Australian Security Intelligence Organisation

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australia's domestic counterintelligence service, is responsible (in coordination with the Australian Federal Police) for preventing espionage by foreign powers, and is attempting to monitor and prevent terrorist and other political violence. It is approximately equivalent to Britain's counterintelligence service, MI5.

Related Topics:
Australia's - Counterintelligence - Australian Federal Police - Espionage - Terrorist - Political violence - MI5

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It is often referred to as the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation, especially in left-wing political literature critical of the organisation, but this name has no official standing. The incorrect expression of the name of the organisation may sometimes be a result of confusion with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service.

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ASIO was formed as a spin off of the Commonwealth Police and came to prominence in the 1950s with the Petrov affair. Throughout the 1960s, like other Western intelligence agencies it monitored the activities of Vietnam War protestors and others on the political left (some of whom were involved in espionage for the Soviet Union but many more who were not). The distrust engendered in the Australian Labor Party led to a raid on the ASIO offices by the new Attorney-General, Lionel Murphy in 1972 when Labor won office.

Related Topics:
Commonwealth Police - 1950s - Petrov affair - 1960s - Vietnam War - Soviet Union - Australian Labor Party - Lionel Murphy - 1972

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Conspiracy theorists accuse ASIO of being guilty of the Hilton Bombing, which is the only modern act of terrorism on Australian soil.

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It was recently revealed that during the Cold War period, ASIO had a mole in its ranks, which made it a backdoor to US intelligence. The United States upon realizing this pulled back on the information given to ASIO. After a strenuous internal audit, ASIO accused George Sadil, a Russian interpreter at ASIO for 25 years, as the mole. In winter 1993 Federal Police arrested Sadil, however in 1994 the case against him collapsed. It believed that ASIO also suspected another agent, now retired, but have made no attempt to arrest him. The mole is still unpunished to this day.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Mole - George Sadil - 1993 - Federal Police - 1994

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