New Laws Could Block ASIO From Investigating Journalists: Spy Chief

Some spies pretend to be journalists themselves, while others cultivate legitimate journalists in the hope they will gain access to classified information.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director General Mike Burgess poses for a portrait ahead of his annual threat assessment speech at ASIO headquarters in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 28, 2024. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is warning against tightening secrecy laws around journalists saying they could prevent domestic security from investigating the media—a target of foreign spies.

Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Jake Blight is reviewing the effectiveness and proportionality of secrecy laws and offences covering the disclosure of information, which is due to lapse this year.

In a public hearing on March 25, ASIO warned that the use of journalists by spies—whether compromised or unwittingly—is a potential threat to national security.

According to ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, some foreign agents masqueraded as reporters, while others attempted to compromise legitimate journalists. They also often used proxies and agents to hide their connection to a foreign intelligence service.

“Foreign intelligence services use journalists for cover and tradecraft, as in pretend to be a journalist, to do their job,” he told a parliamentary hearing.

Blocking ASIO Risks National Security

Even if a piece of information doesn’t look like it would be harmful at face value, “when it’s put together with other pieces of information that foreign intelligence is good at collecting, it can be extremely damaging”, the director-general said.

While denying ASIO ever investigated journalists for their journalism, Mr. Burgess warned against legislation affording them any special treatment.

“I’m not saying that we are [investigating any journalists],” he said. “But if we do, we’re investigating them for potential threats to security—anything that changes that equation would be problematic from my point of view.”

This is not the first time Mr. Burgess has implied that Australian journalists are being used by foreign espionage agencies.

In February last year, he said, in his Annual Threat Assessment, that journalists, military veterans, and judicial figures were all being targeted at “unprecedented” levels, and that a “hive of spies” had been removed from the country in 2022.

A ‘Lackey’ Lured Local Journalists

Mr. Burgess also said that Australia’s security agencies had detected “repeated attempts to hack into scores of Australian media outlets—so many, it appears to be a concerted campaign” and alleged that a “lackey” was recruited to lure “senior journalists” on all-expenses-paid “study tours” of a foreign country to obtain privileged information.

“Once in-country, the lackey was expected to introduce the journalists to ‘local officials’ who were really spies in disguise,” he said.

“The spies would use these opportunities to ingratiate themselves with the reporters, try to elicit insights on political, economic, defence and other issues, and identify any vulnerabilities that could be leveraged later.”

Back in 2019, ASIO Deputy Director-General Heather Cook told a Parliamentary inquiry into press freedom that “journalism is being used as a cover by foreign intelligence actors.”

“Broad exemptions for the media and journalists would invite exploitation by foreign intelligence actors and may increase the intelligence threat faced by Australian journalists,” she said.

In 2019, the Australian Federal Police raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst, investigating the publication of a leaked plan to allow government spying on Australians. A year later, they ruled out charging her.

In recent years, secrecy laws have provoked widespread debate about whether whistleblowers need better protection. Mr Blight has said that a lack of transparency eroded trust in government and had an unreasonable impact on a free press.

AAP contributed to this report