Spy base | China's planned East Timor facility failed

"just another part of China's growing intelligence activity through Asia and beyond"

Australia, the United States ‘Yes Man’ - On Line Opinion - 9/5/2011

"The forces necessary to build any invasion force would be significant and require time. Surely even the Australian intelligence services and ADF might notice that this was occurring."

Terror too hard between wars | The Australian

"AS Osama bin Laden's death was celebrated by Americans on New York streets a little like on 1945's V-J Day, Julia Gillard cautioned Australians that 'our war against terrorism must continue'."

Triumph of the dills on Osama - bureaucrats ruined great PR victory | thetelegraph.com.au

"A former secret agent with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, who does not want to be identified, said the bin Laden mission, conducted by US Navy SEALs and other operatives, was an even greater special forces triumph than the Entebbe rescue in Uganda in 1976, when Israeli special forces freed 103 hostages from a hijacked airliner."

Kevin Rudd in row over Osama bin Laden ally Umar Patek's arrest | The Australian

"He declared it 'a potential major step forward in the fight against terrorism'."

Seeking a balance between intelligence and citizen rights | The Jakarta Post

"For example, MI-5 in the United Kingdom and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) are neither armed nor have arrest powers. Operations requiring police authority are conducted in coordination with law enforcement."

Unchecked visitors gain access to secure areas at airports and docks | The Australian

"The federal Auditor-General said a range of gaps in the security regime protecting the sensitive facilities was allowing an unknown number of visitors through without ASIO checks."

Department of Management hosted Director-General of ASIO « News and Events

The Department of Management recently hosted Mr David Irvine AO, the Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Mr Irvine delivered a presentation on the ethical and moral dimensions of leadership."

Osama bin Laden death won't change Australia's security budget | Adelaide Now

"The death of Osama bin Laden will have no impact on the major focus in the national security budget - the continued construction of the massive new multi-storey headquarters for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation."

US didn't tell PM's office about bin Laden | Adelaide Now

"Asked how she found out, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was told before the Prime Minister's office."

bin laden | celebration | sovereignty

"In a similar vein, people applying for a licence to use blasting explosives in Australia have to take an ASIO security check. I'm not sure many terrorists would bother with getting a licence to use explosives."

Public projects driving ACT investments - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"Non-residential construction includes the new ASIO headquarters and work on the precinct near the Australian National University."

WikiLeaks: telling it like it is

"I have been reliably told that ASIO played an active part in the investigation into Assange"

Airport worker breach highlights security risks | The Australian

"The Transport Department requires people who work airside on a regular or permanent basis to be checked by ASIO, law enforcement agencies and, where necessary, the Immigration Department."

Questions on Habib torture

"The then head of ASIO, Dennis Richardson, now the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, was asked the next day what he knew about the US practice of sending prisoners to other countries such as Egypt for interrogation. He said: ''We have no information as of fact about that.''"

'Red Evatt' claims don't stand up | The Australian

"My first reason for suggesting that the evidence should be rejected is that in the early 1950s any fool would have known that ASIO would have such a premises under surveillance, so it was hardly a state secret, but in any event clearly that information could only be a leak from ASIO itself, and again any fool would know that ASIO did not leak to either Evatt or Dalziel."

Secret US files on Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks released by WikiLeaks | The Australian

"FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib told Egyptian interrogators under 'extreme duress' he planned to hijack a Qantas plane and had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks on the United States, according to newly-released WikiLeaks files."

Spies, lies and archives

"The recently released ASIO files, however, shed new light on left-wing Labor senator and Whitlam government minister John Wheeldon, who last year was identified by journalist and author Mark Aarons as a possible secret Australian Communist Party member, a claim vehemently denied by Wheeldon's son and Labor veterans including former New South Wales premier Bob Carr."

Asylum seeker pleads for compassion - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"He was granted refugee status three months ago and is waiting for ASIO to check his security status."

Australia and US sign secret satellite spy deal

"AUSTRALIA and the United States have begun a partnership to share top-secret intelligence from spy satellites as Australia moves to acquire its own satellite to boost surveillance of Asia and the Pacific."

Israel calls Aussie man a Hamas spy | The Australian

: "Among them was Sydney woman Shyloh Giddins, whose passport was cancelled at ASIO's request while she was in Yemen."

Jetstar to sue over 'theatrical' Sydney Airport evacuation | Crikey

"ASIC cards are essentially issued on the basis of background checks including by ASIO."

The challenge of intelligence by Allan Gyngell AO - Lowy Institute for International Policy Publication

"On 30 March, Allan Gyngell, Director-General of the Office of National Assessments, and former Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, spoke at the Institute’s annual Canberra Dinner on 'The challenges of intelligence'."

Emails between MPs and miners stolen - The West Australian

"The West Australian _understands that spy agency ASIO is particularly concerned about the theft of emails between Gillard Government minsters and a small number of major Australian resources companies doing business with Beijing."

Habib sues Egyptian Vice-President for torture | The Australian

"Mr Habib does not have a current Australian passport as he is still deemed by the security agency ASIO to be a security risk."

Australia Forum would be an asset - Opinion - Editorial - General - The Canberra Times

"Unfortunately, however, the Commonwealth's enthusiasm for funding anything in Canberra new and refurbished buildings for ASIO and the AFP aside is close to zero"

Blackmail warning as cyber raids target MPs | Adelaide Now

"Sources have confirmed that DSD advised that the passwords of selected MPs and their staff had been stolen."

Schneier on Security: How did the CIA and FBI Know that Australian Government Computers were Hacked?

"How did the CIA and FBI Know that Australian Government Computers were Hacked?"

loon pond

"I have read tens of thousands of pages of declassified ASIO files during the past quarter of a century, demonstrating that Spry's ASIO was involved in unprofessional, even odious operations."

Australian spies | Charles Spry | MI5 files released

"First, according to a top-secret cable, Sir Charles Spry, the director-general of ASIO, advised that, in the event of the Labor leader, Bert Evatt, becoming prime minister after the 1954 election, the British government should withhold important secrets from Australia."

Refugees escape and join protest | Green Left Weekly

"Many of the young people inside are recognised as refugees and some have been waiting more than three months for security clearances from ASIO."

High-tech firm drops its defences

"A COMPANY that provides high-tech electronic components to the Australian military and multinational firms allowed its customers' financial details to be accessed on the internet in an embarrassing security lapse."

CHRISTIANCONSPIRACY.ORG - worlds inteligence agebcies

"The Australian Secret Intelligence Service was founded in 1952. For more than twenty years, the existence of the agency was a secret even from its own government."

Net Traveller: ASIO Recruiting IT Spies with Google Ads

"It was a little surprising to find the Austrlaian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) advertising for Information Technology staff via good ad-words advertisements on my web site."

Feeling free by acting free | Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"But I am very concerned with constraints on freedom of expression created by draconian anti-terrorism laws that were barely debated in parliaments and are now taken for granted as part of our political landscape, even though they leave us open to selective surveillance, raids and prosecution – and even prevent people from telling anyone that they have been questioned by ASIO. Writing in Griffith Review in 2006,"

Dow Jones Australia Warns Top Companies On Cyber Spy Threat

"Australia's top intelligence agencies delivered the warning, the Office of National Assessments and the Defence Signals Directorate, while there were also discussions with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and Federal Police."

Spies, lies and life lessons | The Australian

"But the material, along with other revelations that ASIO chief Charles Spry warned M15 during the 1954 Petrov affair that Britain should consider withholding intelligence information from a Labor government, confirm the complete breakdown of the normal bonds of trust between political leaders and bureaucrats in this period."

'Amateur-hour diplomacy' got US alliance off to a shaky start | The Australian

"It was 1948 and the US government had warned Australia and Britain that Washington was going to stop sharing secret information with Australia unless it set up its own intelligence service to improve security in Australia."

ASIO was forced to pay the Petrovs' price | The Australian

"'ASIO are fully alive to the possibility of Russian Intelligence Service agents being introduced into Australia in the free-for-all conditions of the Olympic Games and the temporary relaxation of visa requirements,' a British agent reported in MI5 documents that were opened to the public this week."

Australia Warns Top Companies On Cyber Spy Threat | Real Time Market News | Dow Jones

"Australia's top intelligence agencies delivered the warning, the Office of National Assessments and the Defence Signals Directorate, while there were also discussions with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and Federal Police."

NewsMaker - MGM Wireless moves SMS school messaging systems to high security cloud-based ICO Data Centre

"“The ICO Data Centre has an ASIO T4 security clearance and both the Data Centre and ICO Support Operations are also ISO/IEC 27001 certified to the ISO quality standard. Network Connectivity has three levels of redundancies.

Australian Secret Intelligence Service H.Q., Barton Australia

"The R.G. Casey building houses the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trad contains the intelligence service."

Intelligence Services

"The Australian Intelligence Community consists of eight organizations that combine oversight, assessments, and collection of intelligence information."

Critical Legal Thinking › Exception, Precariousness, Power & Authority: irregular migrants in Australian law (Pt. 2)

"However, the Minister, or ASIO by means of the security check, is free to decide not to exercise the discretion for any reason with no obligation to state or justify that reason."

Asylum helpers - The Catholic Leader: Top Stories

"'I recall a question being asked in parliament around 2004 of an ASIO representative about how many had been found with terrorist links,' she said.

CPA - The Guardian - #1496

"At that time, not coincidentally, Malcolm Fraser was about to introduce new savage laws for ASIO in a political climate that was heading in the wrong direction."

CPA - The Guardian - #1496

"Periods in detention are lengthening because of delays in the processing of claims, which in turn are partly caused by staff inadequacies, and partly by the requirement for ASIO to complete security checks before those granted visas can be released into the community."

PS News PS-sssst...! with Frank Cassidy

"They must be a clean mob at ASIO if a job ad featured in this week’s PS News Career Centre is any guide."

True tale of spies just like us | Adelaide Now

"While on the one hand Australia acquiesced to Soviet demands to expedite the departure of Evdokia, escorted by Soviet 'diplomatic couriers', ASIO was also quickly scrambling to prepare for her defection, if she wanted it. In the end, she turned out the better prize."

Critical Legal Thinking › Transitory persons, precarious lives: irregular migrants in Australian law (Part 1)

"The government pours its ‘unprecedented resources’ into shady operations of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Indonesian Navy and Police that attempt to disrupt ‘people smuggling’ operations and prevent boats leaving or intercepting before they reach Australian waters."

Ben Chifley threatened Harry S Truman with troop withdrawal from Japan | Herald Sun

"Even before Shedden reached the US in May, Attlee wrote to Truman again to assure him that Australia had lifted its stand on security with the creation of ASIO."

57 years later, a Petrov twist

"''[ASIO head Charles] Spry strongly supports Prime Minister … Spry states now that in event of Evatt becoming prime minister, UK Government should seriously consider withholding important secrets.''"

I'm no watermelon: Rhiannon | The Australian

"But the association was enough to have her feature in an ASIO file when she was just seven years old."

Petrov documents to be released

"Britain's famed MI5 intelligence unit will this weekend release previously classified documents on the most famous spy story in Australian history - the Petrov Affair."

The Triumph of Climate Politics | Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

" Many will remember Scott Parkin as the Halliburton/KBR activiist who was deported from Australia following an adverse ASIO security assessment."

FlagPost: Meeting the challenges of cyber-security

"Just weeks after the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, announced the establishment within the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) of a ‘specialist cyber investigations unit to investigate and provide advice on state-sponsored cyber attack against, or involving, Australian interests’,"

ASIO's info records found flawed

"Concerns over the way ASIO handles its paperwork have been revealed by the spy agency's watchdog."

Aviation Business: Australian aviation security under the spotlight at AVSEC 2011

"We’ve done a range of vulnerability assessments in conjunction with ASIO."

PM's email safe from hacker attack | The Australian

"JULIA Gillard has played down the significance of a cyber attack on the parliamentary email system, saying all her high-level work was done on a more secure computer network."

Chinese hackers suspected in email breach - Connect - NZ Herald News

"'Today, we see constant attempts by cyber means to steal the nation's secrets, as well as information vital to the effective operation of critical national industries and infrastructure, not to mention commercial intelligence and criminal fraud,' said David Irvine, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)."

Port Arthur Massacre | FIRETOWN!

"ASIO were on the scene too quickly making it look like they had fore knowledge. How soon was ASIO on the scene after the incident? What is meant by ‘ASIO screened out some people’?"

ASIO plugs national security gap | thetelegraph.com.au

"SPY agencies moved to plug a major national security hole in the Federal Parliament after it was discovered computers of several Cabinet ministers had been hacked - including Prime Minister Julia Gilla"

Oz parliamentary network breached • The Register

"In a security breach that presumably now has Chinese spies trawling through the kind of letters MPs do their best to deflect or ignore, the Australian Parliament House network has been invaded."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office passwords pose security risk as ASIO investigates | The Australian

"The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is said to have begun an investigation."

Heiler Software Opens Australian Doors with $1M Macquarie Telecom Signing

"Macquarie Telecom was selected in the tender based on the strength of its offering and support structure; which will enable business expansion in Australia. Central to the agreement was Macquarie Telecom's breadth of Australian and International certifications for hosting high availability mission critical government systems and applications, including ASIO T4 and ISO 27001; a stringent requirement for Government hosting."

Mining projects likely targets of hacking of ministers' emails, say experts | The Australian

"SECURITY experts believe Chinese hackers may have been looking for clues on government attitudes to major resource projects in a major security breach of senior government ministers' emails."

Chinese Spies Suspected Of Hacking PM’s Emails | Gizmodo Australia

"Misses the point – at that level passwords are not the answer."

Our spies take on the cyber guerillas | thetelegraph.com.au

"THE motto of the Defence Signals Directorate, Australia's key military intelligence agency, is bold: 'Reveal their secrets, protect our own.'"

China spies suspected of hacking Julia Gillard's emails | News.com.au

"An investigation is now believed to be under way by ASIO after Australian intelligence agencies were tipped off to the cyber-spy raid by US intelligence officials within the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

feature | Thomas Shepherd « Overland literary journal

"Thomas Shepherd worked for over fifteen years as a ‘sparrow’, an undercover ASIO agent spying on the Left. The experience ruined his life."

Parallel lives « Overland literary journal

"Regular readers might remember an extraordinary interview in Overland 196 with a man called Thomas Shepherd, who had been an undercover agent for ASIO inside various left-wing organisations for over fifteen years."

Government passwords cracked in probe

"A number of passwords used by four federal government agencies - including the prime minister's department - are easily cracked using 'brute force' hacking tools, an official audit report has found."

Jailed Burmese refugees: ‘We came here for freedom’ | Green Left Weekly

"Since May, they have been told ASIO was undertaking “security checks”. ASIO, the immigration department and ministers have ignored enquires about the cause of the delay. Some of were interviewed by ASIO for the first time last month."

Secrecy shrouds ASIO office safety

"DANGEROUS work practices and shoddy construction at one of the country's most top secret building sites - ASIO's new office in Canberra - are being covered up because of onerous secrecy provisions, according to the construction union."

Lateline Business - 24/03/2011: Huawei launches charm offensive

"The Australian also reported that ASIO officers met Australian Huawei officials who told them the company was employing technicians with direct links to the Chinese Army."

Irrational detention policies' price is too high

"ASIO checks take up to a year and ''in 99 per cent of these cases'', say government sources, confirm department intelligence. In any case, Australia freely accepts huge numbers of visitors without security checks."

ASIO enters the cyber fray to reveal hackers

"The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has formed a new unit to deal with foreign computer hackers. ASIO had previously left computer security to the Defence Signals Directorate, but its powers are limited and it is not allowed to spy within Australia. The new initiative is necessary because of the growth of cyber espionage by foreign military interests."

Blame detention centres, not detainees - Eureka Street

"The length of detention and the consequent injury suffered by asylum seekers have been compounded by the Government decision to require security clearances from ASIO before releasing refugees into the community. Many people have remained locked up for over a year waiting for this clearance."

Private emails exposing agencies to cyber threat | The Australian

"The report reveals the Defence Signals Directorate has warned spies could target public servants with 'socially engineered' emails, which appear legitimate by referring to the target's friends, or have been sent from a known email address."

WIKILEAKS: Australians Call For Legislation to Protect Whistleblowers — Global Geopolitics & Political Economy

"'It would not surprise me at all as ASIO reaches deep into the lives of many Australians, but keeps its activities secret from everyone, even the courts,' said Burnside told IPS."

Political Mavens » Keep Publishing those 1990s Memoirs, Establishmenters

"The Liberals and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had the misguided belief that the Croats could help in the identification of communists in Australia, who in the 1960s were factionalized, ineffective and posed no threat to national security."

Attorney General's Department - 23 March 2011 - Introduction of legislation to support national security agencies

"Attorney-General Robert McClelland today introduced legislation to further improve laws underpinning Australia’s national security and intelligence agencies."

WIKILEAKS: Australians Call For Legislation to Protect Whistleblowers - IPS ipsnews.net

"Sources within Wikileaks told the Melbourne-based ‘The Age’ newspaper that an Australian intelligence official privately warned them in August last year that Assange was the subject of inquiries by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)."

ASIO deal to shift refugees fast | The Australian

"THE federal government has done a deal with ASIO to clear a backlog of about 900 asylum-seekers by the end of next month, as authorities on Christmas Island continue to struggle to control rioters who have given negotiators six demands."

Perplexed by the CFMEU over the ASIO Trespasser? | The RiotACT

"Can anyone explain why the CFMEU is going to ‘make sure justice is done for both him (trespasser) and his family’ regarding the crook who broke into ASIO site and fell on his arse."

Crimes agency caught bypassing law

"The change, to Australia's Intelligence Services and ASIO acts, was among several amendments passed by the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, in Parliament yesterday."

Club Troppo » Let them out before they escape!

"Why can’t they begin the ASIO assessments as soon as an application for protection visa is made, instead of waiting until applicants have been found to be refugees? "

Bowen rules out asylum processing changes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"Many of the 900 people already assessed as genuine refugees are on Christmas Island, waiting only for their ASIO security clearances."

Attacking a growing cyber terrorism threat | The Australian

"Today, the national Computer Emergency Response Team works to improve cyber security for all Australian internet users and businesses.

CERT works closely with the Cyber Security Operations Centre, which identifies and responds to specific cyber incidents."

Time for cool heads and compassion

"I think the bureaucratic foot-dragging by ASIO is not incompetence, but a deliberate mechanism designed to provide a deterrent to those who might seek refugee status in Australia in future - 'Look at the distress we will put you through as a pre-requisite for being treated as a refugee here.'"

Man in hospital after ASIO break-in - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"The Construction Union is demanding to know how a man gained entry to the top security ASIO construction site in Canberra."

Just what the doctorate ordered

"One notable example of a deeply conservative and influential Anglican was Brigadier Sir Charles Spry, then head of ASIO. Dr LeRoy says Sir Charles was part of a close-knit defence establishment elite in Melbourne known for its vehement anti-communism and its informal links with the Liberal Party."

Man falls at ASIO building site - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"A teenager has spent 36 hours at the bottom of a concrete basement at the top security ASIO construction site in Canberra after illegally entering the premises."

What linguists want you to know, part I – Fully (sic)

"ASIO, one of Australia’s highest level defence and security organisations recently advertised for linguists."

ASIO deal to shift refugees fast | Perth Now

"THE federal government has done a deal with ASIO to clear a backlog of about 900 asylum-seekers by the end of next month, as authorities on Christmas Island continue to struggle to control rioters who have given negotiators six demands."

Assange told of ASIO snooping

"WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange is believed to have been tipped off more than seven months ago about Australian intelligence scrutiny of his whistleblowing activities."

Bill ensures special powers for intelligence | The Jakarta Post

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO): Intercepts communication, uses listening and tracking devices, remotely accesses computers, enters and searches premises, examines postal articles and the questioning of persons for the purpose of investigating terrorism."

Locking up refugees is big business | Green Left Weekly

"The announced detention expansion coincided with media reports about ASIO “security checks” prolonging the amount of time refugees are imprisoned. This adds to the overall numbers of those locked up and to the profits of the private contractors."

Anne Brown - Department of Defence

"Anne Brown is the First Assistant Secretary for ICT Development and is also the Australian Defence ICT Security Adviser."

UK helps Australia's cyber-spy unit get to work | Security Threats | ZDNet UK

"The UK is helping Australia's secret service to set up a special unit dedicated to fighting online threats, continuing an ongoing cybersecurity partnership between the countries."