RUSI Newsbrief Vol. 38, No. 2

This issue of Newsbrief includes articles on suspected security intelligence leaks to Russia by Austria's far-right coalition, symbiosis of mafia and jihadists in Italy, and the use of artificial intelligence in policing, as well as articles on the US Defence budget and Saudi Arabia's Yemen agenda.

Innocent Until Predicted Guilty? Artificial Intelligence and Police Decision-Making

Alexander Babuta

The use of artificial intelligence and algorithms has the potential to enhance various aspects of criminal justice decision-making. However, these capabilities bring with them a number of complex ethical and legal considerations, which are at present quite poorly understood.

‘The Third Man’ Revisited: Security Intelligence and the Far-Right in Austria

Tessa Szyszkowitz

The far-right Freedom Party controls all security ministries in Austria’s new coalition. Should European partners be worried about security leaks to Russia?

Myths and Truths about the Mafia–Terrorism Nexus in Italy

Aurora Ganz

While it is true that Italy has not, as of yet, experienced a large-scale terror attack like those seen in other parts of Europe, this is likely not the consequence of collusion between Italian mafias and jihadist cells as some have claimed.

Six Months into the Fiscal Year and the US Department of Defense Might get its Budget

Trevor Taylor

With the threat (or realisation) of a budget negotiation-related government shutdown becoming an almost annual spectacle in Washington, it is no small miracle that the Department of Defense is able to maintain the world’s premier armed forces with such fiscal uncertainty.

Anything but Strait-Forward: The Saudi Agenda in Yemen

R T Howard

Saudi Arabia’s investment in the war in Yemen may have more to do with pipelines and maintaining control of the region’s shipping lanes than previously thought.