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.

Japan Approves Record $52 Billion Military Budget to Counter China

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Japan’s government on Monday approved a record defense budget of 5.34 trillion yen ($51.6 billion) for 2021 as part of an effort to counter “security challenges posed by China,” Japanese newspaper the Mainichi reported on December 21.

The newly expanded military budget, up 0.5 percent from 2020, allots $323 million to introduce longer-range missiles in Japan “capable of attacking enemy vessels from outside their firing range.”

Tokyo on December 18 said it would develop new “stand-off” anti-ship missiles capable of targeting warships at greater distances around its southwestern Okinawa islands, including near the disputed Senkaku islets in the East China Sea also claimed by Beijing.

“The security environment around our southwestern islands has become harsh. We have to respond to that in an appropriate way,” Japanese Minister of Defense Kishi Nobuo said at a press briefing last Friday.

Tokyo’s announcement of the plan to develop longer-range missiles marked Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s first major defense policy decision since he was elected to office in September. The missile plan and the budget to back it on Monday come as Japan’s military continues to acquire “air-launched missiles that could be used to hit missile sites in North Korea” and considers adding “strike weapons such as cruise missiles that could reach ground targets in China” to its artillery, Reuters noted at the time.

Japan has grown concerned in recent months over increased Chinese activity in the East China Sea, including repeated incursions into waters around the disputed Senkakus.

Kishi on December 14 said he had “agreed with [his] Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe to seek the early establishment of a hotline between their officials” to mediate future disputes over the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as the Diaoyus. The two defense ministers discussed the matter during a video conference.

“I strongly requested that no actions be taken that might escalate the situation,” Kishi told reporters after the virtual meeting, according to Kyodo News. Kishi added that “he urged China to refrain from any ‘attempts to unilaterally change the status quo on the back of its might.'”

Tokyo and Beijing “launched a communication mechanism between their defense authorities in 2018 to avoid accidental clashes at sea and in the air,” according to Kyodo News, but the two Asian neighbors “have made little progress” on establishing a hotline since then.

Japan’s new defense budget hit a record high on Monday “for the seventh consecutive year as the country beefs up its ability to also deal with North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats,” according to the Mainichi.

The 2021 military budget directs $706 million toward building a new fighter jet “expected to cost around $40 billion and be ready in the 2030s,” Reuters reported on Monday. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., assisted by the Amerian Lockheed Martin Corp., will lead the development of the plane, which is Japan’s first new fighter jet in three decades.

Photo: DAVID MAREUIL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Link: Japan Approves Record $52 Billion Military Budget to Counter China (breitbart.com)

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