In this episode of the National Security Podcast , the latest in our Security Summit series, Tobias Feakin – Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology – joins Professor Rory Medcalf to unpack the government’s recently-launched International Cyber and Critical Tech Engagement Strategy . Cyber and critical technology are at the centre of geostrategic competition in the 21st century and affect all aspects of international relations. They affect Australia’s national security, ...
May 19, 2021•49 min
This episode of the National Security Podcast brings you an audiopaper from the Policy Options Paper series — the flagship publication of the ANU National Security College. Protecting Education Exports: Minimising the damage of China’s future economic coercion is authored by Dirk van der Kley and Benjamin Herscovitch — Research Fellows at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance. Coercion against Australia’s education sector would significantly impact the country’s prosperity. Educatio...
May 14, 2021•20 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Dirk van der Kley and Benjamin Herscovitch — Research Fellows at ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance — join Chris Farnham to discuss how Australia can protect its education exports from potential economic coercion from China. Coercion against Australia’s education sector would significantly impact the country’s prosperity. Education is Australia’s only remaining export to China valued at over $10 billion annually that the Chinese Gove...
May 11, 2021•55 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Paul Harris — Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University — joins Katherine Mansted to discuss the need to re-think how the Australian science system engages with the rest of the world and delivers value to the nation. The global science and technology system has undergone massive change since 2000 and is now a key site of geoeconomic competition between states. For the first time in Australia’s his...
Apr 21, 2021•44 min
This episode of the National Security Podcast brings you the first-ever audiopaper from the ANU National Security College’s flagship publication, the Policy Options Paper series. Clever Country in a Changed World: Re-Thinking Australian Science Policy is authored by Paul Harris — Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University — and is presented by Katherine Mansted, Series Editor and Senior Adviser for Public Policy at the ANU National Security College...
Apr 21, 2021•20 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast — part of our Security Summit Series — Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Senator James Paterson chats to Head of the ANU National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Its work is not only highly visible, but highly influential too — as so much policy and legislation now has a national s...
Apr 13, 2021•46 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , United States Chargé d’Affaires to Australia Mike Goldman joins Professor Rory Medcalf to discuss Australia’s bilateral relationship with the United States and the Biden Administration’s approach to the region. With a new administration in the White House, where should we expect continuity and discontinuity in America’s approach to its allies and the Indo-Pacific? In this episode of the National Security Podcast , and the second edition of Security ...
Mar 31, 2021•51 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , former CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence Carmen Medina and intelligence expert Zachery Tyson Brown join Katherine Mansted to discuss the modernisation of intelligence and the tension between secrecy and transparency. With the amount of information publicly available and the means to collect it increasing exponentially, intelligence agencies and their processes are at a moment of change. In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Katherine ...
Mar 24, 2021•57 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Government Accountability Senator Kristina Keneally joins Professor Rory Medcalf on the first episode of Security Summit with Rory Medcalf to discuss the threat right-wing extremism poses to Australia’s national security. With right-wing extremism on the rise in Australia, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police are dramatically increasing the time and resources they sp...
Mar 11, 2021•50 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Rory Medcalf, Katherine Mansted and Chris Farnham look over the wild ride that was 2020 and discuss what we should be watching out for in 2021. With a pandemic, climate-induced megafires, plummeting relations with China, and a democratic crisis in the United States there was no shortage of issues confronting national security policymakers in 2020. In this episode of the National Security Podcast , co-hosts Rory Medcalf, Katherine Mansted and Chri...
Dec 16, 2020•41 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Greg Moriarty — Secretary of the Department of Defence — joins Rory Medcalf to discuss Australia’s Defence agenda in a contested Indo-Pacific. With Australia’s regional superiority eroding, defence modernisation and effective strategies are imperative for Australia’s defence forces. In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Head of the National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf speaks with Secretary Greg Moriarty on Australia’s ef...
Dec 09, 2020•1 hr 13 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Frances Adamson — Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade— joins Rory Medcalf to discuss the national security challenges facing Australia in an age of disruption. With the destructive impact of COVID-19 reverberating around the world, exacerbating the disruptive forces of great power competition, Australian efforts to support its own national interests have rarely been more important. In this episode of the National Security Podcas...
Nov 26, 2020•45 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Dr Vasabjit Banerjee — specialist in comparative politics, electoral competition and political violence — joins Chris Farnham to discuss the current situation in the United States and the future of American democracy. With the sitting president refusing to accept the election result and claiming mass-voter fraud, whilst his supporters take to the streets and threaten violence, the United States stands at a political crossroads. In this episode of th...
Nov 18, 2020•54 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Caroline Millar — Deputy Secretary, National Security at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet — joins Rory Medcalf to discuss the role of the national security professional in an age of disruption. With the COVID-19 pandemic super-charging Australia’s threat landscape, issues such as great power competition, technological disruption and challenges to the rules-based order are weighing heavily on the desks of national security policymaker...
Nov 03, 2020•39 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs Michael Pezzullo AO joins Head of the National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf to discuss security in an age of disruption. In the latest instalment of the National Security College’s 10th Anniversary Conversation Series — which explores insights from leaders of the Australian national security community — the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs shares his philosophical and practical pe...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , expert on information warfare Molly McKew joins Chris Farnham to discuss the influence of disinformation on the United States presidential election. With less than one month until the US election - and the president testing positive for COVID-19 - the whirlwind of conspiracy theories and disinformation attacks has gone into overdrive. In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Molly McKew dissects disinformation campaigns from conspiracy the...
Oct 07, 2020•1 hr 4 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Chris Farnham is joined by Glenn Keys and Dr Geetha Isaac-Toua to discuss Australia’s response to COVID-19 and the role of the private sector in national security. With Australia likely to have avoided a nation-wide second wave of COVID-19, this episode of National Security Podcast considers some of the broader aspects of the national pandemic response. Did Australia grasp the challenge accurately from the outset, are we expecting too much from a po...
Sep 24, 2020•1 hr 15 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Chris Farnham is joined by Jacob Shapiro to discuss some of the important geopolitical issues flying below the media radar. With the COVID-19 pandemic, China's rise fuelling tensions across the region, and unfolding chaos in the United States, this year could not be more action-packed for national security policymakers. Still, there are a number of other enormously important issues and trends in the world that barely get a mention. In this episode o...
Sep 16, 2020•1 hr 7 min
On this National Security Podcast , Head of National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf speaks with Ms Rachel Noble PSM, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), about the history of signals intelligence in Australia, who ASD spies on and why, and adapting to new security threats. Signals intelligence has been an element of national security operations for as long as there has been warfare and competition. But how does an agency raised out of the Second World War adapt ...
Sep 02, 2020•58 min
On this National Security Podcast , Head of National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf speaks with Major General Duncan Lewis, former Director-General of Security at ASIO, about securing Australia in an age of disruption. Since 9/11, it has become clear to Australia’s leaders that developing a national security pedigree in the Australian Public Service was imperative to meeting the challenges of an age of deep strategic disruption. To open the National Security College’s 10th Anniversary C...
Aug 19, 2020•1 hr 6 min
In this special episode of the National Security Podcast , Katherine Mansted is joined by Alastair MacGibbon, Gai Brodtmann and Rory Medcalf to discuss Australia's recently released national Cyber Security Strategy. Released on 6 August, the Australian government released the 2020 Cyber Security Strategy. Citing the increased interconnectivity and reliance on the Internet as we transition to a digital society, a process supercharged by the COVID-19 pandemic, the document paints a daunting pictur...
Aug 12, 2020•41 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , Katherine Mansted is joined by AustCyber CEO Michelle Price to talk about the risks of putting blind faith in the digital devices we use to run our lives and businesses. What would happen if we lost our digital connections, or access to our data? Now that people and businesses rely on digital devices for all facets of modern life, can such a disruption be quantified in dollar terms? On this National Security Podcast, Katherine Mansted is joined by A...
Aug 05, 2020•58 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Katherine Mansted speaks to Ali Wyne about why great powers compete, how China, Russia, and the United States are shaping the global system, and whether their behaviour is making the post-COVID-19 world more dangerous. Is competition between great powers destined to be fraught with the risk of conflict, or can it be a positive driver of global development? And how do middle powers view the future of their respective regions as the United States ...
Jul 22, 2020•48 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , we are joined by former Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence Gai Brodtmann, Head of the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre Brendan Sargeant, and Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College, to examine the details and meaning of Australia's recently unveiled 2020 Defence Strategy Update and Force Structure Plan. On 1 July, Australia officially updated its defence strategy with the 2020 Defence Strategy Update and...
Jul 08, 2020•47 min
In this episode of the National Security Podcast , Katherine Mansted is joined by Major General Marcus Thompson to discuss the nature of information warfare in the 21st century, and how it fits within Australia's broader defence mission. In 2017, Australia formed its first Information Warfare Division (IWD) in the Department of Defence. Tasked with achieving information superiority over Australia’s adversaries and gaining an advantage which can be exploited in the traditional air, land, and sea ...
Jul 01, 2020•38 min
On 16 June, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne delivered a policy address to the National Security College on Australia and the world in the time of COVID-19. Her remarks, and the following discussion of Australia's future in the region, make up this special episode of National Security Podcast. Is China using the COVID-19 crisis as a reason to spread disinformation about Australia, and how can international institutions, such as the World Health Organization, be safeguarded so that they c...
Jun 17, 2020•47 min
In this episode of National Security Podcast , we speak with the Perth USAsia Centre's Dr Jeffrey Wilson about Australia's new investment measures and a shift toward caution in the face of foreign purchasing power. In recent years, many developed economies have been enhancing their foreign investment laws with a heightened focus on national security. On Friday 5 June, Australia announced that it would be following suit, introducing new screening measures to ensure foreign nationals and organisat...
Jun 10, 2020•36 min
On this special episode of the National Security Podcast , we speak to three leading Indonesia experts about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country's national security. How has Indonesia been impacted by COVID-19 and what are the implications for its national security? Has the pandemic offered terrorist organisations opportunities or new challenges? How will this health crisis influence the increased intensity of the conflict in West Papua? And how will the spread of the virus, wh...
Jun 03, 2020•59 min
In this National Security Podcast , we speak to Professor Tom Nichols about international and domestic national security influences on the United States' 2020 elections. As the United States moves toward an election in the midst of a pandemic and increasing tensions with China, and in the shadow of Russian interference, national security is going to be central to its 2020 presidential and congressional elections. Should we expect more Russian interference and could they be successful a second ti...
May 15, 2020•46 min
In this episode, we talk to the former head of Emergency Management Australia Mark Crosweller about national resilience in an era of climate change and COVID-19. How has Australia’s recent bushfire disaster impacted the way policymakers consider climate change and its impact on national security? Has COVID-19 illuminated the fragility of an interdependent society? What is it that keeps a former Director General of Emergency Management Australia awake at night? In this National Security Podcast ,...
Apr 15, 2020•1 hr 8 min
