davidcandy said:
I gave a link to the ASIS story. There was a Royal Commission. I remember waking up to the news.
The Hilton Hotel incident is not reflective of the contemporary conditions they work under now though.
davidcandy said:
There was some talk by JH (PM) that ASIS's ban on active missions was to be reconsidered. I think this is a mistake.
I disagree. If they are in harms way they have the right to defend themselves if in an unfortunate contact position. That should be few and far between, but they still should be able to look after themselves.
davidcandy said:
I think it's a mistake because spies shouldn't be noticed.
Invariably they aren't. Its just fortunate that the bulk of our operators aren't in the public eye. In fact, a lot of the DC staff at specific levels from other countries are in old fashioned terms regarded as Intel operators, or in Cold War terms, "spies".
davidcandy said:
Apart from liason officers and management when did you last hear of an Australian spy.
I know of a few from my old days in Fed employ, but I would also expect them not to be noticed due to the public role of their positions. They're actually good at their job in that sense as no one would suspect them of anything. You'd be surprised at how many official embassy staff positions for in-country staff are deemed foreign intelligence operators. If they're doing it, you can bet that we're doing it. Nobody however, talks about it, as everyone knows that everyone else is doing it.
The "great game" may not be as frantic and serious as it was pre 89, but its still serious business for different reasons. Whereas the focus in the past was for military intel, a lot of it now is commercial intel.
davidcandy said:
If they become like the CIA then they will appear in the papers as often. Also ASIS officers would be illegal combatants.
ASIS won't, they're domestic. If caught with a weapon in unfortunate circumstances, and if weapons usage was not cleared, then they would be subject to Commonwealth Law and then Common Law provisions. I'd hazard a guess that any ASIS Officer carrying a weapon has been signed off to do it.