Bob Breen, BA (UNSW), MSC (Florida State University), MA (Monash), PhD (ANU)
Research Fellow, Official History of Australian Peacekeeping and Post-Cold War Operations Project

Email: bob.breen@anu.edu.au

Biographical Statement

Bob Breen’s experience in first-hand research on international and regional peace support missions began in Somalia in 1993 and continued in Rwanda, the Middle East, Mozambique, Bougainville and East Timor periodically until 2002 when he began a PhD program at ANU, graduating in 2006. This research was conducted as an Australian Defence Force operations analyst. After publishing a book and two monographs on Australian military experiences in the Vietnam War and the Korean War in the early 1990s, his subsequent publications have all related to Australia’s military participation in peace missions in Somalia, Bougainville and East Timor. As an army reserve colonel during the period 1997-2002, he was also responsible for designing, developing and participating in the delivery of preparatory training programs for Australian government officials, civilian peace monitors, Australian Defence Force contingents, Australian United Nations Military Observers and politicians about to serve on or visit peacekeeping operations or UN electoral missions. Currently, he is writing the official history of Australian peacekeeping in the South Pacific during the period 1980-2005 and preparing manuscripts for publication on Australia’s military force projection, battalion group operations in East Timor in 2000 and an historical analysis of the experiences of Australian junior combat leaders and small teams on contemporary peace enforcement operations.

Research Interests

Historical analysis of contemporary Australian military operations with particular emphasis on governmental response to regional and international crises that require intervention, short notice military and police force projection, ‘whole-of-Government' responses to regional and international crises, peacekeeping, civil affairs, nation building, capacity building, operational concepts, command and control, logistics and intelligence.

Key Publications

• 1988, First to Fight - Australian Diggers, New Zealand Kiwis and American Paratroopers in Vietnam in 1965-66, Sydney: Allen and Unwin
• 1998, A Little Bit of Hope: Australian Force - Somalia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin
• 2001, Mission Accomplished - East Timor: Australian Defence Force participation in International Force East Timor, Sydney: Allen and Unwin
• 2001, Giving Peace a Chance - Operation Lagoon, Bougainville 1994: A Case Study of Military Action and Diplomacy, Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence no. 412, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Canberra: Australian National University
• 2004, Compendium of Australian Operational Lessons from Africa and the Arch of Instability 1987-2000, 4th Edition, Volumes 1-5, Sydney: Land Headquarters

Career Highlights

Conducted research on Australia's participation in peace keeping operations in Somalia (1993), in Rwanda (1994-5), Mozambique and the Middle East in 1996, PNG (Bougainville) in 1997-98 and East Timor in 1999-2000. As a United Nations Volunteer took up an appointment with UNTAET as an Information Officer in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General and Transitional Administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, 2001-2002.