Engaging early applies equally to natural disasters such as bushfires as it does to non-traditional threats, such as cyber-attack and proliferation of weapons of mass effect. State governments must anticipate better those events that may be beyond their ability to cope. This self-awareness gives the spark to warn, and to start planning with Commonwealth agencies – especially the ADF. Similarly, the Commonwealth must continue to improve its ability to assess when States and Territories might require assistance. The necessary trust and confidence for such close cooperation will only develop as agencies increase understanding of each others’ roles, and an effective way of gaining that trust is through shared training and education between organisations – such as we see today inside the ADF and Defence.
Beyond this broader-defined yet still familiar involvement however, the ADF has further contributions to the policy responses the Statement has called for – including in achieving the ‘unprecedented degree of coordination among the nation’s many security agencies and capabilities.’
The ADF’s experience in interoperability and deliberate planning, and the machinery by which Defence determines its strategic priorities and allocations, can both be adapted and exported to other security stakeholders. Together, they can be used to help consider and form the difficult judgements on how best to respond to Australia’s other security challenges at the national level.
Additionally, the way in which the military approaches its development of strategies – which is forged to operate with acute and diverse conditions of risk and uncertainty – could be recast and adapted to make a major contribution in crafting a whole-of-government strategic attitude to security. Importantly, moving to the next step of a true national security strategy not only needs to meet Australia’s strategic challenges in a manner that is relevant and applicable to all the national security community: it must integrate meaningfully with Defence’s own judgements on when and how to respond.
Against the canvas provided by the National Security Statement, the ADF mission must be recognised as supporting a broader spectrum of operations and activities, and an ability to transition rapidly between them. Moreover, in some respects at least, the recent collective experience of working together that Defence and the three Services of Army, Navy and Air Force holds – from operational theatres in the Middle East to back in Australia – has important lessons for creating that properly coordinated national security community.
Reddit
Digg
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Technorati
Yahoo
Google
Plurk
