Resilience The AARC Quarter 3 Strategic Assessment has been published, which acknowledges resilience as an emerging theme relevant to land power’s contribution to Australian Defence Strategy. The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements recommends a ‘fundamental shift in strategic thinking about national disaster management. If there were one word that encapsulates this shift, it would be ‘resilience.’’ The Royal Commission’s report highlights that 33 people died, over 3,000 homes were …

Colonel Mark Armstrong’s Australian Army Occasional Paper ‘Every Possible Capability: Some Implications of the Army Reserve Call Out for Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020’ can now be downloaded from the Australian Army Research Library here . Read on below for an abstract of the paper. During the latter months of 2019 and the new year of 2020, Australia experienced catastrophic and widespread bushfires. As the situation worsened, the federal government unexpectedly called out the Australian Defence Force …

LT Thomas Maher is an Army Intelligence (AUSINT) officer who will take up an initial posting to 145 Signals Squadron in Sydney to complete his Regimental Training. In 2020 he has studied a Bachelor of Computing and Cyber Security BCCS (Hons) with a focus on information warfare. He has successfully topped a number of Masters level courses in Cyber and has provided lecturing and tutoring at UNSW on his specific area of expertise. He has published articles in the Journal of Information Warfare and he is …

Major Power Competition The October 2020 edition of PRISM from National Defense University is focussed upon Great Power Competition. Two articles address the competition for influence in Africa which argue for sustained presence that mitigates the risk of losing influence on the continent. Similarly, the recently commenced Journal of Future Conflict (Fall 2020 edition) from Queens University in Canada takes a comparable orientation. Of note, the Journal of Future Conflict includes articles from David …

The Australian Army is in an exciting period of change and development. New strategic guidance and a generously funded force structure plan , coupled with the demand of senior leaders for change, presents opportunities for substantial enhancements to Army’s structure and capabilities. Seizing the opportunity requires innovative employment of emerging technologies grounded in real-world experience. This article will use the example of a Semi-Autonomous Combat Team concept to illustrate how disruptive …

Dr Jennifer S. Hunt is a lecturer in national security at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU and a Non-Resident Fellow at the US Studies Centre, University of Sydney. Dr Hunt has published on comparative national security policy of cyber and energy issues in the United States, Australia and the Arab Gulf. She has served as a delegate at the Shangri-la Security Dialogue and attended the World Economic Forum at Abu Dhabi.  Her expert commentary has been featured on ABC’s Q&A, The Project, BBC, The …

Humanity faces a climate crisis that poses a threat to the survival of the species. How we negotiate the future will determine whether humanity survives and in which manner. A large factor in who survives will be decided by success or failure in war. In this talk, Dr Albert Palazzo will consider climate change from the perspective of national security and the role of the military in protecting the nation. He will outline the threat climate change poses to the operation of human-made systems on which …

Deterrence The Texas National Security Review have published a primer on Coercion Theory , including deterrence theory, and how it applies to contemporary geopolitics. This article has also been released in podcast format by Horns of a Dilemma . Major Power Competition Modern War Institute have released a podcast interview with Dr Jack Watling of RUSI, exploring the lessons being drawn from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . The interview focussed upon the surprisingly high level of attrition attained by …

In late September, the UK Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter launched the Integrated Operating Concept , a summary of which appeared in ETOs . This document and its launch are notable in the manner with which they articulate the threat perceived by the UK Ministry of Defence, and therefore warrant deeper analysis. Gen. Carter’s speech was hosted by General David Petraeus (ret.), available on Youtube ( here ), marked by a hawkish framing of contemporary conflict: ‘Our authoritarian rivals see …

Major Power Competition Jason Begley of the Air Power Development Centre offers a nuanced appreciation of Competitive Strategies in the Indo-Pacific , published through the Harvard Belfer Centre. This report is an extended read (approx. 2 hours) that anchors appreciation off an approach that ‘views strategic competition structurally – poised atop a hierarchy made up of smaller competitions, which are themselves comprised of discrete, single-issue contexts.’ This analysis leverages the approach taken in the …