Guy Boekenstein

Guy Boekenstein is a Non-Resident Fellow at the United States Studies Centre. He is an experienced defence and national security professional with a deep knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region and extensive Asia networks who has worked in government and the private sector in senior advisory and executive roles.

Guy has spent nearly two decades working in the region including on two diplomatic postings to Japan and Indonesia with the Australian Department of Defence (Defence). He was previously Senior Adviser for International Policy, Intelligence and Operations to Australia’s Minister of Defence and has held various senior roles in the International Policy Division in Defence. He was the first Australian Defence civilian to graduate from the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies and was an advisor with the United Nations Command (Rear) in Japan.

Guy has focused on building practical relationships and programs between Australia and a range of Indo-Pacific countries for government including Japan, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Timor-Leste and Pacific Island nations. Guy is passionate about improving Asia literacy across Australian governments, industry and civil society organisations. He was the first Defence civilian to be awarded a Secretary of Defence Commendation for work done in the Indo-Pacific region.

He speaks Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia and has a Master of International Relations degree (focused on Meiji-era economic history) from Kagoshima University, Japan.