By ABC defence correspondent Andrew Greene
John Richardson addresses a forum in Singapore in May 2019 in his capacity as head of the US Navy. Photo: AFP
A cavalcade of retired senior American military officers have landed high-paying advisory contracts with Australia's Department of Defence, with one former admiral paid $US5000 ($NZ8100) a day for his expertise.
Details of the arrangements have been disclosed by the Pentagon for the first time, revealing how senior American officers have leveraged their military service over the past decade to obtain work from foreign governments, including in Australia.
According to the documents which were provided by the Pentagon to Congress last month, dozens of retired US military figures have been granted approval to work for Australia since 2012.
In one instance, retired Admiral John Richardson, who headed the US Navy from 2015 to 2019, receives $US5000 a day as a part-time consultant under a contract with Australia's defence department, struck last year.
As part of the consulting arrangement made through Washington DC-based consulting firm Burdeshaw Associates, the former admiral also receives travel and lodging expenses to complete his work in Australia.
Australian government records state the year-long contract for his "advisory services" began in November 2022 and was awarded without tender "due to an absence of competition for technical reasons".
Last week Australia's defence department confirmed another former vice-admiral, William Hilarides, has been paid almost $2.5 million for advice given through the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board and Naval Shipbuilding Expert Advisory Panel since 2016.
This week the ABC revealed Hilarides has also been selected to run a fresh review of the size and structure of the Royal Australian Navy's surface fleet, and according to Pentagon records he charges a daily rate of $US4000.
The documents first obtained by the Washington Post also reveal in 2019 the ACT government hired a former US Navy commander to work as an advisor in the chief minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate for the equivalent of $US170,000.
Top US spy recruited
James Clapper testifies at a US Senate hearing in Washington in January 2017. Photo: AFP
One of the more intriguing revelations from the Pentagon records is that the former US director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who resigned after Donald Trump's election as president in 2016, was then paid to work for Australia's new Office of National Intelligence.
In 2017, the United States Air Force veteran - who had served as under secretary of defence for Intelligence - was appointed as a visiting Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University and addressed the National Press Club in Canberra.
According to the newly released Pentagon records, Clapper then in 2018 received an undisclosed sum to work with the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) in Canberra, which was formally established in December of that year.
During his 2017 visit Clapper had praised then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's decision to create ONI as a single point of intelligence coordination which would bring Australia into line with its Five Eyes partners the US and UK.
-ABC