With terrorist networks turning toward lonewolf attacks as their choice modus operandi, homeland security forces are quickly realising that traditional top-down surveillance programmes are ill-suited to detect the subtle indicators of sporadic attacks perpetrated by legal residents with no known links with terrorist cells. This essay studies successes in commercial applications of crowdsourcing, and argues that crowdsourcing intelligence provides greater degrees of penetration and persistence in community surveillance, and is more attuned to detecting subtle signs against the local context. It then provides recommendations on building and sustaining a wide base of motivated and committed users in order to re¬fine existing nation-wide initiatives into effective intelligence crowdsourcing platforms. The effective implementation of crowdsourcing as a novel intelligence tool will not only enhance intelligence collection on lone-wolf terrorism, but also engender a stronger sense of ownership for homeland security among the citizens, and portray a tougher deterrence stance against terror networks.

In this age of technology, the trend of cyber attacks is ever increasing and, no nation is spared. Even in Singapore, it has been reported that 16 waves of targeted cyber attacks have been surfaced to the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore from April 2015 to June 2016. More recently, two waves of cyber attacks disrupted StarHub’s broadband network in October 2016. On both occasions, subscribers’ bug-infected machines turned into zombie machines that carried out distributed denial-of-service attacks on StarHub’s network. Following these attacks, security experts have warned that armies of unsecured ‘smart’ devices like web cameras could become a rising force of disruption. As Singapore embarks on the Smart Nation initiative to transform itself into the world’s fi¬rst true Smart Nation, this could potentially be a Centre of Gravity that could pose as a critical vulnerability. This essay explores this notion by fi¬rstly examining Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative. Next, it will look at Clausewitz’s Centre of Gravity concept and explore if the Information and Communications Network could become the Centre of Gravity of a ‘Smart Nation’. Finally, the essay will propose recommendations to bolster a Smart Nation’s security by adopting from Dr David Wilkes’ Survivability Onion.

The advent of hybrid warfare has raised concerns for Singapore with the potential challenges that it may bring. Being a nation surrounded by water on all sides with no natural resources, maritime trading has not only become a way to maintain sustenance, but a key contributor to Singapore’s economy. An attack on Singapore’s maritime sector would not only affect the way of life, but undermine the shipping and erode confi¬dence in Singapore as a transhipment hub. While the SAF is already well-prepared against a conventional threat, a hybrid threat could inflict equal or even more damage than any conventional means and, at a lower cost to the adversary. This essay discusses the vulnerabilities in Singapore’s maritime domain, and how an aggressor could exploit this to their gain through hybrid means, evading the SAF’s conventional defence methods. The rationale behind a potential aggressor attacking Singapore through the maritime domain is also discussed, providing examples as to how a sabotage could affect the populace in Singapore. Various hybrid methods were also discussed while explaining the ineffectiveness of responding through conventional means to a hybrid threat. Lastly, the author provides recommendations on how the SAF can augment the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) to better combat a hybrid threat.

According to the author, with the high social media penetration rate in Singapore, it would be bene¬ficial if a model to engage military personnel through the Social Media could be promulgated to guide commanders, human resource managers and communication practitioners. This essay will combine a military retention framework derived from civilian employee retention models and gaps in existing military employee retention frameworks, applying it to Social Media strategies to devise a Social Media engagement model to propose an enhancement to military employee retention in the SAF. The POWERS framework proposed, together with a pilot study with six respondents, would serve to provide the ¬first step towards an effective employee retention model for the SAF.

The SAF has undoubtedly served its purpose in deterring potential adversaries for the past five decades. This has also allowed Singapore to gain the con¬fidence of foreign nations, resulting in continued economic growth. The participation of the SAF in multinational operations has also forged partnerships with countries, which promoted the growth of defence diplomacy. All this were attributed to Singapore’s ability to react to the everchanging strategic landscape thus far. This essay analyses the emerging trends from the three domains—global, regional and domestic—and the potential challenges that may dull the SAF’s edge. With the rise of hybrid warfare, geopolitical tensions, alongside a shrinking population, the author discusses how the aforementioned factors could impact Singapore, and offer recommendations on how the SAF can remain relevant to national defence as well as to act as a stabilising anchor for Singapore.

In this essay, the author explores how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been transformed from a simple daily equipment that everyone uses, to a deadly weapon that is utilised by both military and terrorists. According to the author, there is no single solution to deal with the threat of UAVs. Possible defence concepts such as geo-fencing, high energy lasers and jamming may still not succeed. These are single solutions where a full breach would occur once that one layer was broken. The author then proposes a multi-layered approach in dealing with UAVs to provide for contingencies in the event that one layer fails. This fi¬ve layer defence model comprise the concepts of Prevention, Deterrence, Denial, Detection and destruction/Interruption. With this model, the author discusses how Singapore can prevent attacks from UAVs and plan a counterattack against the aggressor.