While most of the attention on national security has focused on this Tuesday’s announcement of limited new counter-terrorism measures, last week’s news that a Fraud and Anti-Corruption Centre is to be established within the Australian …
An important concept in understanding production efficiency of complex items is the notion of a learning curve. The term has passed into common usage, with ‘steep learning curve’ being synonymous with ‘really hard to master’ …
First up this week, Australia’s mandatory data-retention scheme is inching closer to reality. The National Security Committee of Cabinet reportedly signed off on laws that will compel internet service providers to keep customer data for …
While the nation’s attention is on the difficult operation being undertaken by Australian Federal Police officers in the Ukraine, it’s worth reflecting on the other major international missions that our police are performing overseas today. …
Last week, The Australian broke the story of BAE Systems potentially being brought in to fix the troubled Air Warfare Destroyer project. The three-ship build is already well underway in Adelaide, and the project is …
Hugh White writes ‘I don’t believe that Australia must make a choice between America and China’ and adds another perilous twist to his ‘China-Choice’ journey. Well, you could have fooled me! Hugh and I agree …
Cybercrime is presenting law enforcement agencies worldwide with new and evolving legislative problems and operational challenges. Identifying and stopping nefarious online actors, many of whom are based thousands of kilometres away on foreign soil, is …
The first week of August marks not only the centenary of the guns of August 1914, but also the fiftieth anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which was as near as the United States …
This energetic debate began with Peter Jennings taking issue with Hugh White’s gloomy prognostications about where Australia’s enthusiasm for closer strategic cooperation with Japan might lead. For Peter, the basic structure of the current order …
As cybersecurity concerns edge higher on policy agendas worldwide, establishing ‘rules of the road’ for cyberspace has grown more challenging. International cyberspace meetings have multiplied, and the views expressed within them are, typically, divided. In …
To watch a new government is to see a party’s shibboleths, suspicions, suppositions and superstitions mugged by reality. Time in opposition is supposed to be when new thinking gets done. Yet often that period of …
I’m kicking off today with biosecurity: Ebola outbreaks in West Africa have raised fears it might spread to other continents. In a new video interview (7mins), CSIS Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy …
The prospects for Islamic State (the organisation formerly known as ISIS) playing a major part in the future of Iraq and Syria shouldn’t be under-estimated. The future of IS depends on its military performance, image-building …
At the Defence and Industry conference this week, we got an official update on the status of the Future Submarine project (SEA1000) from the project head, RADM Greg Sammut and DMO’s General Manager of Submarines, …
The destruction of Malaysian flight MH17 could hardly have come at a more inopportune moment for Russia, already reeling from Western sanctions and isolation. A growing body of evidence suggests that pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine …
The election of Jokowi is a good result for Indonesia, for Indonesia’s neighbours and for democracies in particular. State visits to democracies by a President Prabowo would have been dogged by protests. It’s also an …
It’s been a couple of weeks since Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, delivered an historic address to the Australian Parliament, during a visit that attracted widespread media commentary here. But how was the visit covered …
This week, leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Palau received a clear warning on the state of the region’s fisheries. Fisheries are one of the key issues on the minds of Pacific Island …
The worst-kept secret at the DMO Defence and Industry conference this week was the government’s active consideration of buying submarines from Japan. Although it was never mentioned in any presentation, Option J, as it has …
With this week marking 100 years since the start of World War I, the Australian Army’s release of its Future Land Warfare 2014 report (PDF) is a timely consideration of what war means in the …