Australian Strategic Policy Institute

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Coordinates: 35°18′28″S 149°08′08″E / 35.30790°S 149.13559°E / -35.30790; 149.13559

Australian Strategic Policy Institute
40 Macquarie St Barton June 2012.JPG
ASPI's offices are located at 40 Macquarie Street in the Canberra suburb of Barton
Formation2001; 20 years ago (2001)
TypeThink-tank
PurposeThink-tank
HeadquartersBarton, Canberra, ACT
FieldsDefence and strategic policy
AffiliationsNonpartisan[1]
Websitewww.aspi.org.au

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded by the Australian government and partly funded by the Australian Department of Defence as well as the State Department and military contractors.[2][3]

History[]

ASPI was first established in 2001 under Prime Minister John Howard to provide "policy-relevant research and analysis to better inform Government decisions and public understanding of strategic and defence issues".[4] ASPI was officially launched at ANZAC Hall at the Australian War Memorial on 13 March 2002 by then-Australian Minister for Defence Robert Hill.[5]

ASPI's inaugural director was Hugh White, who served as director from 2001 to 2004. White was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence at the Australian Department of Defence between 1995 and 2000, and previously worked for the Office of National Assessments and as an adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Defence Minister Kim Beazley. White is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University.[citation needed]

White was succeeded by Major General (retired) Peter Abigail in April 2005. Abigail is a former senior Australian Army officer whose positions included Deputy Chief of Army (1998–2000) and Land Commander Australia (2000–2002). Abigail served as Executive Director of ASPI until 2012.[citation needed]

Current leadership[]

In February 2012, the Minister for Defence Stephen Smith announced the appointment of PSM as ASPI's new Executive Director.[6] Jennings assumed the role of Executive Director in May 2012. Jennings "has worked at senior levels in the Australian Public Service on defence and national security. Career highlights include being Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Defence Department (2009-12); Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence (1996-98) and Senior Advisor for Strategic Policy to the Prime Minister (2002-03)".[7]

Funding[]

ASPI was established by the Australian Government in 2001 as a company limited by guarantee under the 2001 Corporations Act.[8] At the time it was 100% funded by the Australian Department of Defence, but this had fallen to 43% in the 2018-19 financial year. It is currently funded by the Australian government, the United States State Department, the Embassy of Japan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia, and by military contractors including Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Thales Group, and Raytheon Technologies. [9][3].[10]

Publications[]

ASPI regularly publishes a range of different publications. ASPI currently publishes three different kinds of reports:

  • Strategies
  • Strategic Insights
  • Special Report

ASPI also publishes The Strategist, a daily analysis and commentary site. The Strategist aims to "provide fresh ideas on Australia's critical defence and strategic policy choices as well as encourage and facilitate discussion and debate among the strategy community and Australian public".[11]

Reception[]

ASPI has been described in the Australian Financial Review and the IT News website as being one of Australia's most influential national security policy think tanks.[3][12] Its work has been described as "impressive" by the Australian Financial Review[3] and "groundbreaking" by the American National Review magazine.[13]

In February 2020 Senator Kim Carr criticised ASPI for accepting nearly $450,000 from the US State Department from the U.S. Department of State funding to track Chinese government research collaborations with Australian universities, and former foreign minister Bob Carr has said it provides a "one-sided, pro-American view of the world".[3] ASPI replied that it "doesn’t have an editorial line on China, but we have a very clear method for how we go about our research," and claimed that the true amount of Sate Department funding was less than half that amount stated by Carr.[14][15]

In October 2018, the Australian Digital Transformation Agency criticised an ASPI report on the Australian Government's digital identity program. The Agency stated that the report "was inaccurate and contained many factual errors", which "demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of how the digital identity system is intended to work".[12] The author of the report responded to the criticism, saying his concerns were acknowledged in private despite being publicly rejected by the agency.[16][clarification needed]

In June 2020, ASPI was criticised by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian for claiming that the Chinese government was behind a spike in cyber attacks against the Australian government and Australian businesses.[17] In response, ASPI executive director Peter Jennings said the ministry's comments were an attempt to distract attention from the think tank's research into the Chinese Government.[17] This followed Australia's PM informing the public that a cyber actor was currently carrying out a sophisticated cyberattack against Australian government bodies and private companies. His comments were believed[by whom?] to be a warning to China.[18][19]

In November 2020, the Chinese government released to the media a letter containing a list of grievances it had with the Australian government and a threat of economic retaliation. One of the points of contention was "funding 'anti-China' research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute". The Australian government rejected the Chinese government threat.[20]

In August 2021, Michael West Media contributor Marcus Reubenstein stated that "sockpuppet" accounts and accounts that appeared to be linked to ASPI had edited its Wikipedia article.[21][22]

References[]

  1. ^ Nguyen, Terry. "Why Chinese shoppers are boycotting H&M, Nike, and other major retailers". www.vox.com. Vox. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Sponsors". www.aspi.org.au. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Robin, Myr (15 February 2020). "The think tank behind Australia's changing view of China". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Charter". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Launch of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016.
  6. ^ Smith, Stephen. "Minister for Defence". Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  7. ^ "Peter Jennings". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Company Constitution". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  9. ^ Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2019). "Annual Report 2018-19" (PDF). Annual Report. Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute: 18–21. ISSN 2651-8694. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Sponsors". www.aspi.org.au. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  11. ^ "About, The Strategist". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Julian Bajkowski. "DTA attacks China-style social credit claims about Govpass digital identity?". ITNews.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  13. ^ QUINN, JIMMY (24 June 2020). "China vs. the Australian Strategic Policy Institute". national review. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  14. ^ "ASPI's China research: the big picture". ASPI. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  15. ^ Duckett, Chris. "Tech giants push back on forced Uyghur labour claims". ZDNET. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020. The think tank has drawn criticism from the likes of Labor Party factional warrior and former minister Kim Carr. "[ASPI] berates Australian researchers for collaborating with Chinese partners but ignores the fact that some of its own sponsors do the same," Carr said last month. Defending the organisation, director of the International Cyber Policy Centre at ASPI, Fergus Hanson, said there is no editorial line on China in the reports it produces. "Of course, ASPI has no monopoly on the ability to trawl through CCP policy documents and statements to unearth new insights and shed light on the party's stated plans for China and the rest of the world. It's just that so few others in Australia and elsewhere invest significant time to do so," he wrote on Tuesday.
  16. ^ Hendry, Justin (8 August 2019). "ASPI's Hanson claims DTA misled on digital ID concerns". ITNEWS. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b "China denies being behind cyber attack on Australia". www.abc.net.au. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  18. ^ Oliveri, Natalie (19 June 2020). "'Sophisticated state-based' cyber attack hits Australian government, businesses in major breach". Nine News. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  19. ^ Stone, Jeff. "Australia blames a state actor for major disruptions. China is already denying it". www.cyberscoop.com. Cyber Scoop. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  20. ^ Bagshaw, Eryk (19 November 2020). "Morrison says Australia won't back down to China threats on free speech, security". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 November 2020. [D]iplomatic protocol was dropped with the publication of a list of grievances through the media ... The list blamed the Morrison government for the deteriorating relationship by banning Huawei, funding "anti-China" research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, blocking 10 Chinese foreign investment deals, calling for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and up to 10 other disputes.
  21. ^ "ASPI's censorship sneaks". APAC News. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  22. ^ Reubenstein, Marcus (20 August 2021). "Wikipedia v ASPI: on sock-puppets and Wiki-sneaks". Michael West Media. Retrieved 22 August 2021.

External links[]

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