Foreign Territory: Women in International Relations

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Danielle Cave was a lead author in a three-year study by the Lowy Institute for International Policy ‘Foreign territory: Women in international relations’ that revealed severe gender imbalances in Australia’s international relations sector – including Australia’s diplomatic, national security and intelligence community, despite the existence of some prominent trailblazers.

“Australia’s international relations sector — the departments and organisations that are responsible for conducting Australia’s international relations — has a severe gender imbalance in its workforce. While there have been notable trailblazers, the pace of change has been slow and uneven across the sector. Few of the most important diplomatic postings have ever been held by a woman. Women do not appear in the sector’s key policy-shaping activities. Significantly fewer women are rising to senior positions in the sector compared with the Australian public sector as a whole, international peers, and the corporate sector. The gender imbalance in the Australian Intelligence Community is particularly pronounced. It is important for the sector to address this imbalance. A more diverse workforce will not only better reflect Australian society, but make full use of the available talent pool. There is substantial evidence from the private sector that gender-balanced workforces are more effective, efficient, and innovative. Until the sector better represents Australian society it fails to use the best available talent to navigate Australia’s place in an increasingly complex world.

The analysis, which was based on a lengthy and complicated process of collecting data from a 20-year period, took place from 2016–2018 and found three stark divides:

  1. A vertical divide: men and women in the international relations sector experience different pathways to seniority, particularly in the intelligence community
  2. A horizontal divide: women are more common in the ‘people’, corporate or ‘softer’ policy side of the house. We were repeatedly told in interviews that senior women are less likely to be running high-profile policy, operational or intelligence-focused branches and divisions
  3. A sharp ‘international’ divide between the sexes. Spending time overseas is an integral part of the career path for many in the international sector, but there is a disconnect between the gender balances in government agencies in Canberra and in their overseas workforces.

Read media coverage of the report in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Guardian and on ABC The World.

Admiral Michael S. Rogers to Join ASPI’s Cyber Centre as Distinguished Visiting Fellow

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The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre is pleased to announce that Admiral Michael S. Rogers (retired) will join us as the Centre’s next Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

Admiral Rogers retired from the U.S. Navy in 2018 after nearly 37 years of naval service rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He culminated his career with a four-year tour as Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency. In those roles he worked with the leadership of the U.S. government, the DoD and the U.S. Intelligence community as well as their international counterparts in the conduct of cyber and intelligence activity across the globe. He also assisted in the development of national and international policy with respect to cyber, intelligence and technology – including extensive work with corporate leadership in the Finance, IT, Telecommunications and Technology sectors.

ASPI’s Executive Director Peter Jennings said “I am delighted to welcome Admiral Rogers to Australia. As the international system enters a turbulent period, it is a great opportunity to hear from one of the world’s foremost intelligence officials”.

During his broader service in uniform, Admiral Rogers held positions afloat and ashore around the globe focusing on cyber, intelligence, maritime operations and national security. His joint service was extensive including duty with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Indo Pacific Command and U.S. Atlantic Command. In addition, Admiral Rogers commanded at the unit, Numbered Fleet and service component levels in the Navy.

Admiral Rogers is currently supporting companies in the private sector, serving as a member of various Boards or acting as a Senior Advisor. He also speaks globally to various business and academic groups and is working internationally in the cyber and national security arenas. He is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Managements’ Public Private Initiative and a member of the advisory board of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure. Admiral Rogers is a member of the AALD US advisory board. 

Admiral Rogers will be sharing his experience and insight as keynote speaker at ASPI’s National Security Dinner on 7 May. He will be resident at the Cyber Centre from 29 April to 15 May 2019.

Top US China specialist Peter Mattis announced as ASPI distinguished fellow

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The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is pleased to announce Peter Mattis – Research Fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation – as a distinguished ASPI fellow for 2019.

Peter will be spending the next month at ASPI working with the Institute’s different China specialists on a range of research projects.

Peter will also be a keynote speaker at ASPI’s inaugural China masterclass being held on 15 April in Canberra (almost sold out) and 17 April in Melbourne (tickets still available).

Executive Director Peter Jennings says: “ASPI is delighted to attract someone of Peter’s analytical calibre to spend a full month at our institute. Peter has made an enormous contribution to building the world’s knowledge of how the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and China’s intelligence systems operate – both at home and around the world. Peter’s work spans across a broad range of topics, from better understanding PLA activity in cyberspace, to Chinese party-state influence operations, espionage and military modernisation. ASPI is looking forward to hosting Peter so that he can continue some of this important work over the next month”

Peter was formerly a Fellow in the China Program at The Jamestown Foundation where he edited China Brief and was an international affairs analyst for the US Government. He received his M.A. in Security Studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and earned his B.A. in Political Science and Asian Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also previously worked as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Asian Research in its Strategic Asia and Northeast Asian Studies programs.

Peter is in Australia from now until 18 April. For media enquiries please contact reneejones@aspi.org.au / 0400 424 323

Agenda for change – 2019

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In 2018, many commentators pronounced the rules-based global order to be out for the count. This presents serious challenges for a country such as Australia, which has been an active contributor and clear beneficiary of that order. The government that we elect in 2019’s federal election will be faced with difficult strategic policy choices unlike any we’ve confronted in the past 50 years.

This volume contains 30 short essays that cover a vast range of subjects, from the big geostrategic challenges of our times, through to defence strategy; border, cyber and human security; and key emergent technologies.

The essays provide busy policymakers with policy recommendations to navigate this new world, including proposals that ‘break the rules’ of traditional policy settings. Each of the essays is easily readable in one sitting—but their insightful and ambitious policy recommendations may take a little longer to digest.

Previous Agenda for change publications are also available here: 2016 and 2013.

Launch Event

Building a Safer Internet – Advocate, Validate, Educate

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5 February is Safer Internet Day, a global initiative in some 140 countries to raise awareness of emerging online issues. At ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre we are pleased to support this initiative.

A safer internet is at the core of what we do. We engage with international and national media on unfolding incidents, events and developments. We regularly organise public events on pressing issues in the online environment that shape strategic policy direction. And we have become very active in the area of capacity-building and exercises: in the Asia-Pacific region and in Australia.

On the occasion of Safer Internet Day 2019, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre is introducing a 3-year project that looks at improving the security of the Australian internet through the adoption of international security standards. These standards are technical means to ensure a secure exchange of information over the Internet. Adoption is voluntary and non-binding and is reliant on goodwill and incentives.

“The Internet Society (ISOC) promotes an open, globally-connected, secure and trustworthy Internet. The use of open standards developed by open processes such as that of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the premier Internet standards body, plays an important role in achieving this. We welcome initiatives such as these which take a multi-stakeholder approach and aim to strengthen everyday users’ ability to be safe and secure online”, said Rajnesh Singh, Chief, Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau at the Internet Society.

With support from auDA, the policy authority and self-regulatory body for the .au domain space, the International Cyber Policy Centre will develop a public test tool. This tool will validate websites, email accounts and connections against standards that are considered international good practice.

Cameron Boardman, CEO of auDA said: “We are really excited about this cooperation with ASPI. It allows us to build bridges between strategic policy makers, businesses and end-users, and our stakeholders – domain name registrars and operators in the IT industry”.

This initiative draws on examples that International Cyber Policy Centre experts have observed elsewhere and from the Centre’s membership of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise.

“This initiative by ASPI is a great example of expertise and experience being shared across the global community. The GFCE Internet Infrastructure Initiative aims to share global good practices making best use of state-of-the-art global open internet standards, with support from the Internet.nl portal”, says Maarten Botterman, GFCE project leader.

A safe internet is a community-wide and multi-stakeholder effort. Whether its government, industry, the tech community, civil society or the user-consumer, we all have our own rights and duties. This project will enhance opportunities for proper due diligence by users and consumers, small businesses as well as internet service providers.

Stakeholder consultations meetings are scheduled for February and March 2019; as follows:

MELBOURNE CONSULTATION
Date: Friday 22nd February 2019
Time: 11:00 hrs – 13:00 hrs
Venue: Joint Cyber Security Centre
Level 32, 600 Bourke Street, Melbourne

CANBERRA CONSULTATION
Date: Friday March 1st 2019
Time: 11.00hrs – 13.00hrs
Venue: ASPI Offices
40 Macquarie St, Barton
ACT 2600

SYDNEY CONSULTATION
Date: Monday 4th March 2019
Time: 10:00 hrs – 12:30 hrs
Venue: Joint Cyber Security Centre
Level 25, Tower 2, Darling Park
201 Sussex Street, Sydney

If you would like to participate in building a safer internet, please contact ASPI here.

Online Influence and Hostile Narratives in Eastern Asia – Report

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ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre wrote a report for the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence that examined online influence and hostile narratives in Asia.

Eastern Asia — which we define as including East and Southeast Asia — is a region of increasing geopolitical competition with many racial, cultural and societal fractures. With the rapid expansion of inexpensive internet access, these fractures and tensions mean that many states in the region are both vulnerable to, and a source of, hostile information activities that are being used to achieve strategic goals both inside and outside the region.

This report documents examples of hostile information activities that have originated in Eastern Asia and have been targeted in the following countries:

  • Taiwan
  • The Hong Kong-based protest movement
  • West Papua
  • The Philippines

Because these activities often target social media, they have been difficult for law enforcement and national security organizations to police. Across the globe, countries are pursuing different methods of tackling the spread of hostile information activities with differing degrees of success. These approaches can range from law enforcement, temporary internet shutdowns, and attempts to legislate against ‘fake news’ or disinformation, through to wider societal media literacy initiatives.

Read this report, authored by ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre researcher Hannah Smith, here.

Huawei and Australia’s 5G Network

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Over the course of 2018, ASPI staff and writers for The Strategist participated in a dynamic public debate about the participation of Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei in Australia’s 5G network.

Australia’s 5G network is critical national infrastructure and this was one of the most important policy decisions the government had to make this year.

ASPI felt it was vital to stimulate and lead a frank and robust public discussion, in Australia and throughout the wider region, which analysed and debated the national security, cybersecurity and international implications of Huawei’s involvement in this infrastructure.

In this report, in chronological order, you’ll read a range of views written up in The Strategist, The Australian and The Financial Times.

These articles tackle a variety of issues surrounding the decision, including the cybersecurity dimension, the broader Australia–China relationship, other states’ experiences with Huawei, the Chinese Government’s approach to cyber espionage and intellectual property theft and, importantly, the Chinese party-state’s view of state security and intelligence work.

When it comes to important national security, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure decisions, ASPI will continue to stimulate Australian public discourse and fill gaps in global debates.

We also encourage the Australian Government to take a more forward-leaning approach to its participation in public discourse so that the public and key stakeholders are as informed as possible when hard and complicated policy decisions like this need to be made.

Sydney Recommendations – Practical Futures for Cyber Confidence Building in the ASEAN region

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In the lead-up to the ASEAN–Australia Special Summit, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre launched an initiative with partners across the region to develop the Sydney
Recommendations on Practical Futures for Cyber Confidence Building in the ASEAN region.

These recommendations build on the extensive work undertaken by the think-tank community in the region starting in the early 2010s.

Cybersecurity and electoral integrity

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Address on Cyber Security and threats to Australian Elections given by Tom Uren at the Australian Parliament House research group meeting. 

Video here: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/Vis/vis1819/Cybersecurity .

Offensive Cyber report makes waves

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The new report by the International Cyber Policy Centre, Australia’s Offensive Cyber Capability, has caught the imagination of the Australian cyber community and is being widely reported and commented on.

Some of the media coverage is listed here;

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/boost-australia-s-cyber-capability-report

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/australias-worldclass-cyber-warriors-take-the-fight-to-islamic-state/news-story/1c4d7c17c3cbc7435ad316077974ec59

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-urged-to-invest-more-to-counter-cyberattacks

https://securitybrief.com.au/story/aspi-demystifies-australias-offensive-cyber-capabilities/

https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2018/clarity-for-australia-s-cyber-capabilities.html

https://overcast.fm/+lLFD160E

https://www.zdnet.com/article/cyber-dam-busters-could-give-australias-military-an-asymmetric-edge/

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/australias-offensive-cyber-capability/

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/cyber-strength-needs-better-recruitment-lower-classifications-aspi-20180409-p4z8l4.html