Australia has taken out 'hive' of spies, security chief says

Australia has busted a "hive" of spies which has been operating successful the state for years, its quality main says.

Mike Burgess did not place immoderate countries down the network, but said the undercover operatives appeared to beryllium "highly trained".

The radical would survey and "potentially seduce" targets including judges, journalists and veterans, helium claimed.

It shows the menace posed by overseas spies is astatine an all-time high, helium added.

While delivering his yearly menace appraisal successful Canberra, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) main outlined a "concerted campaign" to infiltrate the Australian media to signifier reporting and summation accusation connected sources.

A "lackey" planned to connection journalists all-expenses-paid survey tours of a overseas country, helium said, wherever spies with the "home-ground advantage" would question to "identify immoderate vulnerabilities that could beryllium leveraged later".

He besides elaborate thwarted plots from 2 antithetic countries to physically harm Australian residents. The targets were critics of overseas regimes, helium said.

"In 1 case, the quality work started monitoring a quality rights activistic and plotted to lure the people offshore, wherever the idiosyncratic could beryllium - punctuation - 'disposed of'," helium said.

"In another, a lackey was dispatched to find circumstantial dissidents and - punctuation - 'deal with them'."

Mr Burgess said Asio had taken retired the web of spies aft an "intense and sustained" campaign.

"They were bully - but Asio was better... moving with our partners, we removed them. The hive is history," helium said.

But the menace posed by overseas quality has been worsening, Mr Burgess said, peculiarly since Australia signed the AUKUS information statement with the US and the UK.

"Asio is... busier than immoderate clip successful our 74-year history. Busier than the Cold War; busier than 9/11; busier than the tallness of the caliphate."

"From wherever I sit, it looks similar hand-to-hand combat."

Mr Burgess added that it is "critical our allies cognize we tin support our secrets, and support their secrets".