Warrior Elite (Robert Macklin, Hachette)

Warrior Elite is a history of Australia’s special forces and intelligence services, from the commandos in WWII to today’s SAS and intelligence organisations. Written for the educated reader—a basic familiarity with Australia’s military history is recommended—it starts with an account of our long-range surveillance and guerrilla operations in south-east Asia during WWII, and shows how ‘special forces’ has developed over the decades from an offshoot of ‘Big Army’ into multiple, interrelated and sometimes competitive organisations: specialised and highly flexible military forces, internal and external surveillance, signals intelligence services and (increasingly) cyber warfare and defence. The flurry of acronyms is occasionally overwhelming (ASIO, ASIS, DIO, ASD, DIGO, ONA, SAS—there are four pages of abbreviations), and Robert Macklin is stronger on SAS history than on (for example) ASIS activities and tradecraft—both because of his experience with SAS biographies (SAS Insider, SAS Sniper) and because of the more secretive nature of Australia’s foreign intelligence service. On the whole the account is lively and engaging, particularly the chapters on Indonesia and East Timor, and on the present and future roles of special forces. Macklin never shies away from commenting on the politics of the time, which makes Warrior Elite a fascinating alternative history of Australia’s last 70 years.

Lachlan Jobbins is an editor and reviewer

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews