Sam Roggeveen was born in the Netherlands and emigrated with his family to Australia when he was seven years old. Before joining the Lowy Institute, Sam was a senior strategic analyst in Australia’s peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, where his work dealt mainly with North Asian strategic affairs, including nuclear strategy and Asian military forces. At the Lowy Institute he is the Director of the International Security Program.
Sam also worked on arms control policy in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and as an analyst in the Defence Intelligence Organisation.
Sam has a long-standing interest in politics and political philosophy, and in 2019 he wrote Our Very Own Brexit: Australia’s Hollow Politics and Where it Could Lead Us, about the hollowing out of Western democracy and its implications for Australia.
Sam writes for newspapers and magazines in Australia and around the world, and is a regular commentator on the Lowy Institute’s digital magazine, The Interpreter, of which he was the founding editor from 2007 to 2014.
Sam is also Director of Digital at the Lowy Institute, and editor of the Lowy Institute Papers.
In September 2023 Sam, published his latest book “The Echidna Strategy” and Klaas Woldring wrote a critique following the book launch.
