Women in Information and Communication

Anne Brown is the First Assistant Secretary for ICT Development and is also the Australian Defence ICT Security Adviser. In this position she is responsible for the acquisition and development of ICT systems across the breadth of corporate and warfighting capabilities. She is also the senior Defence ICT security adviser with responsibility for the security certification and accreditation of Defence ICT systems Prior to this role Ms Brown was the Assistant Secretary for ICT Strategy and Technical Futures. Whilst in this role Ms Brown was responsible for developing Defence's first ICT strategy and authored key ICT components of the 2009 Australian Defence White Paper. In this role Ms Brown also implemented strengthened whole-of-Government ICT relationships on behalf of Defence. Prior to her most recent assignments in Defence ICT roles, Ms Brown had a long and distinguished career in the Australian intelligence community. She has held numerous positions within the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, including in both the signals intelligence and information security fields. During this time Ms Brown also had responsibility for developing the business continuity plans for several Australian Intelligence Community technical capabilities. Ms Brown has also previously held the roles of Head of the Defence Security Authority and also Chief of Operations at a remote Defence establishment. Ms Brown is a graduate of the Australian Defence College having successfully completed the Joint Services Staff College (JSSC) Course. Ms Brown is a graduate of Deakin University with a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree. Ms Brown also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, a Graduate Diploma of Strategic Studies, a Diploma of Security (Risk Management) and a Certificate in Internal Audit. Ms Brown has been a member of the Australian Army Reserve for 22 years, a role she continues to enjoy. Ms Brown is married to Brian and they have 5 children. In any spare time she manages to find she is busily imparting her passion for all sports (but particularly Australian Rules Football) onto her 5 children.