Dr Michael Raska is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Military Transformations Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His research interests focus on defence and military innovation, particularly how key nation-states strive to maintain or prolong margins of military-technological superiority through defence innovation; the effects of emerging technologies such as AI on force planning and future warfighting concepts; and open source-based intelligence assessments on emerging threats such as next-generation hybrid conflicts and digital warfare.

He is the author of Military Innovation and Small States: Creating Reverse Asymmetry (Routledge, 2016), co-editor of the AI Wave in Defence Innovation: Assessing Military AI Strategies, Capabilities, and Trajectories (Routledge, 2023); Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Security Challenges, Emerging Technologies, and Military Implications (Routledge, 2022), and Security, Strategy and Military Change in the 21st Century Cross-Regional Perspectives (Routledge, 2015).  He has published in journals such as the Journal of Strategic Studies, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Prism – Journal of Complex Operations, Air Force Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, Korea Journal of Defense Analysis, Pointer-Journal of Singapore Armed Forces, and Sirius – Journal of Strategic Analyses.

His academic contributions also include chapters in edited volumes in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of Defence Studies; European Union Institute for Security Studies; Center for New American Security; Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California San Diego; Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College; Swedish Defence University; National Institute for Defense Studies Japan, Defense AI Observatory at the at the Helmut Schmidt University of the Bundeswehr, Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. His commentaries and op-eds have been published by the Defense News, The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, The National Interest, Lowy Interpreter, ASPI Strategist, Asia Times, RUSI Newsbrief, RSIS Commentaries, and newspapers including the Straits Times, Korea Herald, The Statesman, and others.

Dr Raska has previously taught courses and seminars at the SAF Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. His recent teaching experiences include visiting fellowships at the Australian Defence College, and invited lectures, seminars, and briefings for select professional military education institutions and defence colleges in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.  In Singapore, he has contributed research and teaching for the Ministry of Defence, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Defence Science and Technology Agency, and the Digital and Intelligence Service.

He is an alumni of the Columbia / Cornell University Summer Workshop on Analysis of Military Operations and Strategy (SWAMOS 2012), the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies Workshop at Basin Harbor (2013), the Hertog Summer Study Program (2014), and the Young Strategists Forum (2017). He holds a Ph.D. from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, where he was a recipient of the President’s Graduate Fellowship.

• Theories and Debates on Defence and Military Innovation
  The diffusion of new and potentially powerful militarily relevant technologies – as well as the ability of militaries to exploit their potential – varies widely, conditioned by a range of organisational, conceptual, and operational challenges as well as varying historical path dependencies and strategic cultures. Accordingly, my research aims to develop conceptual frameworks for a comparative analysis of defence innovation trajectories, focusing on military-technological innovation that integrates conceptual paths, technological patterns, and organisational change.
• Emerging Technologies, AI, Geopolitics, and Future Conflicts
  The strategic competition for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, novel materials, and others are creating a new set of conditions for the development and application of next wave of military transformations that changes the character of warfare, particularly in East Asia. My research focuses on the relative abilities of militaries to access and leverage new and emerging critical technologies, their likely progress in doing so, and the impediments they may face, ultimately with implications for security and stability in the region.
• Cyber Conflicts and Digital Warfare
  As conflicts increasingly evolve through the cyber and information domains, the centres of gravity – the sources of state power that provide moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act – are shifting. The principal academic and policy challenge is identifying these shifts, while managing, and responding to potentially more severe, cascading, multi-level crises emanating from cyberspace to the physical and cognitive domains. In this context, my research focuses on the security challenges posed by the cyber revolution, ranging from cyber-crime to militarisation of cyberspace, to hostile information campaigns.

• Selected to provide expert testimony at the public hearing before the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, Singapore Parliament, 2018.
• Selected as a participant in the Young Strategists Forum (YSF) by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Tokyo, Japan, 2017.
• Selected as a participant in the Opinion Leaders Program by the Japan Ministry of Defense, Tokyo, Japan, 2015.
• Selected as a participant in the Hertog Summer Study Program by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, San Diego, CA, USA, 2014.
• Selected as a participant in the Summer Workshop on the Relationship between National Security and Technology in China by the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA, 2013.
• Selected as a participant in the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies Basin Harbor Teaching Seminar, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University, 2013.
• Selected as a participant in the Summer Workshop on Military Operations and Strategy (SWAMOS), Columbia / Cornell University, 2012.
• Samsung Economic Research Institute, Center for Global Cooperation, Research Analyst, 2005-2006.
• Fellow, Rothberg International School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2004
• Pacific Forum CSIS, Young Leaders Program, 2003.
• Fellow, Air Power Program, GSIS Yonsei University, 2003.

Policy Reports

• Countering the U.S. Third Offset Strategy: Russian Perspectives, Responses and Challenges

  24 January, 2017

• Confronting Cybersecurity Challenges: Israel's Evolving Cyber Defence Strategy

  08 January, 2015

• The AirSea Battle Debate and the Future of Conflict in East Asia

  01 February, 2013

Commentaries

• Mapping North Korean Cyber Strategies

  30 December, 2022

• The Future of Digital Warfare

  13 December, 2022

• Singapore Defence Technology Summit - Is the Innovation Winter Coming?

  26 June, 2019

• The SAF After Next Incarnation

  08 March, 2019

• CO18105 | Singapore’s Next Frontier: In Search of Defence Innovation

  25 June, 2018

• CO18071 | Cross-Domain Coercion: Contours of East Asia’s Future Conflicts

  24 April, 2018

• CO17205 | North Korea Threat and Asian Markets: A Paradox?

  01 November, 2017

• CO17165 | Strategic Contours of China’s Arms Exports

  11 September, 2017

• CO17102 | 4G SAF: Creating New Advantages

  24 May, 2017

• CO16223 | China's Quantum Satellite Experiments: Strategic and Military Implications

  05 September, 2016

• CO16156 | Cyber Conflicts and Singapore’s ‘Total Defence’ Strategy

  23 June, 2016

• CO16093 | Tailored Deterrence: Influencing North Korean Decision-Making

  22 April, 2016

• CO16032 | The Real Star Wars: Improving Satellite Defences

  11 February, 2016

• CO15262 | Hybrid Warfare with Chinese Characteristics

  02 December, 2015

• C015172 | Cyber-Enabled Hybrid Conflicts in East Asia

  17 August, 2015

• CO15091 | Russia’s Concept of Hybrid Wars: Implications for Small States

  14 April, 2015

• CO15045 | Decoding China’s Cyber Warfare Strategies

  04 March, 2015

• CO14229 | Back to the Future: China’s Defence Industry Innovation Paths

  19 November, 2014

• CO14192 | Building a Cyber Iron Dome: Israel’s Cyber Defensive Envelope

  02 October, 2014

• CO14130 | Toward Stealth and Sea Denial: Submarine Modernization in East Asia

  07 July, 2014

• CO14030 | SINGAPORE AIRSHOW: China’s Aviation Industry on the Horizon?

  13 February, 2014

• CO14026 | SINGAPORE AIRSHOW: East Asia’s Changing Security Dynamics: The Role of Airpower

  11 February, 2014

• CO14008 | Rethinking Asia-Europe Security Cooperation

  15 January, 2014

• CO13163 | China's [Secret] Civil-Military Megaprojects

  02 September, 2013

• CO13119 | Information Warfare 3.0: Weapons of Mass Effectiveness

  28 June, 2013

• CO13101 | Australia's Evolving 'Smart Power' Strategy

  28 May, 2013

• CO13052 | South Korea's Security Predicaments: Preparing for 'Hybrid Conflict'

  02 April, 2013

• CO13013 | Submarine Trends in Asia Pacific: Air-Independent Propulsion A Game Changer?

  24 January, 2013

• CO12219 | Creating Reverse Asymmetry: Patterns of IDF's Military Innovation

  05 December, 2012

• CO12194 | China's Defence Aviation Industry: Searching for Innovation

  17 October, 2012

• CO12158 | Decoding the Air-Sea Battle Concept: Operational Consequences and Allied Concerns

  23 August, 2012

• CO12105 | Ascertaining China’s Strategy for the Korean Peninsula: Implications for the U.S.-ROK Alliance

  20 June, 2012

• CO12039 | Iran’s Nuclear Conundrum: Israel’s Strategic Options

  12 March, 2012

• CO12031 | From Copier to Innovator? China’s Ballistic Missile Modernisation

  21 February, 2012

Commemorative / Event Reports

• Future Conflicts - Lessons Learned from Ukraine

  25 January, 2023

IDSS Paper

• IP23007 | The Russia-Ukraine War: Lessons for Northeast Asia

  12 January, 2023

• IP22010 | The Contours of Emerging Technologies and Future Warfare

  22 February, 2022

Authored Books

• Military Innovation in Small States: Creating a Reverse Asymmetry. : Routledge, 2015
• Creating Reverse Asymmetry: Military Innovation in Small States (London: Routledge, 2015 Forthcoming).

Journal Articles

• “Chinese and Russian Military Modernization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution” (with Richard A. Bitzinger) in SIRIUS - Journal of Strategic Analysis, 2022. p.303-317
• “The Sixth RMA Wave: Disruption in Military Affairs?” in Journal of Strategic Studies, 2020
• “North Korea’s Evolving Cyber Strategies: Continuity and Change” in SIRIUS – Zeitschrift für Strategische Analysen, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2020, pp. 144-158
• “Strategic Contours of China’s Arms Transfers” (with Richard Bitzinger) in Strategic Studies Quarterly, 14, 1, 2020. pp. 91-116
• “Strategic Competition for Emerging Military Technologies: Comparative Paths and Patterns” in PRISM, 8, 3, 2020, 64-81
• “Strategic Competition and Future Conflicts in the Indo-Pacific Region” in The Air Force Journal of Indo–Pacific Affairs , Vol. 2, No. 2, 2019, pp. 83-97
• “Cybersecurity in Southeast Asia” (with Benjamin Ang) in Asia Centre, 2018. 1-9
• “RMA Diffusion Paths and Patterns in South Korea’s Military Modernization,” Korean Journal of Defense Analysis 23, no. 3 (2011): 369-385.
• “Five Waves of RMA Theory,” Pointer - Journal of Singapore Armed Forces 36, no.3 (2011): 1-12
• “Beyond the Bomb in the Basement: Israel’s Nuclear Predicament & Policy Options,” The Asian Journal of Public Affairs 1, no.2 (2011):22-33.
• “The Concept of Reverse Asymmetry: Israel’s Military Innovation,” RUSI Newsbrief 33, no.1 (2013).
• “The Air-Sea Battle Debate and the Future of Conflict in East Asia,” RUSI Newsbrief 32, no.6 (2012).
• “Locating China’s Place in the Global Defense Economy” (with Michael Raska, et.al.), in Forging China’s Military Might: A New Framework for Assessing Innovation (Tai Ming Cheung, ed.), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014

Edited Books / Special Issues

• The AI Wave in Defence Innovation Assessing Military Artificial Intelligence Strategies, Capabilities, and Trajectories (with Richard Bitzinger), Eds. Singapore: Routledge, 2023
• Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Security Challenges, Emerging Technologies, and Military Implications (with Katarzyna Zysk, and Ian Bowers), Eds. Singapore: Routledge, 2022
• Security, Strategy and Military Change in the 21st Century: Cross-Regional Perspectives (with Jo Inge Bekkevold, and Ian Bowers), Eds. : Routledge, 2015

Chapters in Edited Books

• “The ‘AI Wave’ in Space Operations: Implications for Future Warfare” (with Malcolm Davis) in Saadia M. Pekkanen and P.J. Blount, The Oxford Handbook of Space Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024, Page to be updated
• “North Korea’s Evolving Cyber Strategies: Continuity and Change” in Michael Raska, North Korea’s Evolving Cyber Strategies: Continuity and Change. United States: Rowman and Littlefield, 2023, p173-200.
• “North Korea’s Evolving Cyber Strategies and Operations: Toward Weapons of Mass Effectiveness” in Scott A. Snyder, Kyung-Ae Park, North Korea’s Foreign Policy: The Kim Jong-un Regime in a Hostile World. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022, p.173-200
• “Chinese and Russian Military Modernization and the 4IR” (with Richard A. Bitzinger) in Sarah Kirchberger, Svenja Sinjen, and Nils Wörmer, Russia-China Relations: Emerging Alliance or Eternal Rivals?. Switzerland: Springer Cham, 2022, p.121-140
• “The AI Wave in Military Affairs: Enablers and Constraints” in The National Institute for Defense Studies (No specific individual(s) identified), Technological Innovation and Security: The Impact on the Strategic Environment in East Asia. Tokyo: The National Institute for Defense Studies, 2022, p.89-101
• “Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution” in Michael Raska, Katarzyna Zysk, Ian Bowers, Defence Innovation and the 4th Industrial Revolution. New York: Routledge, 2022, p1-202
• “China’s Political Warfare in Taiwan: Strategies, Methods, and Global Implication” (with Gulizar Haciyakupoglu) in M. Weissmann, N. Nilsson, P. Thunholm and B. Palmertz (eds.) , Hybrid Warfare: Security and Asymmetric Conflict in International Relations. London, United Kingdom: I.B. Tauris, 2021, Chp 12
• “China as an Arms Exporter: The Strategic Contours of China’s Arms Transfers” (with Richard Bitzinger) in Laurence Lustgarten (Ed.), Law and the Arms Trade Weapons, Blood and Rules. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing, 2020, pp. 323-342
• Michael Raska, "South Korea's Military-Innovation Trajectories," In: Cronin, Patrick (ed.), Breakthrough on the Peninsula: Third Offset Strategies and the Future Defense of Korea (Washington D.C.: Center for New American Security, 2016), 23-39.
• Koh, Swee Lean, Collin; Richard A. Bitzinger; Michael Raska; Kelvin Wong Ka Weng. “Locating China’s Place in the Global Defense Economy” in Tai Ming Cheung (ed.), Forging China’s Military Might: A New Framework for Assessing Innovation, pp. 169-212. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
• “Locating China’s Place in Global Defense Economy,” with Richard Bitzinger et. al., in Forging China’s Military Might: A New Framework for Assessing Innovation, ed. Tai Ming Cheung (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).
• “China’s Strategic Imprint on the Korean Peninsula: Crisis Scenarios and Implications for the US-ROK Alliance,” in Contending for the Asia-Pacific: New Dynamics in US-China Relations, eds. Mingjiang Li and Kalyan Kemburi (London: Routledge, 2014).
• “Capacity for Innovation: Technological Drivers of China’s Future Military Modernization,” with Richard Bitzinger, in The PLA in the 2025, eds. Roy Kamphausen and David Lai (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2014 Forthcoming).
• “Debating Military Innovation: Conceptual Approaches,” in Managing Military Change: Strategic Thinking, Reforms and Adaptation in a Changing Security Environment, eds. Jo Inge Bekkevold and Dahiya Rumel (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, 2014 Forthcoming).
• “SSK Submarine Modernization in East Asia: The Role of Air Independent Propulsion Systems,” in Emerging Critical Technologies and their Impact on Asia-Pacific Security, ed. Richard Bitzinger (London: Palgrave, 2014 Forthcoming).
• “China’s Military Aviation Industry: In Search of Innovation,” in The Chinese Defense Economy Policy Briefs: Sector-by-Sector Assessments and the Role of Military End Users, ed. Tai Ming Cheung (San Diego: Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, 2013)

Op-Eds

• “Everything Everywhere All at Once: The Challenge of Defence Supply Chains”, The Straits Times, 21 March 2023
• “Rethinking the AI wave in digital warfare”, East Asia Forum, 7 February 2023
• “The Seoul Drone Scare’s Message for Asia’s Military Planners”, The Straits Times, 16 January 2023
• “Rethinking Defence Planning In An Age Of Disruption”, The Straits Times, 11 October 2021
• “Could North Korea Hack Into US Elections?”, The Korea Herald, 25 September 2020
• “North Korea’s Evolving Cyber Warfare Strategy”, East Asia Forum, 24 September 2020
• “AI’s Impact on Military Power” (with Richard Bitzinger), The Straits Times, 25 June 2019
• “How will SAF Look Like after its Next Incarnation?”, Today Online, 19 March 2019
• “Singapore’s Next-Frontier Defence Innovations”, The Straits Times, 27 June 2018
• “Cybersecurity in Southeast Asia” (with Benjamin Ang), Observatoire Asie du Sud-Est , 22 May 2018
• “A Nimble 4G SAF Needs Space for Mavericks”, The Straits Times, 13 May 2017
• “How China Plans to Win the Next Great Big War In Asia”, The National Interest, 9 March 2017
• “China’s Evolving Cyber Warfare Strategies”, Asia Times, 8 March 2017
• “Strategy for Handling North Korea Nukes: Tailored Deterrence”, Asia Times, 13 January 2017
• “Challenges Ahead in Xi’s Bid to Reform China’s Military”, Asia Times, 11 January 2017
• “Rethinking Trump’s Policy Options for North Korea” (with Jana Hajzlerova), Asia Times, 21 December 2016
• “Where Quantum Satellites Fit in PLA Strategy”, The Lowy Interpreter, 8 September 2016
• “PLA Reforms: Toward Winning ‘Informationised Local Wars’”, The Lowy Interpreter, 3 February 2016
• “China and the ‘Three Warfares’”, The Diplomat, 18 December 2015
• “Revealed: The New Battleground in China’s Future Wars”, The National Interest, 10 March 2015
• “Submarine Modernization in East Asia”, The Diplomat, 14 July 2014
• “Strategic Rivalries Escalate in East Asia”, The Korea Herald, 28 April 2014
• “The Ambiguous “China Threat””, Project Syndicate, 24 November 2012
• “China on the Launch Pad”, Project Syndicate, 6 June 2012
• “Transforming South Korea’s Defence Capabilities”, East Asia Forum, 28 May 2012
• “What is China’s Strategy for North Korea?” Aljazeera, May 15, 2014.
• “Singapore’s Smart Army,” East Asia Forum, March 1, 2014.
• “East Asia’s Changing Security Dynamics and the Role of Airpower,” Defense News, February 3, 2014.
• “Time to Rethink Asia-Europe Security Cooperation?” The Korea Herald, January 19, 2014.
• “Scientific Innovation and Chinese Military Modernization,” The Diplomat, September 3, 2013.
• “Australia's Evolving 'Smart Power' Strategy,” The Jakarta Post, June 7, 2013.
• “Information Warfare on the Korean Peninsula,” ASPI Strategist, March 13, 2013.
• “Integrating Information Warfare into U.S.-ROK Defense Strategy,” The Korea Herald, March 4, 2013.
• “China’s Defense Aviation Industry: Toward Stealth Innovation?” with Alanna Krolikowski, East Asia Forum, March 11, 2013.
• “South Korea’s Changing Security Paradigm,” Project Syndicate, February 10, 2013.

• S6038: Conflicts in the Digital Age: Information and Cyberwarfare
• IR6036: International Relations of Korea: Searching For Security, Autonomy, and Independence
• S6010: The Revolution in Military Affairs and Force Transformation in the 21^st Century