Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Encyclopedia
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage
, sabotage
, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism
.
ASIO is comparable to the United Kingdom Security Service (MI5). As with MI5 officers, ASIO officers have no police powers of arrest
and are not armed. ASIO operations requiring police powers are co-ordinated with the Australian Federal Police
or with State and Territory
police forces.
ASIO Central Office is in Canberra
, with a local office being located in each mainland state and territory capital.
ASIO is a statutory body under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
and is responsible to the Parliament of Australia
through the Attorney-General
. The Organisation also reports to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
, and is subject to independent review by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
. The head of ASIO is the Director-General of Security
, who oversees the strategic management of ASIO within guidelines issued by the Attorney-General. The current Director-General is David Irvine
, who assumed office in March 2009.
At present, ASIO has a staff of over 1,600 personnel. This number is expected to grow to some 1,860 by 2011. The identity of ASIO officers, apart from the Director-General, remain an official secret. While ASIO is an equal opportunity
employer, there has been some media comment of the Organisation's apparent difficulty in attracting people from a Muslim or Middle Eastern background. Furthermore, ASIO has undergone a period of rapid growth with some 70% of the Organisation's officers having joined since 2002, leading to what Paul O'Sullivan, Director-General of Security from 2005 to 2009, called 'an experience gap'.
The Director-General also has the power to independently issue a warrant should a serious security situation arise and a warrant requested of the Attorney-General has not yet been granted.
An ASIO officer may also, without warrant, ask an operator of an aircraft or vessel questions about the aircraft or vessel, its cargo, crew, passengers, stores or voyage; and to produce supporting documents relating to these questions.
The Director-General is not empowered to independently issue a warrant in relation to the investigation of terrorism.
or the Minister for Defence
. Known as Joint Intelligence Operations, and usually conducted in concert with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service
the purpose of these operations is the gathering of security intelligence on and from foreign officials, organisations or companies.
ASIO briefs the Attorney-General on all major issues affecting security and he/she is also informed of operations when considering granting warrants enabling the special investigative powers of ASIO. Furthermore, the Attorney-General issues guidelines with respect to the conduct of ASIO investigations relating to politically motivated violence and its functions of obtaining intelligence relevant to security.
ASIO reports to several governmental and parliamentary committees dealing with security, legislative and financial matters. This includes the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
. A classified annual report is also provided to the government, an unclassified edited version of which is tabled in Federal Parliament.
The Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
was established in 1986 to provide additional oversight of Australia’s security and intelligence agencies. The Inspector-General has complete access to all ASIO records and has a range of inquisitorial powers.
uncovered sensitive British and Australian government data being transmitted through Soviet diplomatic channels. Officers from MI5
were dispatched to Australia to assist local investigations. The leak was eventually tracked to a spy ring operating from the Soviet Embassy in Canberra. Consequently, allied Western governments expressed disaffection with the state of security in Australia.
Subsequently, on 16 March 1949, Prime Minister Ben Chifley
issued a Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service
, appointing South Australian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Reed as the first Director-General of Security
. In August 1949, Justice Reed advised the Prime Minister that he had decided to name the service the 'Australian Security Intelligence Organization' [sic] (the spelling was amended in 1999 to bring it into line with the Australian standard form 'organisation'). The new service was to be modelled on the Security Service
of the United Kingdom and an MI5 liaison team was attached to the fledgling ASIO during the early 1950s. Historian Robert Manne
describes this early relationship as “special, almost filial” and continues “ASIO’s trust in the British counter-intelligence service appears to have been near-perfect”. One of the foundation directors of ASIO, Robert Frederick Bird Wake, in his son's biography No Ribbons or Medals about his father's work as a counter espionage officer, is credited with getting " the show" started in 1949. Wake worked closely with the then director general Judge Geoffry Reed. During World War Two Reed conducted an inquiry into Wake's performance as a security officer and found that he was competent and totally innocent of the charges laid by the Army's commander-in-chief, General Thomas Blamey
. This was the start of a relationship between Reed and Wake that lasted for more than 10 years. Wake was seen as the operational head of ASIO.
When the Labor Government was defeated, the new prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies
, appointed a the deputy director of Military Intelligence, Charles Spry
, as the director. Wake resigned shortly after Spry's appointment.
The operation to crack the Soviet spy ring in Canberra consumed much of the resources of ASIO during the 1950s. This operation became internally known as "The Case". Among the prime suspects of the investigations were Wally Clayton, a prominent member of the Australian Communist Party, and two diplomats with the Department of External Affairs
, Jim Hill
and Ian Milner. However, no charges resulted from the investigations, because Australia did not have any laws against peacetime
espionage
at the time.
On 6 July 1950 the Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization
was defined by the directive of Prime Minister Menzies, following the appointment of Colonel Spry as the new Director-General. ASIO was converted to a statutory body on 13 December 1956 through the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1956 (repealed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
, the current legislation as amended to 2007).
, Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy. An ASIO field officer identified Petrov as a possible 'legal', an agent of the Soviet Ministry of State Security (MGB
, a forerunner to the KGB
) operating under diplomatic immunity
. The Organisation began gently cultivating Petrov through another agent, Dr. Michael Bialoguski, with the eventual goal of orchestrating his defection. Ultimately, Petrov was accused by the Soviet Ambassador of several lapses in judgement that would have led to his imprisonment and probable execution upon his return to the Soviet Union
. Petrov feared for his life and grabbed the defection life-line thrown him by ASIO.
The actual defection occurred on 3 April 1954. Petrov was spirited to a safe house
by ASIO officers, but his disappearance and the seeming reluctance of Australian authorities to search for him made the Soviets increasingly suspicious. Fearing a defection by Petrov, MVD officers dramatically escorted his wife Evdokia to an awaiting aeroplane in Sydney. There was doubt as to whether she was leaving by choice or through coercion and so Australian authorities initially did not act to prevent her being bundled into the plane. However, ASIO was in communication with the pilot and learned through relayed conversations with a flight attendant that if Evdokia spoke to her husband she might consider seeking asylum in Australia.
An opportunity to allow her to speak with her husband came when the Director-General of Security, Charles Spry, was informed that the MVD agents had broken Australian law by carrying firearms on an airliner in Australian airspace and so could be detained. When the aeroplane landed in Darwin for refuelling, the Soviet party and other passengers were asked to leave the plane. Police, acting on ASIO orders, quickly disarmed and restrained the two MVD officers and Evdokia was taken into the terminal to speak to her husband via telephone. After speaking to him, she became convinced he was alive and speaking freely and asked the Administrator of the Northern Territory
for political asylum.
The affair sparked controversy in Australia when circumstantial links were noted between the leader of the Australian Labor Party
and the Communist Party of Australia (and hence to the Soviet spy ring). H.V. Evatt, the leader of the Labor Party at the time, accused Prime Minister Robert Menzies
of arranging the Petrov defection to discredit him. The accusations lead to a disastrous split in the Labor party.
Petrov was able to provide information on the structure of the Soviet intelligence apparatus in the mid-1950s, information that was highly valuable to the United States. It was by obtaining this information that the Organisation's reputation in the eyes of the United States was greatly enhanced.
In fact, when Brigadier Spry retired, the Deputy Director of the CIA sent the following tribute:
successes continued throughout the Cold War
. Following an elaborate investigation between 1961 and 1963, ASIO recommended the ejection of the First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy, Ivan Skripov, and his declaration as persona non grata
. Skripov had been refining an Australian woman as an agent for Soviet intelligence; however, she was in fact an agent of ASIO.
In April 1983, ASIO uncovered more Soviet attempts at espionage and Valery Ivanov
, who also held the post of First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy, was declared persona non grata. He was ejected from Australia on the grounds that he had performed duties in violation of his diplomatic status.
mole
in the 1970s. Due to the close defence and intelligence ties between Australia and the United States, ASIO became a backdoor to American intelligence. Upon realising ASIO was compromised, the United States pulled back on the information it shared with Australia.
Following a strenuous internal audit and a joint Federal Police
investigation, George Sadil
was accused of being the mole. Sadil had been a Russian interpreter with ASIO for some 25 years and highly classified documents
were discovered in his place of residence. Federal Police arrested Sadil in June 1993 and charged him under the Crimes Act 1914
with several espionage and official secrets related offences. However, parts of the case against him collapsed the following year.
Sadil was committed to trial in March 1994, but the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with the more serious espionage-related charges after reviewing the evidence against him. Sadil's profile did not match that of the mole and investigators were unable to establish any kind of money trail between him and the KGB.
Sadil pleaded guilty in December 1994 to thirteen charges of removing ASIO documents contrary to his duty, and was sentenced to three months imprisonment. He was subsequently released on a 12 month good behaviour
bond. It is believed that another ASIO officer, now retired, is suspected of being the mole but no prosecution attempts have been made.
There were suggestions that the KGB had not actually compromised ASIO, however, in November 2004, former KGB Major-General Oleg Kalugin
confirmed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
's Four Corners programme that the KGB had in fact infiltrated ASIO in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
and Paralympic
Games, held in Sydney, as early as 1995. A specific Olympics Coordination Branch was created in 1997, and began recruiting staff with “specialised skills" the following year. In 1998, ASIO “strengthened information collection and analytical systems, monitored changes in the security environment more broadly, improved its communications technology and provided other agencies with strategic security intelligence assessments to assist their Olympics security planning.”
The Olympics Coordination Branch also began planning for the Federal Olympic Security Intelligence Centre (FOSIC) in 1998. FOSIC was to “provide security intelligence advice and threat assessments to State and Commonwealth authorities during the Sydney 2000 Games.”
announced the establishment of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security to inquire into Australia’s intelligence agencies. Justice Robert Hope of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
was appointed as Royal Commissioner.
In 1977 the Commission confirmed the need for Australia’s own security and intelligence agency and made many recommendations on improving the analytical capability and financial accountability of ASIO. It also advocated increased ministerial control, designated the conducting of security assessments for access to classified information to ASIO, and urged greater cooperation with police and foreign intelligence services. Also as a result of the Commission the jurisdiction of ASIO investigation was expanded to include sabotage and terrorism, and ASIO was given lawful authority to open mail, enter premises, use listening devices and intercept telegrams and telex under warrant.
of 1978, the government commissioned Justice Hope with conducting a review into national protective security arrangements and into co-operation between Federal and State authorities in regards to security. In the report concluded in 1979, Justice Hope designated ASIO as the agency responsible for national threat assessments in terrorism and politically motivated violence. He also recommended that relations between ASIO and State and Territory police forces be regulated by arrangements between governments.
Justice Hope completed his report in December 1984. His recommendations included that:
Justice Hope also recommended that amendments to the ASIO Act provide that “it is not the purpose of the Act that the right of lawful advocacy, protest or dissent should be affected or that exercising those rights should, by themselves, constitute activity prejudicial to security”.
commissioned a review “of the overall impact of changes in international circumstances on the roles and priorities of the Australian intelligence agencies”. In the Prime Minister’s statement of 21 July 1992, Mr. Keating said:
The resource reductions mentioned were a cut of 60 staff and a $3.81 million budget decrease.
) to inquire into various aspects of national security. The review was completed in 1994.
On 15 March 1973, Murphy and the Commonwealth Police
raided the ASIO offices in Melbourne. While some claim the raid was disastrous, serving little purpose other than to shake-up both ASIO and the Whitlam government, the findings of such investigations were not published.
Meeting (CHOGM). Three people in the street were killed – two council workers and a policeman – and several others injured. Former police officer Terry Griffiths, who was injured in the explosion, provided some evidence that suggested ASIO might have orchestrated the bombing or been aware of the possibility and allowed it to proceed. In 1985, the Director-General of Security issued a specific denial of the allegation. In 1991 the New South Wales
parliament unanimously called for a joint State-Federal inquiry into the bombing. However, the Federal government
vetoed any inquiry.
was accused of having a "special relationship" with Ratih Hardjono
when he was defence minister. Hardjono was allegedly accused of "inappropriately" photographing a secure Australian Defence facility, working with the embassy ID, and having a close working relationship with her uncle, a senior officer in BAKIN (Indonesian Intelligence). In July, journalist Greg Sheridan
contacted the then head of ASIO, Dennis Richardson
, and discussed a classified operational investigation. Later in July members of the Attorney General's department were still investigating the original allegation, making Richardson's comments premature and inaccurate. The whole episode was a salient reminder to politicians in Canberra of the British experience of 'agents of influence'
and honeypots. Ratih Hardjono was married to Bruce Grant in the 1990s.
, was cancelled after Director-General of Security
, Paul O'Sullivan
, issued an adverse security assessment of the visiting peace activist. Parkin was detained in Melbourne and held in custody for five days before being escorted under guard to Los Angeles, where he was informed that he was required to pay the Australian Government A$11,700 for the cost of his detention and removal. Parkin is challenging the adverse security assessment in the Federal Court in a joint civil action with two Iraqi refugees, Mohammed Sagar
and Muhammad Faisal
, who faced indefinite detention on the island of Nauru
after also receiving adverse security assessments in 2005.
Prior to his removal, Parkin had given talks on the role of U.S. military contractor Halliburton
in the Iraq war and led a small protest outside the Sydney headquarters of Halliburton subsidiary KBR. The Attorney-General at that time, Philip Ruddock
, refused to explain the reasons for Parkin's removal, leading to speculation that ASIO had acted under pressure from the United States. This was denied by O'Sullivan before a Senate committee, where he gave evidence that ASIO based its assessment only on Parkin's activities in Australia. O'Sullivan refused to answer questions before a later Senate committee hearing after his legal counsel told the Federal Court that ASIO did not necessarily base its assessment solely on Parkin's activities in Australia.
dismissed charges brought against a young medical student, Izhar ul-Haque. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police
had investigated ul-Haque for allegedly training with Lashkar-e-Toiba
in Pakistan
, a declared terrorist organisation under the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002. However, the case against the medical student collapsed when it was revealed that ASIO officers had engaged in improper conduct during the investigation. Justice Michael Adams determined that because ul-Haque was falsely led to believe that he was legally compelled to comply with the ASIO officers, the conduct of at least one of the investigating ASIO officers constituted false imprisonment
and kidnap at common law
, and therefore key evidence against ul-Haque was inadmissible.
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
.
ASIO is comparable to the United Kingdom Security Service (MI5). As with MI5 officers, ASIO officers have no police powers of arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
and are not armed. ASIO operations requiring police powers are co-ordinated with the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
or with State and Territory
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
police forces.
ASIO Central Office is in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, with a local office being located in each mainland state and territory capital.
Command, control and organisation
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia establishing the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation as the counter-intelligence and security agency of Australia...
and is responsible to the Parliament of Australia
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
through the Attorney-General
Attorney-General of Australia
The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
. The Organisation also reports to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is the body responsible for oversight on Australia's six main intelligence agencies: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service the Defence Signals Directorate, the Defence...
, and is subject to independent review by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia)
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is an independent statutory office holder in the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for reviewing the activities of the six agencies which collectively comprise the Australian Intelligence Community...
. The head of ASIO is the Director-General of Security
Director-General of Security
The Director-General of Security is the executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation , the domestic security agency of Australia...
, who oversees the strategic management of ASIO within guidelines issued by the Attorney-General. The current Director-General is David Irvine
David Irvine (diplomat)
David Taylor Irvine AO is an Australian diplomat, and since March 2009 has been the current Director-General of Security...
, who assumed office in March 2009.
At present, ASIO has a staff of over 1,600 personnel. This number is expected to grow to some 1,860 by 2011. The identity of ASIO officers, apart from the Director-General, remain an official secret. While ASIO is an equal opportunity
Equal opportunity
Equal opportunity, or equality of opportunity, is a controversial political concept; and an important informal decision-making standard without a precise definition involving fair choices within the public sphere...
employer, there has been some media comment of the Organisation's apparent difficulty in attracting people from a Muslim or Middle Eastern background. Furthermore, ASIO has undergone a period of rapid growth with some 70% of the Organisation's officers having joined since 2002, leading to what Paul O'Sullivan, Director-General of Security from 2005 to 2009, called 'an experience gap'.
Special investigative powers
The special investigative powers available to ASIO officers under warrant signed by the Attorney-General include:- interception of telecommunications;
- examination of postal and delivery articles;
- use of clandestine surveillance and tracking devices;
- remote access to computers, including alteration of data to conceal that access;
- covert entry to and search of premises, including the removal or copying of any record or thing found therein; and
- conduct of an ordinary or frisk search of a person if they are at or near a premises specified in the warrant.
The Director-General also has the power to independently issue a warrant should a serious security situation arise and a warrant requested of the Attorney-General has not yet been granted.
An ASIO officer may also, without warrant, ask an operator of an aircraft or vessel questions about the aircraft or vessel, its cargo, crew, passengers, stores or voyage; and to produce supporting documents relating to these questions.
Special terrorism investigative powers
When investigating terrorism, the Director-General may also seek a warrant from an independent judicial authority to allow:- the compulsory questioning of suspects;
- the detention of suspects by the Australian Federal PoliceAustralian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
, and their subsequent interrogation by ASIO officers; - ordinary, frisk or strip search of suspects by AFP officers upon their detainment;
- the seizure of passports; and
- the prevention of suspects leaving Australia.
The Director-General is not empowered to independently issue a warrant in relation to the investigation of terrorism.
Collection of foreign intelligence
ASIO also has the power to collect foreign intelligence within Australia at the request of the Minister for Foreign AffairsMinister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
or the Minister for Defence
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
. Known as Joint Intelligence Operations, and usually conducted in concert with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service
Australian Secret Intelligence Service
The Australian Secret Intelligence Service is the Australian government intelligence agency responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with other intelligence agencies overseas...
the purpose of these operations is the gathering of security intelligence on and from foreign officials, organisations or companies.
Accountability
Because of the nature of its work, ASIO does not make details of its activities public and law prevents the identities of ASIO officers from being disclosed. ASIO and the Commonwealth Government say that operational measures ensuring the legality of ASIO operations have been established.ASIO briefs the Attorney-General on all major issues affecting security and he/she is also informed of operations when considering granting warrants enabling the special investigative powers of ASIO. Furthermore, the Attorney-General issues guidelines with respect to the conduct of ASIO investigations relating to politically motivated violence and its functions of obtaining intelligence relevant to security.
ASIO reports to several governmental and parliamentary committees dealing with security, legislative and financial matters. This includes the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is the body responsible for oversight on Australia's six main intelligence agencies: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service the Defence Signals Directorate, the Defence...
. A classified annual report is also provided to the government, an unclassified edited version of which is tabled in Federal Parliament.
The Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia)
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is an independent statutory office holder in the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for reviewing the activities of the six agencies which collectively comprise the Australian Intelligence Community...
was established in 1986 to provide additional oversight of Australia’s security and intelligence agencies. The Inspector-General has complete access to all ASIO records and has a range of inquisitorial powers.
Relationships with foreign agencies and services
Australia’s intelligence and security agencies maintain close working relationships with the foreign and domestic intelligence and security agencies of other nations. As of 22 October 2008, ASIO has established liaison relationships with 311 authorities in 120 countries.Establishment and 'The Case'
Following the conclusion of World War II, the joint United States-UK Venona projectVenona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
uncovered sensitive British and Australian government data being transmitted through Soviet diplomatic channels. Officers from MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
were dispatched to Australia to assist local investigations. The leak was eventually tracked to a spy ring operating from the Soviet Embassy in Canberra. Consequently, allied Western governments expressed disaffection with the state of security in Australia.
Subsequently, on 16 March 1949, Prime Minister Ben Chifley
Ben Chifley
Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
issued a Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service
Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service
On 16 March 1949, Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley issued a Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service, appointing South Australian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Reed as the first Director-General of Security...
, appointing South Australian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Reed as the first Director-General of Security
Director-General of Security
The Director-General of Security is the executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation , the domestic security agency of Australia...
. In August 1949, Justice Reed advised the Prime Minister that he had decided to name the service the 'Australian Security Intelligence Organization' [sic] (the spelling was amended in 1999 to bring it into line with the Australian standard form 'organisation'). The new service was to be modelled on the Security Service
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
of the United Kingdom and an MI5 liaison team was attached to the fledgling ASIO during the early 1950s. Historian Robert Manne
Robert Manne
Robert Manne is a professor of politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.Born in Melbourne, Manne's earliest political consciousness was formed by the fact that his parents were Jewish refugees from Europe and his grandparents were victims of the Holocaust...
describes this early relationship as “special, almost filial” and continues “ASIO’s trust in the British counter-intelligence service appears to have been near-perfect”. One of the foundation directors of ASIO, Robert Frederick Bird Wake, in his son's biography No Ribbons or Medals about his father's work as a counter espionage officer, is credited with getting " the show" started in 1949. Wake worked closely with the then director general Judge Geoffry Reed. During World War Two Reed conducted an inquiry into Wake's performance as a security officer and found that he was competent and totally innocent of the charges laid by the Army's commander-in-chief, General Thomas Blamey
Thomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
. This was the start of a relationship between Reed and Wake that lasted for more than 10 years. Wake was seen as the operational head of ASIO.
When the Labor Government was defeated, the new prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
, appointed a the deputy director of Military Intelligence, Charles Spry
Charles Spry
Brigadier Sir Charles Chambers Fowell Spry, CBE, DSO was an Australian soldier, who from 1950 to 1970 was the second Director-General of Security, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation .-Early life:...
, as the director. Wake resigned shortly after Spry's appointment.
The operation to crack the Soviet spy ring in Canberra consumed much of the resources of ASIO during the 1950s. This operation became internally known as "The Case". Among the prime suspects of the investigations were Wally Clayton, a prominent member of the Australian Communist Party, and two diplomats with the Department of External Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the government of Australia charged with advancing the interests of Australia and its citizens internationally...
, Jim Hill
Jim Hill
Jim Hill may refer to:*Jim Hill , attorney, financial consultant, and politician from the U.S. state of Oregon*Jim Hill , American football player*Jim Hill , American racecar driver...
and Ian Milner. However, no charges resulted from the investigations, because Australia did not have any laws against peacetime
Peacetime
In politics, peacetime is defined as any period of time where there are no violent conflicts occurring. For example, the time after World War II is considered peacetime in Western Europe and the United States....
espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
at the time.
On 6 July 1950 the Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization
Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization
On 6 July 1950 Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies issued a Directive entitled the Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. The charter was an expanded and more specific form of the 1949 Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service issued by Ben...
was defined by the directive of Prime Minister Menzies, following the appointment of Colonel Spry as the new Director-General. ASIO was converted to a statutory body on 13 December 1956 through the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1956 (repealed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia establishing the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation as the counter-intelligence and security agency of Australia...
, the current legislation as amended to 2007).
The Petrov Affair
5 February 1951 saw the arrival in Sydney of Vladimir Mikhaylovich PetrovVladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov (diplomat)
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov was a member of the Soviet Union's clandestine services who became famous in 1954 for his defection to Australia.-Early life:...
, Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy. An ASIO field officer identified Petrov as a possible 'legal', an agent of the Soviet Ministry of State Security (MGB
Ministry for State Security (USSR)
The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
, a forerunner to the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
) operating under diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity
Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments that ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws...
. The Organisation began gently cultivating Petrov through another agent, Dr. Michael Bialoguski, with the eventual goal of orchestrating his defection. Ultimately, Petrov was accused by the Soviet Ambassador of several lapses in judgement that would have led to his imprisonment and probable execution upon his return to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Petrov feared for his life and grabbed the defection life-line thrown him by ASIO.
The actual defection occurred on 3 April 1954. Petrov was spirited to a safe house
Safe house
In the jargon of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a safe house is a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger...
by ASIO officers, but his disappearance and the seeming reluctance of Australian authorities to search for him made the Soviets increasingly suspicious. Fearing a defection by Petrov, MVD officers dramatically escorted his wife Evdokia to an awaiting aeroplane in Sydney. There was doubt as to whether she was leaving by choice or through coercion and so Australian authorities initially did not act to prevent her being bundled into the plane. However, ASIO was in communication with the pilot and learned through relayed conversations with a flight attendant that if Evdokia spoke to her husband she might consider seeking asylum in Australia.
An opportunity to allow her to speak with her husband came when the Director-General of Security, Charles Spry, was informed that the MVD agents had broken Australian law by carrying firearms on an airliner in Australian airspace and so could be detained. When the aeroplane landed in Darwin for refuelling, the Soviet party and other passengers were asked to leave the plane. Police, acting on ASIO orders, quickly disarmed and restrained the two MVD officers and Evdokia was taken into the terminal to speak to her husband via telephone. After speaking to him, she became convinced he was alive and speaking freely and asked the Administrator of the Northern Territory
Administrator of the Government
An Administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a Governor or a Governor-General...
for political asylum.
The affair sparked controversy in Australia when circumstantial links were noted between the leader of the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
and the Communist Party of Australia (and hence to the Soviet spy ring). H.V. Evatt, the leader of the Labor Party at the time, accused Prime Minister Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
of arranging the Petrov defection to discredit him. The accusations lead to a disastrous split in the Labor party.
Petrov was able to provide information on the structure of the Soviet intelligence apparatus in the mid-1950s, information that was highly valuable to the United States. It was by obtaining this information that the Organisation's reputation in the eyes of the United States was greatly enhanced.
In fact, when Brigadier Spry retired, the Deputy Director of the CIA sent the following tribute:
- “The relationship between the CIA and ASIO started as a very personal one. The real substantive relationship started with Sir Charles’ visit in 1955… Since Sir Charles’ first visit, the relationships with ASIO have continued to become closer and closer until today we have no secrets, regardless of classification or sensitivity, that are not made available to ASIO if it is pertinent to Australia’s internal security… I feel, as does the Director, a type of mutual trust in dealing with ASIO that is exceeded by no other service in the world today.”
The Cold War
ASIO's counter-intelligenceCounter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
successes continued throughout the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Following an elaborate investigation between 1961 and 1963, ASIO recommended the ejection of the First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy, Ivan Skripov, and his declaration as persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
. Skripov had been refining an Australian woman as an agent for Soviet intelligence; however, she was in fact an agent of ASIO.
In April 1983, ASIO uncovered more Soviet attempts at espionage and Valery Ivanov
Valery Ivanov
Valery Nikolayevich Ivanov was a Soviet diplomat.As First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy to Australia, he was expelled on 22 April 1983 under suspicion of being a spy after allegedly trying to recruit Australian Labor Party member David Combe....
, who also held the post of First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy, was declared persona non grata. He was ejected from Australia on the grounds that he had performed duties in violation of his diplomatic status.
Penetration by the KGB
These successes were marred, however, by the penetration of ASIO by a KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
in the 1970s. Due to the close defence and intelligence ties between Australia and the United States, ASIO became a backdoor to American intelligence. Upon realising ASIO was compromised, the United States pulled back on the information it shared with Australia.
Following a strenuous internal audit and a joint Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
investigation, George Sadil
George Sadil
George Sadil is a former Russian analyst and translator who worked with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation during the height of the Cold War. After it had been revealed the ASIO had been compromised, investigations were held and after an internal audit conducted by both the ASIO and...
was accused of being the mole. Sadil had been a Russian interpreter with ASIO for some 25 years and highly classified documents
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
were discovered in his place of residence. Federal Police arrested Sadil in June 1993 and charged him under the Crimes Act 1914
Crimes Act 1914
The Crimes Act 1914 is a piece of Federal legislation in Australia. Pursuant to the Australian Constitution it prevails in any conflict with State laws dealing with the subject of crime....
with several espionage and official secrets related offences. However, parts of the case against him collapsed the following year.
Sadil was committed to trial in March 1994, but the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with the more serious espionage-related charges after reviewing the evidence against him. Sadil's profile did not match that of the mole and investigators were unable to establish any kind of money trail between him and the KGB.
Sadil pleaded guilty in December 1994 to thirteen charges of removing ASIO documents contrary to his duty, and was sentenced to three months imprisonment. He was subsequently released on a 12 month good behaviour
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
bond. It is believed that another ASIO officer, now retired, is suspected of being the mole but no prosecution attempts have been made.
There were suggestions that the KGB had not actually compromised ASIO, however, in November 2004, former KGB Major-General Oleg Kalugin
Oleg Kalugin
Oleg Danilovich Kalugin , is a former KGB general. He was a longtime head of KGB operations in the United States and later a critic of the agency.-Early life and the KGB career:...
confirmed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Four Corners programme that the KGB had in fact infiltrated ASIO in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
ASIO began planning for the 2000 Olympic2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and Paralympic
2000 Summer Paralympics
The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000...
Games, held in Sydney, as early as 1995. A specific Olympics Coordination Branch was created in 1997, and began recruiting staff with “specialised skills" the following year. In 1998, ASIO “strengthened information collection and analytical systems, monitored changes in the security environment more broadly, improved its communications technology and provided other agencies with strategic security intelligence assessments to assist their Olympics security planning.”
The Olympics Coordination Branch also began planning for the Federal Olympic Security Intelligence Centre (FOSIC) in 1998. FOSIC was to “provide security intelligence advice and threat assessments to State and Commonwealth authorities during the Sydney 2000 Games.”
Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, 1974–77
On 21 August 1974, Prime Minister Gough WhitlamGough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
announced the establishment of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security to inquire into Australia’s intelligence agencies. Justice Robert Hope of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
was appointed as Royal Commissioner.
In 1977 the Commission confirmed the need for Australia’s own security and intelligence agency and made many recommendations on improving the analytical capability and financial accountability of ASIO. It also advocated increased ministerial control, designated the conducting of security assessments for access to classified information to ASIO, and urged greater cooperation with police and foreign intelligence services. Also as a result of the Commission the jurisdiction of ASIO investigation was expanded to include sabotage and terrorism, and ASIO was given lawful authority to open mail, enter premises, use listening devices and intercept telegrams and telex under warrant.
Protective Security Review, 1978–79
Following the Sydney Hilton bombingSydney Hilton bombing
The Sydney Hilton bombing occurred on 13 February 1978, when a bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the time the hotel was the site of the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting , a regional off-shoot of the biennial meetings of the heads...
of 1978, the government commissioned Justice Hope with conducting a review into national protective security arrangements and into co-operation between Federal and State authorities in regards to security. In the report concluded in 1979, Justice Hope designated ASIO as the agency responsible for national threat assessments in terrorism and politically motivated violence. He also recommended that relations between ASIO and State and Territory police forces be regulated by arrangements between governments.
Royal Commission on Australian Security and Intelligence Agencies, 1983–84
Following the publicity surrounding the expulsion of Valery Ivanov, First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, the Government established a Royal Commission to review the activities of Australian Security and Intelligence Agencies. Justice Hope was again Royal Commissioner.Justice Hope completed his report in December 1984. His recommendations included that:
- the security related activities which ASIO should investigate be redefined. References to subversion and terrorism be removed and replaced with politically motivated violence, attacks on Australia’s defence system and promoting communal violence;
- ASIO be given additional functions of collecting foreign intelligence and providing protective security advice; and that
- a separate office of Inspector-General of Intelligence and SecurityInspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia)The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is an independent statutory office holder in the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for reviewing the activities of the six agencies which collectively comprise the Australian Intelligence Community...
be established.
Justice Hope also recommended that amendments to the ASIO Act provide that “it is not the purpose of the Act that the right of lawful advocacy, protest or dissent should be affected or that exercising those rights should, by themselves, constitute activity prejudicial to security”.
Post-Cold War review, 1992
In early 1992, Prime Minister Paul KeatingPaul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
commissioned a review “of the overall impact of changes in international circumstances on the roles and priorities of the Australian intelligence agencies”. In the Prime Minister’s statement of 21 July 1992, Mr. Keating said:
- Consistent with the philosophy of a separation of the assessment, policy and foreign intelligence collection functions, the Government considers that the existing roles of the individual agencies remain valid in the 1990s. The rationale outlined by Mr Justice Hope for ASIO as a freestanding, non-executive, advisory intelligence security agency remains relevant in the 1990s and the Government has therefore decided that ASIO should continue to have the roles and responsibilities laid down in existing legislation.
- The Soviet threat certainly formed an important component of ASIO’s activities, but threats from other sources of foreign interference and politically motivated violence have been important to ASIO for some time, and will remain so. However, the implications for ASIO of the changes in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are more far-reaching than for the other agencies. The Government has therefore decided that while ASIO’s capacity to meet its responsibilities must be maintained, there is scope for resource reductions.
The resource reductions mentioned were a cut of 60 staff and a $3.81 million budget decrease.
Inquiry into National Security, 1993
Following the trial of George Sadil over the ASIO mole scandal and from concern about the implications of material having been removed from ASIO without authority, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Mr. Michael Cook AO (former head of the Office of National AssessmentsOffice of National Assessments
The Office of National Assessments is an Australian intelligence agency. ONA was established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia...
) to inquire into various aspects of national security. The review was completed in 1994.
Parliamentary Joint Committee inquiries
The Parliamentary Joint Committee completed several reviews and inquiries into ASIO during the 1990s. The first concerned the security assessment process. Another was held in September into “The nature, scope and appropriateness of the way in which ASIO reports to the Australian public on its activities.” The Committee concluded that “the total package of information available to the Australian community about ASIO's operations exceeds that available to citizens in other countries about their domestic intelligence agencies.” Pursuant to this, recommendations were made regarding the ASIO website and other publicly accessible information.Opposition to the political left
ASIO has been accused of executing an agenda against the Left of politics since its inception. In the 1960s, ASIO was also accused of neglecting its proper duties because of this supposed preoccupation with targeting the Left. Like other Western domestic security agencies, ASIO actively monitored protesters against the Vietnam War, Labor politicians and various writers, artists and actors who tended towards the Left. Other claims go further, alleging that the Organisation compiled a list of some 10,000 suspected Communist sympathisers who would be interned should the Cold War escalate.Raids on ASIO Central Office, 1973
Further accusations against ASIO were raised by the Attorney-General following a series of bombings from 1963–1970 on the consulate of Communist Yugoslavia in Australia by Croatian far-right militia. Attorney-General Lionel Murphy alleged that ASIO had withheld information on the group which could have led to preventative measures taken against further bomb attacks (however, Murphy was a member of the recently sworn-in Labor government, which still held a deep-seated suspicion of ASIO).On 15 March 1973, Murphy and the Commonwealth Police
Commonwealth Police
The name Commonwealth Police was used by three separate policing organisations in Australia at various times in the 20th century.-Commonwealth Police Force :...
raided the ASIO offices in Melbourne. While some claim the raid was disastrous, serving little purpose other than to shake-up both ASIO and the Whitlam government, the findings of such investigations were not published.
The Sydney Hilton bombing allegations of conspiracy, 1978
On 13 February 1978, the Sydney Hilton Hotel was bombed, one of the few domestic terrorist incidents on Australian soil. The Hotel was the location for the Commonwealth Heads of GovernmentCommonwealth Heads of Government
The leaders of the nations with membership in the Commonwealth of Nations are collectively known as the Commonwealth Heads of Government. They are invited to attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings every two years, with most countries being represented by either their Head of Government...
Meeting (CHOGM). Three people in the street were killed – two council workers and a policeman – and several others injured. Former police officer Terry Griffiths, who was injured in the explosion, provided some evidence that suggested ASIO might have orchestrated the bombing or been aware of the possibility and allowed it to proceed. In 1985, the Director-General of Security issued a specific denial of the allegation. In 1991 the New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
parliament unanimously called for a joint State-Federal inquiry into the bombing. However, the Federal government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
vetoed any inquiry.
Anti-terrorism bungle, 2001
A few weeks after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, mistakes led ASIO to incorrectly raid the home of Bilal Daye and his wife. It has been revealed that the search warrant was for a different address. The couple subsequently sought damages and the embarrassing incident was settled out of court in late 2005, with all material relating to the case being declared strictly confidential.Kim Beazley-Ratih Hardjono investigation, 2004
In June 2004, Kim BeazleyKim Beazley
In the October 1998 election, Labor polled a majority of the two-party vote and received the largest swing to a first-term opposition since 1934. However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up eight seats short of making Beazley Prime Minister....
was accused of having a "special relationship" with Ratih Hardjono
Ratih Hardjono
Ratih Hardjono is an Indonesian journalist for Kompas, an author, and a public affairs consultant. Her first book, White Tribe of Asia, a discussion of Australia's culture, history and politics, was published in 1993...
when he was defence minister. Hardjono was allegedly accused of "inappropriately" photographing a secure Australian Defence facility, working with the embassy ID, and having a close working relationship with her uncle, a senior officer in BAKIN (Indonesian Intelligence). In July, journalist Greg Sheridan
Greg Sheridan
Greg Sheridan is the foreign editor of The Australian and a right-wing commentator on foreign affairs.Writing on and from the Asian region since the 1980s, Sheridan is an expert on Asian politics, and has written four books on the topic, plus a book on Australia-U.S...
contacted the then head of ASIO, Dennis Richardson
Dennis Richardson (diplomat)
Dennis James Richardson AO is an Australian public servant. He is the current Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade...
, and discussed a classified operational investigation. Later in July members of the Attorney General's department were still investigating the original allegation, making Richardson's comments premature and inaccurate. The whole episode was a salient reminder to politicians in Canberra of the British experience of 'agents of influence'
Agent of influence
An agent of influence is a person whose political actions and arguments are alleged to serve the interests of a foreign power, and to be directed or manipulated by the intelligence agency of that power...
and honeypots. Ratih Hardjono was married to Bruce Grant in the 1990s.
Detention and removal of Scott Parkin, 2005
In September 2005, the VISA of American citizen, Scott ParkinScott Parkin
Scott Parkin Scott Parkin Scott Parkin (b. 1969, Garland, Texas is a peace, environmental and global justice organizer, community college history instructor, and a founding member of the Houston Global Awareness Collective. He has been a vocal critic of the American invasion of Iraq, and of...
, was cancelled after Director-General of Security
Director-General of Security
The Director-General of Security is the executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation , the domestic security agency of Australia...
, Paul O'Sullivan
Paul O'Sullivan
Paul Thomas O'Sullivan, AO is Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand and former Director-General of Security. Prior to his appointment to head ASIO in July 2005, O'Sullivan was former Prime Minister John Howard's senior foreign affairs advisor.O'Sullivan attended Marcellin College, Randwick,...
, issued an adverse security assessment of the visiting peace activist. Parkin was detained in Melbourne and held in custody for five days before being escorted under guard to Los Angeles, where he was informed that he was required to pay the Australian Government A$11,700 for the cost of his detention and removal. Parkin is challenging the adverse security assessment in the Federal Court in a joint civil action with two Iraqi refugees, Mohammed Sagar
Mohammed Sagar
Mohammed Sagar is an Iraqi Shi'a Muslim refugee who was detained on Manus Island and Nauru between 2001 and 2006. Sagar became the last of approximately 1,300 refugees from the Middle East to be detained on Nauru under the Australian Government's "Pacific Solution" after an adverse security...
and Muhammad Faisal
Muhammad Faisal
Muhammad Faisal is an Iraqi refugee who was detained on the island of Nauru between 2001 and 2006 under the Australian Government's "pacific solution"...
, who faced indefinite detention on the island of Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
after also receiving adverse security assessments in 2005.
Prior to his removal, Parkin had given talks on the role of U.S. military contractor Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
in the Iraq war and led a small protest outside the Sydney headquarters of Halliburton subsidiary KBR. The Attorney-General at that time, Philip Ruddock
Philip Ruddock
Philip Maxwell Ruddock is an Australian politician who is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Berowra, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia...
, refused to explain the reasons for Parkin's removal, leading to speculation that ASIO had acted under pressure from the United States. This was denied by O'Sullivan before a Senate committee, where he gave evidence that ASIO based its assessment only on Parkin's activities in Australia. O'Sullivan refused to answer questions before a later Senate committee hearing after his legal counsel told the Federal Court that ASIO did not necessarily base its assessment solely on Parkin's activities in Australia.
Kidnap and false imprisonment of Izhar ul-Haque, 2007
On 12 November 2007, the Supreme Court of New South WalesSupreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
dismissed charges brought against a young medical student, Izhar ul-Haque. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
had investigated ul-Haque for allegedly training with Lashkar-e-Toiba
Lashkar-e-Toiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, a declared terrorist organisation under the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002. However, the case against the medical student collapsed when it was revealed that ASIO officers had engaged in improper conduct during the investigation. Justice Michael Adams determined that because ul-Haque was falsely led to believe that he was legally compelled to comply with the ASIO officers, the conduct of at least one of the investigating ASIO officers constituted false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
and kidnap at common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
, and therefore key evidence against ul-Haque was inadmissible.
Archival material
Under the Archives Act 1983, ASIO files can be released to the public after 30 years unless they fall into any of 16 exemption categories (as itemised in section 33 of the Archives Act).See also
- Australian Federal PoliceAustralian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP) - Australian intelligence agencies
- Australian Secret Intelligence ServiceAustralian Secret Intelligence ServiceThe Australian Secret Intelligence Service is the Australian government intelligence agency responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with other intelligence agencies overseas...
(ASIS) - Defence Signals DirectorateDefence Signals DirectorateDefence Signals Directorate is an Australian government intelligence agency responsible for signals intelligence and information security .-Overview:According to its website, DSD has two principal functions:...
(DSD) - Office of National AssessmentsOffice of National AssessmentsThe Office of National Assessments is an Australian intelligence agency. ONA was established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia...
(ONA) - Defence Intelligence OrganisationDefence Intelligence OrganisationThe Defence Intelligence Organisation is an Australian government intelligence agency responsible for assessing intelligence obtained from or provided by other Australian and foreign intelligence agencies, supporting Defence and Government decision-making and the planning and conduct of Australian...
(DIO) - Defence Imagery and Geospatial OrganisationDefence Imagery and Geospatial OrganisationThe Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation is an Australian government intelligence agency responsible for the tasking , exploitation , and dissemination of geospatial intelligence...
(DIGO)
- Australian Secret Intelligence Service
- Oversight bodies
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and SecurityParliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and SecurityThe Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is the body responsible for oversight on Australia's six main intelligence agencies: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service the Defence Signals Directorate, the Defence...
(PJCIS) - Inspector-General of Intelligence and SecurityInspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia)The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is an independent statutory office holder in the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for reviewing the activities of the six agencies which collectively comprise the Australian Intelligence Community...
(IGIS)
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
- Relevant legislation
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia establishing the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation as the counter-intelligence and security agency of Australia...
(ASIO Act) - Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002
- Intelligence Services Act 2001Intelligence Services Act 2001The Intelligence Services Act 2001 is an act of the Parliament of Australia, which was passed on 29 September 2001 and came into effect on 29 October 2001.The ISA introduced three main reforms:...
(ISA) - Intelligence Services Amendment Act 2004Intelligence Services Amendment Act 2004The Intelligence Services Amendment Act 2004 was passed by the Parliament of Australia on 1 April 2004 as an amendment to the original Intelligence Services Act 2001 , granting controversial new powers to the Australian Secret Intelligence Service...
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979
- Overseas counterparts
- Canada: Canadian Security Intelligence ServiceCanadian Security Intelligence ServiceThe Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS) - New Zealand: New Zealand Security Intelligence ServiceNew Zealand Security Intelligence ServiceThe New Zealand Security Intelligence Service is an intelligence agency of the New Zealand government.-Purpose:As a civilian organisation, the Security Intelligence Service takes no part in the enforcement of security...
(NZSIS) - UK: Security ServiceMI5The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
(MI5) - US: National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(NSB/FBI)
- Canada: Canadian Security Intelligence Service