Now that I'm 18 months into my term as Secretary at Defence, I thought it was a good time to share my experiences of leading the Department and outline my agenda for the next 18 months. Let me start with a story from nine years ago that sums up what's great-and what's not-about the Australian Defence establishment. The intervention in East Timor in late 1999, led by the then Major General Peter Cosgrove, showed the skill, courage and professionalism of the ADF in dangerous circumstances. It was by any measure a brilliantly executed operation. But look a little deeper and you find the success of the operation came in spite of some real weaknesses, weaknesses that continue to bedevil the Defence establishment today.
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