This event will examine how emerging technologies—particularly AI, quantum computing, cyber capabilities, and biotechnology—can be harnessed to address interconnected strategic, security and non-traditional challenges in the Indo-Pacific. Framed through the lens of technology-enabled strategic influence, the discussion will consider investment and innovation ecosystems and how the new tech-centric defense industrial base can reinforce regional stability and enhance deterrence. With a focus on aligning national innovation strategies with cooperative frameworks such as AUKUS and the Quad, the event will explore how technological collaboration can serve as a force multiplier for integrated security outcomes across the Indo-Pacific.

ASPI USA invites you to join us for our upcoming webinar: "The Evolving Security Relationship between the US, Indonesia, and Australia"

📅 Tuesday, May 13, 7:00 PM EDT | Wednesday, May 14, 9:00 AM AEST

Moderated by Dr. Greg Brown and Patrick Centeno, this 90-minute panel will examine trilateral cooperation across maritime security in the South China Sea, Indonesia’s internal instability, and critical infrastructure development to enhance regional resilience

Featuring panelists: 
🎙️ Dr. Ann Marie Murphy – Professor, Seton Hall University
🎙️ Dr. Gatra Priyandita – Senior Analyst, ASPI
🎙️ Mehulika Sitepu – Associate Vice President, The Asia Group

To ensure a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific, it’s essential to understand how our strategic competitors view the world and how their plans may evolve.

Yesterday, ASPI USA’s Eric Lies and Dr. Greg Brown led a red team exercise with leading experts on Chinese policymaking.

The day-long session explored China’s perspectives on the war in Ukraine, including how the CCP may position itself in Europe moving forward and what lessons it might apply to its Taiwan strategy.

Special thanks to our distinguished participants—Paul Heer, Ryan Hass, Claire Chu, and Neil Thomas—for their invaluable insights and contributions.

ASPI USA was proud to have Dr. Nishank Motwani moderate a roundtable discussion with Microsoft’s Dr. Ethan Jackson last Thursday on biosecurity in the Pacific Islands and the positive role AI can play in advancing regional resilience.

The event brought together Microsoft engineers, Pacific Island representatives, U.S. government officials, and leading academics to explore how advanced AI systems could support the region, while also addressing local concerns around digital infrastructure, resource limitations, and environmental constraints.

Innovative technologies like Microsoft’s Premonition, which can detect species interactions and flag potential threats using AI, highlight the power of these tools in safeguarding fragile ecosystems. Ensuring that these solutions are designed with local context in mind is key to building a more secure, sustainable, and interconnected Pacific.

On March 27, ASPI USA hosted our monthly Policy in the Pub mixer at Lincoln Restaurant in Washington, DC. This lively evening brought together policymakers, professionals, and academics for informal conversations on pressing issues in Australian-American relations.

We were honored to welcome Justin Bassi, Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, visiting from Canberra. With deep expertise in foreign policy, national security, intelligence, and cyber security, Justin offered thoughtful insights into the evolving strategic landscape and the role of the U.S.-Australia alliance in shaping global security.

Thank you to all who joined us for a drink and a think—we look forward to seeing you at our next Policy in the Pub!

On 27 February, ASPI USA hosted a Holiday Edition of its monthly mixer, Policy in the Pub, at the Fox and Hounds Lounge. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with policymakers, professionals, academics, and others on key topics surrounding Australian-American relations.

An ASPI USA discussion with Claire Chu, Aaron Glasserman, Kimberly Donovan, Phil Rogers and William Alan Reinsch this month focused on what this approach means for US-China relations. This is the first in ASPI USA’s series of Chatham House roundtables to consider the Trump administration’s approach to geoeconomics.

On 12 December, ASPI USA hosted a Holiday Edition of its monthly mixer, Policy in the Pub, at Lincoln Restaurant DC. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with policymakers, professionals, academics, and others on key topics surrounding Australian-American relations.

On 3 December, ASPI USA was delighted to host the first in a series of roundtable discussions on AUKUS messaging. The event brought together an esteemed group of representatives from academia, think tanks, and government to consider the unique and shared challenges each partner nation faces, such as the political resilience of AUKUS, countering misinformation, and youth engagement.

Led by ASPI USA’s Jackie Gibson and Cameron Hendrix, with support from Chandler Jessup, Nerida King, and Nishank Motwani, the enlightening dialogue yielded insights into public and private perceptions of AUKUS, the benefit of governments highlighting national and subnational interests as well as values, the importance of multilateral diplomacy, and the long-term opportunities to communities of AUKUS Pillar Two. Thank you to all who attended, and we look forward to the next iteration of this conversation!

On the evening of November 14th, ASPI USA and Australian Women in DC (AWDC) were thrilled to host a lively event on US and Australian Women and Space: New Frontiers for Business and Government.

At a time when most everyone in DC, and beyond, is consuming a diet of election outcomes and political appointments, it was great to step back and discuss the importance of space as a domain for innovation and development in defense, science, and communications.

A big thank you to Paula Trimble, US Space Force Space Development Agency; Jeremy Hallett, Space Industry Association of Australia; and Lisa Wood, BAE Systems, Inc. for generously sharing their time, expertise, and advice on what makes a great mentor and exciting career. Thanks also to our moderator Nerida King of ASPI DC and AWDC who drew these connections together.

Some key takeaways that resonated with our audience as they chatted over Australian wine and seasonal food:

• The US must collaborate with its allies and partners on space. It is impossible for any one company or business to keep up with technological change required.

• Space development is integral on the world stage—from responding to global challenges like great power competition, communications failures, climate change and natural disasters—down to the personal level, like navigating oneself with GPS.

• President-elect Trump's role in establishing the US Space Force in 2019 and close connection with Space X entrepreneur Elon Musk ensures the sector will continue to attract interest in the US.

Thanks to everyone who joined and made it such a successful (and topical) event!

On 7 November, ASPI USA hosted its monthly mixer, Policy in the Pub. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with policymakers, professionals, academics, and others on key topics surrounding Australian-American relations.

With the US elections as a backdrop, ASPI USA ran a scenario-building exercise in mid-October about the role of the United States in the Indo-Pacific over the next four years. ASPI analysts and six government, business, and academic experts considered a range of factors, identified key drivers, and sketched four possible futures for US engagement.

A forthcoming workshop report will describe the scenarios, which emphasize strategic competition with China and regional and global demands for US attention.

On 26 September, ASPI USA hosted its monthly mixer, Policy in the Pub at Dauphine’s DC. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with policymakers, professionals, academics, and others on key topics surrounding Australian-American relations.

On 14 August, ASPI USA hosted its monthly mixer, Policy in the Pub at Proper 21 K Street. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions with policymakers, professionals, academics, and others on key topics surrounding Australian-American relations.

In early August, ASPI USA and the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center co-hosted a roundtable discussion titled, “AUKUS and Responsible Autonomy: Where do “human in the loop” considerations factor in?”

The discussion examined how diverse actors utilize AI-enabled autonomous weapons systems for national security outcomes. The roundtable also looked at how private industry, government, and military leaders factor in “human in the loop” considerations for oversight to retain control of decisions on lethality instead of ceding control to war machines.

Participants included industry, think tanks, government, and civil society organizations.

On 29 July, ASPI USA was thrilled to host a roundtable discussion on Climate Resiliency and Investment in the Pacific Islands, which brought together government officials across a variety of agencies and departments, members of the think tank community, diplomats from Indo-Pacific countries, Congressional staffers, and experts in climate adaptation and development finance to consider the challenges and opportunities for climate mitigation and adaption in the Pacific Islands.

Following the viewing of an informational video from ASPI's Head of Climate and Security Policy Centre, Michael Copage, ASPI USA’s Tasfia Zeba and Morgan Chen led the event, which solicited crucial insights regarding the need for greater cooperation among development finance organizations and nations, the importance of strategic messaging for target audiences, and the necessity of implementing a dynamic, bottom-up approach that considers regional perspectives and emboldens climate-affected communities in the solution calculus.

This topic is highly important to us, and we look forward to propelling the discussion further.

ASPI USA hosted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Senator James Patterson for a roundtable discussion at our Washington office on 12 July.

The event brought together US government officials, national security investors, think tank experts, and industry leaders to discuss crucial topics such as economic security, emerging technologies, strategic competition with China, and the significance of the US-Australian alliance.

The roundtable fostered a productive dialogue on the importance of strengthening and maintaining robust US-Australian partnerships, thereby emphasizing shared strategic interests. Attendees expressed praise for the event and enthusiasm for continuing these vital discussions in the future.

The ASPI USA team was thrilled to host a roundtable discussion on advancing women in national security, moving from rhetoric to action, on 08 July 2024. 

Facilitated by Gai Brodtmann, ASPI Council Chair, and Marika Vigo, ASPI USA Events and Communications Manager, the event focused on key challenges and opportunities for women in the peace and national security space, such as overcoming data biases against women by increasing data transparency and accountability; breaking down barriers to entry and success for women in the space; amplifying female voices beyond tokenism to real integration into national security discourse; and collaborating across institutions, industries, and mediums to implement inclusivity and affect change within the landscape.

The roundtable solicited candid conversation on the need for better data collection around women in the industry, perhaps through a centralized mechanism or pool of talent; the opportunity from the QUAD and AUKUS for virtual mentoring to empower the next generation of female national security leaders; and the importance of overcoming systemic obstacles against women in the space (e.g., male-centric networks, gendered lexicon, invitations to moderate rather than speak on panels).

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to the representatives from academia, industry, think tanks, and government who participated in the dialogue and look forward to continuing it further!

On 02 July 2024, ASPI USA hosted a State-Sponsored IP Theft roundtable with Deputy Director Bart Hogeveen and Senior Analyst Gatra Priyandita for ASPI's Cyber, Technology, and Security Program.

The theft of intellectual property brings together the areas of national, cyber, and economic security. Targets include advanced economies, emerging economies, innovation hubs, and private companies intending to harvest sensitive information and trade secrets for domestic commercial use.  These targets remain vulnerable due to a lack of awareness and policy protections, which makes it clear that not enough is being done and that current instruments of defense, protection, and deterrence are inadequate.

Deputy Director Hogeveen and Senior Analyst Dr. Priyandita shared their insights on a two-year project to strengthen the defense of emerging economies against the threat of state-sponsored and cyber-enabled IP theft. They also led discussions on the observed practices and perceptions in Southeast, South, and Latin America regarding China’s track record of state-sponsored IP theft campaigns and utilization of the thousand-talent program to insert Chinese intelligence collectors into corporate and government entities.

We thank Mr. Hogeveen and Dr. Priyandita for joining ASPI USA for the State-Sponsored IP Theft roundtable and for their dedication to Australia's engagements on cyber and technology issues to ensure international peace and security.

On 25 June, ASPI USA and East-West Center coordinated and moderated a “United States-Australia and Southeast Asia Workshop” in Manila, Philippines.  

Seven leading experts on Southeast Asia engaged in invigorating discussions on Southeast Asia and the United States-Australia alliance, foreign policy, and security in the region.

This workshop is a part of a greater project with the East-West Center under the Research Innovation & Collaboration Exchange (RICE) initiative, focused on the Southeast Asian Perspectives of the United States-Australia alliance. Stay tuned for more on this project!