The Low‑Key US Office That’s Cashed In on Australia’s Defence Ambitions

 

From the outside, there’s nothing remarkable about the single‑storey offices of Burdeshaw Associates in a suburban strip of Fairfax, Virginia. Wedged between a karate dojo and an escape room, it hardly looks like the kind of place that has funnelled millions of dollars in confidential contracts from Canberra over the past decade.

Yet Burdeshaw describes itself as “the premier aerospace and defense boutique consulting firm,” boasting a stable of “over 700 retired generals and admirals” at its disposal. For years, the company has quietly served as a conduit for some of the Australian government’s most expensive strategic advice, particularly from the upper echelons of the retired US Navy.

The timing is impeccable. As AUKUS shifts the Royal Australian Navy from conventional boats to nuclear‑powered submarines (at what even officials admit will be a painfully slow pace) the demand for American expertise is surging. With billions in taxpayer dollars flowing into workforce training and nuclear infrastructure, the pipeline for lucrative consulting is set to run for decades.

Millions in Canberra Contracts

A review of the federal Austender database shows Burdeshaw has secured at least $11.7 million in “strategic planning consultation services” from the Defence Department since 2013. Add to that a $1.5 million contract signed in 2021 with the Prime Minister’s Department to advise then prime minister Scott Morrison, and the tally reaches $13.2 million in Australian taxpayer money.

The company’s latest deal - a three‑year, $1.2 million contract signed in February this year - keeps it firmly embedded in Defence decision‑making. Yet efforts to prise open details of who, exactly, has been hired under these arrangements have been stonewalled. Defence has cited “security and commercial‑in‑confidence” as reasons for refusing to provide names or roles.

Attempts to get clarity from Burdeshaw itself have also been met with silence. When media visited its Fairfax office, staff confirmed the firm shares its premises with principal Alex Heidt’s law practice. A large portrait of former CEO General William M. Hartzog hangs in reception, alongside Heidt’s “Lawyers of Distinction” plaques. Asked about the Australian contracts, Heidt’s son, Tyler, responded by asking whether the journalist had “security clearance”  and, when told no, replied that the details were confidential.

Even with limited information, what is clear is the extent to which senior retired US Navy officers have been embedded in Australia’s submarine planning at precisely the moment AUKUS was being set in motion.

The US Admirals’ Advice Pipeline

As investigative reporter Andrew Fowler observed in Nuked, by the time Morrison junked the $90 billion French submarine contract in September 2021 in favour of the AUKUS pact with the US and UK, “US senior military officials were liberally sprinkled across the highest levels of the administration.”

Defence figures tabled in late 2022 (the last time numbers were made public) confirmed at least eight retired senior US Navy officers were on well‑paid Defence contracts. These included an admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, commander and four captains, all advising on nuclear submarine transition or naval shipbuilding. Some were engaged through Burdeshaw; others ran their own consultancy companies.

Defence refuses to disclose updated numbers, citing the need for UK and US “expertise” and insisting that all foreign nationals working on AUKUS projects hold appropriate clearances.

Burdeshaw first appeared in public reporting in 2022, when The Washington Post revealed more than half a dozen former US Navy leaders advising Australia at senior levels as AUKUS took shape. Among them was Dr Donald C. Winter, a former US Navy secretary under George W. Bush, who had been on Canberra’s Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board since 2016. Documents showed Winter’s services were channelled via Burdeshaw in 2021 for US$6000 (A$9318) a day, plus expenses.

Specialist publication Australian Defence Magazine also flagged the “significant American influence” in Canberra’s naval decision‑making. The department’s submarine advisory committee included two heavy hitters from the US shipbuilding sector: Jim Hughes, a former vice president at Newport News Shipbuilding (builder of the Virginia‑class submarines Australia hopes to buy from the US) and retired admiral Kirkland Donald, who chaired Huntington Ingalls Industries which owns Newport News. Donald resigned from the Australian panel in April 2022, citing a potential conflict of interest.

The Defence Department maintains that all such roles were declared and that Donald “did not provide advice on nuclear‑powered submarines” while serving on the advisory committee.

Deep Embedding in Canberra

The US presence in Canberra hasn’t been limited to advisory boards. Former rear admiral Stephen E. Johnson was appointed a deputy secretary inside Defence in 2018–19 which is one of the most senior civilian roles in the department.

Former vice admiral William “Willy” Hilarides, a 35‑year US Navy veteran, served four years on the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board before chairing its successor, the Naval Shipbuilding Expert Advisory Panel, from 2021. His Burdeshaw‑negotiated contracts were valued at $1.9 million in late 2022; subsequent reporting suggests his total remuneration for both panels reached $2.4 million.

Defence secretary Greg Moriarty told Senate estimates that Hilarides had no role in Morrison’s decision to abandon the French contract. In 2023, the Albanese government appointed Hilarides to lead a review on aligning Australia’s surface fleet with the incoming nuclear submarines.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has defended the heavy reliance on former US Navy brass, arguing their insights are “on issues of profound importance for our nation’s future.”

Not everyone agrees. Gary Slater, a former US marine turned consultant with the Australian Defence Consultancy Group, says: “The good is you get access to global expertise. The bad is the perception, or reality, that you’re paying consultant rates for retired officers to give advice that might not be in Australia’s best interest.”

Former senator and submariner Rex Patrick is more blunt: “If you only seek counsel from US admirals, you’ll only get a US answer. Australia could have tapped other experienced submarine nations for different perspectives. It didn’t.”

Opaque Costs, Ongoing Commitments

Defence’s reluctance to answer fresh questions about Burdeshaw contrasts with the figures it has disclosed in the past. In 2023, Moriarty confirmed contracts for retired US Navy rear admiral Thomas Eccles totalled $1.2 million. Written advice to Greens senator Jordon Steele‑John later put the maximum payable to just three of the top former US officers (Hilarides, Eccles and Donald ) at close to $5.3 million.

As AUKUS faces multiple hurdles, including a Pentagon review led by sceptical US defence official Elbridge Colby, the challenge of finding and training an Australian nuclear submarine workforce remains acute. But one supply chain is already well‑established: the steady flow of US consultants into Canberra.

Meanwhile, the government’s new Australian Submarine Agency is racking up air miles almost as quickly as the consultancy fees. Between June 2023 and January 2024, ASA staff took 218 international trips at a cost of around $3 million.

If there’s one workforce AUKUS will have no trouble sustaining, it’s the pipeline of well‑paid advisers with many of them with Washington connections as unassuming, and as profitable, as the quiet office park in Fairfax.

The Burdeshaw Connection: Who’s Who and What They’re Paid

Name	Former Role	Australian Role	Contract Value
Dr Donald C. Winter	US Navy Secretary (George W. Bush administration)	Member, Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board; AUKUS adviser (via Burdeshaw)	US$6000/day (~A$9318/day) plus expenses
Adm. Kirkland Donald (Ret.)	US Navy Admiral; Chair, Huntington Ingalls Industries (Newport News Shipbuilding)	Member, Submarine Advisory Committee (2017–Apr 2022)	Declared conflict; stepped down 2022
Jim Hughes	VP, Submarines, Newport News Shipbuilding	Adviser, Submarine Advisory Committee	Not disclosed
Rear Adm. Stephen E. Johnson (Ret.)	US Navy Rear Admiral	Deputy Secretary, Australian Department of Defence (2018–2019)	Not disclosed
Vice Adm. William “Willy” Hilarides (Ret.)	Head, US Navy Ship & Sustainment Program	Member & Chair, Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Boards (2017–2023); Surface Fleet Review Chair (2023–)	A$1.9m (late 2022); total reported ~A$2.4m
Rear Adm. Thomas Eccles (Ret.)	US Navy Rear Admiral	Defence adviser on submarine capability	A$1.2m
Combined contracts: Hilarides, Eccles, Donald	—	AUKUS/Submarine Advisory roles	~A$5.3m total (as confirmed to Senate)
Burdeshaw Associates	Fairfax, Virginia consultancy	Multiple “strategic planning consultation” contracts for Defence and PM’s Department	A$13.2m (2013–2024)