The National Security Podcast

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Dr Mika Aaltola, Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, joins Rory Medcalf to shine a light on the distinctly Finnish way of safeguarding a small democracy’s national security in an unforgiving strategic environment.A major consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the historic decision by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. But Finland is no stranger to countering military aggression from Moscow. In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Dr Mika Aaltola, Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), joins Professor Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College, who recently visited Helsinki in his capacity as a member of the FIIA advisory council, to shine a light on the distinctly Finnish way of safeguarding a small democracy’s national security in an unforgiving strategic environment. Dr Mika Aaltola is the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and has been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, Le Centre de recherches internationals at Sciences Po, and Johns Hopkins University. His areas of expertise include the global role of the United States, dynamics of major power politics, democratic vulnerability, pandemic security, and Finnish foreign policy. Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of ANU National Security College. His professional experience spans more than two decades across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, and journalism.We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, we bring you the sixth instalment of the Women in National Security mini-series, produced in collaboration with Accenture.In this episode of the National Security Podcast, hosts Gai Brodtmann, National Security College Futures Council member, and Meg Tapia, Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture, are joined by Dr Elise Stephenson, ANU National Security College Fellow and Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership. Drawing on recent data, Elise discusses the barriers for women entering and progressing within the national security domain, and outlines the systemic issues that stand in the way of gender equality. Dr Elise Stephenson is an ANU National Security College Fellow and Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership. Elise seeks to find critical junctures across industries and portfolios – all for the sake of research, practice, or policy interventions that can help to ensure equality in various aspects of international affairs.Gai Brodtmann is a member of the ANU National Security College (NSC)'s Futures Council having previously served as a diplomat, defence consultant, Member of Parliament, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.Meg Tapia has 16 years of experience in national security and foreign policy. She served as a diplomat in Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, and Vanuatu. Currently, Meg is Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture.We’re giving away several free tickets to the WiNS Live event, taking place on the 10 November in Canberra! If you’re a woman who is new to — or interested in joining — the national security community, enter now: https://forms.office.com/r/U0fashVrLEAll episodes of the Women in National Security mini-series are available here.Find full show notes at policyforum.net. We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Sir Roland Wilson Scholar and economist Helen Mitchell and Director of Research and Economics at the Australian Industry Group Jeffrey Wilson join National Security College Policy Director Will Stoltz to discuss how the global economy is reshaping international security.It’s a turbulent time for the global economy, with food and fuel crises, straining global supply chains, bounding inflation, and — especially in Australia — acute workforce and population obstacles. To explore these trends, and how they’re affecting international security, Will Stolz is joined by Helen Mitchell and Jeffrey Wilson.Helen Mitchell is a Sir Roland Wilson PhD Scholar at The Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. She is also an economist and former diplomat.Dr Jeffrey Wilson is the Director of Research and Economics at the Australian Industry Group.Dr William A Stoltz is the Policy Director at ANU National Security College.We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Lisa Singh, CEO of the Australia India Institute, and Dr David Brewster, Senior Fellow at ANU National Security College, join Will Stoltz to discuss the challenges and opportunities for greater cooperation with India on international security issues.India will play a pivotal role in shaping international security in the decades to come. There are challenges and opportunities for greater cooperation between India and other democratic states like Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As the world adapts to the invasion of Ukraine and looks to potential conflicts that may arise elsewhere, we ask what practical steps Australia and other countries can do to ensure India fulfils its potential to secure and stabilise an uncertain world.For more, see the College’s recent Policy Options Paper, 'New options for trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: Australia-India-United Kingdom'.  Lisa Singh is CEO of the Australia India Institute and a former Senator for Tasmania. Dr David Brewster is a Senior Fellow at the ANU National Security College.Dr William A Stoltz is the Policy Director at the ANU National Security College.We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, we bring you the fifth instalment of the Women in National Security mini-series, produced in collaboration with Accenture. In this episode of the National Security Podcast, hosts Gai Brodtmann, National Security College Futures Council member, and Meg Tapia, Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture, are joined by Julie-Ann Guivarra, Group Manager of the Strategic Policy Group in the National Indigenous Australians Agency. Julie-Ann talks us through her experience in rising to the challenges and expectations that come with being the first in many things, and shares with us her personal views on the recent changes to Indigenous policy.Julie-Ann Guivarra is the Group Manager of the Strategic Policy Group in the National Indigenous Australians Agency. Julie-Ann was previously with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade where she served most recently as Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality and prior to this as Australia’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, Andorra, and Equatorial Guinea.Gai Brodtmann is a member of the National Security College Futures Council having previously served as a diplomat, defence consultant, Member of Parliament, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.Meg Tapia has 16 years of experience in national security and foreign policy. She served as a diplomat in Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, and Vanuatu. Currently, Meg is Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture.All episodes of the Women in National Security mini-series are available here.Find full show notes at policyforum.net. We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Kate Clayton and Dom Dwyer join Will Stoltz to discuss how young Australians are seeking to influence policymakers and what can be expected of the next generation of leaders.Young Australians in International Affairs (YAIA) and the Youth National Security Strategy (YNSS) are two organisations seeking to equip the next generation of security and foreign affairs decision-makers to lead in an uncertain world. Through distinctly different approaches they are also supporting amplifying the perspectives and concerns of young Australians in the policy discourses. Kate Clayton from Young Australians in International Affairs and Dom Dwyer from the Youth National Security Strategy join Will Stoltz to discuss how young Australians are seeking to influence policymakers and what can be expected of the next generation of leaders. Kate Clayton is a Research Officer at La Trobe Asia and Chief Operations Officer at Young Australians in International Affairs. Her research looks at climate change, security, and geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region. Dom Dwyer is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Youth National Security Strategy. He is currently completing honours research at The Australian National University. Dr William A Stoltz is the Policy Director at the ANU National Security College.  Show notes | The following were mentioned during this episode: State of the Service Report, Australian Public Service Commission, (2021)Young Australians in International Affairs publications and eventsYouth National Security Strategy’s work and latest strategyWe’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Samuel Bashfield and Anthony Bergin join William Stoltz to discuss the importance and vulnerabilities of submarine cables.In the Indo-Pacific, submarine cables carry over 95 per cent of international data traffic, including telephone and data communications. But they are vulnerable to a variety of environmental, accidental and malicious threats. Samuel Bashfield and Dr Anthony Bergin, join Dr William Stoltz, to analyse the current challenges facing undersea cable infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific, and policy recommendations that could increase their resilience. Samuel Bashfield is a PhD candidate and Research Officer at the ANU National Security College. His research engages with Indian Ocean security issues, with a focus on the past, present and future of the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory).  Dr Anthony Bergin is a Senior Fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. For 20 years Dr Bergin served as an academic at the Australian Defence Force Academy. From 1991-2003 he was the Director of the Australian Defence Studies Centre.  Dr William A. Stoltz is Policy Director at the ANU National Security College. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne, and an Associate Member of the Centre for the Study of Subversion, Unconventional Interventions and Terrorism (SUIT) at the University of Nottingham.Show notes Options for safeguarding undersea critical infrastructure: Australia and Indo-Pacific submarine cables, Samuel Bashfield and Anthony Bergin, (2022)The Deep-Sea Cables, Rudyard Kipling, (1893) We’d love to hear from you! Send your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. Tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Bridi Rice from the Development Intelligence Lab and Erol Yayboke from the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Will Stoltz to discuss the intersection of security and development issues in the Pacific region.Recent events in the Pacific, including the signing of the new Solomon Islands-China security agreement and the regional tour of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have placed development assistance at the forefront of strategic competition for the region’s future and raised questions about Australia’s current policy settings. With the United States trialing a new approach in Papua New Guinea through its Global Fragility Act, what lessons could Australia learn? What development challenges should Australia focus on in the Pacific? And is geostrategic competition sucking the oxygen from other, more pressing, challenges? Founder and CEO of the Development Intelligence Lab Bridi Rice and Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Erol Yayboke join Policy Director at ANU National Security College Dr Will Stoltz to explore these questions and examine the intersection of development, conflict mitigation, and security for the Pacific. Bridi Rice is CEO of the Development Intelligence Lab and currently a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). At the Lab, Bridi manages agenda-setting research and high-level policy dialogue on critical issues shaping the future of Australian development engagement in the Indo-Pacific.Erol Yayboke is a Senior Fellow with the International Security Program and director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Dr William A Stoltz is Policy Director at ANU National Security College. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne, and an Associate Member of the Centre for the Study of Subversion, Unconventional Interventions and Terrorism (SUIT) at the University of Nottingham.More information about the Global Fragility Act is available here and here.We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Emily Hitchman and Dr William Stoltz join Professor Rory Medcalf to unpack what ‘secret statecraft’ means in the Australian context and why it should be studied more.Call it intelligence, spying, or covert action, a whole realm of ‘secret’ statecraft operates out of the public eye in Australia, hidden by layers of classification, deniability, and secrecy. Yet — as the recent public address, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, from Director-General Paul Symon highlighted — it’s becoming somewhat more transparent in the contemporary era. In this episode of the National Security Podcast, PhD scholar at ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre Emily Hitchman and Manager of Policy Engagement at ANU National Security College Dr William Stoltz join Professor Rory Medcalf to unpack what ‘secret statecraft’ means in the Australian context and why it deserves more attention from scholars and policymakers. They explore whether a reliance on the instruments of ‘secret statecraft’ make sense for Australia as a democratic middle-power, and if this form of statecraft operates within an existing social licence, or whether more needs to be done to build that license.Emily Hitchman is a PhD scholar at ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre researching Australia’s use of the 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' principle in the intelligence and security context. Emily has worked professionally across the national security and criminal justice public policy space, including in law enforcement and cyber policy.Dr William A Stoltz is the Manager of Policy Engagement at ANU National Security College. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne, and an Associate Member of the Centre for the Study of Subversion, Unconventional Interventions and Terrorism at the University of Nottingham.Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of ANU National Security College. His professional experience spans more than two decades across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, and journalism.For full show notes visit policyforum.net. We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Major General (retd) Duncan Lewis and Professor Caitlin Byrne join Professor Rory Medcalf to discuss the potential policy implications of Australia’s change in government.The 2022 federal election has brought a significant change to Australia’s political landscape. The election of a progressive Labor government led by Anthony Albanese ends nine years of conservative Coalition rule. But what does this mean for Australia’s foreign and security policy settings? To make sense of this shift, Major General Duncan Lewis, former Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Origination (ASIO), and Professor Caitlin Byrne, Director of the Griffith Asia Institute, join Professor Rory Medcalf in discussion.Major General (retd) Duncan Lewis AO DSC CSC is Professor in the Practice of National Security at ANU National Security College. Prior to this appointment he served as Director-General of Security and Head of ASIO.Professor Caitlin Byrne is Director, Griffith Asia Institute and Faculty Fellow of the University of Southern California's Centre for Public Diplomacy (CPD). She has worked across a range of senior leadership roles in government, industry and community with a focus on delivering change and reform.Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of ANU National Security College. His professional experience spans more than two decades across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, and journalism.We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.