Brendan was appointed as Deputy Secretary, Critical Infrastructure and Protective Security in August 2025. Brendan leads on critical infrastructure policy, risk, regulation and partnerships as well as national resilience policy and protective security.
Before taking up his current position, Brendan was Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As Ambassador, he led Australia’s international engagement on cyber affairs and critical technology issues, while delivering cyber capacity building, crisis response and building resilience across our region.
Brendan has had a distinguished career in cyber affairs, including leading the Cyber and Critical Technology Coordination Centre at the Department of Home Affairs. He also served as the First Assistant Secretary for Digital and Technology Security Policy, providing national leadership on cyber security strategy and coordination, the security of critical and emerging technologies and safety and security online.
Brendan held a senior role at Australia’s Embassy in the United States, leading engagement in the United States and across the Americas region on national security, cyber security, critical technology, criminal justice, emergency management, and immigration and border functions.
Prior to the US, Brendan was the Assistant Secretary for the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa in Home Affairs’ International Division. In that role, he led the department’s engagement with governments across those regions, as well as with the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. Brendan was also posted to Amman, Jordan, leading the Department’s largest refugee mission and relations with governments across the region.
Brendan holds a Master of Public Policy (Economic Policy) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in political science and literature from the University of Melbourne.
Session Description
Prepare, Defend, Recover: How Protective Security Builds National Resilience
Protective security practices in businesses and agencies are building blocks in Australia’s national resilience. The ubiquitous digitalisation of our systems and information has introduced systemic fragility, meaning a failure or vulnerability in even a small entity can have a knock-on effect throughout the nation. Conversely, strong security practices can build anti-fragility: buffers and redundancy that prevent single failures from becoming systemic.
