The United States has never sold a nuclear-powered vessel to any nation. In 1958 it transferred technology that enabled the UK to build its own nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) and ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). Washington’s decision …
The many capabilities of artificial intelligence already extend to translation, art, coding and even inspiration, making it indispensable in numerous sectors. Yet deepfakes, where AI replicates faces and voices, erode trust. These are weaponised by …
In the first part of this investigation, ASPI identified a subnetwork of Spamouflage accounts targeting Canadian politicians that illustrates the potential scope of the Chinese Communist Party’s malign influence operations in Canada. Some of these …
Amid Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference, the Chinese Communist Party is deploying inauthentic personas on social media and extending its influence operations into the Canadian online environment. ASPI has identified a cross-platform, coordinated network …
I recently visited Finland, for the first time, to attend the Helsinki Security Forum, organised by the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, on the theme ‘Deter, defend and secure—Europe in the era of radical uncertainty’. …
Government efforts to access private communications are nothing new. In decades past, such attempts at prying were often justified on national-security grounds. Today, however, policymakers point to child safety and disinformation as reasons to limit …
In this episode, ASPI’s Gatra Priyandita speaks to Thomas Parks from the Asia Foundation about geopolitics in Southeast Asia. While there’s a lot of attention on the US–China rivalry and its implications for the region, …
At think tank gatherings over the past few months in Washington, I asked foreign and security policy analysts about their thoughts on AUKUS. In the ensuing exchanges, US analysts raised three consistent sources of uncertainty …
On 28–29 October, Japan will host the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka. The primary focus of the gathering will be improving supply-chain resilience and strengthening export controls on critical minerals and technologies. But China’s …
Planet A Maldives is already experiencing significant impacts from rising sea levels, with severe coastal erosion affecting every island in the country, according to its minister of environment, climate change and technology, Aminath Shauna. In …
Even before Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israel catapulted the Middle East back to the forefront of global geopolitics, the European Union recognised the critical importance of Turkey as a bridgehead to the region. Yet the …
The phrase ‘great and powerful friend’ is a totem of Australian defence, setting strategy since federation. The totem’s purpose is to make and manage The Alliance—capitalise and underline it as crucial and central. The search …
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, has now advanced more than US$330 billion, which is about 80% of the lending of the World Bank over that period. The …
The 2024 independent review of Australia’s national intelligence community has kicked off. It will focus on the 10 agencies that comprise the NIC and comes at a time of increasing complexity and uncertainty in Australia’s …
Australia’s foreign policy and place in the world have long been considered the domain of diplomats, defence officials and national-security decision-makers in Canberra. There are no departments of foreign affairs or defence, or intelligence agencies, …
In a dramatic display of collective frustration, the streets of Baghdad recently became a theatre of dissent as around 300 Iraqis took to Nisour Square to protest acute water shortages. The demonstrations were held on …
To make cyberspace more defensible—a goal championed by Columbia University and called for in the 2023 US National Cybersecurity Strategy—innovations must not just strengthen defences, but give a sustained advantage to defenders relative to attackers. …
Independent states in the Pacific region have the lowest levels of women’s political representation in the world. Fewer than 7% of Pacific politicians are women, compared with 27% globally. The absence of women’s voices in political …
Australia’s new cybersecurity strategy is all but released. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and National Cyber Security Coordinator Darren Goldie have familiarised the government and industry with the strategy’s six ‘cyber shields’ and timeline of …
The Israel–Hamas war is a bitter reminder of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US on 11 September 2001, and America’s response to them. One of the effects of those events was that it strained relations …