National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler join “Mornings with Maria” to discuss President Donald Trump’s “Made in America” agenda and a nationwide crackdown on federal benefits fraud.
FIRST ON FOX: The origins of an anti-fraud technology now used by one of the world’s largest insurers trace back to a deadly insider attack during the Iraq War.
Clearspeed founder Alex Martin was serving in the Marine Corps when his good friend, Capt. Warren Frankwas killed by an Iraqi soldier who pointed his weapon at American troops during a joint patrol.
The Iraqi had passed coalition vetting procedures.
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So-called “green-on-blue” attacks, in which supposedly vetted local forces turned against coalition forces, became one of the most vexing threats of the global war on terror. Between 2008 and 2017, more than 150 soldiers were killed in such incidents in Afghanistan alone.
“I became obsessed with our audit process and realized that our traditional playbook simply could not keep pace with the operational tempo, language barriers and risks of counterinsurgency warfare,” Martin said.
The company counts the Department of Defense and the US intelligence services among its customers. (iStock)
His solution was to invert the model and quickly build trust among the majority who posed no threat, while focusing expert oversight on the small fraction that needed deeper investigation.
After leaving active duty, Martin worked with Stanford professor Charles Holloway to develop a voice-activated monitoring tool designed to quickly assess risk in various languages and high-stakes environments.
The company’s first major customer was the US Special Operations Command. In 2018, Clearspeed screened 715 Afghan commando recruits in less than 20 hours, a process that would normally take months. Several individuals identified as high-risk later left.
The success attracted investment from retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director and commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company has since raised $110 million and counts the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community among its clients.
Now the technology is also used outside the battlefield.
Insurance giant Allianz recently announced that it identified more than £92.6 million (about $115 million) in fraudulent claims in the first half of 2025, with executives seeing voice screening technology from San Diego-based Clearspeed as central to its fraud detection strategy.
Clearspeed is a voice-based control platform originally developed for US military use. During an automated phone call, individuals answer a short series of yes-or-no questions while the system analyzes voice characteristics in real time.
It highlights potential risk indicators for human review, allowing low-risk respondents to quickly move through them and focus additional research on higher-risk cases.
“We had to make our organization a really hostile place for people to try to commit fraud,” Allianz Chief Claims Officer Matt Cox said at an industry conference in London. according to InsurancePOST.
“Technologies like Clearspeed have given us the ability to break through that disruption for the first time.”
President Donald Trump has made fighting fraud a hallmark of his administration. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The move comes as insurers face what analysts describe as an escalating “arms race” with fraudsters, many of whom are now using artificial intelligence and digital tools to commit fraud. A Deloitte research The predicted generative AI could push U.S. fraud losses to $40 billion next year.
The growing commercial acceptance has also attracted attention in Washington.
Clearspeed has engaged policymakers in deploying the technology to combat benefit fraud and strengthen screening processes, people familiar with the discussions said. The company spent about $272,500 on federal lobbying efforts in 2025, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.
This push comes amid increasing political pressure to crack down on fraud in federal programs. In January, the administration announced a new Justice Department division focused on national fraud enforcement, targeting fraud against federal programs and private individuals.
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Rep. Pat Harrigan, RN.C., a former Army Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, said his combat experience shapes how he evaluates emerging technologies.
Rep. Pat Harrigan, RN.C., takes his seat for a House subcommittee hearing on February 24, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc via Getty Images)
Harrigan said he has met with Clearspeed and is exploring how the technology can help protect warfighters and reduce fraud.
“The fact that the world’s largest insurer has turned to U.S. military technology to solve its fraud problem speaks volumes about how powerful these tools are,” he said.
“If they can help Allianz identify nearly $100 million in fraud, imagine what they could do for the American people, whether that’s cracking down on benefits fraud, vetting visa applicants or securing our border.”
Rep. Russell Fry, RS.C., said technology that strengthens fraud detection and vetting could play a role in broader border security efforts.
Rep. Russell Fry, RS.C., speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, November 5, 2025. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Technologies like these can help combat fraud at our borders, strengthen visa controls and keep our country safe.”
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For Martin, the growing interest from insurers and policymakers means a continuation of a mission that began years ago on the battlefield.
“We built this because lives were at stake,” he said. “Putting that same technology to work to protect taxpayers and make our country safer is exactly the mission we are here for.”
