John Moten

{{Short description|Australian aeronautical engineer (1933–2022)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}

{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = John Moten

| honorific-suffix =

| image =

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| order = 8th

| office = Director-General of Security

| term_start = 8 October 1988

| term_end = 10 January 1992

| primeminister = Bob Hawke
Paul Keating

| predecessor = Alan Wrigley

| successor = David Sadleir

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|12|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Adelaide, South Australia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|7|9|1933|12|8|df=y}}

| death_place = Canberra, ACT

| birthname = John Michael Moten

| citizenship =

| nationality = Australian

| spouse =

| relations = Murray Moten (father)

| children =

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| alma_mater = University of Adelaide
University of Sydney

| occupation = Aeronautical engineer

| profession =

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}}

John Michael Moten (8 December 1933{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Australia|year=2006|publisher=Colorgravure Publications}} – 9 July 2022) was an Australian aeronautical engineer.

From 1988 to 1992, he was the Director-General of Security, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/972929 Biographical cuttings on John Michael Moten, aeronautical engineer appointed Director-General of ASIO 1988, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals], National Library of Australia. He was the son of Brigadier Murray Moten, a senior Australian Army officer.R. Sutton, [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150498b.htm, 'Moten, Murray John (1899–1953)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15, Melbourne University Press, 2000, pp 429–430]

Moten was not a career intelligence officer. He had worked at the Department of Defence, where he was Deputy Secretary of the Strategic and Intelligence Section when he accepted the position of ASIO's Director-General. He retired in January 1992, three years into his five-year term. The reasons for his early retirement were never given.{{cite journal |last1=Cain |first1=Frank |year=1993 |title=The right to know: ASIO, historians and the Australian Parliament |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=87–101 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |doi=10.1080/02684529308432193 }}

He died on 9 July 2022, aged 94.[https://tributes.canberratimes.com.au/obituaries/450523/john-moten/?r=https://tributes.canberratimes.com.au/obituaries/canberratimes-au/ Canberra Times, Obituaries]