Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defence | Official website
Department of Defense Spokesperson Lt. Col. Martin Meiners provided the following readout:
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities Madeline Mortelmans co-chaired the U.S.-Australia Defense Policy and Strategy Talks (DPST) at the Pentagon today.
The two U.S. officials hosted their Australian counterparts, First Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Policy Bernard Philip and First Assistant Secretary of Defence for Strategic Policy Sheridan Kearnan, to discuss growing defense cooperation between the United States and Australia.
The officials had robust discussions on their countries’ respective strategic approaches to defense in the Indo-Pacific, the regional security environment, progress on U.S.-Australia force posture initiatives, multilateral approaches to regional security challenges, and defense industrial base cooperation.
The DPST is the premier defense policy dialogue for the U.S.-Australia alliance to address shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond by ensuring close coordination and promoting the alignment of strategic guidance.
