Australian spy agency blasted over Bali

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Australia's intelligence services have come under fresh attack, with a leading American think tank accusing the nation's domestic spy agency of failures over the Bali bombings and of fighting a damaging turf war with the Australian Federal Police.

The claims by the Rand Corporation follow a damning parliamentary assessment of Australian intelligence analysis in the run-up to the Gulf War and comes as a special Government inquiry continues a similar investigation.

The intelligence community has also come under withering fire from one of its former stars, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, who has demanded a royal commission into a series of alleged failures and who yesterday demanded full disclosure of documents surrounding his claims.

Collins, whose claims were made in a letter to Prime Minister John Howard, cited flawed intelligence over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction, the failure to warn of the Bali bombs, independence in East Timor, the collapse of law and order in the Solomons, the use of mercenaries in the Sandline affair in Papua New Guinea, and a number of other alleged failings.

Howard yesterday rejected the Rand report, promised to fully answer the Collins allegations, and appealed for support for intelligence agencies that were under pressure as never before.

"It's very easy to finger-point," he said. "I think we have to understand that if we're to win this war against terror, we need good agencies. They need our support."

The latest blow to the intelligence community's prestige came in a Rand Corporation study of intelligence services in Australia, Britain, France and Canada aimed at raising consideration in the United States of a new domestic spy agency separate from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The study said Australia's risk of terror attack had been increased significantly by Howard's tightening alliance with the US, its leading role in East Timor, his "unstinting" support of the war on terror, and a number of major international events such as the Olympics.

It praised elements of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation operations, including its work with ethnic communities and its decision to lift its public profile.

"These efforts have helped to offset the veil of secrecy that has traditionally surrounded ASIO, which has, in turn, availed greater public trust and confidence in working with the intelligence service," the study said.

But Rand also said ASIO had been criticised for arbitrary and indiscriminate practices, including break-ins of left-wing academics holding "suspect" political affiliations or views, and - since the September 11 terror attacks - an increasing resort to wiretaps and surveillance of Australia's 280,000 Muslims.

Echoing earlier criticisms, the study also took ASIO to task over Bali.

"Regional analysts following the movements of Jemaah Islamiyah charge that ASIO blatantly disregarded threat assessments that, if followed, could have prevented the October 2002 Bali tragedy," it said.

Rand further accused ASIO of opening a turf war with the Australian Federal Police, whose responsibilities include counter-terrorism and transnational and organised crime, and which is ASIO's closest intelligence partner.

"While ASIO frequently does co-ordinate its tactical and intelligence operations with the AFP, it is not obliged to do so and has, on occasion, deliberately withheld information on the basis of its own idiosyncratic calculation of the national interest," the study said.

The study said one former high-ranking federal police officer had told Rand researchers that the problem had worsened steadily since 2002 because of jurisdictional jealousies over the AFP's high profile since the Bali bombings.

Howard said he completely rejected Rand's conclusion.

"I think it's quite misplaced and it's based on a number of false assumptions," he said.

"I think the suggestion that these agencies are engaged in a turf war is wrong."

Intelligence under fire

* The Rand report is the latest criticism of Australian spies to be made public.

* A former top spy, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, said intelligence on issues from East Timor to Iraq had been distorted to support Government policy.

* A secret intelligence report into the spy's claims found systemic failures of intelligence used to justify sending troops into Iraq and East Timor.

* The Government has since released other secret reports that counter such findings.


Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast