Australia’s top intelligence agency says the nation’s terror level threat is ‘almost guaranteed’ to rise due to online radicalisation.
ASIO boss Mike Burgess issued the chilling warning when he delivered his annual threat assessment in Canberra on Tuesday, outlining how a network of foreign spies were recently kicked out of the country for trying to steal ‘sensitive information’.
Late last year, he had lowered the terrorism threat level from probable to possible – a decision that wasn’t taken lightly.
At the time of making the threat change, Mr Burgess said it remained ‘entirely plausible’ there would be a terrorist attack in Australia within 12 months and that the spy agency’s biggest concern was individuals and small groups who could move to violence ‘without warning’.
‘Tragically, all that came true just a few weeks later.’
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation boss Mike Burgess (pictured) has warned that Australia’s terror level threat is ‘almost guaranteed’ to rise
Late last year, ASIO lowered the terrorism threat level from probable to possible but this is expected to be reversed (pictured, heavily armed SERT officers in QLD)
The Wieambilla tragedy – resulting in the murders of two Queensland police officers and a member of the public – in December showed how even with a lower threat level tackling terrorism remained challenging.
Mr Burgess described the shootings, carried out by Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train, as an ‘act of politically motivated violence, primarily motivated by a Christian violent extremist ideology’.
But ASIO did not find evidence the killers embraced a ‘racist and nationalist ideology or were Sovereign Citizens, despite their anti-authority and conspiratorial beliefs’.
More broadly, he said the reach of extremist content online meant individuals were radicalising within days or weeks.
‘So the time between flash to bang is shorter than ever,’ Mr Burgess said.
‘The radicalisation of minors is another concerning trend.’
Mr Burgess also issued a warning to Australians over foreign spies as he unpacked the details of a clandestine operation that uncovered and removed a number of them last year.
He said spies operating within what he described as a ‘hive’ were working undercover, with some put in place years earlier.
Proxies and agents were recruited as part of a wider network.
‘Among other malicious activities, they wanted to steal sensitive information,’ Mr Burgess said.
Mr Burgess said the Wieambilla tragedy, where two QLD police officers were murdered by Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train, was an ‘act of politically motivated violence, primarily motivated by a Christian violent extremist ideology’ (pictured, Gareth and Nathaniel Train)
The property, owned by Gareth, who spoke of prepping his home for an apocalypse, and his wife Stacey was well off the grid, had extensive solar panels and water tanks
‘We watched them. We mapped their activities. We mounted an intense and sustained campaign of operational activity.
‘We confronted them. And, working with our partners, we removed them from this country, privately and professionally. The hive is history.’
He said the security environment was complex in that foreign powers could be simultaneously interfering, spying and setting up for sabotage.
It was also challenging, with foreign adversaries becoming more sophisticated and being ‘effectively unconstrained by resources, ethics or laws’.
He warned that more Australians were being targeted through espionage and foreign interference than at any time in the country’s history.
‘Australia is facing an unprecedented challenge from espionage and foreign interference,’ he said.
‘And I’m not convinced we, as a nation, fully appreciate the damage it inflicts on Australia’s security, democracy, sovereignty, economy and social fabric.’
‘More hostile foreign intelligence services, more spies, more targeting, more harm, more ASIO investigations, more ASIO disruptions. From where I sit, it feels like hand-to-hand combat.’
He said he was concerned there were ‘senior people’ in Australia who appeared to believe espionage and foreign interference was ‘no big deal’.
The ASIO boss said reach of extremist content online meant individuals were radicalising within days or weeks (pictured, the AFP taking a man into custody over terrorism offences)
The critics offered such reasons as ‘all countries spy on each other’.
‘In my opinion, anyone saying these things should reflect on their commitment to Australia’s democracy, sovereignty and values – because espionage and foreign interference is deliberately calculated to undermine Australia’s democracy, sovereignty and values,’ Mr Burgess said.
Foreign intelligence services were aggressively seeking secrets about Australia’s defence capabilities, government decision-making, political parties, research, key export industries and personal information, especially bulk data.
He noted that judicial figures had been approached and there was an uptick in journalists being targeted by spies using diplomatic or media cover, or posing as sources.
