On May 16, 2023 I wrote ASIO and AUKUS Submarine Security - Further Comments.
Now Sarah Basford Canales for the Canberra Times, has written an excellent article dated June 15, 2023. Much of the podcast in it below is interesting:
"ASIO boss Mike Burgess
reveals foreign spies seeking to disrupt AUKUS, hunt for secrets"
Updated June
15 2023 -
Foreign spies are looking to get their hands on
information relating to Australia's most secretive projects, including the
AUKUS program, top spies have revealed.
The director-generals [DGs] of ASIO and the Office of National Intelligence, Mike Burgess and Andrew Shearer, have revealed efforts are already under way by adversaries to disrupt the trilateral technology-sharing deal between Australia, the US and the UK through disinformation and manipulation of opinion.
"This is happening. It's real," Mr Shearer
said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the
decades-long nuclear-powered submarine program in March, alongside US President
Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The estimated $368 billion program will allow Australia to become just the seventh country to have access to nuclear-powered propulsion technology after the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and India.
Speaking on [an ANU] National Security College podcast released [June 15, 2023], the two heads said the role of intelligence
agencies was to thwart efforts seeking to undermine the deal.
Mr Burgess said ASIO had been originally formed [in 1949] in response to US and UK intelligence reports informing Australia it had been "penetrated with Soviet spies" and could not be trusted with secrets.
"Seventy-four years later, our allies, our mates, are sharing with us some of their most sensitive technology," he said.
"They trust us to protect those secrets. We know
that to be true and as Andrew [Shearer] said, people are already coming after
those [AUKUS] secrets and looking to interfere with this."
Mr Shearer, a former national security adviser to
Tony Abbott, said it was the second pillar of AUKUS in particular that needed
to be well-guarded.
Pillar two aims to give the three nations a
technological edge to counter China.
"Another area where intelligence is working incredibly hard in concert with Defence and the wider government team [is] to make sure that we maximise the benefits of the partnership," Mr Shearer said.
"And that obviously involves a whole lot of opportunities around the nuclear-powered submarine program but it also involves the new technologies that are being developed under pillar two of AUKUS, which goes to areas like hypersonics, quantum applications, sensing robotics, and so forth, just incredible opportunities for us."
The ASIO head said Australia's open justice system
and transparency could sometimes mean the agencies were at a disadvantage from
adversaries seeking to "have a crack".
But Mr Burgess said his decision to take some of
ASIO's work out from the shadows would make the country more secure.
"There's no point having this stuff if we're
just putting it in a filing cabinet for government to read," he said.
"The reason why I started the threat assessment
is I think I have to explain to the people of Australia the threats we face.
"There's no point just having a view of it and, of course, we could just have a view and take our own action and do all that quietly.
"But I think it's important, not to alarm them, but just to help them understand the world in which we live."
2 comments:
Here is the post Pete,
The Indian Naval establishment has sort of crossed a milestone in its N-Sub program with the Arihant entering into its first refuel and overhaul/maintenance cycle in 11/2022. The 83 MWth/11.9 MWe 16,000 shp capable CLWR-B1 reactor will get refueled with min. 30% HEU (13 fuel assemblies with 348 pins each. Lobner says it is 30% enriched U-235 and not 40% as is mentioned in other sources.
This 2 year program would give IN first hand experience with nuclear fuel reloads and spent fuel extraction and processing. See the below link.
https://twitter.com/detresfa_/status/1612808236469727233
This is a critical experience as the operational expertise now extends to maintaining and refueling N-subs locally.
There are a number of things that can be learned by visual inspection. The Indian learning from studying the Kilo SSK is clearly visible in the forward arrangement of the submarine - resembles an enlarged kilo (not to mention the Russian 'show me' based learnings too).
the screw based propeller is also visible. The missile silo section is covered....I hope them silos are being swapped out for the K-4 from the current K-15 (K-4 is apparently in production phase).
Thanks very much Ghalib
I'll use your 6/20/2023 8:25 PM info in a post on "Indian Arihant-class SSBN Progress" on Thursday, June 22, 2023.
The reason for the slight delay is the massive international interest in the fate of the Titan deep sea submersible with the need for me to keep abreast of it.
Regards Pete
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