Australian National Day Special: “Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland”

Summary

John Blaxland (Twitter, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss intelligence in Australia and Oceania. John is a widely recognized as a leading expert in this area. 

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

-Australia’s Intelligence Community 

-SIGINT in Australia during WWII 

-Australia’s relationship with South Asia

-The Pine Gap facility 

Reflections

-The implications of geography

-The power of collaboration

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

“The shift from the analog to the digital world … The shift for digital espionage, digital footprint management. How do you hide in the noise? How do you cover your identity? How do you protect your identity? … The digital revolution has actually enabled states to exercise a lot more power, a lot more control, a lot more monitoring, a lot more surveillance, a lot more interference.” – John Blaxland.

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*Spotlight Resource*

-Revealing Secrets: An unofficial history of Australian Signals intelligence and the advent of cyber, C. Birgin & J. Blaxland (University of New South Wales Press, 2023)

*SpyCasts*

-SPY CHIEFS: Director-General of Security Mike Burgess - ASIO, Australia & America (2022)

-Keeping Secrets/Disclosing Secrets with Spy Chief turned DG of Australia’s National Archives David Fricker (2022)

-Desperately, Madly in Love – Brett Peppler and the Australian IC (2021)

*Beginner Resources*

-East Timor Independence: a short history of a long and brutal struggle, Guardian Australia, YouTube (2019) [4 min. video]

-Our Agencies, National Intelligence Community of Australia (n.d.) [Overview of each agency in the Australian IC]

-What is signals intelligence?, BAE Systems (n.d.) [Short article]

DEEPER DIVE

Books

-Spies & Sparrows: ASIO & the Cold War, P. Deery (Melbourne University Press, 2022)

-Australia's First Spies: The Remarkable Story of Australia's Intelligence Operations, 1901-45, J. Fahey (Allen & Unwin, 2019)

-The Official History of ASIO – 3 Volumes, D. Horner, J. Blaxland, R. Crawley (Allen & Unwin, 2014/2015/2016)

Primary Sources 

-United Nations Resolution 1272 (1999)

-United Nations Resolution 1264 (1999) 

-Five Power Defence Arrangements (1971) 

-Agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of the United States of America relating to the Establishment of a Joint Defence Space Research Facility (1966) 

-6 Wireless Unit signal sighting of Allied shipping (1945) 

-Role and effectiveness of Signals Intelligence in World War II (1945)

-Four Rotor Enigma Machine, Collection of the International Spy Museum (1943-1944) 

*Wildcard Resource*

-Pine Gap 

A TV show about the top-secret satellite surveillance base of the same name. If you’ve seen it, you know it all about Australian Intelligence. Just kidding. But it’s a good watch! 

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