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20 December 2005
- Editorial
- Future priorities of the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department
- Department of Transport and Regional Development
- Clarification on the GovCERT activity
- Clarity on the AFP's role in security at airports
- Implementation of the Wheeler Review
- Expenditure on Airport Security
- Developments in the new offence of leaving luggage unattended
- Developments in the roll out of the Maritime Security Identify Card
- ONA recruitment issues
- Developments in ONA national assessments production .
- ASIO Report to Parliament 2004-2005
Every year the Australian Government's annual reports and the Senate Estimates always provide an interesting insight. This year is no exception. Below are the more informative or interesting extracts from these on various security topics.
The recently tabled annual report for the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department has flag a range of challenges and initiatives for the next year.
Robert Cornall, Department Secretary, noted that a major challenge for the whole Department for next will be the "security demands of the Commonwealth Games and preparations for APEC [which will] necessitate the engagement and training of more staff." Other major security related activities include:
- the implementation and management of the continuity of government plan.
- reviewing and enhancing disaster plans in conjunction with State and Territory colleagues will be a major part of Emergency Management Australia's work in 2005-06.
Below are some of the developments in three Departmental areas flagged for this financial year (2005-06).
- The coming year will see a large number of industry briefings on the terrorist threat being offered to business as ASIO threat assessments are published.
- The CIP Modelling and Analysis (CIPMA) will reach a stage of being able to demonstrate a new capability, for both government and business, to simulate the effect of major shocks on some of our key infrastructure. This will be delivered through a strong partnership with Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO. Collaboration with the US Department of Homeland Security will be ongoing. The CIP Modelling and Analysis (CIPMA) program was initiated in the last 12 months. When fully operational, the CIPMA program will assist decision makers by developing a capability to model, simulate and analyse the primary dependencies and interdependencies between national critical infrastructures and the flow-on consequences of a failure in a particular sector. Priority sectors are communications, banking and finance, and energy. A strong foundation has been laid including the review of comparative overseas capabilities, the compilation of a detailed implementation plan, the establishment of a CIPMA Development Team-which includes Geoscience Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)-and the gathering of user requirements.
- Building on the creation of an Icons and Public Gatherings group within the TISN, the CIP area will be working with the NCTC to develop and distribute guidance for the owners of places of mass gathering, similar to the mechanisms that we have put in place for critical infrastructure. These places by their nature allow the general public easy access and, as a consequence, their security requirements are likely to be quite different from those of most critical infrastructure.
- EMA will be progressing priorities relating to national security and emergency management-namely, mass casualty transport capability and national urban search and rescue capacity.
- The Augmented Australasian Police Ministers' Council (A/APMC) has requested the Remote Indigenous Communities Advisory Committee (RICAC)-of which EMA is a member-to develop a national strategy addressing emergency management in remote Indigenous communities. Work will continue throughout the year on this initiative with high-profile involvement.
- EMA will continue to participate in the development of the Australian tsunami early warning system. Its work focuses on the development of community awareness, community preparedness, establishment of a warning system, development and delivery of education and training for emergency managers and augmentation of communications equipment in the National Emergency Management Coordination Centre in Bruce, ACT
- EMA will coordinate a report on lessons learnt from Australia 's response to the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. In conjunction with AusAID, we will be involved in the Australian-Indonesian Task Force (AITF) to enhance Indonesian emergency management capabilities. AITF will be working directly with BAKORNAS, our counterpart agency in Indonesia .
- EMA expects significant work to flow to EMA from the COAG bushfire inquiry outcome and increased emphasis on improving community awareness of bushfire hazards has highlighted the need for a national approach to bushfire awareness.
In addition to continuing to provide high-level security coordination for high office holders and diplomatic missions, and security planning and coordination in support of major events to be held both in Australia and overseas, PSSS's priorities include:
- continued implementation of strategies arising from the review of protective security arrangements for Australian high office holders and diplomatic and consular missions
- continued security planning and coordination in support of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games
- completion of delivery of the armoured VIP limousines to required standards, setting of requirements for the next generation of protected vehicles, and initiation of procurement action for delivery of the next fleet
- in partnership with a range of Commonwealth, State and Territory security agencies, detailed security planning for the wide range of high-profile APEC 2007 meetings to be hosted throughout Australia commencing in January 2007, and
- training and exercises in all jurisdictions under the National Counter-Terrorism Committee program to prepare for the APEC meetings in 2007.
Other interesting information contained in the annual report include:
- The National Counter-Terrorism Committee (NCTC) has distributed one of their guidelines to 1,800 owners of critical infrastructure which indicates that there are about this number of owners and operators in the nation.
The annual report of DOTARS identified that:
- The Office of Transport Security (OTS) had become the single largest division in DOTARS, with staff numbers more than doubling from 123 at 30 June 2004 to 240 30 June 2005.
- To provide business specific training, the OST started developing a maritime and aviation toolkit for staff. The toolkit, which is now available online, was developed by in-house experts and includes fact sheets and tutorials to ensure all staff are operating from the same knowledge base.
- DOTARS's overseas presence will expand this financial year with three officers to be based in Jakarta , two in Manila and two Pacific liaison officers.
- The hardened cockpit door project involved installing these doors in passenger aircraft with 30 or more seats. As at 30 June 2005, hardened cockpit doors had been installed in 74 aircraft serving regional Australia . The installation of hardened cockpit doors in another eight aircraft was delayed because of global demand for these types of doors and the technical limitations for some aircraft types. Operators of these aircraft have put in place additional security measures, pending installation of the doors in 2005-06.
Clarity on the size of the GovCERT activity has been provided in Senate estimates (31 Oct 2005 - Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee).
The 2004-05 annual report of the Attorney-General's Department stated that Annual Report that "Early in 2005 we created a new team to focus on serious incidents affecting Australia 's national information infrastructure, GovCERT.au. Its major functions are to:
- prepare and test strategies for dealing with a major incident
- develop and/or coordinate government policy for computer emergency response teams (CERTs)
- act as a point of contact and coordination within the Australian Government for foreign governments on CERT-related issues, and
- manage the relationship between the Australian Government and AusCERT (located in the University of Queensland ),"
In Senate estimates, the representative from the Attorney-General's Department stated that "GovCERT is a label for a desk officer within the Critical Infrastructure Protection Branch. . The GovCERT desk, which is an officer from the CIP Branch-in fact it is a seconded officer from the Defence Signals Directorate who is currently carrying out that role".
Clarity on the role the AFP will play in the coordinating and oversighting of security at airports has been provided in Senate Estimates ( 31 Oct 2005 - Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee).
Below is a discussion between Mr Mick Keelty, Commissioner, Australian Federal Police, and Senator Ludwig.
Mr Keelty -Following the government's consideration of the Wheeler review into airport security and policing, and other Commonwealth reviews, we are introducing a unified policing model at each counterterrorism first response airport. That will include: the appointment of an airport police commander, who will provide centralised command and control; the establishment of a dedicated joint airport intelligence group at each airport; maintaining a counter-terrorism first response capability at each airport; introducing a permanent community policing presence at each of the CTFR airports; and the establishment of a joint airport investigation team at five airports, being Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, providing a capability to investigate serious and organised crime.
Senator LUDWIG -I am curious about how that is going to work in practice. Is the commander going to be drawn from the AFP?
Mr Keelty -The commander will be a sworn AFP officer. There was a process to advertise what were called airport controllers prior to the Wheeler review. When Sir John Wheeler commenced his review, we agreed with Sir John to suspend the appointment of those airport controllers. One of the recommendations out of the Wheeler review is to create the position of airport commanders, to give them more of a policing role.
We have established an arrangement whereby airport commanders will be appointed by a selection committee comprising a member of the AFP, a member of the Department of Transport and Regional Services and a member of the jurisdictional police force in which the commander will work. In other words, in New South Wales , for example, there will be a New South Wales police officer on the selection panel. An additional step that I have taken is that I have written to each of the commissioners of police and offered them the opportunity to nominate somebody from within their police force to be an airport commander. What will happen is, once the commanders are appointed through that selection panel process, they will be sworn into the AFP and those commanders will take control over the various agencies that are operating at each of the CTFR airports.
Senator LUDWIG -So they could be drawn from the local-
Mr Keelty -That is correct. They could be drawn from the jurisdictional police. For example, in New South Wales it may well be a New South Wales police officer who is appointed to the position, but they will be sworn in as an AFP officer for the purposes of conducting their duties as the airport police commander.
Senator LUDWIG -Or they could be an AFP officer who is not drawn from the local policing jurisdiction.
Mr Keelty -That is correct.
Senator LUDWIG -What happens when they do not have an operational background in how some of the units might be utilised on the ground? Is there a program for how you are going to train them? For example, they may not be aware of all the standard operating procedures of the local jurisdiction, so, if they need to draw from outside the jurisdiction for assistance to deal with an emerging circumstance, how do they then coordinate bringing those resources to the site?
Mr Keelty -It is envisaged that an induction course or a training program will be introduced, because of not only the issues that you raised, Senator, but also the intricacies of the differences between airports around the various jurisdictions, the various issues concerning the other agencies that are present at each of the airports and also the various zones that operate within the airports. So it is envisaged that induction courses will be put together, remembering too that some of the state and territory police will also need to be exposed to the induction courses, not the least because they now will be dealing with Commonwealth law as opposed to state law.
The OTS has created the new position of General Manager, Aviation Security Task Force. It is filled by Dr Turner who provided secretariat support to Sir John Wheeler. The position involves implementing the Wheeler recommendations as they apply to the department and the work tasks coming out of the government's response to Wheeler and the COAG decisions in September 2005, and also, importantly, undertaking a review of the act and the regulations, one of the recommendations of Wheeler that is now under way. (31 October 05, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee). 31
The following information was provide in Senate estimates (31 October 05, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee).
The funding for each airport's security measures is actually based on the security risk assessment that each airport undertakes individually in the context of their local risk. They are provided with information on the current level of threat and the evolving threat, and they go through a process based on the Australian-New Zealand risk management standard 4360. Through that standard they come up with specifically targeted, local mitigating strategies for the identified needs. That takes into account incidents or events that might have occurred at the airport-they can be everything from trespassing to vandalism and those sorts of things.
Based on their own security risk assessment, they have defined what it is that they need at the airport. I can give you a bit of a summary across the airports in terms of what they are getting. Of the 146 airports that are accessing the funding,
- 115 are making improvements to fencing,
- 106 are doing work on access control measures,
- 33 are installing or improving alarm systems,
- 107 airports have upgraded their lighting,
- 63 will be improving surveillance equipment,
- 45 are making some form of capital works improvement so that it removes blind spots and those sorts of things around the airport, and
- 68 of them have increased signage around the airport as well.
Information on the developments of the new offence of leaving luggage unattended has been provided in Senate Estimates (31 October 05, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee ).
Below is a discussion between Andy Turner, General Manager, Aviation Security Task Force , and Senator O'Brien.
Senator O'BRIEN -As part of the announcement on 8 September relating to enhanced counterterrorism laws, the Prime Minister announced measures to create a new offence relating to leaving luggage unattended within an airport precinct. Was the department consulted on this initiative prior to its announcement?
Dr Turner -We were involved in a process that generated advice to the government, yes.
Senator O'BRIEN -What progress has been made on this announcement being put into practice?
Dr Turner -We are working with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and with Attorney-General's to scope what is required and draft a change to our regulations.
Senator O'BRIEN -Do you know which piece of legislation the offence will be written into?
Dr Turner -It will be an amendment to the aviation transport security regulations.
Senator O'BRIEN -Do you know what will constitute unattended baggage?
Dr Turner -That is the nature of the discussion that is going on at the moment. My expectation is that it will be goods, for want of a better definition, in the keeping of the passengers prior to going into the sterile area. But that is a discussion that is going on between ourselves and other government departments and is not yet concluded.
CHAIR -It would not just be old bags, would it? Do not answer that.
Dr Turner -The discussion which generated all this is a concern on the part of law enforcement officers about their lack of power to do something with people who leave bags unattended.
Senator O'BRIEN -Do you know what will constitute an airport precinct?
Dr Turner -As I say, that is part of the discussion as well, but my expectation is that that will probably extend from the drop off area at the front of the terminal to the entering of the sterile area. But again that is part of the multiagency discussions going on at the moment prior to us concluding the drafting of an amended regulation-or a new regulation in this case.
Senator O'BRIEN -What is intended with children's luggage or baggage? Is there going to be some
special cut off point at which the legislation will apply? Will a 12-year-old child leaving their backpack inadvertently somewhere be guilty of an offence-or will their parents?
Dr Turner -As I said, that is all work in progress at the moment, but I am not anticipating that we will be recommending to the government that they prosecute 12-year-olds, no.
Senator O'BRIEN -Will you be recommending that their parents be prosecuted, if they are under their control?
Dr Turner -That is part of the issue being discussed about who has responsibility in these circumstances and how to draft a regulation in this circumstance.
Information on the roll out of the Maritime Security Identify Card has been provided in Senate Estimates (31 October 05, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee).
Below is a discussion between John Kilner Acting, Executive Director, Office of Transport Security , and Senator O'Brien.
Senator O'BRIEN -To go to maritime security, what is the status of the roll-out of the MSIC?
Mr Kilner -The first pilot for the maritime security identity card will be held in Melbourne . At this stage, we are hoping that the pilot will commence towards the end of November with the establishment of a background checking unit in Melbourne to undertake that work working with the Port of Melbourne .
Senator O'BRIEN -So it is a couple of months behind schedule.
Mr Kilner -Yes. We expected it to commence on 1 October, but it will now commence towards the end of November.
Senator O'BRIEN -Are there difficulties?
Mr Kilner -No real difficulties. We have undertaken some further consultation to make sure that we can get the processes done as efficiently as possible. Those consultations and the work with establishing the form of the identity card have meant that it has now been delayed until about 24 November.
Senator O'BRIEN -Has the process of the Port of Melbourne becoming an issuing body completed?
Mr Kilner -Yes, I believe it is.
Senator O'BRIEN -When was that completed?
Mr Kilner -My understanding is that the plan was approved about two weeks ago.
CHAIR -Is the working group that put all that together still intact?
Mr Kilner -Yes, it is. The working group will stay in existence right through the roll-out period. The objective of the trial in Melbourne is to test our processes, go back and revisit those processes after the trial, consult with the working group and then move from there to the rest of the roll-out.
Senator O'BRIEN -Is there an understanding of the cost per card for the system?
Mr Kilner -I think it is about $150. I do not think there has been any change since the Senate inquiry into that.
Senator O'BRIEN -How many organisations have applied to become issuing bodies for MSICs?
Mr Kilner -Twenty-nine at this stage.
Senator O'BRIEN -Are they all approved?
Mr Kilner -No, a range of them is still going through the assessment process.
Senator O'BRIEN -Is 29 roughly the number you expect to become issuing bodies once the roll-out is complete?
Mr Kilner -I would expect more than that. What we are doing of course is a geographic roll-out. So obviously for some of these issuing bodies we will get applications closer to the time.
Senator O'BRIEN -What communication materials have been supplied to Melbourne port for distribution to people who would be required to apply for cards?
Mr Kilner -There is a communications campaign around the issue of the identity cards. I know that we have produced brochures, posters and other material to help support that. If you will just bear with me, I will see how much of that has actually been given out. We issued the brochures to the Port of Melbourne last week, so those brochures are now available for the port.
Senator O'BRIEN -So they have got a bulk supply of all those things.
Mr Kilner -A bulk supply. There are other communications materials that will also help support the rollout of those cards in Melbourne .
Senator O'BRIEN -On 26 August the Australian newspaper reported comments made by Minister Truss and 'a senior government official' as saying that 20 per cent of the maritime work force would be affected through the issuing of MSICs. Did the department provide Minister Truss with those figures?
Mr Kilner -The 20 per cent figure?
Senator O'BRIEN -Yes.
Mr Kilner -I cannot recall whether or not we provided him with a particular number. I am not really aware at this stage of the level of criminality which I think that article refers to. We will really have a much better handle on that after we have undertaken the trial. You do not know what you do not know in that particular instance. So if by 'affected' it means that we have then got to undertake a process because they have come back with a positive criminal history it could be 20 per cent. We really do not know. We will not know until after the trial.
Senator O'BRIEN -If you do not know, you could not have told him that, could you.
Mr Kilner -I would have to check and see what advice we provided.
Senator O'BRIEN -There are likely to be more than 100,000 MSICs applied for, and the suggestion is that there will be 20,000 people who will require significant checking or be automatically excluded. You have no basis for that figure?
Mr Kilner -I think that is as good a guess as anybody else's guess in that regard. That is what one might predict to be the level of criminality, but that could range from a quite minor offence right through to the more serious offences, and that is the great unknown.
Senator O'BRIEN -What recruitment process and training has been put in place to ensure that departmental staff tasked with assessing amber-light applications are able to make sound decisions?
Mr Kilner -Assessing?
Senator O'BRIEN -Amber-light applications, if I can put it that way-those who are not excluded but who are subject to consideration as to whether they will be included.
Mr Kilner -Working with Attorney-General's and others, we have put in place a process for undertaking the testing and assessment of a positive result coming out of identity checking. We are establishing a team of people in Melbourne who are drawn from the Office of Transport Security, which heads the organisation. In regard to others who will be employed in the process, we are establishing arrangements to bring non-ongoing staff into the Melbourne office to undertake the trial and then the roll-out. Part of that process will be the training of that staff in, more broadly, the act and regulations and then, more specifically, the sorts of processes they will have to undertake in regard to the background checking.
Senator O'BRIEN -What financial assistance is being provided to the maritime industry to assist in the roll-out and ongoing management of the MSIC regime?
Mr Kilner -No financial assistance has been provided.
Senator O'BRIEN -I understand that MSICs will include a tamper-evident feature to reduce the risk of forgery. What technology is being used for the tamper-evident feature?
Mr Kilner -My understanding is that there are two tamper-evident features built into the card. One is a feature similar to that in the aviation security identity card, which is-I will hold it up-a kinegram. A similar kinegram will be used for the maritime security identity card. Over the top of that, there is another overlay to secure the card.
Senator O'BRIEN -Some sort of-
Mr Kilner -Protective overlay.
Information on the roll out of the Maritime Security Identify Card has been provided in Senate Estimates (31 October 05, Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee).
Office of National Assessment is doubling the size of their agency from 75 to about 150. Mr Peter Varghese, Director-General, ONA, stated that:
I would expect that recruitment to be completed by the middle of next year, so it would be under 18 months to do that. Up to now we have been tracking very well. We are currently at 116. There are another 22 in the pipeline-that is, selections have been made, but we have, as you would appreciate, a very lengthy security clearance process. I am reasonably confident that by the middle of next year we will have completed our expansion.
We are recruiting from inside the government, from policy agencies, which has been a traditional recruitment pool for us. We are also recruiting from academia.
We are also beginning to recruit from the private sector, which is relatively new for ONA. We would probably be looking at closer to an 80-20 split [between those recruitments from within government agencies and from elsewhere].
We do prefer to recruit subject specialists, so we do not have, for instance, a graduate recruitment program-with the exception of one initiative that we are taking, which is to introduce a new cadre of research officers in ONA. They will be drawn largely from new graduates. But when we are recruiting our analysts we prefer to recruit people who already have substantial experience in their field. We do have a very high number of PhDs. We have 18 doctorates at the moment in the organisation. We have a similar number, 18, with master's degrees.
The one area in which we have had some difficulties is in recruiting officers with specialist Indonesian language skills. With that exception, we have had very little difficulty in filling our subject expertise.
Information on the ONA national assessments production has been provided in Senate Estimates (31 October 05, Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee).
Below is a discussion between Peter Varghese, Director-General, ONA and Senator Trood.
Senator TROOD -Mr Flood [author of the 2005 report into the Australian Intelligence Agency] was not entirely complimentary about the work you had done in relation to national assessments. He recorded the numbers. I do not recall them precisely, but they were very low-they were in single digits and in perhaps one or two years you did not even score one national assessment. Could you
inform us about the progress you have made in trying to recover the strength that he believes that you should have in that area?
Mr Varghese -This is something that we have been putting quite a bit of effort into, because-as you point out-Mr Flood commented on the very low number of national assessments that had been done over the last several years. I can report to you that in 2003-04, which is pre-Flood, if I could put it that way, there were three national assessments done. In the financial year ending last June-so in the first significant period after the Flood report-we have lifted that three to 10. My hope would be that we could run national assessments at around 12 or so a year. They are time-consuming papers to write and they require quite an extensive process of consultation, but we certainly accept the judgment that Mr Flood made, which was that focusing on more long-term issues in the way that national assessments can do is something which the office should be doing more of. I am very committed to meeting that objective. We have made very substantial process in going from three to 10. I hope we can continue to increase that level and then keep it sustained for a period. One of the benefits of expansion is that we may have the wherewithal to do that.
The following are some highlights from the ASIO Annual Report.
- "We must expect that Australia and its interests here and around the world will continue to be at threat from terrorist attacks, not only against diplomatic missions but also against a range of soft targets and critical infrastructure."
- "Some infrastructure is classed as 'nationally vital', while other assets, of less national significance, are nonetheless vital to the jurisdictions in which they are located. Appendix B shows the definitions used in determining the level of criticality of each asset.
The report provides the following definitions for critical infrastructure and nationally vital assets:
Vital : Alternative services and/or facilities cannot be provided by States or Territories or nationally. Loss or compromise will result in abandonment or long-term cessation of the asset.
Major : If services and/or facilities are severely disrupted, major restrictions will apply and the service/facility will require national assistance.
Significant : Services and/or facilities will be available but with some restrictions and/or responsiveness and/or capacity compared to normal operation. The service may be provided within the State or Territory but reliance may also be placed on other States or Territories.
Low : Services and/or facilities can be provided within State, Territory or nationally with no loss of functionality.
National criticality categories identified in the report are:
- Sectors
- Food
- Health
- Energy
- Utilities
- Transport
- Manufacturing
- Communications
- Banking & Finance
- Government Services
- Icons and Public Gatherings
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