Secret report: Australian secret agencies all wonderful, very nice blokes; Intelligence and Security Committee Report

First 9 of 9 paragraphs shown Federal Member for Brisbane Arch Bevis, ALP (Brisbane) in a report of the six Australian intelligence and security agencies which covered 2007-08, released 13 May 2010, reported a huge rise in security background checks on individuals: more than 80,000 by ASIO alone - the only one which appeared to on check-numbers, publicly.
Bevis says it’s all good: Bevis, for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s oversight of the Australian intelligence community said it had found the administration and expenditure of the six intelligence and security agencies was “sound', and that they were a nice lot to deal with. But more of them were reading your emails and talking to your neighbours, than ever before
Huge rise in security background checks: Bevis reported ‘ Australians would be surprised to know that ASIO in the year in review conducted in excess of
- 70,000 security assessments for the aviation security identity cards in the aviation and maritime industries;
- 4,500 assessments on people seeking licences to access ammonium nitrate ‘an ingredient of choice for some terrorist activities’
- 1,200 assessments of staff and visitors to the CSIRO Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, ANSTO, which operates the nuclear facility at Lucas Heights
- 13,000 assessments for people requiring accreditation for special events such as APEC and World Youth Day a year or two ago.
No security breaches: “...during 2007-08 the agencies were able to advise us that there were no security breaches reported by any of the agencies which resulted in national security classified material being compromised. There were, perhaps understandably, minor difficulties where there were some breaches of protocol but there was no event that compromised national security information.
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