A regrettable necessity: the future of Australian covert action
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Executive Summary
“The world is experiencing more than just a realignment in power. The global rules-based order is being manipulated and subverted. The future will likely be less advantageous to Australia than that we once knew.” Paul Symon, Director-General of ASIS, Lowy Institute, May 2022
Covert action is the most unexamined component of Australia’s international statecraft, not least because alongside espionage it is part of the highly classified work of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). Today Australia faces the most important strategic inflection point in its approach to covert action since ASIS was first created, 70 years ago. As a result, new studies, debates, and policies concerning Australia’s use of covert action are urgently required, including to help navigate the difficult ethical and strategic challenges presented by covert action. This paper provides a resource to understand Australia’s approach to covert action, how it needs to change, and what policy measures could achieve this evolution. It foreshadows some of the ethical and strategic challenges covert action presents.
Structure
The paper provides a resource to understand Australia’s approach to covert action historically, how it needs to change, and what policy measures could achieve this evolution. It comprises three parts:
- Part One leverages recently declassified material to provide the most comprehensive explanation of Australia’s approach to covert action yet published. It also outlines the strengths and limitations of covert action as a tool of Australian power, with insights from recent British and American scholarship.
- Part Two reflects on Australia’s approach to covert action in light of the great power competition defining Australia’s future strategic environment.
- Part Three provides policy options for bolstering Australia’s relevant capability and instituting an approach to using covert action that is coherent with the government’s wider international objectives.
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.
