Law and the Future of War
UQ Law and the Future of War
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Through conversation with experts in technology, law and military affairs, this series explores how new military technology and international law interact. Produced by Dr Lauren Sanders at The University of Queensland School of Law and edited by Rosie Cavdarski.
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Special episode: War crimes in Russia and Australia - the ICC arrest warrant against the Russian President and the AFP arrest of former ADF soldier - Rain Liivoja and Simon MacKenzie
In this special episode, members of the Law and Future of War research project discuss two significant events occurring in the week of 17 March 2023 relating to criminal justice for alleged war crimes:
1. The ICC arrest warrant issued in respect of the situation in Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin's role in the alleged deportation of children from Ukraine since February 2022; and
2. The Australian domestic arrest of a former Australian Defence Force trooper for the war crime of murder alleged to have occurred in Afghanistan in 2012.
Dr Lauren Sanders is joined by Professor Rain Liivoja and Dr Simon MacKenzie to explore what these warrants mean for international and domestic accountability for breaches of the law of armed conflict.
Note: the views presented in this episode are those of the speakers and do not represent the views of any organisation or any government.
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Mar 6, 2023
Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence - Paul Scharre
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks to Dr Paul Scharre, Vice President and Director of Studies at CNAS (the Centre for a New American Security), is a leading author on autonomous weapons and the impact of AI in the military. He has an extensive background in the drafting and implementation of policy relating to the current and future use of autonomy and artificial intelligence in the military; and has squeezed us in amid his book launch commitments for his most recent book, Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. It addresses the issue of global power in the face of the battle to control artificial intelligence, and how the next industrial revolution will impact the future of war.
*Additional Resources:*
* Paul Scahrre, Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Norton, 2023
* Paul Scharre, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. Norton, 2019.
* ChinaTalk (podcast)
* Epoch AI - Quarterly trend reports and other research reports
* Anthropic - Frontier AI Safety
* Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, Game Changer: AlphaZero's Ground Breaking Chess Strategy and the Promise of AI, 2019
* US State Department Statement on Responsiblee Use of Military AI, 16 Feb 23
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Feb 8, 2023
Eye in the Sky: Facts and Fiction in Military Decision-Making - Shiri Krebs
In today’s episode we are continuing our holiday season special on entertainment and IHL. Dr Lauren Sanders is speaking again with Professor Shiri Krebs, but this time about targeting and the movies. In particular they are talking about her paper, Drone-Cinema, Data Practices, and the Narrative of IHL, and how representations of the use of drones in movies (such as the 2015 movie, 'Eye in the Sky'), gets IHL wrong, and how it is being used (or misused) to educate people about ethical decision making in armed conflict and how IHL applies in targeting decisions. Spoiler alert: contains plot details of 'Eye in the Sky'.
Professor Krebs draws upon Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and post-humanist feminism literature to critically evaluate how drone visuals shape and influence military practices; using popular culture products, such as drone cinema, to critique military processes of knowledge production and the Western-militarist ethos of objectivity.
Shiri is a Professor at Deakin University’s Law Faculty, as well as the Co-lead of the Law and Policy Theme in the Australian Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC). In 2022 she was elected as the Lieber Society on the Laws of Armed Conflict Chair (with the American Society of International Law), and she is an affiliated scholar at Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Professor Krebs has written and published broadly on algorithmic bias and drone data vulnerabilities, data privacy, and human-machine interaction in technology-assisted legal decision-making, at the intersection of law, science and technology. She teaches the outcomes of her work in many fora – including to governments and militaries.
Special thanks to Rosie Cavdarski for editing.
*Additional resources:*
* Shiri Krebs,'Drone-Cinema, Data Practices, and the Narrative of IHL’ , Zeitschrift fur Auslandisches Offentliches Recht und Volkerrecht, Vol 82, 2022
* Shiri Krebs, ‘Law Wars: Experimental Data on the Impact of Legal Labels on Wartime Event Beliefs’, (2020) 11 Harvard National Security Journal 106
* Shiri Krebs, ‘Predictive Technologies and Opaque Epistemology in Counter-Terrorism Decision-Making' in 9/11 and the Rise of Global Anti-Terrorism Law (K. L. Scheppele and A. Vedaschi, eds.
* Donna Harraway, 'Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective', Feminist Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1988).
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Jan 25, 2023
Dr Who and Genocide - Shannon Zimmerman
In this episode of our IHL and entertainment series, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Dr Shannon Zimmerman about Dr Who and his crimes of genocide.
Talking about the examples of genocide by Dr Who throughout the series, this interview discussed Dr Zimmerman's paper, 'Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes', which canvasses the depiction of genocide in this science fiction series, and how the language and treatment of this international crime in the TV show changes along with real-life events over the course of the series' history; and the use of science fiction as thought experiments in the study of political science.
Dr Zimmerman is a Lecturer in Strategic Studies at Deakin University at the Australian War College and Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect at UQ. Her research focuses on norm implementation in United Nations peacekeeping missions, specifically Protection of Civilians (PoC) and counter terrorism in peacekeeping operations. She also studies misogyny motivated terrorism, land the emergency of the involuntary celibates or 'incels'. Shannon received her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2019 and her Masters in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University in 2012.
Special thanks to Rosie Cavdarski for editing.
*Additional resources:*
* Zimmerman, S, 'Doctor Who and the Responsibility to Protect: Public Perspectives of Atrocity Crimes', The Journal of Popular Culture, 6 Nov 2022.
* To Boldly Go: Leadership, Strategy and Conflict in the 21st Century, Casemate Publishers, Sep 2021.
* Shepherd, L and Clapman, W, 'Lessons from Westerose: Gender and power in Game of Thrones', Politics, Vol 3, Iss 1, 2017.
* Drezner, D, Theories of International Politics and Zombies, Princeton University Press 2014.
* Australian Red Cross, Who is Game of Thrones' worst war criminal?
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Jan 11, 2023
Star Wars and war crimes - Dale Stephens
Dr Lauren Sanders speaks to one of our regular contributors to the podcast, Professor Dale Stephens and combines two of his specialised areas of expertise: space law and international humanitarian law. How might this be possible you might ask? Well, as part of our special holiday series episodes, we are going to turn our minds to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, and talk about war crimes committed in Star Wars.
*Take the Australian Red Cross Star Wars Quiz **here**!
*
*Additional Resources:*
* Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations
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Dec 28, 2022
Entertainment and the laws of war - Eve Massingham
In this episode of our special entertainment and the law series, Law and Future of War Senior Research Fellow, Dr Eve Massingham discusses the obligation to ensure respect with IHL with her colleague Dr Lauren Sanders. Eve talks about her recent papers detailing how governments should wield their influence over the entertainment industry for good: and to enhance understanding and respect for IHL.
*Additional resources:*
* Massingham, Eve (2021). Entertainment and the laws of war: The role of States in their interactions with the entertainment industry in order to ensure respect for international humanitarian law. Media and Arts Law Review, 24, 130-147.
* Massingham, Eve and McConnachie, Annabel eds. (2020). Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law (London, United Kingdom: Routledge), particularly chapters 3 and 5 by Sarah McCosker and Catherine Drummond respectively.
* Massinghman, Eve. (2022) Hollywood and the Laws of War, Articles of War Blog, The Lieber Institute, Westpoint.
* Theaters of War (May 5, 2022).
* Law and Future of War Podcast, Theatres of War - Seb Kemph (Dec 2022)
* Dale Stephens, ‘International Humanitarian Law in a galaxy far, far away’ (Australian Red Cross).
* Shiri Krebs, ‘The Effects of Visual Evidence on the Application of International Humanitarian Law: A behavioural approach’ (2021).
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Dec 14, 2022
Theaters of War - Sebastian Kaempf
This is the first episode in our special series on entertainment and the law of war.
In this episode, Dr Sebastian Kaempf, a Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies, joins Dr Lauren Sanders to discuss. his documentary: and the documents he's uncovered from the US CIA and military Entertainment Liaison Offices as part of this project.
Dr Sebastian Kaempf is a Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at the School of Political Science and International Studies, at the University of Queensland. Sebastian received his PhD at Aberystwyth University in the UK, at the Department of International Politics. He also holds a BSc and MSc (Econ) in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Among his awards is the ISA Deborah Gerner Award for Teaching Innovation in 2020. His work at UQ includes producing and convening 'MediaWarX', one of UQ's Massive Open Online Courses.
Sebastian also hosts a podcast with his colleague Associate Professor Al Stark, where they interview some of the best teachers about their practical advice on engaging university students in the classroom. You can listen to 'Higher Ed Heroes' here on Buzzsprout.
*Additional Resources:*
* ‘Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA took Hollywood’ is a feature-length film documentary, produced and directed by Roger Stahl, Tom Secker, Matthew Alford and Sebastian Kaempf, funded and released through the Media Education Foundation in May 2022.
* Tom Secker and Matthew Alford, ‘New Evidence for the Surprisingly Significant Propaganda Role of the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense in the Screen Entertainment Industry’ (2019) 45(3) Critical Sociology 347.
* Tom Secker and Matthew Alford, ‘Why are the Pentagon and the CIA in Hollywood?’ (2017) 76(2) The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 381.
* James Der Derian, Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-industrial-media-entertainment Network (Routledge, 2nd ed, 2009)
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Dec 2, 2022
Universal Jurisdiction and Ukraine - Danielle Ireland-Piper and Melinda Rankin
In this final episode of our series on accountability in Ukraine, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Associate Professor Danielle Ireland-Piper and Dr Melinda Rankin about universal jurisdiction and how it may play a part in the prosecution of war crimes occurring in the Ukraine conflict.
Danielle is an Associate Professor at the ANU National Security College and an Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor at Bond University. She is the author of “Extraterritoriality in East Asia” and “Accountability in Extraterritoriality (both published with Edward Elgar). Danielle’s research is primarily concerned with the intersection between domestic and international law on questions of jurisdiction. She also teaches and researches across a number of disciplines, including national security, space law, laws of armed conflict, human rights, and constitutional law.
Melinda works for a consultancy group and is also Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Queensland where she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She was and Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Constitutionalism, at the Social Science Centre Berlin, WZB. She is the author of De facto International Prosecutors in a Global Era: With My Own Eyes and The Political Life of Mary Kaldor: Ideas and Action in International Relations. Her current research programs include 'Conceptualising De facto International Prosecutors in a Global Era', and ‘The Nuremberg Effect,’ investigating how non-state actors and state legal officials in foreign courts exercising UJ pursue accountability.
*Additional resources:
*Danielle Ireland-Piper:* *Extraterritoriality in East Asia: Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction in China, Japan, and South Korea , 2021; and Accountability in Extraterritoriality: A Comparative and International Law Perspective , 2017.
Melinda Rankin: De facto International Prosecutors in a Global Era: With My Own Eyes 2022; and The Political Life of Mary Kaldor: Ideas and Action in International Relations.
Máximo Langer, Mackenzie Eason, The Quiet Expansion of Universal Jurisdiction, EJIL, Volume 30, Issue 3, August 2019, Pages 779–817
Alejandro Chehtman, The Philosophical Foundations of Extraterritorial Punishment, OUP
Cedric Ryngaert's work on UJ
Time magazine, War Crimes and Challenges in Ukraine
NYT, Souleymane Guengueng: Send Habre to Belgium For Trial
Open Democracy, Interview with Juan Garcés
EuroJust and the ICC Guidelines
Syria's Disappeared: The Case Against Assad
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Nov 16, 2022
The Strategic Effect of OSINT - Tom Bullock
This is the fifth episode in our series on accountability in Ukraine. Following on from our initial exploration into the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) world, we delve deeper into the technical details of OSINT and its strategic effects with Tom Bullock, a Technical Intelligence Analyst.
Tom is a Senior Technical Intelligence Analyst with Atreides, a software development company specializing in big data. Previously, he worked as a Senior OSINT Analyst with Janes, a global agency for open-source defence intelligence. Tom also published with Janes Defence Weekly and Janes Intelligence Review. Tom has been involved in tracking military developments in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. Today, he reflects on the issues that he's observed so far.
*Additional Resources *
* Learn more about the employment of OSINT through the Line of Actual Control and Bellingcat.
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Nov 2, 2022
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Ukraine - Benjamin Strick
This is the fourth episode in our series about accountability in Ukraine. This episode focuses on the collection and collation of information (and potential evidence) using open-source intelligence. As you will hear, OSINT has played a key role in the development of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the monitoring of conflict in Myanmar. Today we are speaking with a world expert in the skills required of open source intelligence collection – Benjamin Strick.
Benjamin is a* *digital investigator* *with a background in law, military and technology, specialising in open source intelligence (OSINT), investigations, influence operations, data and maps. He is known for his contributions to multiple streams of human rights abuse investigations; and accountability projects using his online investigation skills, as well as for generating discussion and sharing those skills to democratise OSINT analysis.
Ben is the Director of Investigations for both the Centre for Information Resilience and the Myanmar Witness Project. He was previously an open source investigator with BBC Africa Eye, is a Bellingcat contributor and a co-founder of Ocelli Project. In 2021 he was awarded Open Source Intelligence Champion of the Year for his investment, commitment and contribution to the field.
To learn more about OSINT and how it works, check out Ben's YouTube channel where he posts free digital research tutorials. You can also learn more about Ben and his work by visiting his website or following him on Twitter. See also the OSINT Combine Academy.
To see the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map, see:
https://maphub.net/Cen4infoRes/russian-ukraine-monitor
To check if your passwords have been hacked and are online, see: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
OSINT Volunteer projects:
National Child Protection Task Force
Europol Stop Child Abuse - Trace an Object
Episode edited by Rosie Carvdarski.
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Oct 19, 2022
Ukraine, The Crime of Aggression and the Need for a Special Tribunal - Carrie McDougall
This episode is the third in a series of podcasts analysing accountability in the current Ukrainian conflict.
In this third episode, we are speaking with Dr Carrie McDougall, from the University of Melbourne, who has been heavily involved in the proposal for the establishment of a Special International Tribunal to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of crimes of aggression committed on the territory of Ukraine.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unprecedented support has been lent to efforts to ensure that those responsible for serious international crimes being committed in Ukraine are held to account. But what prospect is there for the prime mover, President Putin, being prosecuted?
Dr Carrie McDougall, formerly a legal specialist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Legal Adviser at Australia’s Mission to the United Nations, is currently researching and teaching international law at the University of Melbourne. She is an expert on the use of force and international criminal law, in particular the crime of aggression, having been heavily involved in the negotiation of the aggression amendments to the Rome Statute and having authored several works on the crime, including the leading monograph on the subject, The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
*Additional Resources:
General Crime of Aggression Publications:*
* * *Carrie McDougall, The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2nd ed, CUP, 2021).
* Claus Kress & Stefan Barriga (eds), The Crime of Aggression: A Commentary (CUP, 2016).
* Carrie McDougall, ‘The Crime of Aggression’ in Pedro Caeiro, Sabine Gless and Valsamis Mitsilegas (eds), The Elgar Encyclopedia of Crime and Criminal Justice.
*Special International Tribunal video recordings and key blog posts:*
* Chatham House: A Criminal Tribunal for Aggression in Ukraine .
* Chatham House: Aggression Against Ukraine: Holding Russia Accountable.
* Edgehill Int Law: Do We Need a Special Tribunal for Aggression for Ukraine?
* Carrie McDougall, ‘Why Creating A Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine is the Best Available Option: A Reply to Kevin Jon Heller and Other Critics’, Opinio Juris.
* Kevin Jon Heller, ‘The Best Option: An Extraordinary Ukrainian Chamber for Aggression’, Opinio Juris.
* Alexander Komarov and Oona Hathaway, ‘Ukraine’s Constitutional Constraints: How to Achieve Accountability for the Crime of Aggression', Just Security.
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Oct 5, 2022
The UNGA and Accountability in Ukraine - Rebecca Barber
This episode is the second instalment in a series of podcasts analysing accountability in the current Ukrainian conflict.
In this episode we are talking to Rebecca Barber, an expert in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) powers and humanitarian action, to discuss the power of the UNGA and its role in providing accountability for actors in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This episode also addresses the role of the UNGA in relation to the legitimacy of governments (with particular reference to Myanmar); the role of the UNGA in relation to humanitarian assistance (with reference to Syria); and the responsibility to protect.
Rebecca Barber is a PhD Scholar with the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, and a Senior Human Rights Research Fellow with the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and is the recipient of the 2022 Article/Chapter (ECR) Award by the Australian Legal Research Awards. Barber has extensive experience working with international h…
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Sep 25, 2022
Cultural Heritage and Accountability in Ukraine - Ana Vrodljak and Mayee Warren
This episode starts a series of podcasts analysing accountability in the current Ukrainian conflict.
In this first episode, we are joined by Ana Filipa Vrodljak, the UNESCO Chair on International Law and Cultural Heritage, and Professor of Law at UTS, and Mayee Warren – a senior practitioner in the management of international criminal trials - to talk about the challenges presented in collecting and collating evidence of breaches of international law in Ukraine. In particular, we are going to focus on how the law protects objects of special cultural significance, what accountability measures exist when those objects are damaged in armed conflict, and then talk about how technology can assist in bringing perpetrators of these crimes to account.
Professor Ana Filipa Vrodljak has authored numerous books on International Law and Cultural Objects and Cultural Heritage; as well as the Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions. Among her many other appointments, s…
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Sep 7, 2022
US DoD Civilian Harm and Mitigation Response Plan – what is it, and what does it propose to do? - Marc Garlasco
On 25 Aug 2022, the US Department of Defense released its Civilian Harm and Mitigation Response Plan, which has been created, in part as a result of the public scrutiny on civilian casualty incidents following the Iraq campaign.
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Marc Garlasco, who has been intimately involved with this issue, having been engaged in stakeholder engagement with the US DoD during their development of this plan when it was announced on 27 Jan 2022.
Marc has a long history of observing and reporting on civilian casualty incidents, using his understanding of the process garnered from his time as a a US intelligence analyst. He has served with HRW, as a senior civilian protection officer for United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA); and as the U.N. senior military advisor for the Human Rights Council's (HRC) Independent Commission of Inquiry on Libya, where he investigated civilian casualties while leading a survey of NATO's activities in Libya.…
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Aug 24, 2022
Counting civilian casualties - the impact of perspectives on accountability: Christiane Wilke
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Professor Christiane Wilke about the problem with accountability following civilian casualty incidents, and the impact of cultural and racial frames in imagining what has occurred on the ground.
Professor Christiane Wilke is an Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Canada. She researches how Western militaries and human rights organizations produce knowledge about and legal analyses of armed conflicts, looking at the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
In particular, she works with visual and cultural assessments of civilian casualties from airstrikes and how their assessments are shaped by imperial imaginaries about race and space. Drawing on Third World Approaches to International Law and critical law & technology scholarship, she ask how international law understands, regulates, and privileges technologically enhanced warfare.
*Additional resources:
*
* Christiane Wilk…
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Aug 10, 2022
Drone visual, labels and cognitive bias in targeting operations and military fact finding - Shiri Krebs
In this episode Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Associate Professor Shiri Krebs about cognitive biases inherent in targeting operations and what that means for compliance with the laws of armed conflict.
The increased reliance on intelligence feeds from various remote sensors, and the fusion of these sensor feeds to make targeting decisions provides opportunity to entrench cultural and cognitive biases in armed conflict. Equally, the labels and interpretations ascribed to these sensor feeds impact the after action reviews, or fact finding or investigative processes that follow an engagement that results in civilian casualties. There have been many studies undertaken that demonstrate that data coming from machines is changes when it is interpreted by humans, and interpreted from that human’s cognitive and cultural frame, but what is the impact of this kind of bias in the context of targeting operations and compliance with LOAC?
Shiri is an Associate Professor T Deakin University’s L…
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Jul 27, 2022
International Criminal Law and Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: autonomy and accountability - Marta Bo
In this episode Dr Lauren Sanders will be speaking with Dr Marta Bo about her work analysing how individuals can be held to account for the potential misuse of LAWS; and how ICL can be used as a method to regulate the use of LAWS.
Dr Marta Bo is a researcher at the Asser Institute and the Graduate Institute for International and Development studies (Geneva). She is currently researching on criminal responsibility for war crimes committed with autonomous weapon systems (LAWS and War Crimes Project); AI and criminal responsibility; automation biases and mens rea for crimes committed with autonomous or automated systems; disarmament and criminalisation. She has published on international and transnational criminal law, artificial intelligence and criminal responsibility, autonomous weapons. Marta is also associate senior researcher at SIPRI.
*Additional Resources:*
SIPRI Emerging Military and Security Technologies Research
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Jul 13, 2022
Businesses and IHL - Fauve Kurnadi and Jonathan Kolieb
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks to Fauve Kurnadi of the Australian Red Cross and Dr Jonathon Kolieb of RMIT about how businesses are affected by, and should consider the application of IHL in situations of armed conflict.
Fauve is a Legal Adviser in the International Humanitarian Law Program of Australian Red Cross where she is responsible for the organisation’s engagement with corporate actors and academic circles. Fauve was recently named one of Pro Bono Australia’s Impact Award winners for her work in ensuring Australian businesses understand their responsibilities under the laws of war and play their part in creating better humanitarian outcomes for communities experiencing war.
Dr Jonathan Kolieb is Senior Lecturer in Law at RMIT University, where he is the Peace and Conflict Theme Lead at RMIT’s Business and Human Rights Centre. Jonathan’s research and teaching interests focus on global governance issues, including projects on the legal protections of children…
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Jun 29, 2022
Regulating AI and the limits of war - Simon Chesterman
In this episode, Damian Copeland interviews Professor Simon Chestermann about his new book, We the Robots: Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of War. They discuss what challenges exist in regulating autonomous weapons systems, as well as how states are currently approaching this problem.
Professor Simon Chesterman is Dean and Provost’s Chair Professor of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and Senior Director of AI Governance at AI Singapore. He is also Editor of the Asian Journal of International Law and Co-President of the Law Schools Global League.
Professor Chesterman is the author or editor of twenty-one books, including We, the Robots? Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Law (CUP, 2021); Law and Practice of the United Nations (with Ian Johnstone and David M. Malone, OUP, 2016); One Nation Under Surveillance (OUP, 2011); You, the People (OUP, 2004); and Just War or Just Peace? (OUP, 2001). He is a recognized authority on inte…
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Jun 15, 2022
War Algorithms - Dustin Lewis
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Dustin Lewis, of Harvard Law School's Project on International Law and Armed Conflict about war algorithms and his recent project on pathways for using AI, and how to ensure greater respect for international law when states use these algorithmic capabilities.
Dustin is the Research Director at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC). With a focus on public international law sources and methods, Dustin leads research into several wide-ranging contemporary challenges related to securing peace, protecting civilians, regulating hostilities, safeguarding the environment, and ending armed conflicts.
*Additional Resources:*
PILAC - Three Pathways to Secure Greater Respect for International Law Concerning War Algorithms
SIPRI - Emerging Military and Security Technologies Project
ASSER Institute - Designing International Law and Ethics into Military Artificial Intelligence (DILEMA)
Geneva Institute - Lethal…
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Jun 1, 2022
What is quantum technology and why will it change the future? - Warwick Bowen
In this episode, Professor Warwick Bowen explains to us what quantum technology is, and why it will be such a significant step change in the way that technology will operate in the future.
Professor Bowen is a Professor of Physics at UQ’S faculty of Science. He is recognised both nationally and internationally for research at the interface of nanotechnology and quantum science; including nanophotonics, nanomechanics, quantum optomechanics and photonic/quantum sensing. He was an Australian Future Fellow. and leads the Quantum Optics Laboratory at UQ, is Director of the UQ Precision Sensing Initiative, and is a Node Manager of the Australian Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems.
Further references:
BrisScience video - Prof Warwick Bowen: Quantum Sensing: From Gravitational waves to ultra ultra sound
EU Quantum Flagship
McKinsey & Company - Quantum Computing Reports
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May 18, 2022
AI and its role in facilitating targeting operations - Hitoshi Nasu
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks to Professor Hitoshi Nasu, from the Lieber Institute at West Point about artificial intelligence and its potential use in targeting operations. Although a well traversed topic, it is one that is not often viewed from the perspective of the benefits of how AI technology can aid in decision-making during military actions. Professor Nasu also talks about the CCW GGE on LAWS and what direction he thinks regulation of autonomous weapons can realistically take.
For detailed analysis of the lawfulness of autonomous drones in recent conflicts, see:
Hitoshi Nasu - Hunter 2-S Swarming Attack Drones: Legal & Ethical Dimensions, Articles of War Blog
Hitoshi Nasu - The Kargu-2 Autonomous Attack Drone: Legal & Ethical Dimensions, Articles of War Blog
International Law Studies Journal
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May 4, 2022
War Lawyers - Craig Jones
Dr Craig Jones speaks to Dr Lauren Sanders about his book: War Lawyers, to discuss how some militaries provide legal advice during targeting operations. They talk about the history of operations law, & how this advice is dispensed as well as talking about some challenges & issues with this current model of lawyering.
Dr Craig Jones is the author of The War Lawyers & a lecturer in political geography in the School of Geography, Sociology, & Politics at Newcastle University. His research focuses on war and (para)military violence, conflict medicine & forced displacement, the geographies of international law & the contemporary Middle East and North Africa.
The War Lawyers: The United States, Israel and Juridical Warfare examines the involvement of military lawyers in aerial targeting operations carried out by the US military in Iraq & Afghanistan, & the Israeli military in Gaza & the West Bank. It draws on several years of fieldwork & over 50 interviews with US and Israeli military lawy…
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Apr 20, 2022
Keeping the Peace in Cyberspace - Samuel White
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Samuel White about how cyber operations and information warfare are changing national security and the role of the military. They explore how the domestic legal architecture might prevent or enable tasking the military with responding to cyber threats, and what it might mean for the contemporary relevance of the prerogative powers.
Samuel White has served as a Royal Australian Infantry Corps and Australian Army Legal Corps officer. In 2018, he was appointed as Associate to the Honourable Justice Logan of the Federal Court of Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland; a Master of Laws (with First Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne; and a Master of War Studies from UNSW, specialising in counter-insurgency and cyber operations. He is currently enrolled concurrently in a Master of Military Law at the ANU, and a PhD at the University of Adelaide, looking at constitutional limitati…
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Apr 6, 2022
War gaming with new technologies - Scott Roach
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks with Major Scott Roach of the Canadian Armed Forces about wargaming. They discuss the concept of wargaming and the Canadian Armed Forces’ mission for the Joint Wargaming Experimentation and Simulation section of their Warfare Centre. Combat simulations have grown in complexity over the past twenty years and how software now allows dozens of soldiers and even pilots to be linked together in a virtual world. Major Roach shares some examples of how technology has enabled wargaming to continue in recent times even with the challenges of COVID-19.
Major Roach has been responsible for establishing the wargaming section of the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre (CJWC) since 2018…
Further reading:
* Visualising War on wargaming | PAXsims (wordpress.com)
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Mar 23, 2022
Educating the military through wargaming and computer games - Jo Brick
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks with Group Captain Jo Brick about the role of wargaming and technology in professional military education, and how computer games can be used to train military professionals in ethics and law.
Spoiler alert: they talk about Chidi from ‘The Good Place’ and the trolly problem, to highlight how the practical application of ethics is critical to creating good military decision makers. They traverse some of the challenges that technology creates in terms of desensitisation to violence, and the moral and ethical problems faced by people who conduct warfare by distance – such as drone operators - and how training and education can bridge that gap.
Group Captain Brick is a Legal Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force and currently the Chief of Staff at the Australian Defence College, Canberra. In addition to multiple operational deployments, she has previously been appointed as the Legal Advisor to the Chief of the Defence Force, and Legal A…
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Mar 22, 2022
Special Episode: UQ POLSIS Panel Flashpoint: War in Ukraine - Seb Kaempf, Sarah Teitt, Andrew Phillips, Christian Reus-Smit and Lauren Sanders
This panel, hosted by the UQ School of Political Science and International Studies addresses critical legal, political and international relations issues associated with the Ukraine war.
Russia’s declaration of war on Ukraine marks a watershed and raises significant questions.
Recorded on Tuesday 8 March, this panel canvasses issues relating to the lawfulness of the invasion, IHL and broader IL implications, strategy and politics surrounding the invasion, and the implications for China.
Hosted by Professor Sebastian Kaempf, the panel consists of the following UQ experts:
* Dr Sarah Teitt (POLSIS)
* Professor Chris Reus-Smit (POLSIS)
* Dr Lauren Sanders (TC Beirne School of Law)
* Associate Professor Andrew Phillips (POLSIS)
The video of this event (including Q and A) is available here: https://polsis.uq.edu.au/event/session/7139
See below a similar podcast by Dr Eve Massingham, with The Lowy Institute's Rules Based Audio podcast: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publicatio…
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Mar 18, 2022
Special episode: Macquarie CEL Webinar - Protection of the natural environment in times of armed conflict: Ukraine - Eve Massingham
In this special reproduction of a Macquarie University Centre for Environmental Law (CEL) webinar, Dr Eve Massingham discusses the protection of the natural environment in times of armed conflict in light of the recent Russian invasion into Ukraine.
A video (including q\Q and A) of the session is available on the Macquarie CEL YouTube channel.
Additional resources:
Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict (ICRC, 2020)
Ukraine: What's at stake? (Blatnvik School of Governance, Oxford University, 2022)
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Mar 9, 2022
Drones and the fourth wave: how drones have impacted the global order - Paul Lushenko
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders speaks to Paul Lushenko, to discuss the broader implications of drone strikes in terms of politics and strategy, moral legitimacy of states’ use of drone warfare, and his new book, Drones and the Global Order, published in December 2021.
Paul is a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and General Andrew Jackson Goodpaster Scholar at Cornell University, where he is pursuing a PhD in International Relations. After commissioning as a Military Intelligence Officer in 2005 from the United States Military Academy, he studied at The Australian National University as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and the U.S. Naval War College. He is also a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member and Adjunct Research Lecturer for the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University.
*Additional resources:
*
Lushenko, Bose, Maley eds - Drone and the Global Order- Implications for Remote Warfare for International Society, published Dec 2021
Lisa Park…
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Feb 23, 2022
Facial recognition technology and the law in Australia - Professor Ed Santow
In this episode, Professor Ed Santow, speaks to Dr Lauren Sanders about the regulation of facial recognition technology in Australian and the UTS Facial Recognition Model Law Project, that will propose a way to rectify the current gaps in regulation of this technology in Australia that makes it prone to misuse.
Edward Santow is Industry Professor - Responsible Technology at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Ed leads UTS's new initiative on building Australia's capability on ethical artificial intelligence. From 2016-2021, Ed was Australia's Human Rights Commissioner; he is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and serves on a number of boards and committees. In 2009, Ed was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the…
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Feb 9, 2022
What will 2022 bring? Drones, geopolitics and the year ahead - John Blaxland
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders interviews Professor John Blaxland – one of Australia’s most renowned military strategy writers and historians – to talk about the current geopolitical landscape as it applies to Australia, reflecting on the trends from our recent past; and talk briefly about how drones and associated technologies may impact the future global order. They canvas a geostrategic SWOT analysis for 2022; drones and the global order; the tasks that the ADF may face in light of the current geopolitical landscape; and consider how to balance increasing task pressures upon the ADF.
Professor Blaxland is a Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and former Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and has extensively intelligence experience in operations and in strategic settings as an ADF military intelligence officer; and as an academic and historian. His long list of written works include as the princi…
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Jan 26, 2022
Legal review of autonomous weapons - Damian Copeland
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders talks with Damian Copeland about one of the most important legal issues raised by autonomous weapons: how states might carry out weapons reviews of these technologies. The application of this obligation to autonomous weapons will have several challenges. Where a device has the capacity for self-learning, will one single review suffice? Will States be able to take on trust reviews carried out by weapons developers?
Damian Copeland is a part-time Senior Research Fellow with the UQ Law and Future of War Project. He is also a serving member of the Australian Defence Force and a Director at International Weapons Review, an Incorporated Legal Practice specialising in the legal review of new technology weapons.
Further reading:
ICRC - A Guide to the Review of New Weapons, Methods and Means of Warfare, updated 2020
Tim McFarland - The status of autonomous weapon systems under international humanitarian law, published 2017
Natalia Jevglevskaja - Internationa…
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Jan 12, 2022
Facial recognition and occupation law - Rohan Talbot
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie speaks with Rohan Talbot about the legal regulation of facial recognition technology during occupations. In 2019, it was revealed that Israel had added facial recognition technologies to the ways that it administers and controls the occupied Palestinian territories. They discuss the international legal implications of these technologies in occupied territories for security and what might it mean to automate an occupation.
Rohan Talbot is a researcher and advocate based in London. He currently works for a humanitarian and development charity that operates across the occupied Palestinian territory and Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon. He recently completed a Masters degree in International Human Rights Law at Oxford University, where his research focused on the human rights implications of the use of advanced surveillance technologies in occupied territory.
Further reading:
* Rohan Talbot, 'Automating occupation: International humanitaria…
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Dec 22, 2021
Australia in space - Tristan Moss
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Tristan Moss about history of Australia in Space. They discuss the history of Australia in space, starting with its beginnings in a rocket range in Woomera in the 1960s to the recent founding of the Australian Space Agency. They discuss the patchy approach that Australia has taken to space exploitation, and put it into a broader perspective.
Dr Tristan Moss is a senior lecturer in the Griffith Asia Institute. He is a historian researching Australian space history and the history of the ADF with a focus on its culture and policy. His current research focuses on a history of Australian space activities, 1957 – 2020, and he is also working on a history of sex in the Australian military. He is the author of Guarding the Periphery: The Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, 1951–75 (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and co-editor of Beyond Combat: Australian military activity away from the battlefields (NewSouth Books, 2018). Tristan has w…
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Dec 8, 2021
Mitigating harm to civilian populations and critical infrastructure in urban warfare - Abby Zeith and Michael Talhami
In today’s episode, Dr Lauren Sanders talks with Abby Zeith and Michael Talhami of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about urban warfare. Focussing on the impacts of conflict upon urban populations, they look at some of the issues that have arisen in terms of IHL compliance in and around urban centres as a result of technology. They also speak about the current initiatives being undertaken to mitigate harm to civilians as a result of urban conflict.
Abby Zeith is a Legal Adviser in the ICRC’s Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit in Geneva. Her work focuses on urban warfare and the application of the rules governing the conduct of hostilities under international humanitarian law more generally.
Michael Talhami is an Urban Services Advisor in the Water and Habitat at the ICRC. He focuses on urban policy formation that helps guide humanitarian programming in support of helping service providers to ensure operational continuity in service provision (water, wastewate…
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Nov 24, 2021
Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War - Samuel Moyn
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Professor Samuel Moyn about his new book, Humane, which considers some of the consequences of focussing on the laws of fighting wars at the expense of considering when they should be fought. They discuss the 19th-century peace movement, and what some of the legal debates from this time reveal about contemporary conflict and the rise of targeted killing and drone warfare.
Samuel Moyn is Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and a Professor of History at Yale University. He has written several books in his fields of European intellectual history and human rights history, including The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (2010), and edited or coedited a number of others. His most recent books are Christian Human Rights (2015), based on Mellon Distinguished Lectures at the University of Pennsylvania in fall 2014, and Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (2018). His newest book is Humane: How the United States Aba…
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Nov 10, 2021
What art can tell us about new digital technologies - Anna Briers
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Anna Briers about what visual art can tell us about new digital technologies. The current show at UQ Art Museum – called ‘Don't Be Evil’ – seeks to show us some of the invisible power structures of networked technology, including the implications of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data capitalism.
Anna Briers is the Curator at the UQ Art Museum. She has curated in both an institutional and freelance capacity for over a decade in various contexts ranging from art museums and arts festivals, through to underground tunnels and golden canola fields. She holds a Masters of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Elam) from the University of Auckland.
Further reading:
* UQ Art Museum, Conflict in My Outlook_We Met Online
* Safiya Noble, Algorithms of oppression: how search engines reinforce racism (2018: New York University Press)
* Timnit Gebru, '…
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Oct 27, 2021
What space law can tell us about international law - Cris van Eijk
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie chats with Cris van Eijk about space law – including some of its fundamental documents and places of political contestation - and what the structure and focus of space law tells us about international law more generally. After a few decades on the outer, space law is back in vogue: the rise of commercial space ventures combined with an uptick in geopolitical tension about the use of space makes it particularly important for us to think about if and how it is regulated by law.
Cris van Eijk is an international lawyer and is currently researching outer space law from environmental, historical, and decolonial perspectives. He is currently part of the Working Group on International Law of the International Astronomical Union's Dark and Quiet Skies Conference, as well as Legal Advisor at Jus Ad Astra, where he analyses environmental rights in orbit. He holds a BA in International Justice and an LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University and…
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Oct 13, 2021
Operational, Political and Legal Implications of AUKUS - David Nicholls, Matt McDonald and Monique Cormier
In this live recording of an event, Rain Liivoja talks with David Nicholls, Matt McDonald and Monique Cormier about the new AUKUS arrangement, under which Australia would acquire 8 nuclear-powered submarines with US and UK technology. They discuss the extent to which it represents a major shift in Australia's defence policy, and what we can make of some of the claims made about it.
David Nicholls is the Executive Director of the Submarine Institute of Australia. A former submarine commander in the Royal Australian Navy, he now works as a defence industry consultant.
Dr Matt McDonald is an Associate Professor in The University of Queensland's School of Political Science and International Studies. His research focuses on critical theoretical approaches to security and their application to issues such as Australian foreign and security policy, and Asia-Pacific security dynamics.
Dr Monique Cormier is a Senior Lecturer in the University of New England's School of Law. Her research cover…
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Sep 29, 2021
Precautions in defending digital infrastructure - Eve Massingham
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Eve Massingham about the equirement to take precautions against the effects of attack. This obligation requires the defender to minimise the risk that civilians and civilian objects will be harmed by enemy military operations – such as by locating military bases away from civilian areas, or by clearly marking non-military objects. They discuss how this might work when it comes to digital infrastructure, including the challenges of dual-use technology, and the value of applying IHL principles to new technology.
Dr Eve Massingham is a Senior Research Fellow with the School of Law, The University of Queensland. Eve's current research focuses on the diverse ways in which the law constrains or enables autonomous functions of military platforms, systems and weapons. She is the co-editor of Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law (Routledge, 2020) and she has published a number of book chapters and journal articles in the fields…
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Sep 15, 2021
Precautions in attack and coalition operations in Mosul - Lauren Sanders
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Lauren Sanders about the practical application of one of the most interesting legal obligations of international humanitarian law: the obligation to take precautions in attack. This obligation requires attackers to take “all feasible precautions” to minimise incidental loss and harm to civilian life – but what it means in practice can be hard to understand. When is a precaution feasible? How does this obligation sit alongside the permissive character of military necessity?
Dr Lauren Sanders is a Senior Research Fellow at the UQ School of Law, and she researches the legal constraints on the arms trade in military technology, as well as international criminal law, IHL, and counter-terrorism law. Before returning to UQ, Lauren spent twenty years as an Australian Army signals officer and legal officer, and has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor and on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, and has been a legal…
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Sep 1, 2021
Drone strikes and the safety of civilians - Joshua Andresen
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders talks with Dr Joshua Andresen about drones and aerial strikes, exploring whether they make armed conflict safer for civilians. Some claim that by allowing for the more precise use of force, drone strikes cause less harm to nearby civilian populations. Conversely, some point to the impact that making force more accessible in urban areas actually increases the likelihood that force will be used in and around civilians. Lauren and Joshua also consider whether IHL needs to adapt for the use of these technologies.
Dr Joshua Andresen is a Reader in National Security and Foreign Relations Law at the University of Surrey who has written extensively on the problems posed by the use of drone strikes in armed conflict and their regulation. His research focuses on the legal regulation of armed conflict in light of advanced weapons technology and the predominance of non-international armed conflicts.
He has held positions as a senior policy advisor in the Office…
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Aug 16, 2021
Legal standards for AI: law and the reasonable robot - Ryan Abbott
In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders talks with Professor Ryan Abbott about the legal standards and challenges of integrating artificial intelligence into current legal regimes. They discuss his recent book, The Reasonable Robot, which traverses different areas of law and how they treat AI – whether incentivising or disincentivising technological development in AI – and what his theory of legal neutrality for artificial intelligence in law is and how it could work. They also cover his recent case in the Australian Federal Court dealing with recognition of AI as an inventor in patent applications.
Professor Abbott is a Professor of Law and Health Sciences at the University of Surrey and is highly regarded for his scholarship, teaching, and professional activities. He has *published* widely on issues associated with law and technology, health law, and intellectual property in leading legal, medical, and scientific books and journals. Professor Abbott has worked as a partner in legal p…
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Aug 4, 2021
Space force - Jessie Dumont
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks with Captain Jessie Dumont about the role of automation in space operations and the prospects of autonomous devices in space. They also touch on wargaming in space and some of the legal issues associated with using space for military purposes.
Captain Dumont is a Lecturer in the Department of Physics & Space Science at the Royal Military College of Canada. She recently returned from working at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. She worked as a member of 18 Space Control Squadron as an orbital analyst and maintained the space catalogue of debris and satellites.
This podcast reflects the personal view of Captain Jessie Dumont and does not represent the view of the Government of Canada.
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Jul 21, 2021
Experimenting on humans and international law - Thibault Moulin
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Thibault Moulin about the international legal regulation of experiments on humans. These experiments test existing frameworks of international law, and they discuss the limits that international humanitarian law and international human rights law places on human enhancement and the experiments that bring them into being.
Dr Thibault Moulin is a Lecturer at the Catholic University of Lyon in France. His research focuses on the regulation of new technologies by international law, in particular cyber-operations and human enhancement. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Manchester and a French Doctorate from the University of Grenoble-Alpes. He was also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Further reading
* Thibault Moulin, 'Doctors Playing Gods? The Legal Challenges in Regulating the Experimental Stage of Cybernetic Human Enhancement' (2021) 54(2) Israel Law Review 236.
* Rain Liivoja and Luk…
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Jul 7, 2021
The new and old of emerging military technology - Maaike Verbruggen
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Maaike Verbruggen about how history can help us grapple with new military technologies. They talk about developments in AI, human-machine teaming and swarming capabilities and try to work through what can be taken from the histories of arms control and technology to help us understand our current situation.
Maaike Verbruggen is a historian & sociologist, who now works on the politics of future technology. She is currently a doctoral researcher at the Center for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her PhD thesis is on the drivers for and obstacles to military innovation in artificial intelligence, and she has broader interests in arms control, military innovation and emerging technologies. She previously worked at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on autonomous weapons and export controls.
Further reading:
* Technical scientific literature (s…
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Jun 23, 2021
Legal regulation of military activities in space - Dale Stephens
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks with Professor Dale Stephens CSM about law and war in outer space. They discuss the legal regime for outer space, what it says about military activities and how developments in technology are impacting these. They specifically discuss autonomy in space – both in relation to weapons and other activities such as the extraction of space debris, consider the legal liability regime for launching objects into space and contemplate the challenges of infrastructure in space serving both military and civilian purposes.
Dr Dale Stephens is a Professor at Adelaide Law School and a Captain in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve who spent over 20 years as a permanent officer in the Royal Australian Navy. Dale’s legal and military career has seen him work on a range of military law and international law topics, as well as see operational military service in East Timor and Iraq. Dale is an Editor and Board Member of the forthcoming Woomera Manual of Interna…
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Jun 9, 2021
Forecasting military technology and strategic challenges - Michael O'Hanlon
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Michael O'Hanlon about forecasting what the future of military technology holds, and the conflicts should we be planning for or trying to avoid. The speed of technological development and digital transformation makes this job harder than ever. They discuss how he thinks out what the future holds – both technologically and strategically – over the next 20 years and how to prepare for it.
Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. He specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He has several academic appointments, advisory positions and has written extensively on military technology, future conflicts, and the role of American power in the world.
Further reading:
* Michael E. O'Hanlon, Defense 101: Understanding the Military of Today and Tomorrow (2021)
* Michael E. O'Hanlon, The Art of War in an Age of Peace…
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May 26, 2021
Submarine cables and the law of armed conflict - Rob McLaughlin, Tamsin Paige and Douglas Guilfoyle
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie is joined by Professor Rob McLaughlin, Dr Tamsin Paige and Associate Professor Douglas Guilfoyle to talk about the application of the law of armed conflict to submarine cables. These cables carry information crucial for national security. They are an essential part of the link between overseas embassies and their capital, not to mention military bases and operations with their commanders. In fact, there is almost no part of modern life that they do not in some way support. Given their central importance, you might think that the legal categorisation and protection of submarine cables would be clear. But, this is far from the case – if, how and when these cables can be military objectives, and how the principle of proportionality might apply, is unclear.
Professor Rob McLaughlin of ANU researches, publishes, and teaches in the areas of Law of Armed Conflict, Law of the Sea, Maritime Security Law and Maritime Law Enforcement, and Military Law.
Dr Ta…
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May 12, 2021
Cyber autonomy - Ryan Ko
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Professor Ryan Ko about the prospects and risks of cyber autonomy. Programs and systems are being developed that automate cyber defence, allowing them to self-discover, prove and correct software vulnerabilities at real-time. Some are even capable of doing more than defending, but can also attack other systems in the computer network, all without direct human oversight.
Professor Ryan Ko is Chair and Director of Cyber Security at the University of Queensland and is also Deputy Head of School (External Engagement) at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. His research in cyber security focuses on returning control of data to cloud computing users, reducing users' reliance on trusting third-parties and focusses on (1) provenance logging and reconstruction, traceability and (2) privacy-preserving data processing. Along with his academic research, he has advised companies and governments on managing cybersecurity risk…
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Apr 28, 2021
The infrastructure of the internet - Scott Wilkie
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Scott Wilkie about the infrastructure of the internet. They discuss how we should think about its physical and software components, and why getting the framing right is key to regulating it. They also address what sort of interventions should be made by Governments, including if and how the military should be involved in cyber defence.
Scott Wilkie is a former investment banker, founder of technology companies and advisor to governments on their cyber-secure capabilities. This has included cyber security governance and risk models, digital transformation, analytics, artificial intelligence, trust in a digital world and cloud computing. He is well known in Australia and across the Five Eyes for leading policy and strategy development for digital sovereignty and security of critical supply chains and infrastructure.
Further reading:
* Australian Cyber Security Centre, The Cyber Security Principles
* The 5 knows of cyber security
* Sc…
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Apr 15, 2021
Data as an object in IHL - Simon McKenzie
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks with Dr Simon McKenzie to talk about how some of the fundamental categories of IHL are challenged by cyber operations. In particular, the concepts of ‘objects’ and ‘attacks’, with their apparent focus on physicality, are hard to fit with the intangible elements of cyberspace. They explore this issue by considering whether ‘data’ can be thought of as an object for the purposes of IHL, and why is important.
Simon McKenzie is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland School of Law. Simon's current research focuses on the legal challenges connected with the defence and security applications of science and technology, with a particular focus on the impact of autonomous systems. His broader research and teaching interests include the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, and domestic criminal law.
Further reading:
* Simon McKenzie, 'Cyber Operations against Civilian Data: Revisiting War Crimes against Protected Ob…
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Mar 31, 2021
The Banning of Hostile Environmental Modification in the ENMOD Convention - Emily Crawford
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Associate Professor Emily Crawford about the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques – known as the ENMOD Convention. This Convention – adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1976 and ratified by 78 States – prohibits weaponising the natural environment against other State parties.
However, the technology it regulates – the artificial creation of natural phenomena like earthquakes, cyclones, or tsunamis for hostile purposes – has never been developed or used. This technology is like something out of science fiction. This episode examines how this striking Convention came to be, what the drafters thought it might cover, and why they thought it was a useful new treaty for the law of war.
Emily Crawford is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Law School, where she teaches and researches in international law, international humanitarian law and internati…
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Mar 17, 2021
Metaphors and cyberspace - Julia Slupska
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Julia Sluspka about how the metaphors we use to understand cyberspace impact on how we imagine it should be regulated. They discuss the ways in which the conceptualisation of cyberspace is contested. Is it like spatial territory? Are states engaged in cyber war? Or is it like an ecosystem, or infrastructure? The metaphor we adopt frames the problems we see and the solutions we arrive at.
Julia Slupska is a doctoral student at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Cybersecurity and the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research focuses on technologically-mediated abuse like image-based sexual abuse ('revenge porn') and stalking, as well as emotion, care and metaphors in cybersecurity.
Further reading
* Julia Slupska, 'War, Health and Ecosystem: Generative Metaphors in Cybersecurity Governance', Philosophy & Technology (2020).
* Julia Slupska, 'Safe at Home: Towards a Feminist Critique of Cybersecurity' in Whose Security is Cybersecurity? A…
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Mar 3, 2021
The ICRC's perspective on new technology and international humanitarian law - Cordula Droege
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks with Dr Cordula Droege about some of the challenges new technologies pose to international humanitarian law. They discuss nuclear weapons, autonomous weapons systems, cyber operations, and the importance of carrying out weapon reviews. They also consider some of the uses of technology for humanitarian purposes, including the rewards and risks of using biometric data.
Dr Cordula Droege is the chief legal officer and head of the legal division of the ICRC, where she leads the ICRC’s efforts to uphold, implement and develop international humanitarian law. She joined the ICRC in 2005 and has held a number of positions in the field and at headquarter, including as head of the legal advisers to operations, and most recently as chief of staff to the President of the ICRC. She has some twenty years of experience in the field of international law, and in her earlier career worked for the International Commission of Jurists, the Inter-American Court of…
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Feb 17, 2021
Countermeasures in cyberspace - Samuli Haataja
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Samuli Haataja about countermeasures in cyberspace. The right to countermeasures is a mechanism in international law that allows States to take action when they have suffered an international wrong. Some of features of cyberspace challenge this well-established body of rules, and it may need to change to ensure States have an effective remedy to deter foreign cyber attacks.
Samuli researches the public international law aspects of cybersecurity, and his book Cyber Attacks and International Law on the Use of Force: The Turn to Information Ethics was published by Routledge in 2019. He’s also a member of the IEEE Society on Society Implication of Technology.
Further Reading:
* Samuli Haataja, 'Cyber Operations and Collective Countermeasures under International Law' (2020) 25(1) Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 33–51
* Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations
* Draft Articles on Responsibil…
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Feb 3, 2021
The role of the military defending cyber operations against critical infrastructure - Rhiannon Neilsen and Karine Pontbriand
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Rhiannon Neilsen and Karine Pontbriand on the role of militaries in defending against cyber operations. They argue that the vulnerability of critical infrastructure of many States to cyber operations - particularly due to privatisation - means that militaries need to step up their contribution to cyber defence. They talk about why NATO militaries are reluctant to do this, the basis for this position, and why it is problematic.
Rhiannon Neilsen is a Scientia PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales. Her research interests include atrocity prevention, moral and political philosophy, cyberspace, and the Responsibility to Protect. In 2019, she was awarded the Barbara Hale Fellowship by the Australian Federation of Graduate Women to be a visiting doctoral student at the University of Oxford. Rhiannon has also been a visiting scholar at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (2019). Her published work has appeared in i…
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Jan 20, 2021
International Law in Cyber Space and the Tallinn Manuals - Michael Schmitt
In this episode, Dr Rain Liivoja talks to Professor Michael Schmitt about the Tallinn Manuals on the law applicable to cyber operations. They discuss the impetus for the manuals, their drafting process, some of the main findings and the reception by states and scholars. They also talk about the plans for Tallinn Manual 3.0.
*Professor Michael N Schmitt* is Professor of International Law at the University of Reading. He is also Senior Fellow at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence; Francis Lieber Distinguished Scholar at West Point’s Lieber Institute; Charles H Stockton Distinguished Scholar at the US Naval War College; Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas’ Strass Center for International Security and Law; and Director of Legal Affairs for Cyber Law International. He directed the Tallinn Manual project from 2009–2017.
Further reading
* Michael N Schmitt (gen ed), Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (Cambridge Univ…
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Jan 6, 2021
The Obligation to Review New Weapons - Natalia Jevglevskaja
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Natalia Jevglevskaja about the obligation to review new weapons found in Article 36 of Additional Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions. They discuss what the weapons review obligation requires, the kinds of technologies it applies to, and the different approaches states take to fulfilling the obligation. They also discuss some of its limitations and the challenges posed by recent developments in machine processing and artificial intelligence.
Dr Natalia Jevglevskaja is a Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. Natalia’s research interests include law of armed conflict, human rights law and comparative law. Natalia has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, holds an LL.M in Public International Law from the University of Utrecht (2013), awarded with cum laude to mark outstanding achievement and completed her undergraduate studies in law at the University of Heidelberg (…
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Dec 16, 2020
The Future of Military Technology - Jason Scholz and Simon Ng
In this episode, Dr Eve Massingham talks to Professor Jason Scholz and Associate Professor Simon Ng about the development of new military technology. They talk about the key areas of current investments, how the game is changing, and where the future might take us. They also discuss the recent investments Australia has made into autonomous systems, and explain some of the strategic calculations behind this effort.
Professor Jason Scholz is the CEO of the Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence Cooperative Research Centre. Prior to this role, Jason led research in cognitive psychology, decision aids, decision automation and autonomy, and the integration of human and machine decision-making within the Defence Science and Technology Group. He has over fifty refereed publications and several patents, covering research in telecommunications, digital signal processing, artificial intelligence and human decision making. He is passionate about the potential for machine learning based on neuroscien…
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Dec 2, 2020
Autonomy in Weapons and the Law - Tim McFarland
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Tim McFarland about autonomy in weapons systems: what it is, why it is important, and how it should be understood for the purpose of the law of armed conflict. They talk about the meaning of 'autonomy', and how the concept is used in the context of weapons systems, and what gets lost in debate about their morality and legality. They also discuss some of the legal principles that are particularly important, including distinction, proportionality and the obligation to take precautions.
Dr Tim McFarland is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland School of Law. His current research focuses on the legal challenges connected with the defence and security applications of science and technology, with a particular focus on the impact of autonomous systems. His broader research interests include the law of armed conflict and international criminal law. He is the author of Autonomous Weapon Systems and the Law of Armed Conflict (Cambridg…
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Nov 23, 2020
LFW Explainer: Brereton Report into alleged Australian war crimes with Eve Massingham and Rain Liivoja
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie is joined by Dr Eve Massingham and Associate Professor Rain Liivoja to grapple with the findings of the Brereton Report. The report is shocking: it found credible evidence of 39 murders of civilians and prisoners by, or on the instructions of, members of the Australian special forces which were then covered up.
Simon, Eve and Rain talk about the context of the Report and the allegations, and the potential consequences for the individuals who allegedly carried out these acts. They explain what war crimes are and how they differ from domestic crimes, the concept of command responsibility, and what the sentence for any conviction might be. They also how the Australian government might respond to the wrongdoing and ensure the Afghan victims receive justice.
Rain Liivoja is an Associate Professor at The University of Queensland Law School, where he leads the Law and the Future of War research group. Rain also holds the title of Adjunct Professor of Inter…
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Nov 18, 2020
Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty and Australia - Anna Hood and Monique Cormier
In this episode Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Dr Anna Hood and Dr Monique Cormier to discuss the attempt to ban the most destructive weapons in the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. They talk about how the treaty works, who has signed up, and the value of the treaty given that no nuclear weapon states have signed up. They also explore its history, and how it connects to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australia did not participate in the negotiations for the Nuclear Ban Treaty and has not become a State party. They discuss why the rationale that has been given for this refusal, and explain what is meant by the "nuclear umbrella" and "extended nuclear deterrence," and how it relates to the joint military facility at Pine Gap and the ANZUS treaty.
Dr Anna Hood is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland. Anna is a public international lawyer. She has a BA/LLB (hons) from the University of Melbourne, an LLM (International Legal Studies) from NYU and a PhD from the University of Me…
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Nov 4, 2020
The Basics of the Weapons Law in Armed Conflict - Eve Massingham
In this episode, Isabelle Peart talks with Dr Eve Massingham about the operation of weapons law in armed conflict. They talk about the definition of a 'weapon', and how international law regulates them in two ways: prohibitions on specific weapons, and general prohibitions covering weapons that have certain effects. They also talk about the role that the idea of 'humanity' plays in the law of war, .
Dr Eve Massingham is a Senior Research Fellow with the School of Law, The University of Queensland. Eve's current research focuses on the diverse ways in which the law constrains or enables autonomous functions of military platforms, systems and weapons. She is the co-editor of Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law (Routledge, 2020) and she has published a number of book chapters and journal articles in the fields of international humanitarian law and international law and the use of force.
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Oct 23, 2020
The Law of Armed Conflict and New Technology - Rain Liivoja
In this episode, Dr Simon McKenzie talks with Associate Professor Rain Liivoja on how the law of armed conflict deals with new technology. The conversation includes an overview of how international law regulates war and the role of pragmatism in the development of this law. They discuss some of the key points in the history of the law of armed conflict and some contemporary challenges, including autonomy in weapons, human enhancement and cyber operations.
Rain Liivoja is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland Law School, where he leads the Law and the Future of War research group. Rain also holds the title of Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki, where he is affiliated with the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights.
Links to further reading:
* Rain Liivoja, 'Technological change and the evolution of the law of war' (2016) 97 International Review of the Red Cross 900, 1157-1177.
* Martin van Creveld, Technolo…
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