The Assessment argues that Australia will increasingly have to find its security in a world of power shifts and greater interconnectedness. The paper provides a global overview and considers such issues as US influence, warfare, the proliferation of WMD, terrorism, Iraq and the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Asian security environment, North Asia, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, national security and Australia's strategic options. It also puts forward scenarios of what the world might look like in 2050 to encourage thinking about the possible shape of a more distant world.