David Taylor Irvine, (10 January 1947 – 30 March 2022) was an Australian diplomat who, from March 2009 to September 2014, was the Director-General of Security, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Prior to his appointment to ASIO, he was Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) from 2003 to 2009.McDonald, Hamish: Puppet-master now pulling the strings at ASIS, The Age, 20 February 2003. In 2017 he was appointed Chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board.FIRB Chair Appointment, FIRB, Treasurer, 10 April 2017

Education and career Irvine was born in Perth, Western Australia,Appointment of Director-General, ASIS, Minister for Foreign Affairs, 23 December 2002. and studied at Hale School and the University of Western Australia, graduating with honours in Elizabethan history. He worked as a journalist in Perth, and joined the Department of External Affairs (the Australian foreign service) in 1970, and serving as a diplomat in Rome (1970–1973) later in Jakarta (1976–1980). Other diplomatic appointments included postings as a Counsellor (later Minister) in Beijing (1982–1986) and Minister in Jakarta (1988–1990).Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statement of Service, Appointments and Biographies Tenth Edition, October 1995. p. 197. In 1996 to 1999 Irvine served as Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, and was Australian Ambassador to China from 2000 to 2003.

Irvine wrote two books about Indonesia: a 1990 English translation of Bisma: Warrior Priest of the Mahabharata by Satyagraha Hurip,Bisma : warrior priest of the Mahabharata / Satyagraha Hurip ; translated from the Indonesian by David Irvine, National Library of Australia, 1990. and Leather Gods & Wooden Heroes: Java's Classical Wayang (1996; about Indonesian Wayang shadow puppets).Leather gods & wooden heroes : Java's classical wayang / David Irvine, National Library of Australia, 1996.

Irvine died in Canberra on 30 March 2022 after a period of illness and a stroke, aged 75.. Sarah Basford Canales and Harley Dennett, 'David Irvine, a spy boss and 'giant of the public service' who steered many PMs, dies at 75, The Canberra Times, 31 March 2022.

Honours Irvine was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2005.Australian Honours

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