15. John Blaxland - Reflexions on Australian military operations and lessons learnt

My guest today is John Blaxland, who is a Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and former Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.

Prior to his academic pursuits, John enjoyed an extensive career as an Intelligence Officer in the Australian Army including as the principal intelligence staff officer for the Australian infantry brigade deployed to East Timor in September 1999, an intelligence exchange officer in Washington DC, Director Joint Intelligence Operations at Headquarters Joint Operations Command and Australia’s Defence Attaché to Thailand and Myanmar.

John's full biography, along with his academic credentials and the extensive list of books he has published, can be viewed here.

As you will hear, we covered a broad range of subjects, including:

• John’s Army career and journey into academia
• Building the cultural knowledge of Timor Leste
• When strategy and tactics don’t align—reflection on Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq
• Were Australia’s commitment to Afghanistan and Iraq strategic successes or failures?
• Impact of operations in the Middle East on Australia’s understanding of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
• Understanding the human terrain and culture—critical to mission success
• John’s proposal to create a regional maritime cooperation forum for Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Singapore—MANIS
• Australia’s posturing towards China
• Likelihood of war between US and China

You can access ‘Niche Wars: Australia in Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001 to 2014’ here. And, as promised in the intro of the episode, you can order ‘The Australian Army From Whitlam to Howard’, here.