ASIO boss reappointed for another five years

ASIO boss Mike Burgess has been reappointed for an additional five year term and will help navigate new perils posed by foreign interference, AI and cyber security threats.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mike Burgess has been reappointed as the Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation by the Albanese government for an additional five-year term after helping the nation navigate new challenges posed by AI and rising cyber security threats.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced on Thursday the decision to extend Mr Burgess until 2029, declaring that the country’s spy chief had made an “extraordinary contribution to Australia’s national security”.

Ms O’Neil said Mr Burgess had provided “invaluable” leadership during an increasingly complex security environment and that the government looked forward to “continuing to work with him to help keep Australians safe”.

Mr Burgess was recently awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his almost three decades of work in intelligence, security and technology in both the public and private sectors, including nearly 20 years at the Australian Signals Directorate.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson posted on social media platform X: “Congratulations @MikePBurgess on his reappointment as ­Director General of @ASIOGovAu. Mike is a widely respected and highly effective leader of the national security community always driven by Australia’s national interest.”

Mr Burgess was first appointed as ASIO Director-General, replacing the outgoing Duncan Lewis, in 2019 by the Morrison government when Peter Dutton was the home affairs minister.

He has regularly attracted headlines for his annual threat assessment, with the spy chief earlier this year sounding the alarm on a ­foreign interference operation that recruited a former politician.

Revealing details of a spy network dubbed “The A-Team”, Mr Burgess said it had “successfully cultivated and recruited a former Australian politician”, who “sold out their country, party and former colleagues” to advance the interests of a foreign regime.

He said Sunni Islamic violent extremism posed the “greatest religiously motivated threat in Australia” and acknowledged a “realistic possibility of a terrorist attack or attack planning in the next 12 months”.

He has warned about the growing number of minors in ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload while urging tech companies to provide greater assistance to intelligence agencies in cracking down on extremist networks.