Ben Scott

Director, Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order Project
Areas of expertise

Australian national security policy; International rules and norms; US foreign policy; the Middle East

Ben Scott
Biography
Publications

Ben Scott is a Senior Advisor at the Australian National University’s National Security College. He has more than 25 years’ experience in diplomacy, think tanks, intelligence and international development. He served as the Director of the Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order Project at the Lowy Institute from 2020 to 2022, and at the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), which he represented in Washington, DC from 2016-2020.

Ben has published widely on national security decision-making, international order, US grand strategy and competition with China, cyber strategy and intelligence.

He also has extensive experience in the Middle East, as: a senior analyst at ONI; Rule of Law Adviser to Quartet Representative Tony Blair; Australian Representative to the Palestinian Authority and Third Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv. He served as a Bougainville peace monitor for six months in 1998.

Ben was a Diplomatic Fellow at the Lowy Institute in 2005 and wrote the Lowy Institute Paper, Re-imagining PNG: Culture, Democracy and Australia’s Role.

Frontier Rules: Emerging tech and challenges to the rules-based order
Interactives
Frontier Rules: Emerging tech and challenges to the rules-based order
Intensifying geopolitical competition is combining with emerging technologies to create new frontiers for statecraft and present new challenges to the rules-based order. How…
A strategy for uncertain times
A strategy for uncertain times
Is a case-by-case approach good enough for Australia to respond to the great and developing regional challenges?
How do we keep an eye on our spies?
Commentary
How do we keep an eye on our spies?
Our intelligence services have never been more important to us, and democratic governance is part of their strength. But do we need to look at this again? Originally published in…
Address by the US National Cyber Director on cyber cooperation
Speeches
Address by the US National Cyber Director on cyber cooperation
US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis addressed the Lowy Institute on the role of cyber in US strategy and the outlook for international cyber cooperation to…
Australian cyber: What’s “Redspice” for?
Australian cyber: What’s “Redspice” for?
Canberra should explain why Australia needs a larger offensive cyber capability and how it will be used.
Rules Based Audio: Ukraine and the future of the rules based order
Podcasts
Rules Based Audio: Ukraine and the future of the rules based order
In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Ben Scott discusses the war in Ukraine and international law with Professor Fleur Johns and Dr Eve Massingham.
We need to stop talking about the grey zone
We need to stop talking about the grey zone
And instead learn more about the many measures short of war.
Exploit Xi and Putin mutual distrust to limit China-Russia partnership
Commentary
Exploit Xi and Putin mutual distrust to limit China-Russia partnership
Originally published in The Australian.
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