In January 2012, the Obama administration released a new Defense Strategic Guidance (PDF) that explicitly enunciated the need to re-engage the Asia-Pacific. Two principal questions have since arisen as a result of this reorientation. First, …
Last week I participated in a workshop on ‘Regional Views on Asia’s Multipolar Nuclear Future’ in Singapore, jointly organised by the National Bureau of Asian Research and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. My …
If you weren’t living as a hermit in the desert, you’d have been well aware that 22 November 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. But the wall-to-wall …
This week in cyber, the media is abuzz with news of President Obama’s impending announcement of NSA reforms. Tucked into the Friday news dump, the general consensus is that the January 17 announcement will be …
Last month, the Japanese government released the country’s first National Security Strategy (NSS). For Australia, this strategy is of considerable interest now that Japan’s seen as our ‘best friend in Asia’ and a strong ally. …
With another Defence white paper in the offing, opinions abound on what that document should prescribe for the ADF’s force structure. As always, the challenge is setting a structure that meets Australia’s defence needs without …
The theme of partnership is a growing one in Australian strategic policy. In some ways, it’s a useful qualifier to the emphases placed in an earlier era on ANZUS and self-reliance. And it’s probably not …
Last January, after an extensive period of testing, the British Army announced that their venerable Browning Hi-Power Mk III pistols would be replaced with modern Glock 17 Generation 4 pistols, as a result of hard-won, on-the-ground, …
One of the most curious cabinet papers released on 1 January this year was a submission on ‘Australia–Indonesia relations: prospects and approach’ sponsored by the then Foreign Minister Bill Hayden and discussed in Cabinet on …
Happy New Year! 2014 started off with a bang in the cyber world with FireEye dropping a cool billion+ to scoop up Mandiant. The cyber forensics firm made waves last year after publicising the existence …
Once upon a time, in the early 1970s, the Departments of Defence, Navy, Army, Air Force and Supply employed over 51,000 civilians to support 122,000 military members (comprising 81,000 permanent ADF, 26,000 reservists, 12,000 National …
In part 1 of my post, I observed that the next Defence White Paper (DWP) will build upon its seven predecessors. That post looked inward at the resourcing shortcomings that DWPs generally feature. This post …
We saw yesterday how geography helps determine the number of submarines required for a credible deterrent capability. But that’s not the end of the story. The characteristics of the submarines themselves are also important. For …
In a recently reprinted Strategist post, Peter Layton examines the challenges facing the USAF in sustaining adequate numbers of capable fighter aircraft in an era of financial austerity and indeterminate threat. His excellent analysis closes …
In my earlier post ‘Why submarines for Australia?’ I flagged the Chief of Navy’s emphasis on criticality of the maritime environment for Australia’s prosperity, the impact of growing regional maritime power, need to look for …
Welcome back from the break! We’ve kicked off this year’s blogging with Rod Lyon on the security landscape in Asia for 2014 and Peter Jennings on lessons from the 1987 white paper. But if you’ve already made your way through …
Defence Minister David Johnston got a late Christmas present in the form of the National Archives’ release of Cabinet papers from 1986 and 1987. In this trove—surely among the last Cabinet papers to be produced …
We enter 2014 with the Asian security mosaic as complicated as it’s been in a long while. The two rising regional great powers, China and India, are still rising but at least in China’s case …
This post was originally published on November 12, 2012. (The Strategist will return with new material on Monday January 6, 2014) Andrew Davies’ graph of the week about the elderly USAF tactical fighter fleet raises …
Originally published 26 June 2014. China continues to try changing the status quo in the South China Sea (SCS) through bullying its smaller neighbours and creating more facts on the ground. After moving an oil …