Cyber & Information Warfare

What is Data Sovereignty and why is it important for defence
Chris Shirley MA FRGS Chris Shirley MA FRGS

What is Data Sovereignty and why is it important for defence

Most organisations assume their data is secure if it sits within national borders, but that assumption is increasingly flawed. In this article, we unpack how laws like the US CLOUD Act can reach across jurisdictions, why “data residency” is not the same as true sovereignty, and how a new layer, capability sovereignty, is emerging as AI systems begin to shape decisions as much as the data itself.

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Cognitive Warfare
Chris Shirley MA FRGS Chris Shirley MA FRGS

Cognitive Warfare

In the twenty-first century, conflict has expanded far beyond guns, borders, and physical terrain. Strategic competition increasingly targets how people think, decide, and assign trust. This shift has given rise to what military planners and scholars describe as cognitive warfare, a form of contest that operates not on the battlefield, but within the human mind.

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Mesh over Metal
Chris Shirley MA FRGS Chris Shirley MA FRGS

Mesh over Metal

For over a century, military communications were built around a simple logic: radios connect people. Orders flowed down hierarchical chains, reports flowed back up, and information moved along predefined paths. This model shaped the way forces organised themselves on the battlefield.

But now, that paradigm is now under sustained pressure.

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