Mr Mike Burgess
On 8 August 2019 the Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, and the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Peter Dutton MP, announced the appointment of Mike Burgess to the position of Director-General of Security, commencing on 16 September 2019. Minister Dutton noted Mr Burgess’ extensive experience in the Australian National Intelligence Community and private sector made him very well positioned to lead ASIO.
The Director-General of Security is a statutory office holder who leads the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and has a responsibility to provide impartial advice to government on threats to Australia’s national security. The Director-General of Security is responsible to the Minister for Home Affairs.
In taking up the position of Director-General of Security on 16 September, Mr Burgess noted the great responsibility of leading Australia’s national security service and delivering on its mission to protect Australia, its people and its interests from serious threats.
“ASIO is an incredibly impressive organisation and, more so, the people who do the work. They are professionals who work tirelessly and effortlessly to protect Australia from serious threats and while they operate in the shadows, they operate within the law. My role will be to continue that work.”
Before joining ASIO, Mr Burgess led the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) from 4 January 2018, and on 1 July 2018 became the first Director-General of ASD.
Prior to his appointment to ASD, Mr Burgess was an independent consultant specialising in strategic cyber security advice. In 2017, Mr Burgess was also a member of the Federal Government’s naval shipbuilding advisory board, a member of the board of the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network and a non-executive director of SC8 Limited.
Mr Burgess was a member of the Prime Minister’s expert panel for Australia’s 2016 Cyber Security Strategy. Previously, Mr Burgess was the Deputy Director for Cyber and Information Security at the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) from 2008 to 2013.
Mr Burgess has a degree in electronics engineering from the South Australian Institute of Technology. He worked in private industry before joining the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in 1991, working in the field of imaging radar. Mr Burgess joined the then Defence Signals Directorate as a collection engineer in 1995. During his career at DSD, Mr Burgess held a variety of roles spanning the intelligence, security, capability development and executive aspects of DSD’s business. He left DSD in early 2013 to become Telstra’s Chief Information Security Officer. He held this role until November 2016.
