Securing Australia with Major General Duncan Lewis

08/19/20 • 66 min

On this National Security Podcast, Head of National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf speaks with Major General Duncan Lewis, former Director-General of Security at ASIO, about securing Australia in an age of disruption.

Since 9/11, it has become clear to Australia’s leaders that developing a national security pedigree in the Australian Public Service was imperative to meeting the challenges of an age of deep strategic disruption. To open the National Security College’s 10th Anniversary Conversation Series, Professor Rory Medcalf talks with recently retired Major General Duncan Lewis, former Director-General of Security at the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and National Security Adviser under the Rudd government, about the decision to create the National Security College. They also cover the daunting tasks of national security policymakers as Australia faces a grim strategic environment, and some valuable lessons from a lifetime of service in Australia’s national security community.

Major General Duncan Lewis AO DSC CSC is the recently retired Director-General of Security at ASIO and served as Australia’s National Security Adviser. In the Army, he was both the Special Air Service Regiment's Commanding Officer and Special Operations Commander Australia, commanding the Australian Defence Force’s Special Operations Command.

Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of the National Security College at The Australian National University. His professional background involves more than two decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, and journalism.

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Previous Episode

Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy

In this special episode of the National Security Podcast, Katherine Mansted is joined by Alastair MacGibbon, Gai Brodtmann and Rory Medcalf to discuss Australia's recently released national Cyber Security Strategy.

Released on 6 August, the Australian government released the 2020 Cyber Security Strategy. Citing the increased interconnectivity and reliance on the Internet as we transition to a digital society, a process supercharged by the COVID-19 pandemic, the document paints a daunting picture of a riskier and more uncertain landscape for national security. But does this strategy go far enough? In this National Security Podcast, the panel consider how the Strategy divides threats from nation states and criminal actors, and whether it communicates in a way that will speak to Australian society as a whole. We also ask whether the time has passed for refraining from naming those actors that threaten Australia’s cybersecurity.

Gai Brodtmann is convenor of the National Security College’s Women In National Security conference, a member of Sapien Cyber’s advisory board, and a contributor to The Strategist. Gai is the former Member for Canberra and Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence Personnel.

Alastair MacGibbon is Chief Strategy Officer at CyberCX and was National Cyber Security Adviser, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner.

Katherine Mansted is a senior adviser at the National Security College and non-resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Previously, she was a commercial solicitor with King & Wood Mallesons, a ministerial adviser to the federal government, and served as an Associate in the High Court of Australia.

Chris Farnham is the presenter of the National Security Podcast. He joined the National Security College in June 2015 and is currently Senior Outreach and Policy Officer. His career focus has been on geopolitics with experience working in and out of China for a number of years as well as operating in Australia and Southeast Asia.

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Next Episode

Australian Signals Directorate's Rachel Noble on securing the nation

On this National Security Podcast, Head of National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf speaks with Ms Rachel Noble PSM, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), about the history of signals intelligence in Australia, who ASD spies on and why, and adapting to new security threats.

Signals intelligence has been an element of national security operations for as long as there has been warfare and competition. But how does an agency raised out of the Second World War adapt to the modern national security landscape? Has cybersecurity fundamentally altered the nature of Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)'s focus on intelligence collection and information protection? And with threats to Australia’s security emanating not only from international actors but also from Australians, at home and abroad, what role does ASD play in conducting surveillance on Australian citizens and where are the oversights to ensure that laws and personal privacies are not breached? As the second instalment in the National Security College’s 10th Anniversary series Head of College Professor Rory Medcalf talks to Ms Rachel Noble about these matters and more on this episode of the National Security Podcast.

Ms Rachel Noble PSM is Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate. Prior to this, Rachel was the Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre.