Security ties top Tony Abbott’s agenda in US

TONY Abbott has put national security at the top of the agenda for his visit to the US this week.

TONY Abbott has put national security at the top of the agenda for his visit to the US this week as he meets the nation’s military and intelligence chiefs as well as President Barack Obama.

The Prime Minister’s schedule includes talks on concerns about Edward Snowden’s revelations of the vast intelligence operations of the US and its key ­allies, including Australia.

Mr Abbott is expected to hold meetings in Washington DC with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan and Federal Bureau of Investigations director Robert Mueller.

Talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry are also on the agenda as well as a session with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top echelon of the US military chaired by US Army General Martin Dempsey.

The meetings come after the controversy over the Snowden leaks, as Mr Clapper insists they did “profound” damage to the US and its allies, and that authorities were still investigating the full scale of the documents taken.

Australia has refused to ­confirm or deny its intelligence activities when some of the Snowden leaks showed ASIO had spied on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.

While the reports sparked a political and diplomatic storm, Mr Abbott made no apology for any Australian activity.

“Australia should not be ­expected to apologise for the steps we take to protect our country, now or in the past,” Mr ­Abbott told federal parliament in November.

The Australian has been told the Prime Minister will outline that position in his meetings in Washington despite different views within the US on how to handle the leaks, with Mr Obama at one point apologising to German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the tapping of her phone.

Mr Abbott met Dr Yudhoyono last week to ease tensions over the spying.

Mr Clapper is one of the most controversial figures in the Snowdon affair as US congressmen led by a Californian Republican, Darrell Issa, claim the intelligence boss misled the US congress about the extent of the surveillance by the National Security Agency.

Asked last year by Senator Ron Wyden whether the NSA collected “any type of data” on millions of Americans, Mr Clapper replied: “No, sir … not wittingly.”

The leaks later showed the NSA was monitoring civilian Americans’ internet traffic.

Australia is a key member of the “five eyes” alliance with the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand to share information.

Mr Abbott’s message this week is expected to be one of strong support for the continued co-operation on intelligence and surveillance despite the fierce criticism of government agencies that spy on their own citizens.

The Prime Minister will also hold talks with the top ranks of the military in a session with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is chaired by General Dempsey.

While he is under fire at home for cancelling some economic meetings, the Prime Minister is due to talk to economic heavyweights including Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Labor attacked Mr Abbott as an “embarrassment” on Saturday after journalist Laurie Oakes wrote in News Corp Australia newspapers that there were doubts over potential meetings with three important figures — International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, Mr Lew and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

The IMF and World Bank meetings are not going ahead; Mr Abbott spoke to Ms Lagarde in Sydney earlier this year and Joe Hockey discussed the G20 agenda with her at length.

But The Australian has been told the meeting with Mr Lew remains on the agenda. The meeting with Dr Yellen has also been fixed in the Prime Minister’s schedule.

The centrepiece of the visit will be a discussion with Mr Obama on the economy, national security and the agenda for the G20 leaders’ summit to be held in Brisbane in November.

While climate change is likely to be discussed, there is no push to change the G20 agenda.

The Prime Minister was due to arrive in Canada yesterday to meet its Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, before heading to New York and then Washington later in the week.