Sharri Markson: Australia planning to emulate the US and UK’s Homeland Security model

In the rural NSW town of Young, an electrician and solar panel ­installer lived a relatively quiet life - little did he know he was being watched by top intel officers from the other side of the world.

• Terror raid at remote property north of Young
• Turnbull ‘considering new Department of Homeland Security’

IN the rural town of Young in southern NSW, more than a 160km from the nearest city, an electrician and solar panel ­installer lived a relatively quiet life.

He could not have known he was being watched by top US intelligence officers, who were closely monitoring his metadata from the other side of the world at the FBI.

They picked up that he was allegedly planing to provide Islamic State terrorists with the hi-tech capability to develop and detect missiles, helping them fight the Syrian and Iraqi forces.

The FBI passed on Haisem Zahab’s metadata to Australia’s counter-terrorism agencies and the AFP swooped in a surprise morning raid.

Later that afternoon, Malcolm Turnbull fronted the press gallery after Question Time and spoke about the success of the operation, saying it “highlights that terrorism, support for terrorist groups and Islamist extremism is not limited to our major cities”.

A raid on a property in Young in which an Australian-born electrician was charged with terrorism offences.

This episode shows how the spectacularly well-resourced Homeland Security agencies in the US have played a crucial role in helping Australia deal with the emerging terror threat in Australia.

A government source told The Daily Telegraph that Australia ­depended heavily on US intelligence in Iraq and Syria to target Australian foreign fighters.

Australia is now looking at emulating the US and UK models for Homeland Security.

Attorney-General George Brandis met with Donald Trump’s Homeland Security adviser when he visited the US in March, along with the CIA and FBI.

And yesterday Immigration Minister Peter Dutton flew into Washington to meet with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

Peter Dutton. Picture: Kym Smith

John Kelly. Picture: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP

Asked if he would take on the role of Homeland Security Minister, after my story yesterday, Mr Dutton said: “All of that machinery of government stuff is an issue for the Prime Minister, but obviously the government’s keen to do whatever we can to make sure that we continue to stare down the threat.”

His meeting with Secretary Kelly comes as a team is working to ­develop the architecture of a Homeland ­Security portfolio in Australia.

Security agencies, resistant to change, have noticed the silence from Turnbull and Dutton who declined to shut down the prospect of a Homeland Security portfolio when The Daily Telegraph broke the story in November.

Despite their resistance, there are clear benefits of bringing domestic ­security functions under a single ­departmental and security portfolio.

Under the design being nutted out, there will be a single Department of State and within it there will be the separate agencies of ASIO, Australian Border Force, AFP and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission which will each retain their operational independence.

There’s still discussion about whether agencies like Austrac, the Office of Transport Security and ASIS will be included in Homeland Security.

There will be an overarching ­departmental secretary, responsible for primary policy advice, who reports to the senior minister, most likely Mr Dutton.

It’s also likely Mr Dutton would need one or two assistant ministers, similar to the UK model, ­because it is such a large portfolio.

The frontrunners being discussed for Secretary of the Homeland Security Department include Immigration Department Secretary Michael Pezzullo and Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.

Pezzullo is also a candidate to replace Dennis Richardson in the Defence Department. He’ll be the choice if Turnbull wants to shake up the department.

Other candidates are Kathryn Campbell from the Department of Human Services or Martin Bowles, Secretary of Health Department.

The decision about the defence secretary is expected to take account of whether Turnbull keeps Marise Payne and Christopher Pyne in their defence portfolios.

The PM has made it clear he is also waiting for the five-year review into the intelligence agencies, due to report mid year, before announcing the Homeland Security portfolio.

The announcement is likely to be timed with a reshuffle of his cabinet, probably in June, July or August.

There are clear benefits to bringing domestic ­security functions under a single ­departmental and security portfolio, as the US does. Illustration: John Tiedemann

Australian agencies already link in with the US to share intelligence but the co-ordination could be better.

The new Homeland Security ­entity would form a bigger part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network between the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

Instead of agencies individually dealing with their counterparts, there would be a holistic counter-terrorism portfolio with shared data systems to enhance the quality, speed and volume of intelligence sharing between the Five Eyes partners. America’s data-holdings are particularly rich ­because they ingest data from around the world and have been essential in identifying IS supporters.

IS will be a key discussion point when Turnbull meets with Trump in New York this week.

After a tumultuous start to their relationship, Trump has been grateful for Turnbull’s support on his decisive military strike in Syria.

It’s expected to be a warm meeting on Thursday.