In this report, SIA Intern Ms. Krystal Buckle, (written under the supervision of SIA Associate David Olney), makes a persuasive argument in favour of revisiting military-social science relations following the demise of this form of cooperation in the United States through its controversial Human Terrain System (HTS) program.

Here, Ms. Buckle makes the case that by approaching this sort of cooperation through strengthening the hand of social scientists and ethical review boards involved in this type of cooperation, this may well net both the military and social scientists useful information on engaged cultures and societies without ‘weaponising’ this information.

This report gives not only a clear and succinct appraisal of the failure of American HTS, it conceives of Australia acting to revive military-social science cooperation for the betterment of existing and future military operations other than war. The question is, is Australia’s military up to the challenge?

To read report, please click on the link below:

A Framework for Effective Relations: Social Scientists and the Military in Operations Other than War