Professor Brendan Sargeant is Head of the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and Professor of Practice in Defence and Strategic Studies. He is also a former Senior Executive with the Department of Defence, serving in roles such as Assistant Secretary, Deputy Secretary for Strategy, and Head of the Strategic Policy Division.

He retired from the Department of Defence in October 2017, where he was the Associate Secretary of Defence from September 2013. Prior to that appointment he was the Deputy Secretary Strategy. As Associate Secretary, he was responsible for oversight of the implementation of the First Principles Review, a major reform of Defence organisation and enterprise governance, planning, performance and risk management. He was the principal author of the 2013 Defence White Paper.