Mike Burgess is Australia’s fourteenth Director-General of Security and has led the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) since September 2019. ASIO protects Australia and Australians from threats to their security.
Mr Burgess has spent more than three decades as an intelligence, security and technology professional, in both the public and private sectors. His experience includes code making, code breaking, cyber security, counter-terrorism and counter-espionage.
Prior to joining ASIO, Mr Burgess was Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). Mr Burgess first joined ASD’s predecessor, the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), as a collection engineer in 1995. He held a range of senior roles including Deputy Director for Cyber and Information Security, and Deputy Chief of Facility at the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap.
After nearly twenty years at the agency, Mr Burgess moved to the commercial sector. He worked as Chief Information Security Officer at Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, Telstra, and as an independent cyber security consultant. In early 2018, the Prime Minister asked him to return to ASD as Director-General.
Mr Burgess has also served as a member of the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board, the Prime Minister’s expert panel for Australia’s 2016 Cyber Security Strategy and the boards of SC8 Limited and the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network.
He has a degree in electronics engineering from the South Australian Institute of Technology.
