Agency Engagement

The Inspector-General met regularly with intelligence agency heads and their senior staff to discuss current issues or concerns, and to highlight issues arising from inspection and inquiry activities. Agencies typically also use these discussions to brief the office on emerging risks or potential concerns and how they plan to respond to these challenges.

These discussions enhance awareness of each intelligence agency's operational environment and also provide a forum to resolve issues informally without the need for extended or time consuming correspondence where appropriate.

Each agency has also established regular points of contact to facilitate our visits and to coordinate our various requirements, while within the OIGIS, designated officers lead interactions with each intelligence agency. The designation of these coordination points does not limit our capacity to speak with anyone else in the organisation when required, and indeed goes a long way to ensuring that our requirements are met in a full and prompt manner. We would like to express appreciation to our regular points of contact within each agency for assisting the work of the office during the 2014–15 reporting period.

Outreach

Each year, OIGIS staff deliver presentations to staff in the intelligence agencies. These presentations provide a good opportunity to explain the role and functions of the office and to discuss matters relating to compliance, professionalism, accountability and ethical conduct. In the reporting period, we delivered a total of 13 presentations. Of these, five were to staff in the intelligence agencies, including in regional offices and other sites outside of Canberra; and eight were to external groups.

The Inspector-General continued the practice of meeting with ASIS heads of station and other officers from intelligence agencies before they are posted to remind them of the functions of the office and explore any particular challenges they anticipate depending on the particular locations and operations at their post.

In the reporting period the Inspector-General was invited to address several leadership groups that were external to the intelligence agencies, including the Senior Executive Development Program of the Australian National University's National Security College and the Safeguarding Australia 2015 Conference.

The Assistant Inspector-General, Jake Blight, presented at the Department of Defence Senior Intelligence Managers' Course, the ADF Advanced Intelligence Course as well as at the Australian National University as a guest lecturer.

Further presentations of a similar kind are planned in the coming year.