Jim Molan is an Australian Liberal senator and retired army major general. In April 2004, he deployed for a year to Iraq as the Coalition forces' chief of operations, where he controlled the manoeuvre operations of all forces across all of Iraq, including the security of Iraq's oil, electricity and rail infrastructure. Since leaving the military, Jim has been a commentator on defence and security issues, and has written regularly for a number of journals and blogs. Until September 2014, he was a principal of Aadi Defence Pty Ltd, facilitating access for Australian industry to defence technology grants and working with other high technology industries, and was nominated as chairman of two companies attempting to commence trading in Australia. He was a consultant to Deakin University, BAE Systems Australia and Israeli Aerospace Industries. He has been active in speaking out on defence issues, in particular, Australia's preparedness against an aggressive China. Jim lives on a property outside Canberra.