ASIO director-general Mike Burgess delivers wake-up call we had to have

Mike Burgess, Director-General of Security of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation at the ASIO headquarters on Monday. Picture: Sean Davey.

In a characteristically low-key, business-like manner, Mike Burgess, director-general of ASIO, has delivered a stark wake-up call.

Four clear threats are running at unprecedented levels: Islamic terrorism, right-wing terrorism, foreign espionage, and foreign interference in politics and society.

The threat of terrorism, Burgess says, has plateaued “at ­unacceptable levels” and the threat of a terrorist attack remains “probable”. There are people in Australia who are sympathetic to terrorist causes.

Right now, he says, terrorists are plotting harm to Australia.

If anything, the figures that Burgess discloses suggest he is understating the threat trend. For while the threat may have plateaued in some analytical fashion, the number of terrorist leads ASIO is following is twice what it was a year ago. Twice.

Burgess doesn’t say this but a logical extrapolation must be that if credible terrorist leads continue to proliferate at that rate, there must surely come a time when ASIO and allied agencies will be swamped.

Of course, there’s no reason to think that rate of increase will continue. But on any measure these are disturbing disclosures.

Incidentally, it is a change from the practice of Duncan Lewis, Burgess’s predecessor, to call this strand of terrorism Islamic extremism. But plain speaking of plain truths is almost always the best option.

Burgess is also absolutely clear that right-wing and racist extremism, with a proclivity for violence and terrorism, is on the rise in Australia. It is less sophisticated than ISIS-style terrorism but the slaughter of innocent Muslims at prayer in New Zealand shows us what can happen. Australia has not had this ­degree of right-wing and racist terrorist threat at any time in its modern history.

On foreign espionage, Burgess is even more startling. He underlines the fact there is a greater ­foreign espionage effort against Australia today than there was at the height of the Cold War. There are more agents of foreign intelligence services trying to steal our secrets now than there were when the KGB was in its pomp.

Burgess sensibly does not mention any nation by name but everyone associated with this area knows that the Chinese government is by a huge distance the most active source of foreign espionage in Australia.

The espionage effort against Australia today, Burgess says, is “unprecedented”. Similarly, the clandestine — and at times corrupt and coercive — effort to interfere in our politics. Burgess recounts an intriguing episode where a hostile foreign intelligence service sent to Australia a “sleeper” agent who spent years cultivating an identity as a good community member, making contacts and insinuating himself into Australian life.

The agent became active and started providing information on dissidents from the agent’s home country living in Australia, leading to ­danger for these people and their families. The agent provided logistical support to foreign spies when they came to Australia.

In passages that demand the closest attention from our universities — and to them — Burgess outlines the efforts of some ­foreign academics working for their governments or their governments’ intelligence agencies to steal information from Australia. Obviously, this is a small minority of people, but the defences against them need to be robust.

So here is the net assessment: three threats — espionage, ­foreign interference and right-wing terrorism — are at unprecedented levels while one, Islamic terrorism, has plateaued at an unacceptably high level. But the number of terrorist leads is twice what it was a year ago. Across all threat categories, digital technology, especially encryption, has made ASIO’s work harder. The bad guys know all about encryption. The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment was used within 10 days of being passed to prevent violence, probably saving lives.

Burgess makes a clear case that the national security legislation Australia has passed has made life more difficult for Australia’s ­enemies, and helped security agencies counter foreign and domestic threats.

An inescapable conclusion of Burgess’s sober, realistic presentation is also that those folks who say the Chinese government is being demonised in Australian security discussions are simply refusing to face reality.

It is of the highest importance, and benefit, that ASIO and other security agencies are having this discussion with the broader community, being as transparent as possible, taking us as much into their confidence as they can.

There are demons abroad. It is important we know this.