|
IGIS Annual Report 1999-00 |
IGIS Annual Report 1999-00
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
INSPECTION ACTIVITIES
7. Once again, inspection activity comprised the bulk of the work of the office.
8. ASIO, ASIS and DSD were the agencies whose operations we inspected on a regular basis. We raised a number of issues with agencies arising from the inspections and they were all resolved to my satisfaction. Some of these are discussed in this report's chapters on the individual agencies.
9. AIO, which formerly formed part of DIO, was in the process of becoming a separate organisation and the Director and I had discussions about establishing an inspection regime for AIO for implementation in 2000-2001.
10. I received positive feedback from agency heads about the value, from their point of view, of objective, regular, external scrutiny of the agencies' activities.
11. One matter that, coincidentally, arose in relation to each of ASIO, ASIS and DSD, demonstrated that the agencies are alive to the sensitivity of, and scrupulous in their approach to intelligence relating to the normal activities of Australians.
12. The agencies must not, and do not, seek intelligence about the lawful activities of Australian persons (in ASIO's case, its intelligence-gathering activities are regulated by the ASIO Act and guidelines issued by the Attorney-General, while specific nationality rules, endorsed by government, apply to DSD and ASIS). Inevitably, however, from time to time they are either offered it, or receive it as a by?product of other intelligence-gathering activity.
13. It would be unrealistic to assert that such intelligence should never be accepted or reported. For example, intelligence might reveal a threat to the life or safety of a person. Agencies should not, however, report or retain information for which there is no legitimate intelligence need.
14. While it is not possible to go into great detail, the three cases discussed in this report (paragraphs 102-105, 188-191, 226) demonstrate that the heads of the agencies concerned are sensitive to these issues and seek to handle them in a way which avoids any suggestion that the agencies are interested in matters that should not concern them.