Spy boss comes out of shadows

Right now, terrorists are plotting to harm us. That’s the grim, realistic and candid message from ASIO director-general Mike Burgess in his annual security assessment. He said the threat of terrorism at home was “probable” and would remain unacceptably high for the foreseeable future. According to Mr Burgess, the number of terrorism leads ASIO is investigating has doubled since this time last year. “The character of terrorism will continue to evolve and we believe that it will take on a more dispersed and diversified face,” he said on Monday. Mr Burgess did not flinch in calling out violent Islamic extremism as the No 1 concern, but he also pointed out a disturbing rise in new players in the arena from the extreme right wing who are organised in small cells, security conscious and in contact with radicalised groups overseas. Given the recent experience in Britain, where extremists have been released from prison, only to commit violent acts, we must not be complacent about monitoring them or the tools that so easily promulgate hate and violence.

Mr Burgess highlighted the rising risks from espionage and foreign interference, the “sleepers” in our midst. It was a theme former ASIO chief Duncan Lewis developed in a speech last September, just before he retired. The threat from espionage — quiet, insidious and having a long tail, often decades — was “far and away the most serious issue going forward”, he said. ASIO’s assessment was that the current scale and scope of foreign intelligence activity against Australian interests was “unprecedented” and had the capacity to be an “existential threat” to democracies. Mr Burgess said more foreign agents were operating on our soil than at the height of the Cold War.

Several foreign governments are targeting us. Although not named by the domestic security agency chief, we can envisage the list of authoritarian regimes that are trying to disrupt our information infrastructure, steal our secrets and intellectual property, control our democratic processes and political parties, and infiltrate our key institutions, especially academia. ASIO has observed visiting scientists and academics ingratiating themselves into university life here with the aim of conducting clandestine intelligence collection. “This strikes at the very heart of our notions of free and fair academic exchange,” Mr Burgess noted. The KGB was once the bogey, but the rise of the People’s Republic of China has supplanted it. No other nation comes close to its espionage footprint. ASIO’s threat stocktake, Greg Sheridan argued on Tuesday, showed “those folks who say the Chinese government is being demonised in Australian security discussions are simply refusing to face reality”.

With today’s encryption technology, it’s more difficult than ever to curtail the activities of terrorists and spies. In December last year, Scott Morrison announced a new specialist unit, the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, to identify, disrupt and prosecute such activity. Successive governments have been scaling up the defence effort, through spending and legislation. In 2018, with Labor’s support, the Coalition introduced a package of national security laws to curb foreign interference, earning the ire of our major trading partner. It has been chilly in Beijing ever since for our diplomats and businesses. Mr Burgess, however, said the mere passage of new laws made foreign spies change their game, “driving more cost into their risk calculus”. These laws are saving lives.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister vowed to tackle “foreign interference in all its forms wherever it comes from, and each and every day we ensure that our agencies are well resourced to counteract that threat”. Mr Burgess declared those who wanted to interfere in our society would be hunted down and exposed; those trying to harm Australians would be thwarted and prosecuted. It will require resilience and vigilance from security agencies, our leaders and the community at large. We welcome the ASIO chief’s frankness. He has seized the moment, coming out of the shadows, so to speak, to give Australians a timely wake-up call.