USSC Live

In February 2026, the United States and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, killing former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and triggering a wider conflict that now involves most of the Middle East. Missile strikes have killed hundreds of civilians across the region. The crisis has also caused severe economic disruption, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz driving up consumer prices globally. Governments around the world, including Australia, are now grappling with navigating one of the region's most destructive conflicts in years — and how its effects could reverberate across the Indo-Pacific.What does this mean for the Iranian people?What are the key US objectives and how may this end?What are the implications for Australia and the Indo-Pacific?To answer these questions, USSC hosted a panel discussion with CEO Dr Michael Green, Founding Director of Australian United Solidarity for Iran Dr Rana Dadpour, and Barrister and member of the National Assembly of Iranian Jurists Faraz Maghami, in conversation with USSC Director of Research Jared Mondschein.

The Indian Ocean is fast becoming one of the world’s most geo-strategically contested maritime arenas. The region’s littoral and island states are grappling with how to respond to this strategic competition but also face multi-dimensional maritime security challenges. These, in turn, are exacerbated by climate change and other economic and social vulnerabilities.As the two largest maritime democracies in the Indian Ocean Region, Australia and India share a stake — and responsibility — in its stability and resilience. Both countries are well-positioned to assist littoral and island states in building their governance capacities to address common maritime security challenges. They can accomplish more by working together than alone, but this is easier said than done. Key questions to address include:What are the most pressing maritime security challenges facing the Indian Ocean region?How well are India and Australia currently engaging with littoral and island states and for what purpose?What practical steps can they take to help partners build sustainable governance capacity?And ultimately, what would a truly well-coordinated India-Australia capacity-building partnership look like?To unpack these issues, the United States Studies Centre hosted a fireside chat with Rushali Saha, USSC Maitri Fellow and Dr Lavina Lee, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre.

In the wake of recent Australia-India Defence and Foreign Ministers’ meetings, the United States Studies Centre and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) co-hosted a webinar to explore this evolving bilateral relationship.Moderator Dr Lavina Lee, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the USSC, was joined by leading voices from India and Australia, including ORF’s Sayantan Haldar and Pratnashree Basu, USSC’s Maitri Fellow Rushali Saha, and ANU National Security College’s Dr David Brewster.The panel explored the progression of the Australia-India relationship towards increased operational maritime cooperation, including in areas such as maritime domain awareness, undersea cable security and the role of the Quad in shaping regional outcomes.The discussion also considered where deeper collaboration may be needed to support a stable, resilient Indian Ocean region.

Keynote address at the Sydney International Strategy Forum from General David Berger (Ret’d), former Commandant of the US Marine Corps on the topic of "Can allies shape US strategy?"About the Sydney International Strategy ForumPresident Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new eras with high-level negotiations, on-again off-again fighting and a new world order forming in real time to adapt to a changing strategic landscape. The 2024 trend of turfing incumbents has given way to foreign elections that many perceive to be a referendum on US politics.What is the future of the United States’ role in the world? How can governments and businesses plan in the midst of constant change? How should allies and partners approach security challenges in 2025 and beyond?These are the questions we tackled with international experts across government, business and academia at SISF 2025. They shared their insights on the discussions happening in Washington, Canberra and Tokyo, and what they meant for US allies and partners around the world.https://www.ussc.edu.au/sydney-international-strategy-forum-2025

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr John Kunkel, Senior Economics Adviser at the United States Studies Centre, Bilahari Kausikan, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore, Jo Masters, Chief Economist at Barrenjoey Capital Partners, and Ziad Haider, Partner and Global Director of Geopolitics at McKinsey & Company. Moderated by John Kehoe, Economics Editor at The Australian Financial Review.About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new eras with high-level negotiations, on-again off-again fighting and a new world order forming in real time to adapt to a changing strategic landscape. The 2024 trend of turfing incumbents has given way to foreign elections that many perceive to be a referendum on US politics. What is the future of the United States’ role in the world? How can governments and businesses plan in the midst of constant change? How should allies and partners approach security challenges in 2025 and beyond? These are the questions we tackled with international experts across government, business and academia at SISF 2025. They shared their insights on the discussions happening in Washington, Canberra and Tokyo, and what they meant for US allies and partners around the world.https://www.ussc.edu.au/sydney-international-strategy-forum-2025

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr Lavina Lee, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre, Lisa Curtis, Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, and Professor Peter Dean, Senior Adviser for Defence Strategy at the United States Studies Centre. Moderated by Cameron Stewart, Chief International Correspondent at The Australian. About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new eras with high-level negotiations, on-again off-again fighting and a new world order forming in real time to adapt to a changing strategic landscape. The 2024 trend of turfing incumbents has given way to foreign elections that many perceive to be a referendum on US politics. What is the future of the United States’ role in the world? How can governments and businesses plan in the midst of constant change? How should allies and partners approach security challenges in 2025 and beyond? These are the questions we tackled with international experts across government, business and academia at SISF 2025. They shared their insights on the discussions happening in Washington, Canberra and Tokyo, and what they meant for US allies and partners around the world.https://www.ussc.edu.au/sydney-international-strategy-forum-2025

Former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines joined the Sydney International Strategy Forum live by video link to discuss with Chief Executive Officer of the United States Studies Centre, Dr Michael Green, the topic, "Is China winning in the Indo-Pacific?" About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new eras with high-level negotiations, on-again off-again fighting and a new world order forming in real time to adapt to a changing strategic landscape. The 2024 trend of turfing incumbents has given way to foreign elections that many perceive to be a referendum on US politics. What is the future of the United States’ role in the world? How can governments and businesses plan in the midst of constant change? How should allies and partners approach security challenges in 2025 and beyond? These are the questions we tackled with international experts across government, business and academia at SISF 2025. They shared their insights on the discussions happening in Washington, Canberra and Tokyo, and what they meant for US allies and partners around the world.https://www.ussc.edu.au/sydney-international-strategy-forum-2025

To open the 2025 Sydney International Strategy Forum, former US Deputy Secretary of State, Chairman and Co-Founder, The Asia Group, Dr Kurt Campbell, spoke with Chief Executive Officer of the United States Studies Centre, Dr Michael Green. About the Sydney International Strategy ForumPresident Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new eras with high-level negotiations, on-again off-again fighting and a new world order forming in real time to adapt to a changing strategic landscape. The 2024 trend of turfing incumbents has given way to foreign elections that many perceive to be a referendum on US politics. What is the future of the United States’ role in the world? How can governments and businesses plan in the midst of constant change? How should allies and partners approach security challenges in 2025 and beyond? These are the questions we tackled with international experts across government, business and academia at SISF 2025. They shared their insights on the discussions happening in Washington, Canberra and Tokyo, and what they meant for US allies and partners around the world.https://www.ussc.edu.au/sydney-international-strategy-forum-2025

A panel of experts unpacked Japan’s National Security Strategy and explored the opportunities and challenges for Australia-Japan-US trilateral strategic cooperation under Trump 2.0. The panel featured two prominent strategic thinkers from the US and Japan.Few countries have done more to reorganise themselves for a new era of strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific than Japan. Building on the strategic vision of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Build-Up Plan provided a new framework for Japan to assume a more active and assertive role in regional security affairs. Since then, successive Japanese leaders have introduced new pieces of legislation, strengthened key national security institutions, increased national defence spending, and expanded Japan’s defence partnerships with the United States and Australia, including trilaterally, to address an increasingly volatile regional and global security environment.The logic of such cooperation remains sound even with the second coming of Donald Trump. Yet even trusted US allies like Japan and Australia are facing difficulties and uncertainty in their relationships with Washington. The threat of tariffs, demands for increased defence spending, reviews of marquee initiatives like AUKUS, and the dismantling of key US national security and diplomatic agencies all pose challenges to Australia, Japan and trilateral cooperation.How have Japan’s security policies developed in recent years? What more must be done to fully implement those changes? How are Australia and Japan navigating their relationships with Trump 2.0? Where is the trilateral defence partnership headed?To discuss these questions, USSC hosted a panel discussion featuring Yuki Tatsumi, Senior Director at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security; Hirohito Ogi, Senior Research Fellow with the Institute of Geoeconomics at the International House of Japan, and Tom Corben, Research Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the USSC, moderated by USSC Professor and CEO Dr Michael Green.This event was part of the United States Studies Centre’s Assessing Implementation of Abe’s National Security Strategy supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation.

The transition to a new US Administration has sharpened Washington’s focus on the Indo-Pacific, while also exposing deep strategic and political tensions shaping the future of American foreign and defence policy.Competing pressures — between isolationism and interventionism, reassurance and burden-sharing with allies, and fiscal restraint versus demands for force modernisation and advanced capabilities like ‘Golden Dome’ — are creating uncertainty around how the US will deter what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has called China’s “imminent threat” to Taiwan.These tensions raise urgent questions: How has (and hasn’t) the US approach to deterrence in the Indo-Pacific changed under the new Administration? Are US forces adequately postured to support US regional interests and alliance commitments? Where are the major fault lines in US regional strategy, and what do they mean for the future of regional security and US influence in the Indo-Pacific?To unpack these issues, the United States Studies Centre hosted a fireside chat with Kelly Magsamen, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Senior Advisor at The Asia Group. The conversation was moderated by Professor Peter Dean, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre.This event is part of the United States Studies Centre's ‘Next Generation Leaders in the Australia-US Alliance’ project which is supported by funding from the US State Department.

The future of the global economic order is in flux. Beijing's coercive economic policies, President Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, and the embrace of industrial policies around the world have cast doubt on the future of international economic rules. Globally, countries like Australia are being forced to contend with a more fragmented economic landscape that is affecting trade and technology flows, supply chains, multilateral institutions, and relations with the major powers.In this era of unpredictability, critical questions arise:Where are Trump's tariffs heading and how will they impact US economic relations and the United States as a place to do business?Are the US and China heading for economic decoupling?How should countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, and India navigate great power competition and economic pressure?What is the impact on alliance relations?What role will minilateral and regional groups play in shaping a post-tariff global order?These questions were discussed by leading expert in diplomacy and economic affairs in East Asia, Ambassador Kurt Tong and USSC CEO, Dr Michael J. Green, at a public event moderated by USSC Director of Economic Security Hayley Channer.

Out of sight, out of mind. Low Earth Orbit has undeniably become busier, with upwards of 10,000 satellites and millions of pieces of space debris currently in orbit. With vital services—ranging from communications to climate monitoring, national defence, and financial services—increasingly reliant on space, the proliferation of space assets and debris, and the associated risks of collisions, explosions, and anti-satellite warfare have become a major political issue.Countries have developed new tools and cultivated norms to improve traffic management and space sustainability. However, amid a proliferation of space stakeholders; the absence of binding international agreements; and challenges in monitoring activities in space, significant gaps remain.How are public and private actors navigating the challenges of growing congestion in space? How can international frameworks like the Outer Space Treaty be strengthened to address these risks? And how can space sustainability be integrated into the national security policy debate?To address these questions, the United States Studies Centre was pleased to host a webinar with Audrey M. Schaffer. Ms Schaffer is an internationally recognised expert in space policy, currently serving as Vice President of Strategy and Policy at Slingshot Aerospace and Non-Resident Senior Associate with the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She previously served in the US government for over 15 years, holding positions in the Executive Office of the President, Department of Defense, Department of State, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Ms Schaffer led the US delegation that negotiated the UN Guidelines for Space Sustainability and, from 2021–23, served as Director for Space Policy on the National Security Council of the Biden-Harris Administration.This webinar was hosted by Dr Kathryn Robison, Lecturer in American Studies at the United States Studies Centre and Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Space Governance.This event was made possible with funding from the US State Department.