Nov 29, 2019 Bulletin

Alleged Chinese plot highlights lack of checks to stop foreign spies being elected, expert warns. Stephen Stockwell and Angela Lavoipierre. ABC News.

Business Model of the Intelligence Community Needs an Upgrade. Cortney Weinbaum. The RAND blog.

Assessment of Militia Forces as a Model for Recruitment and Retention in Cyber Security Forces. Franklin Holcomb. Divergent Options.

“Fake news” violates citizens’ right to be informed. Lyndal Rowlands. Civicus.

Competition short of war – how Russia’s hybrid and grey-zone warfare are a blueprint for China’s global power ambitions. Sascha Dominik Bachmann, Andrew Dowse, Hakan Gunneriusson. Australian Journal of Defence and Strategic Studies.

Evidence of Russia-Linked Influence Operations in Africa. Shelby Grossman, Daniel Bush, and Renée DiResta. Stanford Internet Observatory. Full white paper.

The American Internet Sucks. The Alternative Is China.Joseph Bernstein. Buzzfeed.

National Archives lifts the veil on spy-craft with a glimpse into the ‘mundane’ reality of ASIO’s work. Elise Fantin. ABC News.

Other Media

The Information War (Youtube). Making Sense with Sam Harris #145. With Renée DiResta.

Reading Room

Perennial readings for the world of intelligence analysis and related topics.

Countering Comprehensive Coercion: Competitive Strategies Against Authoritarian Political Warfare. Thomas G. Mahnken, Ross Babbage, Toshi Yoshihara. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. Full report.

The Hunt Lab take:

Open societies like the United States and its allies are under concerted attack by authoritarian states using a unique form of authoritarian political warfare- comprehensive coercion.

This report summarizes the history of Chinese and Russian political warfare and outlines how open Western societies can make themselves less vulnerable and more resilient in the face of this, as well as how we might begin to ‘defend forward’ in this space.

Hybrid Threats: A Strategic Communications Perspective. NATO Stratcom Centre of Excellence.

The Hunt Lab take:

While the first part of this report is very interesting from a communications perspective, where this report really provides value, in our view, is in the case studies. Hybrid Threats contains 30 concise and clearly summarized case studies of hybrid threats spanning the last couple of decades. These go well beyond the current emphasis on The Russian Federation and include, for example, case studies from Africa, the Near and Middle East and Asia.

Full Archive

• Research Blog (1)