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Dr John Blaxland, Colonel (Ret’d), is Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies in the Strategic and Defense Studies Centre (SDSC), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University (ANU) and Director of the ANU North America Liaison Office. He is also a member of the ANU Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions (ICEDS). A former Australian military intelligence officer, he is a trusted and highly regarded historian who has authored or co-authored over a dozen broad-ranging works on international, military and security affairs. He is also an occasional media commentator.
He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He is also the first Australian recipient of a US Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative grant (2015-18). Prior to academia, Blaxland was a military intelligence officer, serving as Chief Intelligence Staff Officer (J2) at HQ Joint Operations Command, and defense attaché to Thailand and Myanmar. He was also the brigade intelligence officer (S2) for the land component of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET). He was posted as an exchange officer at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington DC (including for a deployment with 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit on USS Boxer) and was awarded a U.S. Meritorious Service Medal for his contribution.
Author of numerous books and monographs, Blaxland won the US Association of Former Intelligence Officers Best Foreign Intelligence Book Award for The Secret Cold War in 2018, along with Dr Rhys Crawley. At ANU he has served as Head of SDSC and Director of the ANU Southeast Asia Institute. He has taught "Southeast Asian Security Studies" and “Honeypots and Overcoats: Australian Intelligence in the World” and supervised PhD students.