The success of Australia’s nuclear submarine program will depend on whether workforce, education and migration policy can keep pace with defence ambition. AUKUS, especially its submarine element, Pillar One, has become much more than a defence capability program. If AUKUS is genuinely a national endeavour, then its success will depend as much on education, migration and workforce policy as it does on defence planning. His observation highlights a persistent misconception that Pillar One is an issue of state industry policy rather than a national industrial undertaking. But the same discipline should now extend to the Negative Vetting tiers, where most of the AUKUS workforce will sit.