- by Hannah Middleton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2066
Image: Setreset – Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
At the recent AUSMIN (Australia-United States Ministerial) talks in Brisbane, it was announced that US intelligence operatives will be integrated into Australia’s Defence Intelligence Organisation via a new branch called the Combined Intelligence Centre.
US and Australian spies will cooperate on monitoring issues “of shared strategic concern in the Indo-Pacific” – spin for Australia’s intelligence service being penetrated and colonised by the US.
The ABC reported that the spies will scrutinise the activities of states like China, Russia, and North Korea in the region.
The influence of US spies in the Australian intelligence community is clearly intended to help ensure that US perspectives dominate the thinking of Australian policy makers even more than they do already.
The new branch will impact Australian policy development and help ensure that Australia remains a compliant ally and reliable home to US forces preparing for war on China.
Defence Minister Marles, from his usual craven “all the way with the USA” perspective, welcomed the new branch as a “significant step forward” towards “seamless” intelligence ties. This means national control being surrendered by an obedient client state.
Analysts have stressed that the Combined Intelligence Centre will create opportunities to skew the focus of intelligence gathering and shape its construction, in turn influencing the formation of Australian strategic policy.
