Spy agency head David Irvine says an estimated 60 Australian jihadists back in Australia ‘We have some tens of people who have already returned’ ASIO has warned that a number of Australians known to have recently been in Syria - and potentially fighting with terror linked jihadists - had already returned home and were now among the community. The head of the country’s leading spy agency David Irvine made the alarming revelation today, warning of a heightened risk of domestic terrorism. “We are working of in the basis that probably about 60 Australians in Syria fighting with one side or the other, predominantly on the anti-government side and an alarming number of those people , in fact the majority we are concerned about are gravitating toward the al Qaeda offshoots…(ISIL),” Mr Irvine said. “We have some tens of people who have already returned. “We have some tens of people who have already returned. “We probably have another 150 we are looking at here in Australia who have an inclination to support those two extremist group.” Mr Irvine appeared at a press conference with the attorney general George Brandis today in Canberra ahead of the introduction to Parliament of the most significant boost to the powers of ASIO. “Unfortunately it is a fact of life in Australia that there are number of people, admittedly a small number of people but nevertheless a significant number of people who subscribe to the theories of violent jihad and who could at any time could be prompted to carry out an attack in Australia or overseas,” he said in a rare public appearance for the ASIO director general. “Our job is try to and predict that and prevent that.” “HIGH RISK OF BALI-STYLE ATTACK IN AUSTRALIA” Mr Irvine said the bill containing the new powers, to be introduced this afternoon would give ASIO the powers it needed to do that. He said that critical to the new laws would be the ability for ASIO to now direct the foreign spy agency ASIS to collect intelligence on Australians overseas – which until new they had been prevented from doing without special ministerial direction. For the first time ASIO will also be given new cyber surveillance powers including the legal protection to disrupt digital networks, social media accounts and access “third party” computers in hunting down suspected terrorists.The introduction of reforms to ASIO powers, first revealed by The Daily Telegraph last month, will cover 22 of 41 recommendations from a bipartisan report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security tabled last year calling for urgent action to give spy agencies the capabilities they needed to keep ahead of sophisticated terror cells. Mr Brandis said that the ASIO act from 1979 was drafted before the internet age and was largely now obsolete. He said the government would also reverse its decision to abolish the National Security Legislation Monitor to ensure oversight of the new laws. The Government has yet to tackle the controversial measures being asked for by the intelligence agencies – mandatory data retention for telecommunications companies and internet service providers. Mr Brandis said, however, that the government was now considering them. A senior member of the JPCIS, Labor MP Anthony Byrne, warned on Monday in a speech to parliament, that a terrorist attack on our soil was inevitable and that the spy agencies needed to be given the tools they were demanding to protect Australians. Labor has signalled it was likely to support the boost to national security but has raised concerns over the abolition of the independent National Security legislation Monitor, claiming the Government had removed an important oversight protection. dailytelegraph.au/news/nsw/homegrown-jihadists-already-back-in-australia-and-in-community/story-fni0cx12-1226991086896
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 18:30:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015