Page 60 - Australian Defence Magazine March 2019

SECURITY
INTELLIGENCE
Around 40 per cent of the enlarged NIC now falls under the Home Affairs umbrella including ASIO. Its creation challenges Justice Hope’s considered view that intel- ligence analysis and assessment should not rest in the hands of policy departments. Home Affairs has policy and program re- sponsibility for counter-terrorism, cyber security policy, counter-foreign interfer- ence and critical infrastructure protection. It also has 500 staff working full-time on intelligence matters.
The greatly enlarged domain headed by the Secretary of the Department of Home Af- fairs Michael Pezzullo, intersects in a number of key areas with Warner’s new coordination role as Australia’s intelligence supremo. The effectiveness of the new intelligence com- munity architecture led by ONI will depend much on harmonious working relations be- tween the Secretary of Home Affairs and the Director-General National Intelligence.
For nearly two decades our intelligence agencies have been stretched by a very high operational tempo and increasing demands from government. The current intelligence provided has been critical both to Austra- lia’s counter-terrorism response and to our far-flung military operations. Whether
policy makers have been getting the kind of strategic intelligence assessments they need for longer-term decisions affecting Aus- tralia’s security remains a matter of debate within the intelligence realm.
Policy investment
The national security community have exert- ed a powerful sway over policy makers con- vincing ministers year after year of the case for ever more resources for intelligence and security agencies. Our intelligence agencies have rapidly grown in overall numbers and continued to receive extraordinarily gener- ous funding streams which are the envy of other arms of the Australian government.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, traditionally a vital source of intelligence for government, has been progressively di- minished and its diplomatic footprint in areas of vital strategic interest to Australia steadily reduced. The case for further in- vestment on intelligence gathering rather than rebuilding our diplomatic service is worth examining.
The two major structural changes to the NIC-the creation of the ONI and the estab- lishment of Home Affairs will take time to bed down. Former ONA chief Allan Gyn-
gell has noted that a key issue is whether these reforms will preserve the fundamental distinction between intelligence assessment and policy “so that intelligence products are not distorted by policy and politics.”
Forty years ago Justice Hope stressed the requirement for Australia to have its own intelligence assessment and collection ca- pabilities and the necessity to constantly re-assess the benefits to Australia from in- telligence partnerships with other countries against the costs. “Australia’s intelligence interests do not, and cannot, coincide with those of any other country,’’ Hope warned.
If our intelligence chiefs are right the com- ing decades will see the emergence of a broader array of national security threats. As we enter a new age of anxiety national strategic policy making will demand not just good intelli- gence and adroit diplomacy but a greater level of self-reliance and a more hard-headed appre- ciation of Australia’s national interest.
Note: This article is adapted from a longer essay, “Spies, China and megabytes: Inside the overhaul of Australia’s intelligence agen- cies,” Australian Foreign Affairs, Issue 4, Nov 2018 https://www.australianforeignaffairs. com/essay/2018/10/defending-australia
WHO’S WHO IN AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY 2019
OFFICE OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Role: Australia’s peak intelligence agen- cy. Provides assessments of international political, strategic and economic devel- opments for the prime minister, minis- ters and senior officials, and co-ordinates foreign intelligence activities
Portfolio: Prime Minister and Cabinet Established: December 2018 (replaces Office of National Assessments (ONA) founded in 1978)
Budget: $58 million
Staff: Around 200 (rising to 300)
AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION
Role: Collects and assesses intelligence on threats to Australians at home and overseas
Portfolio: Home Affairs Founded: 1949
Budget: $500 million Staff: 2,000
AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE
Role: Monitors and intercepts foreign communications, defends against cyber threats, and directly supports counterter- rorism operations and military deploy- ments overseas.
Portfolio: Defence (now a statutory au- thority)
Founded: 1947
Budget: $800 million
Staff: 2,000 (estimated)
AUSTRALIAN SECRET
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
Role: Collects foreign intelligence using human agents and sources and conducts counter-intelligence operations Portfolio: Foreign Affairs
Founded: 1952
Budget: $460 million
Staff: Classified
DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION
Role: Assesses international security developments and foreign military capabilities
Portfolio: Defence
Founded: Originally formed as the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) in 1970 and renamed in 1990
Budget: N/A
Staff: 350 (estimated)
AUSTRALIAN GEOSPATIAL- INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION
Role: Provides imagery and geospatial analysis to the intelligence community and government, including data from commercial satellites
Portfolio: Defence
Founded: 2000 (until 2013 known
as DIGO, the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation)
Budget: N/A
Staff: 600 (estimated)
NOTE:Sincethe2018reorganisationtheoriginalsixagenciescomprisingtheAustralianIntelligenceCommunityhavebeenjoinedbytheAustralianCriminalIntelligence Commission(ACIC),theAustralianTransactionsReportsandAnalysisCentre(AUSTRAC-Australia’sfinancialintelligenceagency),plustheintelligencefunctionsoftheAus- tralianFederalPolice(AFP)andDepartmentofHomeAffairs(notablytheAustralianBorderForceandtheOfficeofTransportSecurity).Allthesenewcomerstowhatisnow known as the National Intelligence Community (NIC) are located within the Home Affairs portfolio. Sources: Federal Government annual reports and agency websites
60 | March 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au