surveillance agencies

This page will shortly provide a map of the plethora of surveillance agencies in Australia and New Zealand, covering bodies such as ASIO, ASIS, DSD, GCSB, NCA, NZIS and ACS.

     ASIO

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), oversighted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the ASIO (PJC) and the Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security (IGIS) is the main Commonwealth domestic security agency. It operates under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979.

Former chief executive Tudor Harvey Barnett's Tale of the Scorpion (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 88) is anodyne and self-serving, offset by Frank Cain's lucid ASIO - An Unofficial History (Richmond: Spectrum 94) and David McKnight's more problematical Australia's Spies & Their Secrets (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 94). Its antecedents are traced in Cain's The Origins of Political Surveillance in Australia (Sydney: Angus & Robertson 83).

     NZIS

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) is ASIO's counterpart. It was established by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Act 1969, with strengthened surveillance powers through a 1977 amendment to that legislation.

The 1999 report of the Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security commented, tongue in cheek or otherwise, that

The fact that there are very few complaints and little need for any inquiry into the activities of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (or the Government Communications Security Bureau) indicates, I believe, that the performance of their activities does not impinge adversely on New Zealand citizens.

     ASIS

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), within the federal Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT), is ostensibly concerned with activity overseas but secured public attention by playing shootem-ups in a Melbourne hotel.

There's an account in Oyster: The Story of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Port Melbourne: Heinemann 89) by Brian Toohey & William Pinwill. The Australian Intelligence Corps (AIC) is one of several Defence Department bodies.

     DSD

The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), the local equivalent of the US NSA, is Australia's major player in the global intelligence community, reflecting a history of cooperation with overseas signals intelligence bodies (notably those in the US, Canada and UK) and advantageous geography for handling radio and satellite traffic. It is a participant in the Echelon network, subject of criticism by some liberties groups and parts of the EU Parliament.

Background is provided in The Ties that Bind - Intelligence Cooperation between the UKUSA Countries (London: Allen & Unwin 85) by Desmond Ball & Jeffrey Richelson. Other works of importance by Ball include A Suitable Piece of Real Estate (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger 80), A Base for Debate: The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 87) and Pine Gap: Australia and the US Geosynchronous Satellite Program (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 88). For the NSA see The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America's Most Secret Agency (New York: Houghton Mifflin 82) by James Bamford and follow-up Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (New York: Doubleday 01).

     GCSB

There's no comparable study for New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), subject of a 1998 review by the NZ Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security (IGIS). It operates under the NZ Intelligence & Security Committee Act and the Inspector-General of Intelligence & Security Act.

Some historical insights may be gleaned from Swift & Sure: A History of the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals and Army Signaling in New Zealand. (Auckland: New Zealand Signals 96), an official history by Laurie Barber & Cliff Lord.

     assessment and coordination

Australian security intelligence assessment and coordination bodies include the Office of National Assessments (ONA) and the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO). The NZ equivalents are the External Assessments Bureau (EAB) and National Assessments Committee (NAC).

In relation to crimes a similar function is provided by the Office of Strategic Crime Assessments (OSCA) and the Office of Law Enforcement Coordination (OLEC).

     federal crimes

A range of Commonwealth agencies are authorised to conduct surveillance under general or specific legislation. These include the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Australian Customs Service (ACS) and the Health Insurance Commission (HIC).

The National Crime Authority (NCA), oversighted by the Commonwealth parliament's Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority (PJCNCA), is facing the latest of recurrent waves of criticism about its supposed ineffectiveness in prosecuting misbehaviour.

     state crimes

All state police forces and the NT police force are authorised to conduct surveillance under state legislation. Other agencies - such as anti-corruption and crimes authorities, workers compensation and insurance bodies, and the state railways - have a more restricted authorisation, generally under legislation specific to each agency. We'll be adding more information in the near future.




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