With a foreword by the Hon John Howard OM AC

Australia’s involvement in the liberation of East Timor in 1999 was the most decisive demonstration of Australian influence in the region since World War II and the largest military contribution since the Vietnam War. Australian diplomacy and leadership shaped the events that led to the birth of Asia’s newest nation.
East Timor Intervention looks at the crisis through the prism of key participants and observers on the ground and abroad, including Indonesia’s martial law commander Kiki Syahnakri defending his record, the country’s first president Xanana Gusmão on the resolution and poise of Timor’s resistance fighters, Australia’s Chief of Defence Force Chris Barrie on cobbling the force together, commander of the International Force Peter Cosgrove on the operation, and key policy adviser Hugh White on Canberra’s policy contortions in the lead-up to the intervention.
This impressive collection includes significant new perspectives on Southeast Asian security affairs and the role Australia can play in regional security and stability.



John Blaxland is a senior fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University and writes about military history, intelligence and security and Asia-Pacific affairs. He is former director of Joint Intelligence Operations at Headquarters Joint Operations Command. In September 1999 he was the lead intelligence staff officer on Headquarters 3rd Brigade, the principal Australian land force formation that deployed to East Timor as part of the intervention. He is author of The Protest Years, The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard and Strategic Cousins.