Rate My Professor Paul Dibb

Paul Dibb is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University, where he served as Head from 1991 to 2004, the longest-serving head of the Centre. His career bridges academia and high-level government service in defence and intelligence. He started at ANU as a research fellow in the Department of Human Geography and Research School of Pacific Studies in 1968–70, specialising in Soviet economic geography. From 1974 to 1978, he headed the National Assessments Staff in the Joint Intelligence Organisation, serving the National Intelligence Committee. He was Deputy Director of the Joint Intelligence Organisation from 1978 to 1980, then returned to ANU as a senior research fellow in International Relations before transferring to the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in 1984. In 1985, commissioned by Minister for Defence Kim Beazley, Dibb authored the 1986 Review of Australia’s Defence Capabilities, known as the Dibb Report, which formed the basis for the 1987 Defence White Paper and the Defence of Australia Policy. He subsequently served as Director of the Joint Intelligence Organisation from 1986 to 1988 and Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence in the Department of Defence from 1988 to 1991, chairing the Force Structure Committee and managing key intelligence programs including joint facilities like Pine Gap.

Dibb’s research focuses on the security of the Asia-Pacific region, the US alliance, and Australia’s defence policy. He has authored five books, including Siberia and the Pacific (1972), The Soviet Union: The Incomplete Superpower (1988), and Inside the Wilderness of Mirrors (2018); four reports to government; and more than 150 academic articles and monographs. His Dibb Report profoundly shaped Australian defence strategy. Awards include Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1989 for service to the public service, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from Japan in 2022 for promoting Australia-Japan defence cooperation. Dibb actively contributes to public debate on strategic issues.