Kuwait may’ve scored first against Australia in the opening match of the Asian Cup but when the match ended 4:1 in favour of the Australian hosts the message wasn’t simply of a defeat on the …
The age of Jihadists coincides with the blizzard of Snowden. For Australia’s security services, that means the time of terrorism collides with the time of transparency. Completely different sets of questions mingle and clash. Stir …
How times change. Yemen has fallen to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the situation on the Arabian Peninsula’s more uncertain than ever. Just a few months ago, President Obama was touting the success of the …
Welcome to the second instalment of The Beat, your weekly wrap-up of strategic policing and law enforcement news. This week we look at the latest policy ideas about how to combat daesh (IS), efforts to …
US President Barack Obama visited India between 25 and 27 January, becoming the first US president to visit India twice while in office and the first US president to be the Chief Guest during India’s …
Much has been made in the media (for instance, here and here) about the Japanese government’s ‘record’ defence budget request for Fiscal Year 2015. With ¥4.98 trillion (roughly US$42 billion), it’d be the ‘largest budget …
The use of social media by extremist groups continues to trouble policymakers and police forces across the globe. The sophisticated use of online platforms by groups such as ISIS have spurred governments in Europe to …
After reading Peter Briggs’ excellent posts on why Australia should build its own submarines (here and here), it occurred to me that we may be missing a more important element of the discussion. Recently, I …
The past week has been a rich one for annual events. For Aussies, of course, the major one was Australia Day. Here in the US we’ve seen two others: the kick-off of the annual G’day …
Australia’s rotation off the UN Security Council on 31 December 2014 occurred quietly and without fanfare—a marked shift after six years of campaigning and serving. The foreign minister released a media statement highlighting many of …
No Australian minister has made a full-blooded speech on nuclear deterrence for many a long year—not since the early 1990s, I suspect. In truth, that’s not surprising: it’s been proliferation that’s grabbed all the attention …
Late last year Benjamin Schreer speculated on what 2015 might hold for the Australia–Japan security relationship. One of the issues he identified as being important in its development was that of potential cooperation on Australia’s …
‘The whole idea of publishing a detailed history of an intelligence organisation based on its classified files seems counterintuitive. Intelligence organisations trade in secrecy. If they reveal their sources, the sources will dry up. If …
Today we’re celebrating Australia Day with a public holiday, a BBQ and some fireworks, but we’ll be back tomorrow with our usual considered analysis and stats. Until then, you might like to check out ASPI …
It’s a long weekend with Aussies preparing to celebrate their national day, Australia Day, on Monday 26 January, so here’s our pick of articles, podcasts and events for your defence fix. No doubt many readers …
Along with the submarine replacement program, the size and scope of Army’s future fleet of protected vehicles under Project LAND 400 and the future of the surface fleet are the other big capability choices for …
Mention 26 January and the thoughts of Australians jump quickly to barbeques, beaches and cricket. But this post isn’t about Australia Day. Many Australians will be aware that Indians celebrate their Republic Day on 26 …
In my post yesterday I highlighted the stand-out attributes of submarines, Australia’s need for a greater range/endurance than is available off the shelf, the difficulties of increasing the payload and mobility of an existing design and …
Welcome to ‘The Beat’, a regular update that we’ll be publishing from ASPI’s Strategic Policing and Law Enforcement program. Like other ASPI updates, it’ll provide commentary on a select range of topical issues and links …
For decades, the Australian Labor Party hated the spooks with a passion. Indeed, many Australians still maintain that deep distrust of their domestic security service. For Labor, though, the hatred of ASIO—the Australian Security Intelligence …