David Murray Horner, AM, FASSA (born 12 March 1948) is an Australian military historian and academic.

Horner was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 12 March 1948.^[1] He was raised in a military household—his father, Murray Horner, had served in New Guinea during the Second World War. Like Murray, David Horner attended Prince Alfred College.^[2] Horner was a prefect and served on numerous committees including the yearbook, debating, cadets, and student christian movement.^[3]

later joined the Citizen Military Forces—and joined the Australian Army after completing school in 1966. On graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1969, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. In 1971, Horner served an eight-month tour in Vietnam as a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.^[1][4] He was a visiting fellow with the Department of History at the Australian Defence Force Academy from 1985 to 1988, and a member of the directing staff at the Joint Services Staff College in 1988 to 1990.^[5] Horner retired from the full-time army in 1991 on gaining a position with the Australian National University (ANU) and transferred to the Australian Army Reserve, with which he served for more than a decade. He was the inaugural commanding officer of the Land Warfare Studies Centre (1998–2002), and retired with the rank of colonel.^[6]

Horner has a Diploma of Military Studies from Duntroon, a Master of Arts (Honours) from the University of New South Wales, and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy from the ANU in 1980. His doctoral thesis, supervised by Robert O'Neill and completed while a serving major in the army, concerned Australian and Allied strategy in the Pacific War and formed the basis for his second book, High Command: Australia and Allied Strategy, 1939–1945 (1982).^[7][8]

Horner was appointed to a position at the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in 1990.^[4] In 1998 he was described as "one of Australia's most respected military historians",^[9] and in 1999 was made Professor of Australian Defence History at the ANU's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (later the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs);^[10] a role he served in until 2014.^[7]

In 2004 Horner was appointed the Official Historian and general editor for the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations, a six-volume history covering Australia's involvement in international peacekeeping operations from 1947 to 2006. Horner authored or co-authored the second and third volumes: Australia and the 'New World Order' (2011) and, with John Connor, The Good International Citizen (2014). A team led by Horner also won a tender to write the official history of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).^[4] The three-volume series, which traces the first forty years of ASIO's history from 1949 to 1989, was led by Horner's The Spy Catchers (2014).^[11] John Blaxland's The Protest Years followed in 2015,^[12] and Blaxland and Rhys Crawley's The Secret Cold War in 2016.^[13] The Spy Catchers jointly won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History, was sole winner of the St Ermin's Hotel Intelligence Book of the Year Award, and was long-listed for the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Australia Prize for a Book in 2015.^[10][11] Horner also undertook a feasibility study in 2012 into what eventually became the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor.^[14]

Horner has written or edited 32 books and more than 75 journal articles, reports and chapters in books.^[5] In 2009, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his "service to higher education in the area of Australian military history and heritage as a researcher, author and academic."^[5] Horner retired from full-time academia in 2014, and was appointed an emeritus professor at the ANU.^[10] He was made a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2015.^[7]

• — (1978). Crisis of Command: Australian Generalship and the Japanese Threat, 1941–1943. Canberra: Australian National University Press. ISBN 9780708113455.
• — (1982). High Command: Australia and Allied Strategy, 1939–1945. Sydney: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780868610764.
• — (1991). SAS Phantoms of the Jungle: A History of the Australian Special Air Service. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781863730075.
• — (1992). General Vasey's War. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 9780522844627.
• — (1992). The Gulf Commitment: The Australian Defence Force's First War. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522845118.
• — (1995). The Gunners: A History of Australian Artillery. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781863739177.
• — (1996). Inside the War Cabinet: Directing Australia's War Effort, 1939–1945. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1863739689.
• —; Ball, Desmond (1998). Breaking the Codes: Australia's KGB Network. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781864485783.
• — (1998). Blamey: The Commander-in-Chief. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781864487343.
• — (2000). Defence Supremo: Sir Frederick Shedden and the Making of Australian Defence Policy. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1865082806.
• — (2001). Making the Australian Defence Force. The Australian Centenary History of Defence. Vol. 4. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195541175.
• — (2002). The Pacific. Second World War. Vol. 1. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1841762296.
• — (2005). Strategic Command: General Sir John Wilton and Australia's Asian Wars. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195552829.
• —; Thomas, Neil (2009). In Action with the SAS. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781741755527.
• — (2011). Australia's Military History for Dummies. Milton, Queensland: Wiley Publishing Australia. ISBN 9781742169835.
• — (2011). Australia and the New World Order: From Peacekeeping to Peace Enforcement 1988–1991. Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations. Vol. 2. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521765879.
• —; Connor, John (2014). The Good International Citizen: Australian Peacekeeping in Asia, Africa and Europe 1991–1993. Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations. Vol. 3. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107021624.
• — (2014). The Spy Catchers. The Official History of ASIO. Vol. 1. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781743319666.
• —; Bou, Jean; Breen, Bob; Pratten, Garth; de Vogel, Miesje (2018). The Limits of Peacekeeping: Australian Missions in Africa and the Americas, 1992–2005. Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations. Vol. 4. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107101968.
• — (2022). The War Game: Australian War Leadership from Gallipoli to Iraq. Crows Nest, New South wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-76106-595-8.

• —; O'Neill, Robert, eds. (1981). New Directions in Strategic Thinking. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0043550134.
• —; O'Neill, Robert, eds. (1982). Australian Defence Policy for the 1980s. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0702217816.
• —, ed. (1984). The Commanders: Australian Military Leadership in the Twentieth Century. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780868614960.
• —, ed. (1986). Australian Higher Command in the Vietnam War. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. ISBN 0867848936.
• —, ed. (1990). Duty First: The Royal Australian Regiment in War and Peace. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780044422273.
  • —; Bou, Jean, eds. (2008). Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment (2nd ed.). Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780044422273.
• —, ed. (1991). Reshaping the Australian Army: Challenges for the 1990s. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. ISBN 0731511921.
• —; Ball, Desmond, eds. (1992). Strategic Studies in a Changing World: Global, Regional and Australian Perspectives. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. ISBN 0731513711.
• —; Penglase, Joanna, eds. (1992). When the War Came to Australia: Memories of the Second World War. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863733205.
• —, ed. (1993). The Army and the Future: Land Forces in Australia and South-East Asia. Canberra: Directorate of Departmental Publications, Defence Centre for Director of Army Activities and Public Affairs. ISBN 0644290048.
• —, ed. (1994). The Battles That Shaped Australia: The Australian's Anniversary Essays. The Australian Series. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781863737043.
• —, ed. (1995). Armies and Nation-Building: Past Experience – Future Prospects. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. ISBN 0731523008.
• —, ed. (2002). SAS Phantoms of War: A History of the Special Air Service. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781865086477.
• —, ed. (2004). Australia's Strategic Involvement in the Middle East: An Overview. Abu Dhabi: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. ISBN 9789948006657.
• —; Londey, Peter; Bou, Jean, eds. (2009). Australian Peacekeeping: Sixty Years in the Field. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521516068.