Sea State Delays are catching, it seems—at least when it comes to building frigates. We heard on The Strategist last week about the rumoured delays of Australia’s own future frigate program; now the US Navy …
The Beat Body cameras and artificial intelligence The Intercept profiled a controversial development at the tech world this week. Taser (now Axon) made news last month when it offered a free year-long trial of its …
Sea State How many sheep does it take to sink a Russian naval ship? Turns out, about 9,000. The “research ship” (read: intelligence collection vessel) Liman was sunk in the Black Sea on Thursday after …
If you study or work in the biosciences, chances are that ‘CRISPR’ has been on your mind for the past five years. That’s Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Or, in plain-speak: the easiest, cheapest …
The Beat Police as the first port of call The official annual assessment of UK policing released this week highlights issues around mental health in the community. Police are increasingly relied on as the …
The Beat Damning report for Duterte’s drug war Despite a heft of sometimes-baffling domestic support, the Philippine ‘war on drugs’ has been internationally controversial and brutal (look to NYT’s disturbingly visceral photo-feature.) This week, a …
Sea State Some worthy new analysis on the future of the US Navy surfaced last week. The crux of the analysis in Foreign Policy is that the three Congress-commissioned proposals for naval force structure—mentioned recently …
The Beat Taser’s body cameras—razorblades in a free lunch? Axon (formerly Taser)—is offering free ‘Axon Body 2’ cameras to every sworn law enforcement officer in the US. It’s a big bet on the future of …
Sea State The USN needs an extra $2.1 billion this year to address immediate readiness shortfalls, says Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson. Testifying last week before the House Armed Services Committee on the …
The Beat Transnational crime and the Panama Papers The Panama Papers had their first birthday on 3 April and most pundits are thankful for the public attention the leaks brought. However, as the Global Financial …
Sea State Indonesia is continuing with its program of literally blowing up illegal fishing boats in its waters. On Saturday, authorities simultaneously destroyed 81 foreign vessels at 12 different locations, in what Maritime and Fisheries …
The Beat Drug usage in the sewage Curious about drugs in Australia? Test the sewage—at least that’s what the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission did, as it searched for drug byproducts. Initial results from the National …