'Outpaced' ASIO was infiltrated by Soviets

Spy agency faced 'incredible growth' in spies in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, book reveals

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has publicly admitted for the first time it was infiltrated by Soviet spies during the Cold War.

The admission in a new historical volume is 27 years in the making since the end of the Cold War spanning 1975 to 1989.

Australian National University senior fellow Doctor John Blaxland and historian Dr Rhys Crawley reveals in the book, The Secret Cold War - The Official History of ASIO, "many" of ASIO's Cold War efforts could have been compromised by the Soviets who penetrated the agency.

“Effectively, ASIO found itself dealing with a grown Soviet presence and a proliferation of Soviet Bloc consulates and diplomatic presences that were so active … it was simply beyond it," Blaxland says.

"They weren't resourced to monitor them all.

"And so we now know that while ASIO was doing what it could, it was in a position where it was simply outpaced."

Blaxland says the agency did not have enough officers and agents to monitor the "incredible growth" in diplomats-cum-spies operating in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and around Australia.

He says ASIO operated to the best of its ability but noted "workarounds" that gave Soviet spies the edge.

Blaxland says while nearly 30 years has elapsed since the end of the Cold War, much of what occurred then is true today, albeit in a modern technology network-centric context.

The book is the third volume and follows The Protest Years and The Spy Catchers by Blaxland and Crawley.

With The Conversation. ®