DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION
WHAT DIO DOES
407. 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 Defence Force operations.
408. 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.
409. Further information about DIO is at http://www.dod.gov.au/dio/.
ACCOUNTABILITY ARRANGEMENTS
410. DIO is an intelligence assessment agency, not a collector of intelligence. This means that its day to day activities are unlikely to impinge upon the privacy of Australians.
411. This is recognised in the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986, which provides the Inspector General with restricted functions in relation to DIO.
412. Although I have periodic consultations with and briefings from the Director, I do not consider it necessary to inspect DIO’s activities on a routine basis.
COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES
413. In May 1999, the Prime Minister asked me to inquire into the circumstances leading up to the arrest in the United States of a former DIO employee, Mr Jean-Philippe Wispelaere, on espionage charges.
414. As documented in my last annual report, Mr Wispelaere was convicted on these charges in June 2000 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
415. In the period between Mr Wispelaere’s arrest and conviction, I prepared one report on security issues affecting the Australian intelligence community and the wider public service, and a second report on information technology issues affecting DIO.
416. In early July 2001, I provided the Prime Minister with a third and final report that dealt specifically with the Wispelaere case. As this report contains classified material it will not be made publicly available.
417. We carried over one ministerial referral from the 2000-01 reporting period. The referral arose from a complaint by a serving member of the Australian Defence Force about the methods by which DIO prepares intelligence estimates, and the extent to which those assessments aid the work of the Defence Force. Work on this inquiry was still continuing at the end of the 2001-02 reporting period.
418. There were two complaints about DIO. Neither required inquiry action.