Current senior Australian Defence Organisation personnel

This page provides at one time provided access to information about current senior Australian Defence Organisation personnel, but is currently out-of-date.

The Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) consists of both the uniformed military, known as the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and the civilian Department of Defence, which includes a number of civilian support organisations. Within the "civilian" organisations, there are designated uniformed positions; within the uniformed organisations, civilians are not unusual, particularly in strategic, policy, personnel, finance, acquisition and intelligence focussed areas.

Nominally, the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) heads the ADF, and the Secretary (of the Department of Defence) heads the civilian organisations, but in fact, they jointly manage the Australian Defence Organisation under a "diarchy", and both report directly to the Minister for Defence. The ADO diarchy is a governance structure unique in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service.

Like most modern militaries, Australia has the possibility of five-star officers, but these are not active ranks, and are usually reserved for special circumstances. The highest active rank in the Australian Defence Force is reserved for the CDF. This is a four-star rank and the CDF is the only Australian officer at that level. As a result of the diarchy, the Secretary of the Department of Defence is of an equivalent level.

As stated above, this page provides access to information about current senior ADO Leaders. This includes the parliamentarians, and those (both civilian and military) at the equivalent four-, three-, and, where useful, two- and one-star levels. About half of the raw data appears on the Australian Government "Defence leaders: high profile senior personnel" page . Rather than being merely a copy of that page, this page adds value by allowing the reader to organise (sort) the data by a number of criteria, and provides cross-references to people, positions, ranks, organisations, photographs and biographies.

Parliamentary level
Under the current (September 2013) Liberal Government, there are three politicians associated with "Defence", (plus the Minister of Veterans' Affairs) :
 * The Minister for Defence;
 * The Assistant Minister for Defence; and
 * The Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.

Five-star level
In Australian circumstances, the five-star level is not an active rank; however, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, ceremonially holds the ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal, and Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Four-star level
At present there are two positions at the four-star level: the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF). The SECDEF is a civilian position which is of equal status to the military's four-star ranks.

Three-star level
Abbreviations: DEPSEC - Deputy Secretary

People at the three-star (or equivalent) level are:

The Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF)

Chiefs of the branches of the armed services:
 * Chief of Navy (CN)
 * Chief of Army (CA)
 * Chief of Air Force (CAF)

The Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS)

Senior Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) Leaders:
 * CEO of the DMO
 * General Manager Systems
 * General Manager Programs
 * General Manager Corporate

Heads or Chiefs of the various support organisations:
 * Capability: Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG)
 * Finance: Chief Finance Officer (CFO)
 * Information: Chief Information Officer (CIO)
 * Intelligence: DEPSEC Intelligence and Security
 * Personnel: DEPSEC People Strategies and Policy
 * Reform and Governance: DEPSEC Strategic Reform and Governance
 * Science & Technology: Chief Defence Scientist (CDS), (Head of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO))
 * Strategy: DEPSEC Strategy
 * Support: DEPSEC Defence Support

Two-star level
Abbreviations: FAS - First Assistant Secretary

Capability Development
 * FAS, Capability Investment and Resources
 * Head, Capability Systems (HCS)

Finance

Information

Intelligence and Security
 * Director, Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO)
 * Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO)
 * Defence Signals Directorate (DSD)
 * Defence Security Authority (DSA)
 * Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Branch (ISR)
 * Business Management - Intelligence Branch (BM-I)

Operations
 * Commander, Border Protection
 * Commander, Joint Logistics (CJLOG)

People Strategies and Policy
 * Head, Defence Personnel Executive (HDPE)
 * FAS, Personnel

Reform and Governance
 * Deputy Head, Strategic Reform and Governance

Strategy and Coordination
 * Head, Strategic Policy
 * FAS, International Policy
 * FAS, Ministerial Support and Public Affairs

Support
 * Head, Defence Health
 * Head, Personnel Services
 * Head, National Operations
 * Head, Defence Legal
 * Head, Infrastructure
 * Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Navy
 * Deputy Chief of Navy (Australia) (DCN)
 * Commander Australian Fleet (COMAUSTFLT)
 * Head Navy Personnel and Reputation (HNPAR)

Army
 * Deputy Chief of Army (DCA)
 * Commander Forces Command (CFC)
 * Commander of Australian Forces in Middle East Area of Operations
 * Adviser to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force on Joint Warfighting Lessons and Concepts.
 * Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
 * Commander, 1st Division
 * Commander, 2nd Division

Air Force
 * Deputy Chief of Air Force (DCAF)
 * Air Commander Australia (ACAUST)

Reserves:
 * Assistant Chief of the Defence Force (Reserves) and Head Reserve and Employer Support Division

Special Counsel to CEO DMO DMO Systems: DMO Programs: DMO Corporate:
 * Head, Aerospace Systems Division
 * Head, Electronic and Weapon Systems Division
 * Head, Maritime Systems Division
 * Head, Helicopter Systems Division
 * Head, Land Systems Division
 * Head, Explosive Ordnance Division
 * Program Manager - AEWC
 * Program Manager - NACC
 * Head, Industry Division
 * General Counsel
 * Chief Finance Officer - DMO
 * Head, Human Resources and Corporate Services

Other
 * Judge Advocate General (JAG)
 * Inspector-General ADF
 * Inspector-General

One-star level
Srategy, Coordination and Governance
 * Director-General Public Affairs

Sortable table of current Senior ADO Leaders
Note that nearly all of the people in this table are on fixed term contracts. Extensions of appointments are very rare.

Keys:

Organisations:
 * CDF - Chief of the Defence Force
 * CDG - Capability Development Group
 * CFO - Chief Finance Officer Group
 * CIOG - Chief Information Officer Group
 * DMO - Defence Materiel Organisation
 * DoD - Australian Department of Defence
 * DSTO - Defence Science and Technology Organisation
 * I&S - Intelligence and Security
 * JOC - Joint Operations Command
 * PS&P - People Strategies and Policy
 * S - Strategy
 * SRG - Strategic Reform and Governance
 * Support - Defence Support
 * VCDF - Vice Chief of the Defence Force