Patrick Buchan is director of the U.S. Alliances Project and fellow of Indo-Pacific Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to CSIS, Patrick served over three years as Australia’s representative on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy)in Washington D.C., where he was responsible for alliance strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Patrick entered Australian government service via the Graduate Development Program (equivalent to the U.S. Presidential Management Fellows program) in 2003. He has held several positions in both the Defence Department and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet including:Defence Assistant to the Secretariat of the National Security Committee of Cabinet; Adviser, U.S Alliance policy; Adviser Iraq policy; Deputy Director Space and Missile Defence Policy; and Advisor at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (office of national security).
Patrick has also served as chief of staff to the First Assistant Secretary of Defence and was later confirmed as the director of Australia’s Defence Export Control Office.
Patrick holds an M.A. in strategic policy from the University of New South Wales and a B.A. in political science (with Honors) from La Trobe University. Patrick is also a graduate of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Honolulu, and the Australian government’s Senior Executive Service talent management program. In December 2017, he was awarded the U.S.
Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Patrick’s analysis has appeared in the New York Times, the Australia Financial Review, C-Span, as well as other outlets.