2011 Independent Review of the Intelligence Community

The 2011 report of the Independent Review of the Intelligence Community (the Review) was the first comprehensive review of the Australian intelligence community since the 2004 inquiry conducted by Mr Philip Flood AO. 

Acknowledgements and end notes

The Reviewers express their appreciation to:

  • The intelligence agencies and their officers for their complete and courteous cooperation throughout this Review
  • The people and organisations who provided submissions or participated in interviews – their contributions and insights have been most helpful, and
  • The members of the Review Secretariat for their professional, competent, conscientious and dedicated assistance.

[1] Note: the Flood Inquiry did not include the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation

[2] Report of the Inquiry into Australian Intelligence Agencies (the Flood Report), July 2004, page 6

[3] Sir David Omand, ‘Securing the State’, page 22

[4] Allan Gyngell, ‘The Challenges of Intelligence’, speech to the Lowy Institute for International Policy, 30 March 2011

[5] ‘Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States’ (the Rockefeller Commission), June  1975, page 6

[6] Martin T Bimfort, ‘A definition of Intelligence’, released by the CIA Historical Review Program, 18 September 1995

[7] Sir David Omand, ‘Securing the State’, page 22

[8] www.fbi.gov/about-us/intelligence/defined

[9] Australian Defence Force Academy: Oxford Companion to Australian Military History

[10] See definitions of ‘security’ and ‘foreign intelligence’ in section 4 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Commonwealth) and ASIO functions set out in section 17(1) of the Act

[11] Flood Report, pages 6-7

[12] We set out in greater detail what we think are reasonable expectations of intelligence in Appendix 1

[13] Nomination of LTGEN James Clapper, Jr, Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, 20 July 2010, page 9

[14] Address by Jonathan Evans to the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals, 18 September 2010

[15] ASIS was initially established through the mechanism of Executive Council minutes which formally empowered the Australian Government, under sections 61 and 67 of the Constitution, to form a secret intelligence service

[16] The latter part of the sentence attributed to Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood in ‘The Diary’ , The Australian, 25 April 2011, page 27

[17] In Appendix 2 we set in greater detail our logic for maintaining the current structure of the AIC

[18] In Appendix 3 we set our justification for this view more fully

[19] Speech by Allan Gyngell to the Lowy Institute, 30 March 2011, page 9

[20] Address by Jonathan Evans to the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals, 18 September 2010

[21] Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Mark Blyth, ‘The Black Swan of Cairo: How Suppressing Volatility Makes the World Less Predictable and More Dangerous’, Foreign Affairs, Volume 90, No 3, pages 35–36

[22] ‘Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States’, June 1975, page 2

[23] Porter J Goss quoted in ‘Strategic Intelligence, Volume 2’, page 136

[24] Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, Third Report, page 10

[25] Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, Third Report, pages 120-121

[26] Hope Report, page 121

[27] Elaine Kamarck, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,  ‘Applying 21st Century Government to the Challenge of Homeland Security’ June 2002, page 19

[28] Elaine Kamarck, page 20

[29] Irwin Cotler, Address to the Fifth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or of Ministers or Attorneys-General of the Americas, 28 April, 2004

[30] Irwin Cotler, Evidence given to the Proceedings of the Special Senate Committee on the Anti-Terrorism Act, Ottawa, 21 February 2005

[31] (2006) VSCA 165