Former NSW police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas could lead Aussie war on terror
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sounded out former deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas about running his proposed Homeland Security-style super ministry to combat terrorism.
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sounded out former deputy police commissioner Nick Kaldas about running his proposed Homeland Security-style super ministry to combat terrorism.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Kaldas has been involved in discussions about the new super-portfolio to tackle the escalating terror threat, including the option of him returning to Australia to head up the super-department.
Kaldas is also in the running for the job of NSW Police Commissioner, with interviews taking place in the next week.
Mr Turnbull has not yet pressed the button on the super-ministry, which would be similar to the Home Office in the UK and Homeland Security in the US, to help the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and Australian Border Force share information to tackle terror threats.
The Prime Minister ordered a review of the security agencies late last year and is waiting on this before making a final call.
Nick Kaldas: Retiring Deputy Police Commissioner dealt with the very worst evil
Mr Kaldas, who is fluent in Arabic, has a strong relationship with Australia’s ethnic communities and set up the community engagement programs and initiated the joint counter-terrorism task force with the AFP. He is the nation’s most internationally renowned counter-terrorism expert.
As deputy chief police adviser to the Iraq government, Mr Kaldas helped rebuild the Iraqi national police from the ground up. He also led the investigation into the car-bombing assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri by Hezbollah.
Currently living in Jordan, he has been working for the UN, most recently leading an investigation into the use of chemical weapons by Syria.
Meanwhile, open warfare has erupted between the NSW Ombudsman and the NSW Crime Commission over a report into the illegal bugging of police, including Mr Kaldas.
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Acting NSW Ombudsman Professor John McMillian hit back at a scathing report by Crime Commission boss Peter Hastings QC, detailing what he said were major flaws in Operation Prospect, which last December recommended the Commission apologise to 15 people, including police officers involved in the baggings.
Mr Hastings has said the Commission had no intention of apologising to anyone, except maybe Mr Kaldas, because the report was full of bias and made errors of fact.
Professor McMillan hit back, saying those claims were “unfounded and inflammatory’’.
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