7 Dec, 2013
Who is monitoring covert operations of global spy agencies?
Not since the infamous Sheraton Hotel incident in Melbourne 30 years ago, when weapons-brandishing spies bungled a mock hostage rescue exercise, has the Australian Secret Intelligence Service wound up with so much egg on its face.
In that escapade, ASIS trainees broke down a guest-room door with a sledgehammer, terrorised the hotel manager and pulled pistols as they tried to escape.
This week, the embarrassment lay in the exposure of a real-life spying operation, with the clearest evidence yet that ASIS, apparently under political direction, had bugged the East Timorese cabinet room in 2004 to help Canberra arm-twist Dili over offshore gas fields.
ASIO, the domestic spy agency, appeared to confirm the charge with a raid on the home of a former ASIS agent who had allegedly blown the whistle on the bugging operation. It also searched the premises of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, who had been poised to call the former spy in legal action on East Timor’s behalf.
Read the rest: Who is monitoring the covert operations of the world’s spy agencies?.
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