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Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn has approved the appointment of Kathy Klugman as the next director-general of national intelligence, the head of the Office of National Intelligence.
Klugman will take up her appointment as the first woman to lead the Office of National Intelligence or its predecessor the Office of National Assessments, after the current director-general, Andrew Shearer, completes his term of appointment.
Klugman was most recently principal adviser to the prime minister, international, a position she has held since 2022.
“Ms Klugman has had a distinguished career in the Australian Public Service holding senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She has had a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific region and served as high commissioner to Sri Lanka,” according to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
“As a deputy secretary at DFAT, she led the department’s Development and Multilateral Group and oversaw Australia’s Centre for Regional Health Security and chaired the department’s Aid Governance Board.
“Before that, Ms Klugman led the Pacific division of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and oversaw the establishment of the expanded Office of the Pacific in DFAT, charged with advancing Australia’s Pacific Step Up. She held senior positions covering policy and strategy for Southeast Asia and South Asia, including as Australia’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. She led the international division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
“I would like to thank Mr Shearer for his significant contribution as director-general since 2020. I am pleased that he agreed to continue to serve the Australian people in a new capacity.”
