DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION
WHAT DIO DOES
304. The role of the Defence Intelligence Organisation is to provide intelligence to inform defence and government policy and planning, to support the planning and conduct of ADF operations.
305. DIO also aims to develop and maintain a defence intelligence capability for use in time of crisis and conflict. DIO does not concern itself with domestic developments or situations within Australia.
306. DIO is an intelligence assessment agency, rather than a collector of intelligence. This means that its day to day activities are unlikely to impinge upon the privacy of Australians. This is recognised in the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986, which places DIO on the third tier of the agencies for which the IGIS has oversight responsibilities (alongside the other assessment agency, ONA).
307. I do not consider it necessary to inspect DIO's activities on a routine basis although I have periodic consultations with and briefings from the Director.
308. Further information about DIO can be found at http://www.dod.gov.au/dio/.
COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES
309. The Minister for Defence referred one new complaint concerning DIO to our office during 2000?2001. The inquiry into this referral was ongoing at the conclusion of the reporting period.
310. We also carried over one ministerial referral from 1999-2000 concerning the security investigation into the late Mr Mervyn Jenkins. Work on this inquiry was concluded in October 2000. An unclassified version of the report of the inquiry was released by the minister in December 2000.
311. Work was also completed on a third and final report concerning former DIO employee Jean?Philippe Wispelaere, who was convicted on espionage related charges in the United States and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, in June 2001.
312. I would like to thank the Director DIO and his staff for the assistance they provided to my office in the course of the various inquiries that were conducted during the reporting period.