Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service

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On 16 March 1949, the Australian prime minister, Ben Chifley, issued a Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service, appointing South Australian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Reed as the first Director-General of Security. The need for an Australian security service (to be modelled on the United Kingdom Security Service, MI5) became apparent with the United States administration of the day expressing disaffection with the state of security in Australia, particularly in counter-intelligence. [1]

Ben Chifley Australian politician, 16th Prime Minister of Australia

Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician who served as the 16th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1945 to 1949. He was leader of the Labor Party from 1945 until his death.

Director-General of Security executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation

The Director-General of Security is the executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australia's national security agency. The Director-General, through ASIO, has overall responsibility for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, terrorism and acts of foreign interference.

MI5 British domestic security agency

The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). MI5 is directed by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), and the service is bound by the Security Service Act 1989. The service is directed to protect British parliamentary democracy and economic interests, and counter terrorism and espionage within the UK.

Contents

Justice Reed advised the Prime Minister in August 1949 that he had decided to christen the service the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

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 comparable to the British Security Service (MI5) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ASIO is part of the Australian Intelligence Community.

Text of the Directive

Prime Minister's Memorandum to the Director-General of Security, being a Directive for the establishment and maintenance of a Security Service

  1. You are appointed Director General of Security, and it is your duty to establish and maintain a Security Service.
  2. The Security Service forms part of the Attorney General’s Department, and the Attorney General will be responsible for it to Parliament.
  3. As Director General of Security you will have direct access to the Prime Minister at all times.
  4. It is your responsibility to keep each Minister informed of all matters affecting security coming to your knowledge and which fall within the scope of his Department.
  5. The Security Service is part of the Defence Forces of the Commonwealth and save as herein expressed has no concern with the enforcement of the criminal law. Its task is the defence of the Commonwealth from external and internal dangers arising from attempts at espionage and sabotage, or from actions of persons and organizations, whether directed from within or without the country, which may be judged to be subversive of the security of the Commonwealth.
  6. You will take especial care to ensure that the work of the Security Service is strictly limited to what is necessary for the purposes of this task and that you are fully aware of the extent of its activities. It is essential that the Security Service should be kept absolutely free from any political bias or influence, and nothing should be done that might lend colour to any suggestion that it is concerned with the interests of any particular section of the community, or with any matters other than the defence of the Commonwealth. You will impress on your staff that they have no connection whatever with any matters of a party political character and that they must be scrupulous to avoid any action which could be so construed.
  7. No enquiry is to be carried out on behalf of any Government Department unless you are satisfied that an important public interest bearing on the defence of the Commonwealth as defined in paragraph 5 is at stake.
  8. You and your staff will maintain the well established convention whereby Ministers do not concern themselves with the detailed information which may be obtained by the Security Service in particular cases, but are furnished with such information only as may be necessary for the determination of the issue.
  9. You are authorised in your discretion to engage and dismiss staff and to arrange such methods and conditions of working for your staff as are necessary to ensure efficiency and secrecy.
  10. You will establish a comprehensive set of security records. In order to do this you will arrange that all Government Departments and agencies submit to you for inclusion in your records all information bearing on security which may be in or come into their possession. You will also arrange to have such access to the records of Government Departments and agencies as you may deem necessary for the purposes of your work.

DATED the 16th day of March, 1949.


(signed by Ben Chifley)

Prime Minister.

Expansion and revision

On 6 July 1950 Prime Minister Robert Menzies issued an expanded and more specific Directive titled Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization on the appointment of Colonel Charles Spry as the new Director-General of Security.

Robert Menzies Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies,, was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966. He played a central role in the creation of the Liberal Party of Australia, defining its policies and its broad outreach. He is Australia's longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total.

On 6 July 1950 Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies issued a Directive titled the Charter of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. The charter was an expanded and more specific form of the 1949 Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service issued by Ben Chifley.

Charles Spry Australian Director-General of Security

Brigadier Sir Charles Chambers Fowell Spry was an Australian soldier and public servant. From 1950 to 1970 he was the second Director-General of Security, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

Both the Establishment and Charter Directives have been now largely superseded by federal legislation, notably by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979.

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References

"Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service". Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Archived from the original on 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2008-01-14.

  1. ↑ Mann, Robert. The Petrov Affair. Pergamon Press, Sydney, 1987. ISBN   0-08-034425-9.
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