While Australia faces complex prickly national security challenges, our Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers continue to paradoxically announce quick fix policy measures in response to terrorism and crime. From cement bollards in Sydney and …
Earlier this month, an estimated 100,000 Hong Kong residents gathered in Victoria Park, to mark the 28th anniversary of China violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. As the South China Morning Post …
The cold war in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran is coming to a head. So far carried out with the help of proxies in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere, it’s in danger …
There’s a simple and vital, but easily overlooked, requirement for the advanced equipment being developed for soldiers on the modern battlefield, says Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell. No matter how marvellous is a …
Keeping the country safe is the first duty of government and should be the constant concern of those with responsibility for our well-being. But I worry that a decade or so hence, maybe sooner, Australia …
The Beat America and guns: it’s complicated A comprehensive, 79-page publication from the Pew Research Centre aims to quantify ‘America’s complex relationship with guns’ (PDF). The highlights include findings that 30% of American adults own …
The Marawi crisis between Philippine government security forces and militants affiliated with the Islamic State—Philippine, including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf salafist-jihadist groups, started on 23 May 2017. Since the fighting began, nearly 350 people have …
With every tweet or meeting with a foreign leader that US President Donald Trump completes, American officials find themselves struggling to reassure allies that the United States remains committed to their security. Nowhere is this …
I’ve visited Australia three times in the past seven months because what happens in Australia matters to the United States of America. And what happens here matters to the world. Our alliance is both defined by …
At the mid-May Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) summit in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $124 billion to expand transportation links and infrastructure between Asia, Africa and Europe, showcasing his commitment to the massive …
The UK Parliament’s e-mail system was targeted by a sustained brute-force password-guessing attack last Friday, forcing parliamentary staff to temporarily block remote email access and mandate password changes. The ‘rudimentary’ but effective attack resulted in …
Concepts such as ‘rules’, ‘order’ and ‘peace’ are often bandied about in dialogue among Asia–Pacific countries, but the differing interpretations of those words have resulted in countries talking past each other, rather than to each …
‘Friends with both; allies with one.’ Thus the Richardson doctrine seeks to define Australia’s most appropriate relationship with the United States and China. We can be sure that Dennis Richardson, one of Australia’s great public …
Australia will either lead or play a very significant role in the campaign against Islamic State terrorists in the Southern Philippines, says David Petraeus, former coalition commander in Iraq and then in Afghanistan. Interviewed by …
Sea State Just in time for President Modi’s visit to Washington, the Trump administration has agreed to sell 22 Guardian drones to India, in a deal that’s been described as a ‘game changer’ for US–India …
While the Australian Government’s Cyber Security Strategy contains many good initiatives, the government’s narrative needs to evolve to account for inevitable failures. Current government rhetoric is decidedly inconsistent: cyber espionage is alive and well, yet …
In the previous part of my exploration of the impact of strong encryption on our security agencies, I described the unsophisticated days of intercepting telephony in the 1970s. With voice communications, it’s largely a case …
It is increasingly clear that US President Donald Trump represents a departure when it comes to America’s global outlook and behavior. As a result, the United States will no longer play the leading international role …
As US supported Syrian forces and their allies battle to retake Raqqa from ISIS, it’s important to remember what the city has become under ISIS rule. Raqqa became the capital of ISIS’s so-called caliphate and …
It was remarkable that the first foreign trip taken by newly elected French President Macron was to Mali to meet French troops undertaking an anti-insurgency/terrorism operation in the north of the country (within days, …
