Changing Defence only matters if you care about Australia’s security and understand what’s happening in the world. Organisational reform and cultural change in the Defence Department and the Australian Defence Force have a long, painful …
The Middle East is one of the driest regions in the world. The scarcity of water has often been touted as a source of national and interstate disputes in the area. Some scholars have predicted …
In 1965, at the height of the Cold War, the comedy series Get Smart premiered on US television. The popular show featured the bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart, who represented the American counterespionage agency CONTROL …
We are only now realising the extent of the vulnerabilities that human development across the world has created. Last year, the Australian Risk Policy Institute highlighted that ‘innovation without governance is a global risk’ and …
Keen readers of Australian defence discourse won’t have missed the passions exposed by recent news that the army intends to buy new tanks and armoured engineering vehicles—some critically canvased across these pages, some barracked for …
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has just arrived in Singapore, where he’ll deliver a major address on Indo-Pacific security. He’s the first member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet to visit Southeast Asia. Not surprisingly, …
In December 2020, Indonesia’s President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo offered West Papua’s Biak island as a satellite launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX program. Jokowi was courting the entrepreneur after deciding that investment and technology exchange …
The northern summer of 2021 has come to be largely defined by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and accelerating climate change. Both are manifestations of globalisation and the reality of a world increasingly defined by the …
There is only one hill of any consequence in the city of Volgograd (Stalingrad). It is Mamayev Kurgan, which became a critical point of battle for both the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army …
In the face of an increasing torrent of abuse from Beijing, Canberra should seek a much clearer commitment from Washington that its United States ally will retaliate if China launches a missile attack against Australia. …
In this ASPI explainer, Robert Glasser, head of ASPI’s Climate and Security Policy Centre, and Anastasia Kapetas, The Strategist’s national security editor, outline the risks of sea-rise level in the Indonesian archipelago and the consequences …
On 25 May 2020, a 17-year-old girl filmed a disturbing video, which later went viral, of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeling on the neck of a black man, handcuffed and lying facedown …
ASPI celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This series looks at ASPI’s work since its creation in August 2001. ‘It’s a very encouraging sign that industry can meet the challenge of ‘eating the elephant’ presented …
Fast-moving technology clearly gives the advantage to militaries that can obtain new systems quickly. And it’s a major source of damage and danger to those whose organisations aren’t delivering these powerful capabilities into the hands …
Good foreign policy and diplomacy and sound national security in the Pacific islands doesn’t just require solid ideas and good plans. It needs robust evidence of what works and a level of informed public debate …
Sea state Two Chinese surveillance ships are stationed off Queensland’s coast to observe the massive 2021 Talisman Sabre exercise. The fortnight-long exercise is led by Australia and the US, which have been joined by other …
In Paradise Lost, the English poet John Milton encapsulates a fundamental truth about the struggle to end a violent conflict and establish a sustainable peace: Who overcomes by force, Hath overcome but half his foe. …
In my last post, I looked at the latest information on the life-of-type extension program for the Royal Australian Navy’s Collins-class submarines. That’s essentially Defence’s strategic risk mitigator for its long submarine transition. But it’s …
Innovation by authoritarian nations in the ‘grey zone’ is becoming one of the most serious challenges facing contemporary democracies. It has long been recognised that future conflicts might be won before any shots are fired. …
A few years ago, an American friend of mine cocked an eye at me sceptically when I raised the issue of Australia’s air force buying F-22 Raptors from the United States. ‘It won’t happen,’ he …