Pacific Perspective:Australian General Officer Begins 4th Year as DIA Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration

On 15 January 2021,MAJGEN Michelle McGuiness of the Australian Defence Force was appointed Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration by the DOD Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).In this role,MAJGEN McGuiness ensures that DIA and the broader U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) are best positioned to cooperate,collaborate and integrate with key international Partners ,facilitating cordial intelligence relationships.Her position of Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration focuses on stengthening ties and information sharing between the United States and its Commenwealth Partners,which include Australia,New Zealand ,the UK and Canada (FIVEEYES Alliance).MAGJEN McGuiness' expertise contributes to enhancing intellligence collaboration across borders,ultimately supporting national security and defence efforts.Her responsibilities involve fostering communication;joint operations;and strategic alignment with Commonwealth nations.By working closely with international counterparts,MAJGEN McGuinnes helps ensure that intelligence flows seemlessly,enabling effective decison making and coordinated response to global challenges.In summary,MAJGEN McGuinness plays a vital role in promoting intelligence integration between Commonwealth countries and the United States,contributing to a safer and more secure world.Her role is the practical embodiment of the major Partner integration lines of effort expressed in the 2022 U.S. National Defense Strategy,the 2021 Defense Intelligence Strategy,and the 2021 Interim National Security Strategy.*Biographical notes:Michelle has served in a range of tactical,operational,and strategic assignments in both General and Staff appointments.She began her career in 1994 at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA),graduating into the Australian Intelligence Corps,and spending her formative years at the tactical level leading and managing intelligence operations in human intelligence (HUMINT),interrogation,and exploitation initiatives.Since 2005,she has served in key roles focusing on Partner engagement and interoperability,including within the U.S.,as a liason officer within the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).*She continued her career at Australian Army Headquarters in support of service-level engagement programmes for several nations.For her service in the U.S.,she has twice been awarded the U.S. Army Meritorious Service Medal.*In 2024,she returned to ADFA as the Chief Instructor and Commanding Officer.In 2016,she served as Assistant Military Attache at the Australian Embassy in Washington,DC.For her service in these appointments,she was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross.*Her other senior officer appointments include Chief of Staff to the Chief of Defence Force and Director General,Counterproliferation and Terrorism at the Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO),where she led interagency efforts supporting whole-of-government counterproliferation missions.*Michelle's deployments include Timor-Leste and the Soloman Islands,and her service at the JIEDDO in 2006 was in direct support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.*Michelle holds a BA (Politics and Bahasa Indonesian) and a Master of International Public Policy with Distinction from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.She graduated from the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program and the Australian Institute Company of Directors.Michelle is married with two amazing school-aged children and enjoys travelling as a family,exploring food and the outdoors,and being active in her community.*Michelle spoke at the DGI 2024 Conference at the Focus Day on 11 March 2024 at the Queen Elizabeth Centre,London - DGI:Geospatial Intelligence for Defence and Security,20th Anniversary.She also spoke at the DODIIS Worldwide Event 2023:We share challenges,we come together,and together we are stronger.She noted that enabling collaboration and rapid,secure information exchange is key to leveraging the full and unparalleled advantage of Allies and Partners.

From Past to Future:the CIA in Afghanistan

On 26 August 2021,a large CIA compound in Kabul was destroyed by US forces in a controlled demolition that reverberated across the city.Eagle Base was,at the very least,a training facility where Afghan counterterrorism personnel were trained.The demolition was deemed necessary because of the large amount of sensitive hard drives and equipment on the base.Yet,although the base's downfall was spectacular,it far from ended the CIA's concern about Afghanistan. Although US military operations in Afghanistan will end tomorrow,the CIA is considering how it will operate in the region in the future.This was made an acute problem when the recent ISIL-K attack that killed 11 US Marines,a US Navy corpsman and a US Army Special Forces member,pointed up the threat posed by Islamist extremist groups in Afghanistan to US and Allied interests now the US military is leaving.According to Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby,US Navy retired: We still believe there are credible specific threats.* Indeed,a rocket attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport launched from a vehicle occurred on 29 August,but was repulsed by the US Counter-Rocket Artillery and Mortar System (CRAM),which returned fire.After 31 August,the airport comes under Taliban control and all US diplomats will have departed the airport.Just how HKIA will continue to operate and be defended from ISIL-K terrorists remains to be seen;but perhaps this was covered when new CIA Director William Burns flew to Kabul to meet with the Taliban political leader,Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.* According to The New York Times,the CIA is busy looking for new bases in Central Asian countries,because it needs to ascertain how its Clandestine Service,which runs spy networks, will collect Human Intelligence (HUMINT) without the US military and diplomatic bases it had access to in Afghanistan over the past 20 years;and where it will launch its fleet of Predator drones from to carry out counterterror strikes.At least 19 CIA officers died in the Afghan War,the last one being a former US Marine reconnaissance expert killed in May of 2019.* About 1200 people have been evacuated from HKIA over the past 24 hours,bringing the total Operation Allies Refuge evacuations to about 122,300.Some 250 Americans remain who wish to be spirited out of the country,not to mention thousands of key Afghans.The CIA has reportedly been helping with covert rescue missions,as have US veterans groups. In addition to using its own land,air and sea special operators,another possibility for the Agency is to oversee US military Special Operations Forces detailed to certain CIA activities,as they had been during the operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden,the New York Times added.*