International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence | 2019
Creeping Suspicions: Antecedents of Australia’s Foreign Intelligence Activities
Abstract
In May 1950 Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies drafted a handwritten letter to his British counterpart, Clement Attlee. “I have decided to establish a Secret Intelligence Service,” Menzies wrote, “which, when organised in due course, will operate in South East Asia and the Pacific areas adjacent to Australia. Recent developments in Asia and our ‘near north’ make this both a prudent and an urgent measure.” According to Menzies, the decision to create a secret intelligence collection service was made “in light of the grave developments in Asia and in accordance with the policy that Australia should take a greater responsibility for Commonwealth defence in the Pacific area.” Part of the agency’s function was to “collaborate on joint interests” but also to “reduce the onerous world-wide commitments of the United Kingdom.” Despite the urgency outlined in Menzies’s letter, two years of protracted negotiations followed regarding the Service’s function, charter, and constitution. Not until 13 May 1952 did the Australian Governor General sign three Executive Council Minutes that brought into existence Australia’s first official foreign intelligence collection agency, the Australian Secret [Intelligence] Service (the word “Intelligence” was added at a later date) designated with the code name MO9. For the next 27 years ASIS remained free from parliamentary scrutiny and completely concealed from public eyes.