The National Security Podcast

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 Organ...

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 , 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 Na...

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...

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...

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 ch...

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 c...

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.&nbsp...

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 pand...

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 ot...

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 ther...

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 challenge...

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 dig...

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 disruptio...

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 dev...

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 Structur...

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 Austr...

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, an...

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 w...

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...

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...

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 Di...

How do Australia’s experiences fit into the global contest over the climate change narrative and why is that contest now bleeding into discussion about the coronavirus pandemic? On this National Security Podcast, Chris Farnham is joined by Chris Zappone to tackle a growing spread of disinformation in the media and how it can affect a crisis. Australia’s recent bushfire crisis saw the nation’s comp...

How do the impacts of climate change make it a national security issue, and how is climate change going to affect Australia’s preparedness for national resilience and even war? In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Chris Farnham speaks with Associate Professor Matt McDonald about where major risks likely lie for national defence, societal resilience, and regional security in the face o...

On this episode, Chris Farnham chats with Professor Rory Medcalf about the future of the Indo-Pacific region and Australia's place in it. Will any one country have the power to map the future of a region so central to global prosperity and security? If diplomacy fails, the Indo-Pacific will be the theatre of the first general war since 1945. But if its future can be secured, the Indo-Pacific will...