2011 independent review of the intelligence community

• Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

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25 January 2012This is the first comprehensive review of the Australian intelligence community since the 2004 inquiry conducted by Mr Philip Flood AO.

The Flood inquiry recommended that Australia’s intelligence agencies undergo external review every five to seven years.

The full, classified Report was considered by the Government in November and work is underway to implement recommendations from the review.

The review found that Australia’s intelligence agencies are performing well following a period of significant growth to deal with the security challenges of the 9/11 decade.  

Other findings were that:

• Australia and its citizens are safer than they would otherwise have been as a result of intelligence efforts
• Our intelligence capabilities have contributed significantly to the global security effort
• Australia has built intelligence capabilities broadly commensurate with our growing security challenges
• The current basic structure of the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) remains appropriate, including the operational mandate of agencies

The review covered challenges for the Australian intelligence community over the next five years stemming from geo-political and technological change and made recommendations to help maintain the performance of the community in a period of resource constraints.

These recommendations covered areas such as priority setting and mission integration, performance evaluation, support for innovation and strategies for managing intelligence collection in the age of abundant information.