PM Transcripts

CANBERRA 15 January 1981
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
OFFICE OF NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS
The Government has decided to appoint Mr. N. J. Cook to be
next Director-General of the Office of National
Assessments when the present Director-General
Mr. R. W. Furlonger retires after attaining the age of
Mr. Cook will take up duty in April.
Mr. Cook is currently Deputy Secretary in the Department of
Foreign Affairs. He has served in Egypt, Thailand, the
United States, Indonesia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
He attended the Imperial Defence College in 1969 and was the
Chief Executive Officer, Prime Minister's Office in 1979-80.
The Government pays tribute to the retiring Director-General
of the Office of National Assessments, Mr. R. W. Furlonger.
Mr. Furlonger has represented his country in Austria,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Indonesia, the United States, the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore,
Pakistan and Nigeria. He was the Director of the Joint
Intelligence Organisation in the Department of Defence in
1969-72. He was the first Director-General of the Office
of National Assessments, established by the Government in
1977 to upgrade and co-ordinate Australia's capacity for
intelligence assessment.
Mr. Furlonger has made outstanding contributions to
Australia during his distinguished career both in diplomacy
and in bringing the concept of the Office of National
Assessments to fruition. The Government wishes him well
in his retirement. o0000000.....