Carlyle A. Thayer is professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales, He is  a Southeast Asia specialist and the director of the Thayer Consultancy, Canberra.  He has taught at the Australian Defense Force Academy, the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, the Australian Command and Staff College, the Center for Defense and Strategic Studies and the Australian Defense College. He was a founding member of the Vietnam Studies Association of Australia, serving as its national secretary. He is the author of more than 500 publications.