For the right reasons, in the right ways (Part 1): a four-nation survey of information sharing about organised crime

/in , ,

This special report examines how government, business and the community in four nations share information about organised crime. Its key finding is that the Australian Government, businesses and community as a whole must be open to new kinds of information sharing partnerships.

The field work involved over 80 interviews, including visits to or discussions about a range of information sharing mechanisms in Israel, the UK, the Netherlands and the US.

This is an abridged version of a report submitted to the Churchill Memorial Trust in June 2016.

Delivering ‘joined-up’ government: achieving the integrated approach to offshore crisis management

/in ,

The call to improve ‘joined-up’ government articulates a principle that is the foundation of effective and efficient public administration. Increasingly, the ability of government to achieve effects that are more than the sum of their parts will determine whether Australia influences its strategic environment or is merely captive to it. 

Offshore crisis response requires a higher level of multiagency interconnectedness than ever before. This level of interconnectedness requires the adoption of transformative approaches to recruitment, professional development, leadership and management.

The paper stresses the need for adaptable people, the importance of capturing lessons of recent experience and provides practical actions to strengthen joined-up government.

Cyber norms & the Australian private sector

/in

Across the world, there are conflicting ideas about how to manage the dynamic environment of cyberspace. States have the liberty of implementing legislation for the domestic regulation of cyberspace, but disagreements arise over national visions for the management of cyberspace internationally. Many have looked to norms to fill this breach, as their flexibility to adapt to changing technology and are attractive for the management of cyberspace and its broader stakeholder group. For this reason, norms, alongside international law have emerged as the preeminent means to establish what is acceptable behaviour in global cyberspace.

As owners and operators of a large amount of the world’s internet infrastructure and expertise, private sector bodies are some of the best placed organisations to speak authoritatively on the operation of cyberspace, and are therefore critical to the successful implementation of norms. However the private sector has largely been absent from the discussions shaping the creation of these international norms. To gain a deeper understanding of private sector perspectives on cyber norms, ASPI conducted a workshop and survey series with experts from some of Australia’s largest and most influential private sector organisations. Through this discussion and workshop series it was established that key Australian private sector organisations both understand and are interested in the formation of cyber norms. The resulting report documents the key takeaways from this research, highlighting central private sector insights on how cyber norms should be shaped to enable economic prosperity and broader wellbeing of the interconnected online ecosystem.

America’s ‘Maginot Line’: a study of static border security in an age of agile and innovative threats

/in ,

Borders and border security are once again becoming increasingly important to the nation state. Many take a default position that our coastline is our border and that border security involves merely police, security guards and immigration or customs officials. But Australia’s geography no longer provides the physical barrier from the outside world that it once did.

This strategy provides a case study analysis of post-9/11 changes to US border security policies. It examines each of America’s different borders: the friendly northern borders, maritime borders, and the militarised southern border. It provides recommendations for Australia’s border security.