• Assessment of Israeli Strike on Iran near Esfahan

    The Israeli attack on the S-300 missile defense system deployed around Iran’s nuclear facility in Esfahan demonstrated the capability of Israeli stand-off weapons to target deep inside Iran, evading detection and air defenses, leaving Iran’s nuclear and military facilities more vulnerable to attack.

  • The U.S. Navy Has a Nuclear Workforce Problem

    The U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet has been central to the country’s ability to project power globally for decades. But this world-class nuclear navy—including all current U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines—is under threat amid a steady exodus of highly trained officers and enlisted personnel.

  • 15 Things You Don’t Know About Israel’s Air Defense Systems

    Israel has sustained attacks from enemies throughout its history and has invested heavily in high tech defense technologies that are the envy of the world’s military.

  • Iran versus Israel: Who Has the Military Edge?

    In the event of a direct conflict with Iran, Israel would have the military superiority, both offensively and defensively, experts say. But they say the threat posed by Iran’s arsenal of drones and missiles should not be dismissed. Even so, Israel maintains military supremacy.

  • Australia’s Leadership Imperatives in Critical Minerals

    Australia, like Canada, is well placed to be a global leader in the critical minerals sector. The country has the natural endowment, technical expertise and experience, global mining footprint, and mining capital base to back a claim to worldwide leadership.

  • 'Nightmare Scenario': The Risks of Escalation as Israel Mulls Iran Response

    In the wake of Iran’s attack, Israel has been weighing up its options, which analysts say could range from a diplomatic offensive to isolate Iran to directing military strikes on the Islamic republic. With the risk of escalation higher than ever, the worst-case scenario of an all-out war between Iran and Israel is a distinct possibility, analysts say.

  • Under Biden, U.S. Reimagines Asian Alliances as 'Lattice' Fence

    For decades, U.S. policy in Asia has relied on what was informally known as the “hub and spokes” system of bilateral alliances. But lately, U.S. officials have used another analogy to describe their vision for the region: a lattice fence. It may sound like only a metaphorical tweak, but say it could have big implications, as they try to create a durable plan to respond to China’s growing power.

  • A Return to U.S. Casualty Aversion

    The 9/11 Wars as aberrations: After the extended, tragically costly, and fundamentally absurd aberrations caused by the overreaction to 9/11, a more limited American military approach appears to be back—and perhaps is even more embraced than in the post‐Vietnam decades.

  • Gaza War: Israel Using AI to Identify Human Targets Raising Fears That Innocents Are Being Caught in the Net

    A new report finds that AI targeting systems have played a key role in identifying – and potentially misidentifying – tens of thousands of targets in Gaza. This suggests that autonomous warfare is no longer a future scenario. It is already here and the consequences are horrifying.

  • Its Deterrence Strategy Weakened, Iran Faces Pressure to Hit Israel

    Iran’s strategy of deterrence against Israel has suffered greatly since the outbreak of the Gaza war — particularly after the brazen attack on its consulate in the Syrian capital on April 1. the deadly strike on its consulate in Damascus may compel Iran to take direct action, experts say.

  • U.S. Unpersuaded by Report Blaming Russia for ‘Havana Syndrome’

    The United States is backing a year-old intelligence assessment that health problems affecting, and in some cases incapacitating, hundreds of American personnel around the world are not the result of a weapon wielded by a U.S. adversary. The White House, the Pentagon and the State Department Monday stood by a March 2023 report by the National Intelligence Council that concluded it is “very unlikely” the adverse symptoms known as Havana Syndrome were caused by enemy operatives.

  • U.S. Needs a New Independent Armed Service — a U.S. Cyber Force: Report

    In the U.S. military, an officer who had never fired a rifle would never command an infantry unit. Yet officers with no experience behind a keyboard are commanding cyber warfare units. This should change, as the need to create a new independent armed service — a U.S. Cyber Force – become more urgent by the day.

  • How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations

    “People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”

  • US Bolstering Philippines Amid Increasing Assertiveness by China

    The U.S. and Philippines will for the first time venture outside Manila’s territorial waters when they begin joint annual combat drills in April. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all of which border the sea. An international tribunal at The Hague has rejected China’s claim.

  • The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies

    From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.