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The Need for an Australian National Security Strategy
Author: Allan Behm
Volume 3, Number 3 (August 2007), pp. 9-23.
Abstract
Whatever the outcome of the 2007 federal election, the incoming Australian Government will need to address the national security policy deficit that has been allowed to accumulate since the release of the 2000 White Paper. The global strategic environment has changed substantially since 9/11, yet the Australian Government has been reluctant to spell out what those changes are, what the consequences of those changes might be, or how Australia should set about managing its longer-term security interests. The procession of Defence Updates over the past five years have failed to provide an integrated security strategy, offering instead a collection of complacent and temporizing nostrums that ignore both the complexity of the security problems facing Australia and the need for comprehensive “whole of government” actions. In order to address this policy deficit, an incoming government will need to establish new policy development processes that go beyond Defence to include the other departments and agencies on which Australia relies for its security.
About the Author
Allan Behm is a director of Knowledge Pond, an international group advising on strategy and risk. He speaks and writes extensively on security affairs and public policy. He has also held senior positions in the Department of Defence and the Attorney-General’s Department, as well as the Departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Foreign Affairs. behm@kpond.com.
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