In his recent post, Justin Jones did a commendable job of providing the justification for including submarines in a force structure. Jim Molan was right when he said that too much of the discussion of …
Old soldiers never die, General Douglas MacArthur said, they just fade away. In Australia however, it seems they vanish completely. So few retired generals contribute meaningfully to public debate on Australia’s defence and strategic policy, it …
The internal operations and habits of Canberra’s national security and intelligence departments have altered dramatically over the past four decades. The machinery went from manual to electric typewriters, and now from Microsoft into the Cloud. …
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the world of cyber security, and it’s been a period that defines the discussion in new ways. Not only did the New York Times directly accuse the …
Andrew Smith’s recent post correctly notes the importance of programs designed to counter violent extremism (CVE) in Australia. He points out that there have been concerns that Australian CVE projects may be missing their target …
At first glance, it appears that the recent election results in Japan and the early policy pronouncements of the Abe government indicate that Japan has shifted significantly to the right and that this will increase …
If Australia is to have a true place in the Asian Century, as the government White Paper promised, then we will need many more Australians like the journalist and editor, Barry Wain. Barry, who has …
The new National Security Strategy (NSS) is meant to set the context for the next Defence White Paper, scheduled for release later this year. But it falls short on one key point. While NSS provides …
Two big developments last week highlighted both the difficulties and the opportunities for Australian defence industry to make headway (as Australia sees it) in the so-called Asian century. The first development relates to a lost …
China’s behaviour over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute with Japan is deeply worrisome. It not only displays a level of brinkmanship which could easily lead to war, it also seems to be part of a broader …
The United States now has a new Secretary of State, and of John Kerry’s major challenges will be to manage the relationship with Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state that is increasingly showing signs of fragility. The …
Here’s part II of the Andrew Davies–Jim Molan strategy debate, with part I here: Andrew Davies: Jim, to what extent do you see the force in being as an expansion base as insurance against a …
Last year the Obama Administration rebranded one of its signature foreign and strategic policy initiatives. What for months had been described as America’s ‘pivot’ towards Asia—essentially, a set of policies aimed at reinforcing American hegemony …
Over the course of several blog posts and tweets, Jim Molan and I decided to get together in person to hash out the issue of Need and strategic planning face to face. What ensued was …
Here’s our short weekly collection of new developments, reports and events in the defence, NatSec and strategy world. ASEAN What are the challenges facing the new ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh? Amruta Karambelkar looks …
A small but important creature has clearly established permanent residence in the heart of Canberra’s defence and intelligence jungle. New creatures are extremely rare in this environment so a fresh player is always significant, especially …
After the UN Security Council tightened existing sanctions against North Korea this month (adding four organisations and six individuals to its blacklist) the North responded by warning that it would carry out additional rocket launches …
The short answer is ‘not very much’. And that’s a good thing. In the past we’ve had government and opposition policy pronouncements such as the 2009 Defence White Paper, proposed asylum seekers solutions in East …
Following on from last week’s graphs, I thought it would be worth looking at some of the consequences of the decline in western naval fleets. The graph below reprises last week’s data for the size …
Having led the development of the National Security Strategy, we are pleased to see the lively commentary and debate which has followed its release including on The Strategist. While it would not be appropriate for us …