Podcasts about international security division

NATO's Madrid Summit in June brought about the Alliance's long-awaited new Strategic Concept which delivered an assessment of a much more adversarial international environment and set out a vision for at least the next decade. While the document makes it clear the 30 countries-strong alliance is attuned to the challenges from outside its core geographical and functional areas, it will be looking much closer to home for at least some time to come given the Russian Federation's aggression in Ukraine and threats to NATO's eastern flank. Yet, the fact the Indo-Pacific region received a mention for the very first time in NATO's strategic communication, and Australia implicitly got called upon as a partner that will be crucial in enacting the Alliance's strategic ambitions, should not be underestimated. To discuss the details of NATO's 2022 Strategic Concept and its implications for Australia, the United States Studies Centre hosted a panel discussion with: Dr Benedetta Berti - Head of the Policy Planning Unit in the Office of the Secretary General, NATO; Ms Ciara Spencer - First Assistant Secretary, International Security Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Professor Stephan Frühling - Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National Universit; and Dr Gorana Grgic - Senior Lecturer in US Foreign Policy, United States Studies Centre. This project is sponsored by NATO.

In response to the escalating crisis in Ukraine, Germany recently announced several historic policy shifts over the past few days. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated that Germany would deliver weapons to Ukraine, reversing Germany's long-held refusal to deliver weapons to a conflict zone. Furthermore, Scholz announced that Germany would plan to spend more than 2% of GDP on defense spending year on year and would create a €100 billion investment fund for the armed forces. Claudia Major and Daniela Schwarzer join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Carisa Nietsche to assess this monumental shift in German foreign policy. Dr. Claudia Major is head of the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin (SWP). Her research, advisory work and publications focus on security and defense policy in Europe and in a transatlantic context, including NATO, EU, Germany, UK, and France. Previously, Claudia held positions at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, the German Council on Foreign Relations (Berlin), the EU Institute for Security Studies (Paris), the German Foreign Office (NATO desk) and Sciences Po Paris. Claudia is member in various boards, such as the Advisory Board for Civilian Crisis Prevention at the Federal Foreign Office and the German-British Koenigswinter Conference. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer is executive director for Europe and Eurasia of the Open Society Foundations. Schwarzer is a renowned expert in European affairs and transatlantic and international relations. She is an honorary professor of political science at Freie Universität Berlin and a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. She has been a special advisor to European leaders such as EU High Representative Josep Borrell and to countries including Poland and France during the preparation of their EU Council presidencies.

What does Germany's new coalition treaty tell us about how the incoming government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz will approach security and defense policy? Christian Mölling and Claudia Major join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the implications of the transition for Germany, Europe, and the transatlantic relationship. Christian Mölling is the research director at the German Council on Foreign Relations, where he also heads the Security and Defense Program. Claudia Major is the Head of the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Her work focuses on security and defense policy in Europe and in a transatlantic context.

Earlier in the week, we teased a miniseries called the Community Podcasts, which you'll find right alongside the Transatlantic Cable podcast. I will remain your faithful host, and Anastasiya Kazakova of our Government Affairs office will join me. This series of podcasts features frank conversations with cyberheroes who unite people despite everything — growing fragmentation, confrontation, and ever-changing cyberthreats — people are still building communities and uniting folks to work together for the common good. Why are they doing that? And is it working? For our first episode, we focus on the Geneva Dialogue, launched in 2018 by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in cooperation with the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), ETH Zurich, and the University of Lausanne. The flourishing initiative is uniting even more stakeholders across the globe; however, its initial goals seemed much broader than today's, and the list of organizers has changed. Today's guests: • Jonas Grätz, political affairs officer for cyberdiplomacy at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, International Security Division; • Vladimir Radunovic, director of cybersecurity and e-diplomacy programs at DiploFoundation.

What is role of defense and security in the upcoming German election? Christian Mölling and Claudia Major join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the future of German security and defense policy under new leadership, what that might mean for the transatlantic alliance, and more. Claudia Major is the Head of the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Her work focusses on security and defense policy in Europe and in a transatlantic context. Christian Mölling became research director of German Council on Foreign Relations in February 2017, where he also heads the Security and Defense Program.

The Indo-Pacific has rapidly emerged as the world’s most strategically consequential region in the Asian century. But the regional order is straining under China’s assertive use of coercive statecraft and doubts about the United States’ capacity and willingness to uphold a favourable balance of power. These dynamics are deeply troubling for Australia’s strategic outlook and for the security and prosperity of US allies and partners across the region. A stable and rules-based regional order is, however, still achievable. As Abraham Denmark argues in his new book U.S. Strategy in the Asian Century: Empowering Allies and Partners, America’s Indo-Pacific alliances and partnerships can – if properly harnessed and supported – enable Washington to underwrite long-term stability in the region and successfully navigate the challenges of intensifying strategic competition. To discuss these issues, the USSC hosted the Australian launch of U.S. Strategy in the Asian Century featuring its author Abraham Denmark, Director of the Asia Program and Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia; Ambassador Jane Hardy, Australian Consul-General in Honolulu; and Ashley Townshend, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre. Abraham M. Denmark is Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a Senior Fellow at the Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Denmark previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, and has held positions at the national Bureau of Asian Research, the Center for a New American Security, in the US Intelligence community. Ambassador Jane M. Hardy is the Consul-General of the Australian Consulate-General Honolulu, having previously served as the Assistant Secretary, Arms control and Counter-Proliferation Branch in the International Security Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Canberra. Prior to this role, Ambassador Hardy served as Australia's Ambassador to Spain, Andorra and Equatorial Guinea.

Dr. Claudia Major, a Senior Associate in the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, joins Dr. Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss European and German defense policy.

The European project was an attempt to pursue a strategic objective by economic means: continental peace by way of coal and steel. More than 60 years on, if measured against that original set of goalposts, it has been a successful project. Indeed, the lure of European peace and prosperity has been so attractive that the EU has grown dramatically in the last two decades. Yet Europe has many detractors, who point to the challenges of monetary without fiscal union and responding to Russian aggression as failures of the supra-national model initiated by Robert Schuman. What lessons can Australia’s region, the Indo-Pacific, draw from the European experiment. Mr Varghese took up his position as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 3 December 2012. Prior to this appointment, Mr Varghese was Australia’s High Commissioner to India from 2009 to 2012. Between 2004 and 2009, he was Director-General of the Office of National Assessments. Before that he was the Senior Adviser (International) to the Prime Minister. Mr Varghese was Australia’s High Commissioner to Malaysia from 2000 to 2002. He has also served overseas in Tokyo (1994), Washington (1986-88) and Vienna (1980-83). Mr Varghese has held a wide range of senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, including as Deputy Secretary (2002-2003), First Assistant Secretary of the International Security Division (1997), Head of the White Paper Secretariat (1996-97) which drafted Australia’s first white paper on foreign and trade policy, First Assistant Secretary of the Public Affairs Division (1994-96), and Assistant Secretary of Staffing (1991-92). He was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as First Assistant Secretary of the International Division (1998-1999). He was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2010 for distinguished service to public administration, particularly in leading reform in the Australian intelligence community and as an adviser in the areas of foreign policy and international security. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Queensland in July 2013 in recognition of his distinguished service to diplomacy and Australian public service.

Dr. Oliver Meier, Associate in the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs; and François Rivasseau, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the US discuss European perspectives on nuclear burden sharing. The dialogue is moderated by Rebecca Cousins, Program Director at BASIC. Both speakers presented in their independent capacities and are not representing their respective organizations. The event took place on July 26, 2013 at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington DC. BASIC would like to thank Peter Huessy, President of GeoStrategic Analysis and the Air Force Association, for facilitating the event.