SPECIAL: Big Data, Emerging Technology & National Security Decision-Making Lecture

Special Episode: Big Data, Emerging Technology & National Security Decision-Making Lecture

*Unfortunately, the episode we had planned to release today is still in production. Our guest was recalled to deal with a major cyber incident on the day of recording. This episode will hopefully be released soon.*

Instead, by popular request, we are bringing you a special episode. This is an edited lecture I gave at ANU which covers big data and emerging technologies, their impacts on national security and how they create friction in national security decision-making. Big data isn't just a buzzword anymore; it's fundamentally altering the landscape of national security. Data abundance, digital connectivity, and ubiquitous technology form what I call the big data landscape. They are a trifecta shaping the future of national security.

This lecture highlights how the big data landscape and technologies like AI are broadening out and challenging our understanding of national security. It also shows that they are centralising informational, computation and commercial power. It then explores the way new technologies create friction in national security agencies and in policymaking process. Friction from within shows how intelligence and decision-making are impacted and friction from outside looks at the information environment.

Resources mentioned in the recording:

· · Miah Hammond-Errey (2024) Big Data, Emerging Technologies and Intelligence: National Security Disrupted (20% discount code for book AFL04)

· Jennifer Jackett (2023) Black Swan Strategy paper, Defence Innovation and The Australian National Interest

· Miah Hammond-Errey (2020) Chapter 18, Transformational Technology and Strategy In: N. Finney, ed., On Strategy,1st ed. Army University Press

· Feb 2023, Secrecy, sovereignty and sharing: How data and emerging technologies are transforming intelligence, USSC

· Blake Johnson, Miah Hammond-Errey, Daria Impiombato, Albert Zhang (2022) Suppressing the truth and spreading lies. How the CCP is influencing Solomon Islands’ information environment

· Miah Hammond-Errey (2023) Big data, emerging technologies and the characteristics of ‘good intelligence’, Intelligence and National Security
· 15 July 2023, Twitter Is Becoming a Sewer of Disinformation, Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/15/elon-musk-twitter-blue-checks-verification-disinformation-propaganda-russia-china-trust-safety/
· Zedner, Lucia. 2009. Security (Routledge: London).

· Véliz, Carissa. 2021. 'Privacy and digital ethics after the pandemic', Nature Electronics, 4: 10-11.
· Buzan, Barry, Ole Waever, and Jaap de Wilde. 1998. Security : a new framework for analysis (Boulder, Colo. : Lynne Rienner Pub. , 1998.).
· Kent, Sherman. 1966. Strategic intelligence for American world policy (Princeton University Press: Princeton, N.J.,).

· Lowenthal, Mark M. 2012. Intelligence: from secrets to policy (SAGE/CQ Press: Los Angeles Thousand Oaks, California).

· Omand, David. 2010. Securing the state (Columbia University Press: New York).

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging — here and wherever you’re listening. We acknowledge their continuing connection to land, sea and community, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Thanks to the talents of those involved. Recording by ANU, music by Dr Paul Mac and production by Elliott Brennan.

Transcript, check against delivery

Dr Miah Hammond-Errey: [00:00:02] Welcome to Technology and Security. TS is a podcast exploring the intersections of emerging technologies and national security. I'm your host, Doctor Miah Hammond-Errey. Today we are bringing you a special episode. Our planned guest was recalled to deal with a major cyber incident on the day of recording. The episode we had planned to release today is still under produ...