INTELLIGENCE SERVICE – AUSTRALIA

Spy boss warns of realistic possibility of foreign-ordered killings in Australia

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Original article by Matthew Knott
The Age – Page: Online : 5-Nov-25

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s director-general Mike Burgess says there are "multiple, cascading and intersecting threats" to Australia’s social cohesion. He has used a Lowy Institute speech to warn that there is a realistic possibility that foreign governments will attempt to assassinate dissidents in Australia, and ASIO believes that least three nations are willing and capable of doing so. Burgess also identified a number of other threats, including state-sanctioned trolls, neo-Nazis, extreme anti-Israel activists and Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir; the latter is not a designated terrorist group in Australia, although it is in countries such as the UK.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Busier-than-ever ASIO cracks hive of spies and other plots

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 22-Feb-23

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has used his annual threat assessment to warn that espionage and foreign interference are now the intelligence agency’s main security concerns. He said this has resulted in ASIO being busier now than at any time in its history, with Australians being targeted by foreign espionage agencies more than ever before. Burgess also warned that defence contractors in particular are being targeted in the wake of the AUKUS deal to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, and a "small but concerning number" of veterans have been willing to sell military secrets and expertise to foreign governments. Burgess has revealed that ASIO has uncovered and deported members of a "hive" of highly-trained foreign spies.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

ASIO foils spy plot to interfere with election

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 10-Feb-22

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s director-general Mike Burgess says there have been attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government and in all states and territories. He has revealed that ASIO recently thwarted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election, which is believed to have been the upcoming federal election. This plot involved a wealthy "agent of interference" with direct connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies; this person, whom Burgess referred to as "the puppeteer", had attempted to finance the campaigns of political candidates who were deemed to be susceptible to ‘inducements and cultivation’.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

No conflict for journalists as spooks

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Original article by Aaron Patrick
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 8-Sep-20

Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James says journalists who provide information to their own country’s intelligence service should not be viewed as spies. James was commenting on a report that former ABC foreign correspondent Peter Barnett may have assisted Australian intelligence services in the 1960s and 1970s. Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance president Marcus Strom contends that providing information to an intelligence agency would be viewed as a conflict of interest for a journalist that would have to be declared under their code of ethics.

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AUSTRALIA DEFENCE ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

ASIO uncovers sleeper agent running spy ring

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 25-Feb-20

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess says countering terrorism remains ASIO’s top priority. He was delivering the Annual Threat Assessment on 24 February, with Burgess stating the ­number of active terrorist leads ASIO was investigating had doubled in the past 12 months. He revealed that ASIO had uncovered a ‘sleeper agent’ running a major spy ring, although he did not disclose what had happened to the agent. Burgess said ASIO had used controversial new encryption laws within 10 days of them coming into effect in 2018 in order to prevent a possible terrorist attack.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Secretive government agency linked to AFP raid on ABC, documents show

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Original article by John Lyons
abc.net au – Page: Online : 7-Aug-19

The Australian Federal Police has released documents relating to the recent raid on the Sydney offices of the ABC, in response to a Freedom of Information request from Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick. However, the AFP has withheld some documents on the grounds that they contain material relating to a government agency that is exempt from FOI laws. Patrick says the AFP’s actions show that a second agency was involved in the investigation that led to the raid, and he believes that it is either ASIO or the Australian Signals Directorate. He has urged the federal government to reveal which agency was involved.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

Press freedom probe backed

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 2 : 3-Jul-19

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will undertake an inquiry into the impact of police and intelligence agencies’ powers on freedom of the press. The inquiry was approved by federal cabinet on 2 July, and follows the recent police raids on the ABC’s offices and the home of a News Corp Australia journalist. Labor proposes to establish a separate inquiry into press freedom and the public’s right to know, while media companies advocate changes to laws affecting freedom of the press rather than a parliamentary inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Spy boss joins terror fight

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Original article by Paul Maley, Deborah Cornwall, Ean Higgins
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 18-Mar-19

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation will step up its monitoring of local right-wing extremists in the wake of the attack on two mosques in Christchurch. Federal cabinet’s ­National Security Committee will be briefed by ASIO’s director-general Duncan Lewis and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin on 18 March. Meanwhile, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush says the alleged perpetrator Brenton Tarrant seems to have been acting alone, and three other people who were arrested following the attacks are not believed to have been involved.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Phelps bill a security risk: ASIO

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Feb-19

The federal government has received advice from intelligence agencies that a bill to allow asylum seekers to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment would undermine its border protection policy. The classified briefing warns that the offshore processing of asylum-seekers would be in doubt if the bill proposed by independent MP Kerryn Phelps is passed. Labor and the Greens intend to support the bill, while Bob Katter is the only independent MP to have declared his intention to vote against it.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN BORDER FORCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Rookie spy foiled terrorists

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Original article by Tessa Akerman, Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 15-Nov-18

Victoria’s Court of Appeal has lifted a suppression order that had prevented the media from reporting on the conviction of three Muslim men on terrorism charges. A jury took seven day to find Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullah Chaarani and Hamza Abbas guilty over a plan to launch a terrorism attack in the Melbourne CBD at Christmas in 2016. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s Director-General of Security, Duncan Lewis, has also revealed that the terrorism plot had been detected due to the work of a recent ASIO recruit.

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COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION