event

Reforming and Realigning the U.S.-Australia Alliance

Wed. March 5th, 2025
Live Online

As the United States and Australia face an increasingly turbulent world, they should have an unparalleled opportunity to fashion a broader, stronger, and multilayered partnership. The rise of Chinese power, economic uncertainty, and technological disruption make strengthening this alliance an urgent priority. But despite a shared history and broad bipartisan support for the alliance in both countries, critical deficiencies in current defense strategies and operational coordination must be remedied. 

Amid the prospect of high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific, can Canberra and Washington align their regional defense strategies to effectively advance shared military objectives? How might the alliance balance sovereignty concerns in Australia and strategic risk thresholds with the need to combine certain strategies and plans? What operational roles can each partner take on? And can this alliance innovate and lead multinational joint deterrence forces?

Authors of the Carnegie Asia Program’s recent volume, Alliance Future: Rewiring Australia and the United States, will discuss the future of the alliance, opportunities for partnership, and strategies to address potential pitfalls.

DefenseSecurityMilitaryIndo-PacificAustraliaUnited States
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Evan A. Feigenbaum

Vice President for Studies, Acting Director, Carnegie China

Evan A. Feigenbaum is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees its work in Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, and Singapore on a dynamic region encompassing both East Asia and South Asia. He served twice as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and advised two Secretaries of State and a former Treasury Secretary on Asia.

Stephan Frühling

Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of The Australian National University

Stephan Frühling teaches and researches at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of The Australian National University and has widely published on Australian defense policy, defense planning, and strategy. He was the acting head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and a member of the Australian Government’s External Panel of Experts on the development of the 2016 Defence White Paper.

Stacie Pettyjohn

Senior Fellow and Director, Defense Program, Center for a New American Security

Stacie Pettyjohn is a senior fellow and director of the defense program at Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Her areas of expertise include defense strategy, posture, force planning, the defense budget, and wargaming.

Courtney Stewart

Senior Managing Consultant, OCRT

Courtney Stewart is a senior managing consultant at OCRT in Canberra, Australia. She has over twenty years of experience in government, industry, and think tanks in the areas of national security and deterrence in the United States, Australia, and the UK. Between 2015 and 2018, Courtney served as the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Policy Exchange Officer to the Australian DoD Strategic Policy Division.

Matthew Sussex

Associate Professor (Adjunct), Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University

Matthew Sussex is an associate professor (adjunct) at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University; a fellow at the Institute for Regional Security (IFRS); visiting fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University (ANU); and a visiting fellow at the Centre for European Studies, ANU. He has previously been a senior fellow at the Australian Defence College.

Peter Tesch

Former Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Industry for the Australian Government Department of Defence (2019-2022)

Peter Tesch was deputy secretary for strategy, policy, and industry in Australia’s Department of Defence from 2019 to 2022. During his thirty-two-year career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he was ambassador to the Russian Federation (2016–19), ambassador to Germany (2009–13), head of the International Security Division (2014–15), and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (2002–05).