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61-557: The commission was conducted by Justice Robert Hope of the NSW Court of Appeal. It concluded its work in 1977, although the reports were gradually handed down from 1975 under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser . The Australian Labor Party had come to power in 1972 after over two decades of Liberal Party of Australia rule. Despite having created the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 1949,

122-508: A leaked document provided by Edward Snowden which reveals a similar agreement between the NSA and Israel's Unit 8200 . According to The Sydney Morning Herald , Australia operates clandestine surveillance facilities at its embassies "without the knowledge of most Australian diplomats". These facilities are part of an international espionage program known as STATEROOM . Although the UKUSA alliance

183-478: A broad sense, terrorism possibilities in Australia, and ways, and means of State, Territory and Commonwealth co-operation in dealing with the threat of terror". Again as a direct result of his recommendations, government policy on intelligence and security changed. Hope designated ASIO as the agency responsible for producing national threat assessments in the field of terrorism and politically motivated violence and at

244-516: A careful inquiry... and might make some organizational or personnel changes." The Hope Royal Commission delivered eight reports, four of which were tabled in Parliament on 5 May 1977 and 25 October 1977. With regards to ASIO, Hope found that its existence was legally, philosophically and practically legitimate. Despite being directed by the terms of reference to examine the history of ASIO, Hope declined: I found ASIO’s files in such disorder that, in

305-596: A confirmation of earlier disclosures about the UK-US espionage alliance. For example, the British newspaper The Independent reported back in 1996 that the US National Security Agency "taps UK phones" at the request of the British intelligence agency MI5 , thus allowing British agents to evade restrictive limitations on domestic telephone tapping. The mutual surveillance and sharing of information between allies of

366-796: A marker of where the Australian intelligence and security agencies saw their priorities in the pre-Hilton Bombing environment. In 1986 the ASIO Act was amended to take into consideration the recommendations of Hope in the RCASIA. New South Wales Attorney General's Department (2004). "HOPE – Robert Marsden – Law Reform Commission : Lawlink NSW" . Lawlink NSW website . New South Wales Attorney General's Department . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . The University of Wollongong (2006). "University of Wollongong – Honorary Graduates, Emeritus Professors and Fellows" (PDF) . The University of Wollongong. Archived from

427-685: A matrix is created of boundless surveillance in which each partner aids in a division of roles. They exchanged information. And they worked together extensively. That applies to the British and the Americans, but also to the BND, which assists the NSA in its Internet surveillance. In 2013, Canadian federal judge Richard Mosley strongly rebuked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service ( CSIS ) for outsourcing its surveillance of Canadians to overseas partner agencies. A 51-page ruling says that

488-524: A possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that." During the 2013 NSA leaks Internet spying scandal, the surveillance agencies of the "Five Eyes" have been accused of intentionally spying on one another's citizens and willingly sharing the collected information with each other, allegedly circumventing laws preventing each agency from spying on its own citizens. The 2013 NSA leaks are not entirely new, but rather, they are

549-621: A range of logical and basic recommendations (in terms of the evolution of policies of the time) that again altered the parameters that Australia's intelligence agencies operated under and bought them into the political and cultural paradigms of the 1980s. One of Justice Hope's RCASIA recommendations was that "the ASIO Act expressly provide that it is not the purpose of the Act that the right of lawful advocacy, protest or dissent should be affected or that exercising those rights should, by themselves, constitute activity prejudicial to security". This recommendation

610-457: A role that ASIO will be able to attain a standing comparable with that of the various defence services. My recommendations will be directed to this end." Hope recommended that ASIO should continue to be overseen by the Executive (Australian Government) as opposed to Parliament and that the organisation be routinely reviewed to ensure its operational efficacy. Results from the other reports included

671-845: A seat on the Senate of the University of Sydney from 1970 till 1975 when he became the first Chancellor of the University of Wollongong , a position he held until 1997. Hope was the Chairman of the New South Wales Heritage Council from 1978 to 1993 and was also the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission from 1990 to 1993. Hope died in 1999 at the age of 80. After his death, the University of Wollongong awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Law. He

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732-580: A sense of impartiality". Justice Hope received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney before being called to the New South Wales Bar on 26 October 1945. During his time at university he had attempted to join the Communist Party of Australia but due to "administrative incompetence" he had failed to do so. By his own admission in 1998, the 1960s had brought Hope considerable professional success owing to his strategic decision to join

793-478: Is often associated with the ECHELON system, processed intelligence is reliant on multiple sources of information and the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence . The following table provides an overview of the government agencies involved and their respective responsibilities within the " Five Eyes " community: Although precise assignments are classified, it is generally known that each member of

854-581: The 1943 BRUSA Agreement , before being officially enacted on 5 March 1946 by the United Kingdom and the United States. In the following years, it was extended to encompass Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Other countries, known as "third parties", such as West Germany , the Philippines , and several Nordic countries , also joined the UKUSA community in associate capacities, although they are not part of

915-606: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Later, in 1998, Hope revealed that he regretted a number of his core recommendations and that he found ASIO to be a highly partisan and incompetent organisation. Hope was again commissioned only a year later in 1978 to conduct the Protective Security Review (PSR) into protective security arrangements for the Commonwealth as well as co-operation between national and state cooperation on protective security following

976-637: The Joint Intelligence Organisation 's foreign intelligence assessment role. The Joint Intelligence Organisation retained its defence intelligence assessment role until it was restructured as the Defence Intelligence Organisation in 1990. The Defence Signals Division was renamed Defence Signals Directorate . Aside from the observation that ASIS was 'singularly well run and well managed', the report(s) on ASIS were not released, but on 25 October 1977, Fraser publicly announced

1037-891: The Liberal Party of Australia . Hope was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1960. He became President of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties "but within weeks" he was then appointed Justice of the New South Wales Supreme Court . Hope was finally made a Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the New South Wales judiciary system in 1972, a position he held until his retirement in 1989. He also acknowledged that on two occasions he had allowed himself to be pressured by President Athol Moffitt into reaching decisions "he would have otherwise not made". Justice Hope

1098-592: The North Island at Tangimoana . Europe, European Russia , Middle East, and Hong Kong. The US is focused on the Middle East , Russia, and China, in addition to the Caribbean and Africa . The "Five Eyes" community is part of an extensive alliance of Western countries sharing signals intelligence with each other. These allied countries include NATO members, other European countries such as Sweden, and allies in

1159-590: The Official History of ASIO , edited by David Horner and written by John Blaxland , suggests the Royal Commission could have brought ASIO to an end. However, this has since been argued to be incorrect as the Whitlam government had no intention of disbanding or abolishing ASIO: The Royal Commission began a process of reform that consciously depoliticised ASIO, brought it into line with the established practises of

1220-669: The Soviet Union provided considerable eavesdropping advantages during the Cold War . Canada continues to monitor the Russian and Chinese interior while managing intelligence assets in Latin America . In addition to Southeast Asia , New Zealand is responsible for the western Pacific and maintains listening posts in the South Island at Waihopai Valley just south-west of Blenheim , and on

1281-565: The United Kingdom , and the United States . The alliance of intelligence operations is also known as the Five Eyes . In classification markings this is abbreviated as FVEY, with the individual countries being abbreviated as AUS, CAN, NZL, GBR, and USA, respectively. Emerging from an informal agreement related to the 1941 Atlantic Charter , the secret treaty was renewed with the passage of

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1342-533: The "second party" members (that is, the Five Eyes themselves), "third party" partners are not automatically exempt from intelligence targeting. According to an internal NSA document leaked by Snowden, "We (the NSA) can, and often do, target the signals of most 3rd party foreign partners." The Five Eyes are cooperating with various 3rd Party countries in at least two groups: Germany is reportedly interested in moving closer to

1403-561: The 1980s he found the exploitation of Pine Gap had changed and that the Hawke government was handing raw intelligence to major Australian corporations. He said he found ASIO to be dominated by conservatives who were fanatical about the Cold War and that "the whole system was substantially directed to the left wing of politics”. He found that ASIO was "deliberately designed to shield the organisation from external (and internal) scrutiny". The Secretary of

1464-508: The CIA was strongly opposed by Whitlam, who fired the chief of the ASIO before being dismissed as prime minister. The existence of several intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes was not revealed until the following years: In 1999, the Australian government acknowledged that it "does co-operate with counterpart signals intelligence organisations overseas under the UKUSA relationship." The existence of

1525-516: The Department of Defence, Arthur Tange controversially ordered that the Commission "should not be told too much" because this would put the Five Eyes alliance in jeopardy. As a result, the Commission was not granted access to the satellite tracking station at Pine Gap . On 27 May 2008, the records of the commission were partly released to the public. As of 2014, many declassified documents authored by

1586-534: The Pacific, in particular Singapore and South Korea . In the 1950s several Nordic countries joined the community as "third party" participants. They were soon followed by Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955). According to Edward Snowden , the NSA has a "massive body" called the Foreign Affairs Directorate that is responsible for partnering with other Western allies such as Israel . Unlike

1647-720: The Security Appeals Tribunal ruled in a case against ASIO where they had given an unfavourable security assessment on a member of the Australian Communist Party, that "membership of the Communist Party of Australia did not warrant a recommendation against the grant of access to classified national security material (such as required by their job – Ed.). A nexus between the applicant and particular activities of security interest needed to be shown" – all very much in keeping with Hope's civil libertarian position and

1708-490: The UK and US resurfaced again during the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures . As described by the news magazine Der Spiegel , this was done to circumvent domestic surveillance regulations: Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency can spy on anyone but British nationals, the NSA can conduct surveillance on anyone but Americans, and Germany's BND ( Bundesnachrichtendienst ) foreign intelligence agency can spy on anyone but Germans. That's how

1769-399: The UK and the US, as part of the five-nation UKUSA Agreement (commonly called Five Eyes ). Hope made many recommendations. With regards to ASIO, Hope wanted it to become truly part of the defence forces of Australia and celebrated as such: An organisation truly fulfilling [“the defence of the realm”]... is entitled to the confidence and respect of the nation. It is only in performing such

1830-480: The UK and the US. Due to its status as a secret treaty, its existence was not known to the Prime Minister of Australia until 1973, and it was not disclosed to the public until 2005. On 25 June 2010, for the first time in history, the full text of the agreement was publicly released by the United Kingdom and the United States, and can now be viewed online. Shortly after its release, the seven-page UKUSA Agreement

1891-596: The UKUSA Agreement, however, was not publicly revealed until 2005. The contents of the agreement were officially disclosed to the public on 25 June 2010. Four days later, the agreement was described by Time magazine as one of the "most important documents in the history of the Cold War ." In July 2013, as part of the 2013 Edward Snowden revelations , it emerged that the NSA is paying GCHQ for its services, with at least £100 million of payments made between 2010 and 2013. On 11 September 2013, The Guardian released

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1952-494: The UKUSA alliance takes lead responsibility for intelligence collection and analysis in different parts of the globe. The Five Eyes (often abbreviated as FVEY ) are an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence . Australia monitors South Asia and East Asia . Canada's geographical proximity to

2013-599: The agreement was released to the public on 25 June 2010. The " Five Eyes " term has its origins as a shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" classification level. Under the agreement, the GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the Soviet Union , the People's Republic of China , and several Eastern Bloc countries (known as Exotics). The network was expanded in the 1960s into the Echelon collection and analysis network. The treaty

2074-476: The backbone of the Whitlam government's heritage and environmental agenda although its landmark recommendations were never realised. In 1974, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam appointed Justice Hope to head the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (RCIS). Completed in 1977, Hope's recommendations – most of which had been pre-empted by the Whitlam government – would secure the new bipartisan support for

2135-555: The beginning of the Cold War . The document was signed on 5 March 1946 by Colonel Patrick Marr-Johnson for the UK's London Signals Intelligence Board and Lieutenant General Hoyt Vandenberg for the US State–Army–Navy Communication Intelligence Board. Although the original agreement states that the exchange would not be "prejudicial to national interests", the United States often blocked information sharing from Commonwealth countries. The full text of

2196-607: The bombing of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM). While the review nominally targeted "protective security", it was the threat of international terrorism in Australia that was at the heart of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser 's decision to use Hope's experience in the area of Australia's intelligence services. When completed in 1979, the review essentially ended up probing, "in

2257-543: The bureaucracy, and refocused it on tangible threats posed to the state. However, the selection of royal commissioner and the terms of reference prevented the Royal Commission from reaching radical conclusions, especially the disbandment of ASIO. Labor had rejected the policy of abolishment at its 1971 and 1973 conferences. As the US State Department observed secretly, "Seems clear [Whitlam] has no intention of abolishing... He will eventually be able to say that he has had

2318-488: The commission remain redacted. Robert Marsden Hope Robert Marsden Hope , AC CMG QC (24 July 1919 – 12 October 1999) was a Justice of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and Royal Commissioner on three separate occasions, most notably the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security . As a judge Hope was known for his legal positivism and as a royal commissioner he "instilled

2379-562: The end of 1979, a new ASIO Act came into being which implemented many of Hope's recommendations from the RCIS and the PSR. At the same time, the Security Appeals Tribunal, another of Hope's RCIS recommendations, was bought into being. In 1983, the Hawke government requested that Hope once again become commissioner for the Royal Commission into Australia's Security and Intelligence Agencies. Soon after this request

2440-650: The establishment of the Office of National Assessments (ONA) as a statutory body independent from government with the passage of the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 , and the reform of ASIO by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 . ONA reported directly to the Prime Minister to provide foreign intelligence assessments on political, strategic and economic issues. ONA began operations on 20 February 1978, and assumed

2501-454: The existence of ASIS and its functions on the Commission's recommendation. In a top secret supplement to the report on ASIO Hope stated his suspicion that ASIO had been "penetrated by a hostile intelligence agency" that had succeeded in making the organisation ineffective. He shared the belief of US and UK intelligence agencies that ASIO was fundamentally compromised and that this was part of a global trend or "grand design", possibly referring to

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2562-487: The existence of the UKUSA Agreement was revealed to Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam . After learning about the agreement, Whitlam discovered that Pine Gap , a secret surveillance station close to Alice Springs , Northern Territory , had been operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis , the use and control of Pine Gap by

2623-507: The following operations relating to foreign communications:- — AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO THE APPENDICES TO THE UKUSA AGREEMENT (THIRD EDITION) , page 5 The agreement originated from a ten-page 1943 British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, BRUSA . The UKUSA Agreement connected the signal intercept networks of the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security Agency (NSA) at

2684-502: The government quickly became embroiled in a political scandal known as the 1973 Murphy raids , in which Murphy suddenly demanded entry to the ASIO headquarters in Melbourne and the Canberra office, after the press had been alerted. The government's inability to justify the raids in Parliament and ASIO's own response - leaking documents which contradicted the prime minister's account - "rendered

2745-407: The inner circle: an internal GCHQ document from 2009 said that the "Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany may even wish to join Five Eyes. Referring to Five Eyes, former French President François Hollande has said that his country is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join." According to a former top US official, "Germany joining would be

2806-592: The leak of the FBI's COINTELPRO . In 1998, Hope conducted an interview with the National Library of Australia to be released after his death. In the interview Hope revealed a number of controversial things. According to Hope, the Whitlam government had used Pine Gap to spy on Japanese delegates during 1973 trade negotiations. This was the first of many such instances. By the time of the Second Hope Commission in

2867-478: The leak probably occurred much earlier in April 1973 - that an inquiry was called. The Governor-General commissioned Justice Robert Marsden Hope on 21 August 1974 on the advice of Whitlam and Murphy. The terms of reference were made public by Whitlam in a press release on the same day. The most important part of the terms of reference, as Whitlam argued in 1985, was: In the light of past experience, and having regard to

2928-455: The mechanism for automatic sharing of intelligence that exists between the Five Eyes. Much of the sharing of information is performed via the ultra-sensitive STONEGHOST network, which has been claimed to contain "some of the Western world's most closely guarded secrets". Besides laying down rules for intelligence sharing, the agreement formalized and cemented the " Special Relationship " between

2989-410: The original (PDF) on 29 May 2008 . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . Crown, James (1986). Australia: The Terrorist Connection . Melbourne: Sun Books – The Macmillan Company of Australia. pp. 18–19. 0-725-10508-9. The Commonwealth of Australia (2008). "Significant events in ASIO's history" . The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Website . eDIME Internet Agency. Archived from

3050-688: The original on 13 October 2007 . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . The Commonwealth of Australia (2007). "Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (2007)" (PDF) . ComLaw – Commonwealth of Australia Law Website . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . The Commonwealth of Australia (2006). "ASIO Speeches – 11 September five years later: Where to from here?" . Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Website . eDIME Internet Agency . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . The University of Wollongong (2002). "Robert Hope scholarship launched" . The University of Wollongong Website News Archives . The University of Wollongong News and Media Unit. Archived from

3111-511: The original on 3 September 2007 . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . The University of Sydney (2008). "The University of Sydney Senate Website" . The University of Sydney Website . The University of Sydney . Retrieved 22 April 2008 . UKUSA Agreement The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement ( UKUSA , / j uː k uː ˈ s ɑː / yoo-koo- SAH ) is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between Australia , Canada , New Zealand ,

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3172-487: The reform of the intelligence community both politically untouchable and urgent". In September 1973, Whitlam publicly indicated that an inquiry into ASIO of some kind would be instigated. Labor took the policy of establishing a judicial inquiry to the 1974 election as part of its policy platform. It was not until the controversial leak of the 'Cairns dossier' (ASIO's view of Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns ) in June 1974 - although

3233-412: The security of Australia as a nation, the rights and responsibilities of individual persons and future as well as present needs, to make recommendations on the intelligence and security services which the nation should have available to it and on the way in which the relevant organisations can most efficiently and effectively serve the interest of the Australian people and Government... The second volume of

3294-760: The subsequent actions of the organisation contributed to Labor's long period out of office. One of the first acts of the new Whitlam government was to help US-led efforts in the United Nations General Assembly to combat global terrorism, which had recently gained prominence with the 1972 Munich Olympics and the Croatian nationalist bombings in Sydney. Both Whitlam and Attorney-General Lionel Murphy , emulating President Richard Nixon , stressed that terrorists would be hunted and political violence either to person or property would not be tolerated either inside or outside Australia. During its first term (1972-1974)

3355-491: The time that has been available to me, I have been quite unable to establish the truth or otherwise of many of the particulars of matter alleged in evidence, or raised with ASIO as the result of other inquiries. I have taken the view, however, that my task is to make recommendations for the future rather than to seek to track down the truth or otherwise of past errors or alleged past errors. In his report, Hope asserted that Australia's intelligence agencies were too close to those in

3416-555: Was appointed to the Australian Council for the Arts in 1974 and awarded the honour of Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1977. In 1989 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour. Hope was known as a "university senator and chancellor, a patron and promoter of the performing arts, (and) a civil libertarian". He held

3477-453: Was extended to include Canada (1948), Australia (1956) and New Zealand (1956). In 1955, the agreement was updated to designate Canada, Australia and New Zealand as "UKUSA-collaborating Commonwealth countries". Other countries that joined as "third parties" were Norway (1952), Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955). In the aftermath of the 1973 Murphy raids on the headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO),

3538-399: Was important from a cultural aspect in the sense that it effectively removed security agencies from suppression of civil protest and dissent in Australia. He also recommended the creation of the office of Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security to oversee and hold accountable the various agencies. As if to highlight the need for such a position, only the same year RCASIA was commissioned,

3599-421: Was made the government became embroiled in the Combe-Ivanov affair , which involved an expelled Soviet agent, Valery Ivanov , who had been the First Secretary for the Soviet Embassy . The publicity surrounding the affair saw the Hawke Government commission Hope again to look into intelligence issues. Hope completed the Royal Commission into Australia's Security and Intelligence Agencies (RCASIA) in 1984 and made

3660-406: Was recognized by Time magazine as one of the Cold War 's most important documents, with immense historical significance. The global surveillance disclosure by Edward Snowden has shown that the intelligence-sharing activities between the First World allies of the Cold War are rapidly shifting into the digital realm of the Internet . The parties agree to the exchange of the products of

3721-567: Was survived by his wife, June Hope. In 2002, a park in the Northern Canberra suburb of Watson was named in his honour in recognition of his (unrealised) environmental work. The park is known for its biodiversity. In 2011 the Patent Office Building in Canberra was renamed the Robert Marsden Hope Building in recognition of his achievements. In 1973, Hope was appointed the head commissioner in National Estate Committee of Inquiry (1973–1974). This commission dealt with Australia's cultural heritage, both architectural and environmental. Its findings formed

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