Posted on 08/28/2005 2:24:52 PM PDT by naturalman1975
FORMER SAS commander and special operations chief, Major-General Duncan Lewis, will this week be named as Australia's top counter-terrorism bureaucrat.
Major-General Lewis, who left the army only 10 months ago, will be promoted to the post of deputy secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The decision is a sign of John Howard's determination to bolster Australia's struggle against terrorism.
It will be the first time a career soldier has held such a position at the top of the Australian public service.
Major-General Lewis will now chair the national counter-terrorism committee, which brings state and federal security agencies together, as well as serving as the Prime Minister's key adviser on national security issues.
His elevation caps a remarkable transition from senior army officer to senior public servant.
Major-General Lewis, 52, who is known as "Mr Lewis" in his department, has been selected in front of four senior career public servants, including several highly experienced candidates from the the Foreign Affairs department.
"I think he's adapted extraordinarily well from the defence culture to the role of a public servant working to the Prime Minister," one government insider observed yesterday. "He's well liked in the department. It's been a pretty impressive performance, actually."
Major-General Lewis takes over the deputy secretary's job from Andrew Metcalfe, who last month was appointed to head the Immigration Department.
His appointment confirms the primacy of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as the policy driver of Australia's counter-terrorism effort. His new responsibilities include heading three key divisions in PM&C, including the national security and international divisions, which are charged with planning the 2007 APEC meetings in Australia.
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