Rethinking Australia’s biosecurity

Deliberate or accidental biosecurity breaches, such as last month’s strawberry contamination scare, present very real economic threats to Australia.

Hacking for ca$h

It’s time we named China as a perpetrator of commercial cyber espionage and work in coalition with other states to escalate pressure until the Chinese leadership decides the costs are too high for it to keep orchestrating the theft of intellectual property.

Winning battles and losing wars: the next force structure review

The strategic question for the next force structure review is, should we care more about whether we can win on a single landmass or whether we can win across an archipelago? Or to recast the question, where can we least afford to lose?

The mangled myths dogging the joint strike fighter

With the RAAF’s first two operational joint strike fighters arriving in early December, long-time critics have launched a fresh wave of claims that the aircraft is a disaster, but are any of these assertions actually true?

Combating the perfect weapon

The new cold war is being fought in cyberspace on a continuing basis and with ever more sophisticated technologies as the Western powers confront growing intrusions from adversaries ranging from Russia and China to Iran and North Korea.

The terror in a label

While the west continues to tackle terrorism abroad and within its own borders, authoritarian and dictatorial regimes are also terming their opponents ‘terrorists’ to justify their own acts of persecution, ethnic cleansing and state-sponsored violence.

Knights in shining armour: AFVs in the Australian Army

The Australian army has always been curiously reluctant to commit tanks and armoured vehicles to the battlefield, but far from being obsolete, armour continues to play a vital role in modern counter-insurgency and warfare.

In defence of nuclear deterrence

Deterrence is not without its problems—it’s merely the defence doctrine of choice for a competitive, heavily armed world. Is it going to save us from all war? No. But hopefully it can save us from the most serious sort of war, namely great-power war.

Australia’s arms export drive still stuck in first gear

Recent steps, including the appointment of a part-time ambassador for defence exports and more sales training for Australia’s overworked defence attaches, might not be enough to bring a step change in defence export success.

Australia faces an unprecedented set of security challenges

The international security environment is on the cusp of significant change and the national defence debate must be broadened thematically yet narrowed geographically if the ADF is to protect Australian people.

Australian ingenuity is still flying high

Lockheed Martin’s chief executive in Australia, Vince Di Pietro, praises Australia’s record of innovation in the past and looks forward to a bright future of technological co-operation with the USA.

The public square: the next theatre of conflict in the digital age

How Australia acts to protect its public square from foreign interference in the digital age will be a defining issue for our country and for democracies all over the world.