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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

US, Japan to Launch New Defense Research and Development Agreement

Friday, January 7, 2022

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-japan-to-launch-new-defense-research-and-development-agreement-/6386408.html

FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken takes part in a trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea on the sidelines of the G-7 foreign ministers meeting in London, Britain, May 5, 2021.

WASHINGTON/TOKYO —
The United States and Japan will sign a new defense collaboration deal to counter emerging defense threats, including hypersonic and space-based capabilities, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.

Foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Japan met virtually to discuss stepping up security ties amid a focus on Japan's role as tensions rise over Taiwan and North Korean missile threats continue.

Blinken said the U.S.-Japan alliance "must not only strengthen the tools we have, but also develop new ones," citing Russia's military buildup against Ukraine, Beijing's "provocative" actions over Taiwan and North Korea's latest missile launch.

North Korea fired a "hypersonic missile" this week that successfully hit a target, its state news agency said.

Russia, China and the United States are also racing to build hypersonic weapons whose extreme speed and maneuverability make them hard to spot and block with interceptor missiles.

"We're launching a new research and development agreement that will make it easier for our scientists, for our engineers and program managers to collaborate on emerging defense related issues, from countering hypersonic threats to advancing space-based capabilities," Blinken said at the opening of the meeting.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the meeting would help lay down a framework for the future of the security alliance, including evolving missions to "reflect Japan's growing ability to contribute to regional peace and stability."

As its neighboring countries are testing hypersonic missiles, Japan has been working on electromagnetic "railgun" technology to target those missiles.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government last month approved record defense spending, with a 10th straight annual increase in 2022.

Top Japanese officials have said that developing enemy base strike capabilities is an option to consider to boost defense, but some experts say such a move might hit hurdles such as a streak of pacifism in domestic politics.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told his U.S. counterparts that the international community faces challenges including "unilateral corrosive attempts to change the status quo, abusive use of unfair pressure and the expanding authoritarian regimes."

The two nations will also sign a new five-year agreement covering the continued basing of U.S. troops in Japan, Blinken said, in a deal where Japan has said it agreed to pay $9.3 billion to share the upkeep of U.S. forces in Japan over five years.

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