Adapting Australian intelligence to the information age
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Executive Summary
Australia’s intelligence institutions were created during the Cold War to obtain, protect, assess and disseminate secrets. After the Cold War, the digital revolution accelerated, creating an abundance of unclassified national security information. The information revolution is also creating a more complex information ecosystem, in which information cannot be neatly categorised as public or secret.
Australia must adapt its National Intelligence Community (NIC) to this new era. Following the lead of the United States, recent intelligence reforms have sought to overcome bureaucratic silos and improve integration. Although these reforms have targeted the counterproductive culture of secrecy, this culture remains a continuing obstacle to reform.
To create a more flexible NIC, Australia should redefine intelligence and its role. Intelligence is information that is useful for national security, regardless of its source. To rebalance the NIC’s approach to open-source intelligence (OSINT), a dedicated OSINT organisation should be created. Because OSINT does not require secrecy, this reform would also disrupt the culture of secrecy. Done right, it would increase flexibility and adaptability across the NIC.
The Office of National Intelligence (ONI) should be charged with optimising the relationship between OSINT and secret intelligence. ONI should encourage synergies and complementarity so that OSINT improves the quality of secret intelligence, and vice versa. But ONI should also facilitate healthy competition. Comparisons between the utility of OSINT and secret intelligence will be difficult but necessary as Australia shapes its future intelligence effort.
Key points
- The digital information revolution is the most significant development in the history of intelligence, at least since the Second World War.
- To adapt, Australia’s National Intelligence Community (NIC) must rebalance its work in favour of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
- Done right, this reform would result in a more flexible NIC producing intelligence – sourced both openly and secretly – that is more useful for the government.
Policy recommendations
- Clearly define intelligence as information that is useful for national security, regardless of its classification.
- Establish a dedicated OSINT agency as part of the NIC.
- Empower the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) to optimise the interaction between OSINT and secret intelligence.
About the series
NSC’s Occasional Papers comprise peer-reviewed research and analysis concerning national security issues at the forefront of academic and policy inquiry. They are designed to stimulate public discourse and inform policy solutions. The author thanks the many colleagues consulted for this project but remains solely responsible for the views expressed and any errors contained therein.
