The most important point to make about the government’s proposed Home Affairs portfolio is that these new arrangements can be made to work. They will not harm our counterterrorism performance and could improve Australia’s underwhelming …
If there’s one topic that lends itself to pedantry, it’s military doctrine. Add in a little strategy and cross-cultural thinking and you’ve hit the trifecta required for heated dogmatic commentary. However, in the hope of …
The beat Weapons old and new The increasing frequency of acid attacks in the UK has sparked calls for legislation to impose stronger punishments on perpetrators. Despite some blaming migrants for ‘importing cultures tolerant of …
By early 1918, four Australian Flying Corps units were on active service: No. 1 Squadron in the Middle East, and Nos. 2, 3 and 4 Squadrons on the Western Front. AFC crews in the Middle …
The media commentary that followed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s 18 July Home Affairs portfolio announcement (see here, here and here) almost exclusively concentrated on Australia’s counterterrorism (CT) arrangements. Despite the announcement, Australia’s continued success in …
There’s an air of ‘continuity with change’ about the new Independent Intelligence Review. The review almost flew under the radar this week amid all of the other changes to Australia’s national security apparatus. This post …
Prime Minister Turnbull announced a significant restructure of Australia’s national security community and Australia’s set to get a new Office of National Intelligence with a yet-to-be-named director. The Australian Signals Directorate will be elevated to …
By 1917, the men of the Australian Flying Corps’ No. 1 Squadron had been fighting in the Middle East for almost two years. Now Australia’s airmen were ready to join the allies’ broader campaign in …
Australia’s soldiers must prepare to face a widening range of threats, says Chief of Army Lieutenant General Angus Campbell. ‘Conflict is deeply, deeply competitive and human beings are imaginative in the ways they will find …
Australians with more than a passing interest in the supply of electricity can’t have missed the media attention and ongoing political engagement on the findings of Australian Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel’s recently released review …
Sea state The US Navy released a request for information (RFI) last week seeking proposals for a new guided missile frigate. Its previous plans for a new frigate were based on modifying the current littoral …
James Mugg’s recent piece made a convincing case that the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability of surface combatants is more about the aircraft they embark than about systems on the ships themselves. In this post I …
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a perennial problem in Southeast Asia. While it’s a region-wide phenomenon, it has been particularly pronounced in two areas. The first is the Gulf of Thailand, where the …
The three countries that started the Korean War in June 1950—Russia (USSR), China and North Korea—are still manoeuvring to secure a better outcome. When World War II ended in August 1945, American and Soviet troops …
An Australia seeking to join ASEAN is going to face tough questions about its interests and identity. Some in Southeast Asia think an Australian republic would be a more natural fit for ASEAN than an …
Welcome back. Last week it was Ivanka as seat warmer, and this week it was Donald Jr’s time to shine. (Sasha and Malia never got this much attention …) We now know that there was …
The human rights issue in Vietnam has waxed and waned for a couple of decades now. Much of the Western focus remains on activists and those locked up for speaking out, rather than on many …
Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff in Doka La—where the borders of Bhutan, China and India meet—for almost a month now, the longest such impasse between the two armies since 1962. …
The Australian parliament is investigating a new way to surrender its prerogatives, along with an abdication of basic democratic principles, in favour of the military chiefs and bureaucrats on Russell Hill. On 14 June 2017, …
Defence spent $8.3 billion on sustaining its equipment in 2016–17, compared with $9.3 billion on new capital equipment. But most of the words written on defence procurement (including mine) are about acquisition projects. Thankfully the …