Australian intelligence agencies await the development of a new top-secret intelligence cloud that can track Chinese submarines and share data with its AUKUS allies.
The cloud is designed to be reciprocal with existing UK and U.S. intel-collection systems.
Although not strictly part of the original information-sharing structure of AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the United States that focuses on the Indo-Pacific region, Pillar Two justifies the policy diversion. Pillar Two of the AUKUS agreement focuses on “jointly developing advanced capabilities.”
Pillar One of the AUKUS agreement kickstarted the acquisition by Australia of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines supplied by the United States.
The move to use U.S.-supplied submarines sparked diplomatic outrage from France, to which former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had committed to a multibillion-dollar project that was later scrapped.
The shared new technology that can be explored includes electronic warfare and its cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) applications—the latter of which is evolving rapidly.
Expediency in the face of deploying the emerging technology is viewed as paramount, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to establish a strategic foothold in the Indo-Pacific.
“We are working very hard on a top-secret cloud initiative where we’re hoping that we will be in a position to take that initiative forward,” Andrew Shearer, Australia’s director-general of national intelligence, said at a recent think-tank event.
Mr. Shearer said that while the cloud system will help Australia learn from its strategic partners, a uniform approach and transparency are vital so that advances in AI-influenced data are shared between AUKUS partners.
“I’m the one who has to look our prime minister in the eye and say, ‘I understand the data and the analytical technique that’s produced this assessment,'” said Mr. Shearer, noting that he wanted to avoid a situation whereby a Five Eyes partner would “peddle over the horizon leaving the rest of us sort of in the dark.”
The move by Canberra to strengthen ties with Washington and London over what’s viewed as a growing CCP threat in the Indo-Pacific area was welcomed by the United States.
On Dec. 2, the United States announced that AUKUS partners were collaborative in their use of “common artificial intelligence algorithms” in use on surveillance aircraft.
“Every day we move closer to our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during an AUKUS news conference in California, which included Richard Marles, Australia’s minister for defence, and his British counterpart, Grant Shapps.
Mr. Shearer wasn’t drawn on a going-live date for the intelligence cloud, only saying the technology will “transform” intel-sharing between the Australian intelligence agencies and their partners.
He said the trial and error already conducted by the United States and the UK during beta testing would streamline Australia’s integration, potentially avoiding “some pitfalls.”
“I think that’s a really powerful demonstration of how we can learn from each other.”
