The Edge

The 2019 ADF Joint Warrant Officer Course in review

Leveraging off the latest Joint Warrant Officer Course (JWOC) conducted in September 2019, the article focuses on the continued development of JWOC as part of the ADF’s Joint Professional Military Education Continuum. The article discusses the positioning of the JWOC course on the JPME Continuum and aims to assist in the preparation of senior ADF Warrant Officers for future Tier B and C appointments. It achieves this by providing an executive-level understanding of contemporary Defence issues at the strategic, operational and functional levels of command through the study of Australia’s Strategic Defence Environment, Joint Capability and Force Design and Command Leadership and Ethics. Most importantly it highlights the fact that a key ‘deliverable’ of the JWOC is to cultivate, in our senior Warrant Officers, the ability to think both critically and strategically.

Lessons for Military Planning in 21st Century Warfare

The Importance Of Strategically Focused Force Design

BRIGADIER IAN LANGFORD- DIRECTOR GENERAL FUTURE LAND WARFARE

“People, Ideas, Machines…in that order!”

Colonel John Boyd

ADFA Presentation 2019 – General Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC

The Governor-General of Australia, General Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC, addresses ADFA staff and trainees

US Defense Implications of Expanding China

This U.S. DoD report assesses China’s global expansion efforts and the implications for the U.S. in terms of military access, logistics, force posture and training. The report has generated discussion and various assessments can be found online across the national security community.

Thoughts from The Edge

Mick Ryan is the Commander of the Australian Defence College. This column from Ryan and his contributors focusses on intellectually preparing members of the profession of arms for strategic competition and future conflict.

The Dead Prussian Podcast – Ep 24: On Strategy Ethics

In this episode of The Dead Prussian Podcast, Mick Cook talks with a panel of distinguished guests about the ethics of managing, waging , and conducting war. The panel topics range from Just War Theory and its application to strategic decision making through to the actions of the soldiers in the coalface. There is even mention of the Bard and how we can learn from the play about Henry V.The panelists included former and current military officers as well as a philosopher on ethics. Guests on the panel are US Army LTGEN James Dubik (retd), Dr Pauline Shanks Kaurin, and Thomas McDermott.

CDLE Leadership Paper 2 - 2018

The CDLE Leadership Paper 2-2018 is Anne Goyne and the CDLE team addressing issues around negative leadership. The paper is couched in terms of a range of events including the JEDI Council, the ADFA skype incident, the F111 deseal/reseal, the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce (DART) and the associated findings, which relate to many negative experiences of ADF personnel. The paper goes on to explore why the ADF culture has such negative leadership experiences and what to do about it.

Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe

What makes a great leader? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests, it’s someone who makes their employees feel secure, who draws staffers into a circle of trust. But creating trust and safety — especially in an uneven economy — means taking on big responsibility.

Development of an Algorithm for Calculating the ‘Risk’ of Terrorist CBRN

In order to avert a disaster from a terrorist chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attack, it is important to study the likelihood of terrorists using CBRN weapons. This study reports on the development of an algorithm for calculating the ‘risk’ of a terrorist seeking CBRN weaponry with 67.3 percent prediction accuracy.

TED Talk: The Moral Dangers of Non-Lethal Weapons

Pepper spray, Tasers, tear gas, rubber bullets -- these ‘non-lethal’ weapons are being used by more and more local police forces, as well as military forces brought in to control civilian crowds and other situations. Despite their name, non-lethal weapons have been known to cause deaths ... and as Dr Stephen Coleman suggests, there are other, more insidious hazards as well. He explores the complex ethics -- and the unexpected consequences -- of using non-lethal weapons to control civilians.

CDLE Leadership Paper 1 - 2009

In CDLE Leadership Paper 1-2009 CMDR Tony Mullan, RAN identifies a range of practical areas against which the content of existing values programs in Defence can be evaluated. The paper describes what values are and their relationship to individual behaviour, decision making and long term organisational performance.