Hugh White is always provocative, and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to criticising current defence policy.
In 1995, he was appointed Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence in the Department of Defence. During that time he was involved in the preparation of the 2000 Defence White Paper, entitled Our Future Defence Forces, published by the Howard Government.
He has since admitted that many of the assumptions that paper was based on, particularly as they apply to the rise of China, and the balkanisation of the United States, no longer hold.
Given that the US has shown us that it has the capacity to "elect" dangerously incompetent and unstable Presidents, we may at some stage be on our own when it comes to defence.
In the light of that recent history, and AUKUS, this is worth watching.
The essay* he refers to is also a good read if you can get hold of it.
*Hugh White, Without America, in Quarterly Essays Issue 68 2017
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