The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security agency 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 part of the Australian Intelligence Community and is comparable to the American FBI and the British MI5.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD),formerly the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD),is the federal statutory agency in the Australian Government responsible for foreign signals intelligence,support to military operations,cyber warfare,and information security. ASD is part of the Australian Intelligence Community. ASD's role within UKUSA Agreement is to monitor signals intelligence ("SIGINT") in South and East Asia. The ASD also houses the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It has three branches:the Royal Australian Navy (RAN),Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The ADF has a strength of just over 90,000 personnel and is supported by the Department of Defence and several other civilian agencies.
The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia,concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov,a KGB officer,from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contributed to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.
The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies,policy departments,and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan,Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism,cybersecurity,transnational crime,the rise of China,and Pacific regional security.
The Russell Offices,also referred to as Russell or RO,is a complex of office buildings located in Russell a suburb of Canberra,constituting the seat of the Australian Department of Defence and part of the administrative headquarters of the Australian Defence Force. The land area of the Russell Offices is managed and secured by the National Capital Authority.
Defence Australia is a department of the Government of Australia charged with the responsibility to defend Australia and its national interests. Along with the Australian Defence Force (ADF),it forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) and is accountable to the Commonwealth Parliament,on behalf of the Australian people,for the efficiency and effectiveness with which it carries out the Government's defence policy.
David Murray Horner,is an Australian military historian and academic.
The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) is a university-based institute that is situated in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. It is Australia's oldest-established centre for the study of strategic,defence and wider security issues and a leading regional think tank on these topics. The centre was established in 1966 by Professor T.B. Millar,then a senior fellow at the ANU's Department of International Relations,in order to "advance the study of Australian,regional,and global strategic and defence issues". The current head of SDSC is Brendan Taylor. Previous Heads include Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb and Professor Hugh White,who both also served as the Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence of the Department of Defence.
The Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) was an Australian government intelligence agency that existed between 1969 and 1990 and which was responsible for the analysis of defence and foreign intelligence.
George Sadil is a former Russian analyst and translator who worked with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) for nearly 25 years including during the height of the Cold War. After it had been revealed the ASIO had been compromised by a Russian KGB 'mole',investigations were held and after internal audits conducted by both ASIO (Jabaroo) and the Australian Federal Police,Sadil was accused of being the mole. After raids on the homes of many of their analysts and translators,the authorities found highly classified documents in Sadil's home,he was then charged with possessing classified federal documents under the Crimes Act 1914. In 1994 the case against him collapsed. Sadil's profile did not match that of the mole in question,and prosecutors were unable to establish any kind of money trail between Sadil and the KGB.
The Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (RCIS),also known as the First Hope Commission,was a Royal Commission established on 21 August 1974 by Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam to reach findings and make recommendations as to the Australian Intelligence Community.
Ric Throssell was an Australian diplomat and author whose writings included novels,plays,film and television scripts,and memoirs. For most of his professional life as a diplomat his career was dogged by unproven allegations that he either leaked classified information to his mother,the writer and communist Katharine Susannah Prichard,or was himself a spy for the Soviet Union.
Desmond John Ball was an Australian academic and expert on defence and security. He was credited with successfully advising the United States against nuclear escalation in the 1970s.
Peter Robert Woolnough Barbour was an Australian intelligence officer and diplomat. He was also the Director-General of Security leading the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) from 1970 to 1975.
Hugh White is an Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University in Canberra,Australia,long-time defence and intelligence analyst,and author who has published works on military strategy and international relations. He was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence in the Australian Department of Defence from 1995 until 2000 and was the inaugural Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). His 2019 book How to Defend Australia attracted national attention after raising the proposition of re-examining the proposition of an independently nuclear-armed Australia.
The National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) is a peak intergovernmental officials-level body of the Government of Australia responsible for the development and co-ordination of the Australian Intelligence Community in accordance with the National Security Committee of Cabinet. The NICC is chaired by the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence.
John Charles Blaxland is an Australian historian,academic,and former Australian Army officer. He is a Professor in Intelligence Studies and International Security at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
George Ronald Richards was a British-born Australian police officer and intelligence operative. In 1953 he was closely involved in Operation Cabin 12,arranging the defection of Vladimir Petrov from the Soviet Union to Australia. In 1954,he was appointed Deputy Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO),roughly equivalent to the FBI and MI5. He received the Order of the British Empire in 1957.
Coral Mary Bell was an Australian academic,who wrote extensively about international relations and power politics.
