ASIO urged to ‘ease up’ on foreign spies: Mike Burgess

Mike Burgess says powerful figures are using ‘flimsy’ excuses to undermine ­efforts to protect the nation from foreign agents.

Mike Burgess outlined a number of operations including the expulsion of a ‘hive’ of highly trained spies placed in Australia years earlier. Picture: Gary Ramage

Australia’s top spy Mike Burgess was directly pressured by public servants, academics and business identities to “ease up” on ASIO’s foreign interference and espionage operations, despite judicial figures, journalists, veterans and diaspora communities being targeted in record numbers by foreign spies and agents.

In his fourth annual threat ­assessment speech on Tuesday night, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general revealed that, at a time of unprecedented espionage and foreign interference activity in Australia, there were “senior people in this country who believe (it) is no big deal”.

Mr Burgess, who outlined a number of operations including the expulsion of a “hive” of highly trained spies placed in Australia years earlier to recruit agents and steal sensitive information, said some powerful figures were using “flimsy” excuses to undermine ­efforts to protect the nation.

“Individuals in business, ­academia and the bureaucracy have told me ASIO should ease up its operational responses to avoid upsetting foreign regimes,” Mr Burgess said.

“Of course they are entitled to their views but the reasons they offer for them are flimsy, such as: ‘all countries spy on each other’; ‘we were going to make the information public anyway’; ‘it’s no ­different to lobbying or networking’; ‘the foreign government might make things difficult for us’; and so on.

“In my opinion, anyone saying these things should reflect on their commitment to Australia’s democracy, sovereignty and values – because espionage and foreign interference is deliberately calculated to undermine Australia’s democracy, sovereignty and values.”

Mr Burgess warned that ASIO was locked in “hand-to-hand combat” with more spies and hostile foreign intelligence services than “at any time in Australia’s history”. He said the security agency’s workload exceeded that experienced during the Cold War, post-9/11 and at the height of ­Islamic State.

The ASIO chief also revealed emerging threats to judicial ­figures, journalists, veterans, ­defence contractors, diaspora community leaders, public officials and politicians, who were being targeted by spies and “lackeys” – well-connected and well-­regarded in business and political circles – to undermine Australia’s security, democracy, social cohesion and economy.

Amid rising geostrategic competition between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific and development of the landmark AUKUS military pact, Mr Burgess warned of a spike in activity targeting ­Australians linked to the defence industry.

“Some of the other professions being targeted might surprise you,” he said. “In the last year, a small number of Australian ­judicial figures have been subjected to suspicious approaches.

“While we are yet to conclusively conclude they were targeted by foreign intelligence services, we do know spies want insights into court cases relevant to their ­governments, and are seeking to use litigation as an intelligence collection tool.”

Mr Burgess also raised ­concerns over a “discernible and concerning uptick in the targeting of the media industry, online and in person”.

ASIO recently uncovered a plot to “exploit and potentially recruit senior Australian journalists”, which was thwarted before its execution.

“The watchers are being watched; the reporters are being reported on; the press is being pressed,” he said. “We have seen repeated attempts to hack into scores of Australian media outlets – so many, it appears to be a concerted campaign.”

As the AUKUS partnership with the US and Britain advances, Mr Burgess said there had been a “distinct uptick in the online targeting of people working in Australia’s defence industry”.

“As we progress AUKUS, it’s critical our allies know we can keep our secrets, and keep their secrets,” he added.

Former Defence personnel were also being targeted as “lackeys”, recruited to sell their military training and expertise to foreign governments.

Mr Burgess said while the overwhelming majority” of veterans were “Australian patriots in every sense, a small but concerning number are willing to put cash before country”.

The spy boss said “selling our war-fighting skills is no different to selling our secrets – especially when the training and tactics are being transferred to countries that will use them to close capability gaps, and could use them against us or our allies at some time in the future”.

“Third-party companies have offered Australians hundreds of thousands of dollars and other significant perks to help authoritarian regimes improve their combat skills,” he said. “In some cases, we and our partners have been able to stop the former insiders travelling overseas to provide the training, but in others, legal ambiguities have impeded law enforcement’s ability to intervene.”

As China continues targeting diaspora communities and critics of the Communist regime in Australia, Mr Burgess warned that residents who shared information on “perceived dissidents” were aiding repression and undermining freedoms.

After last year revealing ASIO had busted a “nest of spies”, Mr Burgess said the agency had since dismantled a “hive” of spies, which was bigger and more dangerous.

Mr Burgess said the spies were undeclared, working undercover and had been in the country for years.

“Proxies and agents were recruited as part of a wider network,” he said. “Among other malicious activities, they wanted to steal sensitive information. I’m not going into more detail because the foreign intelligence service is still trying to unpick exactly what and how we knew about its activities. It was obvious to us that the spies were highly trained because they used sophisticated tradecraft to try to disguise their activities.

“They were good – but ASIO was better.”