A new “independent” review of the intelligence community by one of its chief architects surprisingly finds all is well.
ASIO
Civil liberties groups to A-G: ASIO refugee assessments unjust
An open letter to the Attorney-General Nicola Rox, calling on here to implement legislative change to ensue adverse ASIO security assessments can be meaningfully challenged.
How ASIO’s non-existent war on illegal fishing is faring
ASIO’s powers were expanded earlier this year, we were told, to help combat illegal fishing. So this week ASIO was asked how the war on illegal fishing was faring …
David Irvine: a colourful senior spook
The man most responsible for protecting Australia from a terrorist attack is not your typically dour spook. ASIO’s David Irvine holds an honours degree in Elizabethan history, writes Matthew Knott.
More hyping of the threat of ‘cyber’
Cyber warfare continues to be spruiked by governments as a major threat. Pity they fail to explain where the threat really lies.
WikiLeaks and disclosing classified
information
Julian Assange may face prosecution for revealing the identity of an ASIO officer. But governments disclose secret things all the time.
Digital Pearl Harbors make for a good year for the cyber defence industry
Cyber Pearl Harbors and digital Blackwaters mean the cyber defence industry is on the cusp of a boom.
How the media will react to a right to privacy
Belatedly, the government is acting on a longstanding recommendation about a right to privacy. But it’s a little hypocritical.
ASIO gets its new powers — and no one will tell us why
Labor and the Coalition combined to give ASIO new powers last night. We still don’t know why.
ASIO: fishers of men
The Attorney-General’s department, struggling to explain why ASIO needs wider powers, chooses the fish.
Uncover Australia’s secret history
Filmmaker Haydn Keenan has spent the past five years pouring through secret files that ASIO kept on potential enemies of the state in the 1960s and 1970s. The result is a fascinating exhibition of files in Sydney, writes Kate Horowitz.
Mysteries of the ASIO amendment survive Senate scrutiny
A senior attorney-general bureaucrat has struggled to explain to a Senate committee the rationale for amendments broadening ASIO’s remit to spy on organisations overseas and tried to duck questions about whether the amendment would enable ASIO to spy on WikiLeaks.
The winners from the war on terror
Our $16.7 billion spending on the war on terror had ended up in some interesting hands — and hasn’t necessarily reduced the threat of terrorism.
‘Same-day service’: ASIO brings in DIAC to help with asylum security checks
Asylum seeker advocates have cautiously welcomed moves by ASIO to speed up the way it handles asylum seeker security checks, in a move the government hopes will result in a ”same-day service” for security checks.
Wikileaks New powers mean ASIO could spy on WikiLeaks
A new bill that has received little attention will dramatically expand ASIO’s powers to spy overseas, including on organisations like WikiLeaks.
Hey ASIO, there’s a difference between a translator and a linguist
Looking for work, linguist William Steed read a job advertisement for a linguist with ASIO. He was surprised to discover that ASIO don’t know the difference between a linguist and a translator.
ASIO confirms resources
pressure
Questions are still being asked about the length of time taken by ASIO to complete security assessments of asylum seekers.
Political snippets: Why were ASIO interested in me, Richard Farmer?
An old friend from my university days has kindly sent me a page from an ASIO document he received after making a freedom-of-information request about himself and I am puzzled to find a reference to myself in it.
Good Feud Guide: Gerard Henderson vs. Peter Butt and Geraldine Willesee
John Gorton biographer Ian Hancock has denied claims by Sydney Institute director Gerard Henderson that he told Henderson there was “no evidence” ASIO spied on the former PM.
How embarrassment, Julie
Daily Media Wrap: Julie Bishop let it slip yesterday that local intelligence agencies are involved in passport forgery, and now Kevin Rudd is accusing her of breaching national security. Did Julie really stuff it?
Spy games: Mossad agent ousting
pre-arranged?
A former top-level spy says the Rudd Government’s ousting of a Mossad agent from Canberra was almost certainly brokered behind the scenes by top-level Israeli and Australian officials.
Crikey Says: The Downer doctrine is dumb
The government’s decision to publicly criticise Israel for the “abuse and counterfeiting” of Australian passports is not about Israel. It’s about the way civilised governments treat each other.
AFP flying close to the wind — again — on Tamil case
In pursuing a case against three Australians of Sri Lankan Tamil background for supplying funds to the LTTE, the AFP relied on information provided or vetted by the Sri Lankan government, writes Bruce Haigh.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Housing market a sleeper issue for Gen Y
Crikey readers weigh in on ASIO, the horrors of the housing market and housing affordability and the NSW ALP.
The answer is ASIO
Another security announcement, another boost for ASIO. It doesn’t take an alfoil-wearing conspiracy theorist to see a pattern, the Government is keen to bolster its security credentials.
