's not a demo — that's the product.
CAGE: 9VKK3 | UEI: C7YDV3P8EHL7 | SAM.gov Active | SDVOSB Self-Certified