- By Tom Houston
- BBC News, Sydney
February 22, 2023 at 01:55 GMT
Updated 4 hours ago
picture description,
Mike Burgess, Director General of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO).
Australia has blown up a “beehive” of spies that has been operating in the country for years, its intelligence chief says.
Mike Burgess did not identify any countries behind the network but said the undercover agents appeared to be “highly skilled”.
The group would investigate and “potentially seduce,” he claimed, targets such as judges, journalists and veterans.
It shows that the threat of foreign spies is at an all-time high, he added.
During his annual threat assessment in Canberra, the head of Australia’s security and intelligence organization (ASIO) outlined a “concerted campaign” to infiltrate the Australian media to shape coverage and obtain information on sources.
A “lackey” plans to offer journalists all-out paid study trips to a foreign country, he said, where spies with “home advantage” would try to gather information they could use.
And Mr Burgess also described foiled plans by two different countries to physically harm Australian residents – a week after the government revealed an Iranian plan targeting a dissident in Australia had been disrupted.
He again did not name the countries, but said the targets were critics of foreign regimes.
“In one case, the intelligence agency began monitoring a human rights activist and planned to lure the target abroad where the person could – quote – be ‘disposed of’,” he said.
“In another case, a footman was dispatched to locate certain dissidents and – quote – ‘deal with them’.”
Mr Burgess said Asio sorted out the spies after an “intense and sustained” campaign.
“They were good – but Asio was better… Working with our partners, we removed them. The hive is history,” he said.
But the foreign intelligence threat has intensified, Mr Burgess said, particularly since Australia signed the Aukus Security Agreement with the US and UK.
“Asio is… busier than ever in our 74-year history. Busier than the Cold War, busier than 9/11, busier than the height of the caliphate.”
“From my position, it looks like a melee.”
Mr Burgess also used the speech to criticize thousands of “reckless” Australians who advertised their security clearances on social media networking sites, as well as former Australian defense personnel involved in foreign military training programmes.
“It’s critical that our allies know we can keep our secrets and keep their secrets,” Mr Burgess said.