In this installment of Rapid Fire, we take a look at the ground campaign in Iraq, concerns over Shia militias, use of chemical weapons by Islamic State, foreign fighters in Nigeria, Putin’s reasoning for annexing …
Cyclone Pam—Category 5—has hammered Vanuatu. An estimated 260,000 people were in the disaster zone when the cyclone struck on Friday and continued over the islands on Saturday. The cyclone is one of the biggest to …
In this week’s post, we cover intelligence leaks, supersonic engines, the contentious LRS-B funding plan, gaps in close air support capability, and the most powerful rocket booster ever built. Last week, Chinese state media reported …
When under fire from both sides of a debate it’s comforting to imagine one occupies the sensible middle ground. Of course it probably just shows one hasn’t made a coherent case. I’m grateful, then, that …
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has declared its intent to establish a fully integrated Community that extends across the economic, political, security and social realms by the end of 2015. Such a regional …
The joint Commonwealth and NSW Review into the Martin Place siege released last month has a section on public communication. Among its findings, the Review praised the media for a job well done during the …
As ASPI’s Future Surface Fleet conference draws closer, we take a look at the three design options, some of the international design contenders and the debate around the build location for Australia’s future frigate under …
Some costs and benefits of Australia’s Foreign Affairs revolution are clear. The revolution was DFAT swallowing AusAID (Pre-FAT eats WasAID, in Casey Building argot), crunching together diplomatic pinstripes and aidies. A benefit for the Abbott …
Welcome back for another serve of the latest defence and security links, media and events, this week coming to you from the Brisbane Line. As the government’s data retention legislation waits in the wings, the …
The Future Submarine (FSM) project has been the subject of significant commentary over recent months, leading to the statement by Defence Minister Andrews on 20 February on the structure and conduct of the competitive evaluation …
In a recent blog post Mitchell Yates made a useful contribution to the land forces debate in Australia. But—again—when we attempt to define what the Australian Army’s role may or may not be we fall …
It’s been on the streets for a while now, but I’ve just got around to the Australian National Audit Office’s most recent annual review of Defence major projects. It’s a thoroughly useful compendium of data …
This week’s CT Scan shines a light on Australia’s ‘white jihadi’, marriage and motherhood in the Islamic State, Boko Haram, terror trends in Southeast Asia, neo-Nazism, and the impact of terrorism research. With the identification …
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) is going to be a border enforcement agency! That’s hardly an earth-shattering statement, given the public policy dialogue in the media and senate estimates over the last …
AUSTRAC Typologies of Crime report The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has published their annual typologies of crime and case studies report. It makes for interesting reading, both in terms of how people …
Amid the attention to the various centenaries of the first world war, we should not overlook the half-centenaries of the Vietnam War. As a recent ‘Rear Vision’ program on the ABC reminded us, fifty years …
Where H is for helicopter, emphasising the H in LHD is imminent. HMAS Canberra is now due to conduct initial underway deck, embarkation and aviation support trials with ADF ground-support helicopters. In a recent Strategist …
The CIA is set to undertake one of its largest-ever internal restructures since its inception in 1947. The reorganisation will see a new ‘Directorate of Digital Innovation’ join the agency’s four existing directorates. CIA head …
Since the 1946 ‘Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy’ and the closely associated Baruch Plan formulated by the United States, ‘nuclear latency’—put simply, the potential for countries to obtain nuclear weapons capability—has been …
I explained previously that the US places a premium on having a long-range bomber in inventory, and how big that premium can be. With the B-2, the costs of bomber programs effectively ‘hit the wall’, …