Mr Dennis J Richardson AO

Ambassador to United States of America

Dennis Richardson was appointed as Ambassador of Australia to the United States in June 2005.

He has been a career public servant since 1969 when he joined Australia’s foreign service.  He has served in Nairobi, Port Moresby and Jakarta.

From October 1996 until his appointment to Washington he served as Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.  Prior to that he was Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1993-1996). 

Mr Richardson has served in various senior public service roles in the Departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Immigration.  He was Head of the Review of the Intelligence Community post Cold War in 1992 and Principal Adviser to the Prime Minister from 1990 to 1991.

Mr Richardson was born in Kempsey, NSW, in 1947 and he holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Sydney University.  He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2003.  He is married to Betty and has one son and one daughter.