The Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security
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Comprehensive Review of the Legal Framework of the National Intelligence Community Volume 1 of 4: Recommendations and Executive Summary; Foundations and Principles; Control, Coordination and Cooperation December 2019 Volume 1 Copyright Statement © Commonwealth of Australia 2020 ISBN: 978-1-921091-55-1 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-921091-56-8 (Online) With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribution This publication should be attributed as follows: Comprehensive Review of the Legal Framework of the National Intelligence Community by Mr Dennis Richardson AC Use of the Coat of Arms The terms under which the Coat of Arms can be used are detailed on the following website: https://pmc.gov.au/cca Other uses Enquiries regarding this document are welcome at: Attorney-General’s Department 3–5 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600 Telephone: 02 6141 6666 Page 2 Volume 1 Table of contents—Volume 1 Table of contents—Volume 1 Table of contents—all volumes ........................................................................................ 8 Table of recommendations—Volume 1 .......................................................................... 10 Acronyms and abbreviations .......................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1 Foreword ......................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 Methodology ................................................................................................... 23 Government consultation ............................................................................................... 24 Consultation with members of Parliament ...................................................................... 25 Public consultation ......................................................................................................... 26 International consultation ............................................................................................... 27 Preparation of unclassified report ................................................................................... 30 Terms of Reference ........................................................................................................ 30 Chapter 3 Executive summary ........................................................................................ 32 The National Intelligence Community ............................................................................. 32 The NIC legislative framework ....................................................................................... 33 A common legislative framework? .................................................................................. 35 Foundations and principles ............................................................................................ 36 Coordination and cooperation ........................................................................................ 41 Technological change .................................................................................................... 43 Authorisations and immunities ....................................................................................... 51 Oversight and transparency ........................................................................................... 55 Chapter 4 List of recommendations ............................................................................... 60 Chapter 5 Why a Review? ............................................................................................... 86 The legislative framework for the Community has grown ............................................... 89 The world has changed since the Hope Royal Commissions ......................................... 92 Page 3 Table of contents—Volume 1 Volume 1 Impact of technological change ...................................................................................... 94 The national security environment.................................................................................. 96 Machinery of Government .............................................................................................. 97 This Review .................................................................................................................. 102 Chapter 6 Intelligence legislation in Australia ............................................................ 104 Federation and the World Wars.................................................................................... 105 The post-War and early Cold War periods ................................................................... 108 Intelligence legislation .................................................................................................. 112 The 1970s .................................................................................................................... 113 The Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security ................................................... 114 The Protective Security Review ................................................................................... 119 The Royal Commission on Australia’s Security and Intelligence Agencies .................. 121 The post-Hope Era ....................................................................................................... 126 Transparency legislation .............................................................................................. 126 The Intelligence Services Act 2001 .............................................................................. 128 The counter-terrorism response ................................................................................... 130 Legislation and the impact of technological change ..................................................... 139 Enduring national security challenges .......................................................................... 144 Oversight ...................................................................................................................... 146 The NIC: Establishment and coordination .................................................................... 148 Chapter 7 Foundational principles ............................................................................... 153 The place of intelligence in history ............................................................................... 153 The definition of ‘intelligence’: purpose matters ........................................................... 154 The place of security and intelligence agencies in democracies .................................. 156 The evolution of authority for intelligence activities: from the executive to the legislature ..................................................................................................................... 158 The importance of values, principles and propriety ...................................................... 162 Chapter 8 Foreign and security intelligence ............................................................... 167 Current arrangements .................................................................................................. 167 Page 4 Volume 1 Table of contents—Volume 1 Historical and principled reasons for the distinction...................................................... 172 The overlap with the onshore / offshore distinction ...................................................... 176 Stakeholder views ........................................................................................................ 177 International perspective: the approach in comparable democracies ........................... 180 What does the distinction mean in practice? ................................................................ 185 Does the distinction remain relevant? .......................................................................... 195 Chapter 9 Onshore and offshore operations ............................................................... 200 Current arrangements .................................................................................................. 200 Principled reasons for the distinction ............................................................................ 205 The Hope Royal Commissions’ consideration of the distinction ................................... 207 The overlap with the foreign and security intelligence distinction ................................. 209 Views from submissions ............................................................................................... 210 International perspective: the approaches in comparable democracies ....................... 213 What challenges has the onshore / offshore distinction caused in practice? ................ 217 Does the distinction remain relevant? If so, why? ........................................................ 222 Chapter 10 Australian and non-Australian .................................................................. 224 The definition of an ‘Australian’ .................................................................................... 225 Evolution of Australian citizenship ................................................................................ 226 Current arrangements in Australia................................................................................ 227 Historical and principled reasons