The accidental transatlanticist

Two Americas were represented by two different vice presidents at the Munich Security Conference this year. Between them, former Vice President Joseph Biden certainly received the warmer reception, but Vice President Mike Pence may have …

RAAF marrying minds and machines (part 2)

Super-fast machine processing will increase the speed of modern warfare, but skilled men and women will remain the crucial decision-makers, say Australia’s air force commanders. RAAF chief Air Marshal Leo Davies and deputy chief Air …

RAAF marrying minds and machines (part 1)

In past conflicts, many hours, days or weeks were spent gathering and analysing intelligence before an attack was launched on an enemy. Advances in science and technology have brought that time down to minutes, and …

Strengthening the nuclear order

In the lead-up to each federal election, ASPI releases its Agenda for change: Strategic choices for the next government to help shape election platforms and public debate. This year the report contains 30 short essays …

Round 2: North Korea and China versus the USA

North Korea set out on its quest to develop a nuclear-weapons capability (reliable nuclear explosive devices and the means to deliver them over medium and long distances) in the mid-1980s. Progress was slow and uneven. …

The quantity and quality of Quad questions

The Quad is more notable for the questions it provokes than the answers it offers. The informal dialogue between the US, Japan, Australia and India is a discussion groping towards a grouping. ASPI’s paper Quad …

ASPI suggests

The world Three of Australia’s major political parties and the parliament have been hacked by a ‘sophisticated state actor’. For the details see the New York Times. Writing in The Strategist, Peter Jennings outlines why …

The ideology trap

President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency at the southern border of the United States—where there is no emergency at all—in order to access funding to build the wall that he promised his supporters …

Policy, Guns and Money: Episode 13

In this podcast, Tom Uren and Elise Thomas discuss the revelations that a ‘sophisticated state actor’ was behind cyberattacks on Australia’s parliament and major political parties and ask where we draw the line between espionage and …

The joint facilities: still the jewel in the crown

Since the 1980s, Australian defence ministers have made regular parliamentary statements about the roles and functions of the US–Australia joint defence facilities (at Pine Gap, North West Cape and, until 1999, Nurrungar). These are important …