How government can leverage technology and innovation to enhance security

New threats and domains for warfare include cyber and space, along with disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum. Dealing with these issues necessitates an enhanced partnership across governments and within industry.  Achieving mission readiness is growing more complex and requires dynamic defense technology solutions.

Two years ago, leaders from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly announced the AUKUS partnership, to strengthen collaboration in meeting evolving challenges.  The creation of AUKUS is intended to increase the already strong foundations that these three nations share in managing strategic goals.

This new report addresses how best to collaborate across government and industry among the three AUKUS nations—Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—in order to implement this historically important security agreement effectively. The authors focus specifically on how AUKUS stakeholders can leverage technology and innovation, from cloud computing and cybersecurity to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, to establish a sustainable and enduring strategy that enhances security, especially across the Indo-Pacific region.

The authors conclude with recommendations for government leaders and industry partners to leverage advanced technology in supporting strategic advancement for the future of AUKUS.  These recommendations include:

• Adopt military design thinking to accelerate innovation and adoption of new capabilities
• Align a research portfolio to the AUKUS partnership’s needs via a consortium that encompasses government, industry, and academic partners.
• Facilitate technology sharing and reciprocity of capability across the AUKUS partnership
• Provide the capabilities and permission for industrial collaboration across the AUKUS nations
• Speed up the security clearance process for experts in advanced capabilities in the three nations
• Establish an AUKUS quantum-safe crypto working group

The authors’ work complements our Center’s ongoing focus on how best to manage major global initiatives that promote security interests across nations. This includes our recent series of reports on visualizing information operations in defense settings with the Institute for the Study of War, as well as two recent reports on how Australian agencies are providing a model for other nations on how AI and emerging technologies can be implemented in a way that builds public trust.

We hope that AUKUS leaders and stakeholders find this report helpful in framing innovation that drives the path forward for implementing this vital partnership.