Dr John Blaxland is Director of the ANU North America Liaison Office and Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific at the  Australian National University (ANU).

He is the first Australian recipient of a US Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative grant (2015-18). He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He is a former military intelligence officer and has previously been a Chief Intelligence Staff Officer (J2) at HQ Joint Operations Command, defence 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. At ANU he has served as Head of SDSC and Director of the ANU Southeast Asia Institute, and he continues to teach “Honeypots and Overcoats: Australian Intelligence in the World” and supervise several PhD students.

John is an Australian citizen, born in Chile. He went to school at Barker College, Sydney. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon (Blamey Scholar), the University of New South Wales (BA Hons. 1), the ANU (MA), the Royal Thai Army Command and Staff College (diploma), and the Royal Military College of Canada (PhD, War Studies).

His books and monographs include:

•  Adapting to Poly-Crisis: A Proposed National Security Strategy for Australia, RSL Defence and National Security Committee - Occasional Paper No. 1, May 2024.
• Revealing Secrets: An Unofficial History of Australian Signals Intelligence and the Advent of Cyber (UNSW Press, 2023), 
• The US-Thai Alliance and Asian International Relations, (Routledge, 2021),
• Niche Wars: Australia in Afghanistan and Iraq (ANU Press, 2020),
• In From the Cold: Reflections on Australia’s Korean War, 1950-1953, (ANU Press, 2020),
• A Geostrategic SWOT Analysis for Australia (SDSC, ANU, 2019),
• Tipping the Balance in Southeast Asia (CSIS & SDSC, ANU, 2017)
• MANIS: Time for a new forum to sweeten regional cooperation (SDSC, ANU, 2016),
• The Secret Cold War: the official history of ASIO, Vol. III (Allen & Unwin, 2016),
• The Protest Years: the official history of ASIO, Vol., II (Allen & Unwin, 2015),
• East Timor Intervention: a retrospective on INTERFET: (MUP, 2015),
• The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard (CUP, 2014),
• Strategic Cousins: Australian and Canadian Expeditionary Forces and the British and American Empires (MQUP, 2006),
• Revisiting Counterinsurgency: A Manoeuvrist Response to the ‘War on Terror’ for the Australian Army (Duntroon, Land Warfare Studies Centre, WP No. 131, 2006),
• Information Era Manoeuvre: The Australian Led Mission to East Timor (LWSC WP No. 118, 2002),
• Signals: Swift and Sure (Signals Committee, 1998), &
• Organising an Army: The Australian Experience 1957-1965 (SDSC, ANU, 1989).

John has also published articles and chapters in edited works on how wars end,  drones, leadership, intelligence, Second World War intelligence arrangements, Australian Army infantry, US-Australia security ties, Australia-Canada military relations, Defence Cooperation in Asia and Southeast Asian security.

In recent years he has lectured regularly at the ANU National Security College (on the Geostrategic SWOT Analysis for Australia) and Australian Defence College (including the Defence and Strategic Studies Course, Command and Staff Course, Australian Defence Force Academy and Royal Military College, Duntroon). He is a member of the Australian Army Journal editorial board and the Returned and Services League Defence and National Security Committee. 

He has also addressed conferences and workshops on security in Australia (RUSI, U3A, Army Research Centre, Seapower Conference, The Sydney Institute, etc) Malaysia, Korea, Thailand (Thammasat, Chulalongkorn and military academies), the Philippines, Taiwan, UK (Kings College London), the USA (Minerva, CSIS, East West Centre, Harvard Asia Center, etc) and Canada and offers commentary with The Australian Institute of International Affairs, The Guardian, The Age & Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, The Australian, The New York Times, Bangkok Post, The Straits Times, The Jakarta Post, Asia Times, Australian Foreign Affairs, The Conversation, The Saturday Paper, Lowy Interpreter, The Mandarin, East Asia Forum, SCMP, World Politics Review, The Diplomat, Policy Forum, The RAND Blog, Voices of War, Security Challenges, The Australian Army Journal, Defence Connect, The Redline Podcast, Spycast Podcast, the Journal of Global Strategic Studies and the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.

He also occasionally offers comments on television and radio including on the ABC, BBC, Sixty Minutes, CNN, SkyNews, TRT World, Arirang, WION, France24 and CNA.

Along the way, John has been an advocate for a new Reconciliation Flag for Australia in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and more recently.

Some of his recent articles & appearances include:

• 'Australia can't afford an AUKUS bout face: 5 things the critics are getting wrong' in The Conversation,  September 14, 2024
• 'A Second suitable piece of real estate', Lowy Interpreter, July 17, 2024
• 'Podcast: A growing chorus calls for a national security strategy, with ANU's Professor John Blaxland' at Defence Connect, 28 June 2024.
• ‘Democracy Sausage: Crises going nuclear’, ANU Reporter,  26 June 2024
• 'With Greg Jennett on Afternoon Briefing on Assange and Adapting to Poly-crisis', Afternoon Briefing, ABC TV, 25 June 2024
• 'National security is getting more complex and Australia needs a plan', Policy Brief, Australian National University, 14 June 2024. 
• 'On South China Sea Second Thomas Shoal Dispute', BBC World News, 10 June 2024 
• 'Revealing Secrets About Deep Australia-UK-US Intelligence Connections', in Georgetown Journal of International Affairs,  May 17, 2024.
• 'Australian Regional Engagement; A Historical and Strategic Perspective', The Australian Army Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2024.
• 'Codebreaking and Codemaking Down Under', Spycast, International Spy Museum, May, 2024.
• 'Southeast Asia and the Poly-Crisis: A View from Australia', Harvard Asia Center,  2 April 2024. 
• 'Indonesia's Defence Dilema' in The Redline Podcast,  April 15, 2024.
• 'Canada's Defence Challenges in the Indo-Pacific: A View from Down Under', Policy Insights PIF Brief,  No. 1, Vol. 2, April 2024.
• 'Why the USA Might Ban China's Tik Tok', Sixty Minutes, March 2024.
• 'Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland', Spycast with Andrew Hammond, January 2024.
• 'Is Japan Joining AUKUS? Not formally - its cooperation will remain limited for now' in The Conversation, April 9, 2024.
• ‘Will the AUKUS deal survive in the event of a Trump presidency? All signs point to yes’ in The Conversation, March 18, 2024.
• ‘Craig Stockings’ fiery official history of the East Timor crisis’ Australian Journal of International Affairs, 11 April 2023.
• ‘The much anticipated defence review is here. So what does it say, and what does it mean for Australia?’ The Conversation, 24 April 2023.
• ‘These are the ten points of tension Australia wants to reconcile with its defence strategic review’, The Guardian, 24 April 2023.
• ‘Shinzo Abe: Remembering the Architect of the Indo-Pacific Strategy’, Australian Outlook, AIIA, 25 July 2022.
• ‘Albanese’s Domestic Agenda Could Reshape Australia’s Regional Relations’, World Politics Review, 26 May 2022.
• It’s time for an Australian national and community service scheme’ , Policy Forum, 12 May 2022.
• ‘Australia’s Indo-Pacific Engagement: Fear, Honour and Interests’, The Diplomat, 5 May 2022.
• ‘Fear, honour and interests: cooperation, competition and contestation and Australia’s engagement in regional affairs’, Melbourne Asia Review, 9, 2022.
• ‘Australia Can’t Get By on Nuclear Subs Alone’, World Politics Review, 21 September, 2021.
• ‘Imagining Sweeter Australia-Indonesia relations’, Journal of Global Strategic Studies, 1, No. 1, June 2021.
• ‘China does not want war, at least not yet.’ The Conversation, 5 May 2021.

PhDs supervised

• Greg MacCallion, National Versus Human Security: Australian and Canadian Military Interventions (MUP, 2019)
• Jessada Burinsuchat, ‘Non-Traditional Security, International Police Cooperation and the Royal Thai Police’, (ANU, January 2018)
• Sylvia Laksmi, ‘An Analysis of Government Capabilities in Countering Terrorist Financing in Indonesia’ (ANU, January 2022)
• Natalie Sambhi, ‘Guardians of Memory: The Indonesian military’s collective memory of East Timor’, (ANU, November 2023)
• Sasha Vukoja, ‘Adapting to Strategic Uncertainty: The Development of Self Reliance Within The ANZUS Alliance in Australian Defence Policy Between 1959 and 1989’ (ANU, February 2022)
• Nick Bosio, ‘An Analysis of the Relationship between Contemporary Western Military Theory, Systems Thinking, and their Key Schools of Thought’, (ANU, February 2022)

Master’s theses supervised

• Renee Kidson, ‘Army in the 21^st Century and Restructuring the Army: A Retrospective Appraisal of Australian Military Change Management in the 1990s’, (ANU, Masters of Strategic Studies Advanced, July 2016)
• Amanda Gosling, ‘Meeting the Climate Change Challenge: Considerations for the Australian Defence Force’, (ANU, November 2022)

Honours theses supervised

• Philip Etches, ‘Roadmaps to Nowhere?: The Uncertain Influence of Jihadi Strategic Thinkers Upon Insurgencies in Iraq’ (ANU, October 2018)
• Cherry Zheng, ‘Sunzi Studies in Contemporary China: Creating a Cosmocrat’ (ANU, University Medallist, November 2021)
• Ingrid Lennon, ‘Australia’s Power and Influence: Domestic Foundations for Success’ (ANU, November 2021)
• Anastasia Kalloniati, ‘Conceptions of Terrorism in Australia and Canada, 1968-2000: A Comparative Historical Analysis’ (ANU, University Medallist, 2023)

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.