Professor John Blaxland

PhD (War Studies), MA (History), BA (Hons 1), psc (RT)
Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
College of Asia & the Pacific
T: @JohnBlaxland1

Research interests

Intelligence, Cyber and Security

Australian Military History and Strategy 

Military Operations (including Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan)

International Relations, on Asia Pacific security affairs, notably South-east Asia/ASEAN (Thailand, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Indonesia, South China Sea) and North America, (Canada and the United States)

Defence Studies

Australian Flag

Biography

John Blaxland is Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and Official Historian of the Australian Signals Directorate, for which he has been commissioned to write a two-volume history. Prior to this appointment he was Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.

John is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, and the first Australian recipient of a US Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative grant. He holds a PhD in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada, an MA in History from ANU and a BA (Hons 1) from UNSW. He is a graduate of the Royal Thai Army Command & Staff College (dux, foreign students) and the Royal Military College, Duntroon (Blamey Scholar). 

He has extensive experience in the intelligence community including as the principal intelligence staff officer (S2) for the Australian infantry brigade deployed to East Timor in September 1999, as an intelligence exchange officer in Washington DC, and as Director Joint Intelligence Operations (J2), at Headquarters Joint Operations Command. In addition he was Australia’s Defence Attaché to Thailand and Myanmar.

At ANU, he teaches undergraduate students “Honeypots and Overcoats: Australian Intelligence in the World”; and "Southeast Asia's Security Choices" New Colombo Plan Mobility Course.

His publications include: In from the Cold: Reflections on Australia's Korean War, 1950-1953 (ANU Press, 2020); A Geostrategic SWOT Analysis for Australia (SDSC, 2019); Tipping The Balance in Southeast Asia? Thailand, the United States and China (SDSC, 2017); The Secret Cold War: The Official History of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation 1975-1989 (Allen & Unwin, 2016); East Timor Intervention (MUP, 2015); The Protest Years (Allen & Unwin, 2015): The Australian Army From Whitlam to Howard (CUP, 2014); Strategic Cousins (MQUP, 2006); Revisiting Counterinsurgency (LWSC, 2006); Information era Manoeuvre (LWSC, 2003); Signals: Swift and Sure (Signals Assoc., 1998); and Organising an Army: The Australian Experience 1957-1965 (SDSC, 1989).

Forthcoming publications include "Niche Wars: Australia in Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001 to 2014" (ANU Press), and "The US-Thai Alliance and Asian International Relations: History, Memory and Future Developments" (Routledge)

Publications

Projects and Grants

Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.

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Updated:  10 July 2020 / Responsible Officer:  Director (Research Services Division) / Page Contact:  Researchers