Hostile countries are “aggressively” seeking to steal Australia’s most important secrets and more should be done to toughen rules around what ex-spies can do, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has warned other nations are trying to snatch sensitive information – from defence capabilities to foreign policy and medical advances.
In a submission to the federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, ASIO said the need to protect Australia’s secrets could not be overstated.
“It is critical to keeping Australians safe, preserving our democratic values, maintaining strategic advantage and retaining the trust of our key allies,” it added.
ASIO told the committee – which is reviewing an amendment to the Defence Act related to military secrets – that secrecy provisions could be hardened for the nation’s intelligence community personnel due to the “unprecedented threat currently facing Australia”.
In 2022, reports emerged that serving and former military pilots from Western countries were being tapped on the shoulder to provide training in China.
The Defence Department, in its submission, said the bill was an “important step” towards ensuring foreign actors couldn’t acquire secrets through ex-personnel or any other Australians with knowledge of, or access to, sensitive technology and information.
ASIO said personnel who faced lower penalties for unauthorised disclosure of classified or sensitive information might be more susceptible to approaches by foreign intelligence services.
The bill would regulate the work that certain former defence force members could do on behalf of a military organisation or government body of a foreign country.
“The committee will closely examine the Military Secrets Bill to ensure that it appropriately manages the potential risk of former defence staff members revealing sensitive defence information and placing Australia’s national security at risk,” Committee chair Peter Khalil said.
“The committee will then test this evidence with the Department of Defence who would administer this legislation and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.”
The committee will hold its first hearing in Canberra on Thursday when it will hear from department officials and ASIO Deputy Director-General Ewan MacMillan.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
