‘Your cover is blown’: ASIO boss reveals politician betrayed Australia to foreign spies

ASIO boss Mike Burgess has blown the cover of a sophisticated foreign interference operation that involved a former politician betraying Australia and attempting to bring a prime minister’s relative into the orbit of foreign spies.

In his latest annual threat assessment, the nation’s spy chief goes into remarkable detail about the so-called “A-team”: a dedicated unit within a foreign intelligence service that made Australia its primary target and operated for several years until at least last year.

“The team is aggressive and experienced, its tradecraft is good – but not good enough,” Burgess said in a speech delivered in Canberra on Wednesday night.

“ASIO and our partners have been able to map out its activities and identify its members.”

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said he had exposed the foreign spy unit as part of “a real-world, real-time disruption” operation.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

‘The threat is now’

Stating that more Australians were being targeted for foreign interference and espionage than ever before, Burgess said: “Australians need to know that the threat is real. The threat is now. And the threat is deeper and broader than you might think.”

Burgess added that he was increasingly worried sabotage could emerge as a national security threat, possibly by an insider shutting down a telecommunications network or power grid during a heat wave on behalf of a hostile nation.

Autocratic foreign governments have also tried to physically harm Australian-based critics of their regimes and attempted to find Australians who can make dissidents “disappear”, he said.

While declining to identify the nation behind the A-team foreign spy unit, Burgess said members posed as consultants, head-hunters, local government officials and researchers while claiming to be from fictional companies such as “Data 31”.

ASIO says a foreign intelligence network has been targeting Australian and one federal politician.Credit: Matt Davidson

The family plot and the fake conference

“Several years ago, the A-team successfully cultivated and recruited a former Australian politician,” Burgess said.

“This politician sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime. At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a prime minister’s family member into the spies’ orbit.

“Fortunately, that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did.”

Burgess did not identify the politician who was recruited by the spies or their political party.

Burgess said the A-team had invited leading Australian academics and political figures to an all-expenses-paid overseas conference where they were met by spies pretending to be bureaucrats.

“They used the conference to build relationships with the Australians and aggressively target them for recruitment, openly asking who had access to government documents,” he said.

“A few weeks after the conference wrapped up, one of the academics started giving the A-team information about Australia’s national security and defence priorities.

“Another Australian, an aspiring politician, provided insights into the factional dynamics of his party, analysis of a recent election and the names of up-and-comers – presumably so the A-team could target them too.”

The duped and the duplicit

Burgess said some Australians were unwittingly roped into the scheme, but others knew they were working for a foreign intelligence service.

“Several individuals should be grateful the espionage and foreign interference laws are not retrospective,” he said, suggesting the plot operated for at least five years given parliament passed landmark foreign interference laws in 2018.

The foreign spies typically offered their targets consulting opportunities by promising to pay thousands of dollars for reports on Australian trade, politics, economics, foreign policy and defence, with extra payments for “exclusive” information.

“This might suggest the A-team’s priority is classified material, but its appetites are wider than that,” Burgess said.

“We have seen it try to recruit students, academics, politicians, business people, researchers, law enforcement officials and public servants at all levels of government.”

Foreign agents are posing as recruiters on LinkedIn, ASIO boss Mike Burgess said. Credit: Jessica Hromas

‘Your cover is blown’

Burgess said he decided to reveal the unit’s existence was part of “a real-world, real-time disruption” operation.

“We want the A-team’s bosses to know its cover is blown,” he said.

“I want the A-team and its masters to understand if they target Australia, ASIO will target them; we will make their jobs as difficult, costly and painful as possible.”

Suggesting the unit was operating until recently, Burgess said ASIO confronted the “A-team” directly last year when its team leader thought he was grooming another Australian online.

“Little did he know he was actually speaking with an ASIO officer – the spy was being spied on, the player was being played,” he said.

“You can imagine his horror when my officer revealed himself and declared, ‘We know who you are. We know what you are doing. Stop it or there will be further consequences’.”

Lured on LinkedIn

Members of the A-team typically used anglicised pseudonyms, contacting their targets on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, email or social media platforms before moving the conversation onto encrypted messaging apps.

Burgess last year revealed his agency had disrupted and deported a “hive of spies” – later revealed to be Russian operatives – who were trying to gain access to sensitive information.

Noting that the accidental downing of the Optus network last year had caused widespread chaos, Burgess said he suspected Australians did not understand the seriousness of the threat of sabotage.

The Russian embassy in Canberra was accused last year of hosting “a hive of spies”.

“ASIO is aware of one nation state conducting multiple attempts to scan critical infrastructure in Australia and other countries, targeting water, transport and energy networks,” he said.

“The reconnaissance is highly sophisticated, using top-notch tradecraft to map networks, test for vulnerabilities, knock on digital doors and check the digital locks.

“We assess this government is not actively planning sabotage, but is trying to gain persistent undetected access that could allow it to conduct sabotage in the future.”

Burgess said he was worried such sabotage could also be undertaken by “accelerationists, extremists who want to trigger a so-called race war”.

While Australia has not seen a lone-wolf attack linked to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, Burgess said ASIO was monitoring heightened community tensions and an increase in violent rhetoric since the October 7 attacks.

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