In short:
Australia’s domestic spy chief says three to four countries have been caught actively seeking to interfere in diaspora communities.
Mike Burgess said Australians would be shocked that those seeking to interfere were nations considered friends.
What’s next:
- He has warned that he would be willing to call out nations publicly if the threat persists.
Unless these implied nations include New Zealand, Canada or similarly laid back countries, I seriously doubt I’d be shocked.
Ahhh the good old fuck around and find out warning.
“three to four” countries… Who’s the fractional country having a crack?
The actual quote in the article, which the summary didn’t do a great job with:
“I can think of at least three or four that we have actually actively found involved in foreign interference in Australian diaspora communities,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.
Belarus.
Hadn’t they already called out China and India? Or was that just the media or us guessing who they were talking about?
As I recall, ASIO/Burgess didn’t specifically name India on that occasion. He had made comments about a successful ASIO operation that removed spies from the country, and it was only later that unnamed sources confirmed those spies to be from India. Burgess implied on Insiders yesterday that it’s not helpful when government figures specifically call out countries like was done recently with Iran, and that his preferred method is to avoid releasing those details where possible.
The USA?
Israel, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia would be my bets based on the article. All theoretical strategic allies currently going after dissidents. Most of the incidents seem to revolve around trying to harm critics of local regimes, thus the “diaspora” bit.
I might question whether non aboriginal Australians can have a diaspora, already being a British diaspora, but whatever, not the point.
