Australia spy boss warns Russia, China, Iran as espionage threats ‘trying to steal our secrets'
Intelligence boss Mike Burgess used a speech on Thursday night to warn of the mounting threat posed by foreign actors such as Russia and China.
Burgess said 24 major espionage operations had been dismantled since 2022 - more than the previous eight years combined.
'A new iteration of great power competition is driving a relentless hunger for strategic advantage and an insatiable appetite for inside information,' he said.
'Russia remains a persistent and aggressive espionage threat,' added Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
Without providing details, Burgess said a number of Russian spies had been expelled from Australia in recent years.
He also mentioned China and Iran as nations actively trying to pilfer classified information.
He said:
You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets.
Repeating a warning sounded earlier this year, Burgess said foreign actors were targeting Australia's fledgling nuclear-powered submarine programme.
Australia plans to deploy stealthy nuclear-powered submarines in a pact with the United States and Britain known as AUKUS.
'In particular, we are seeing foreign intelligence services taking a very unhealthy interest in AUKUS and its associated capabilities,' said Burgess.
Australian police in 2024 charged a married Russian-born couple with spying for Moscow.
The couple - accused of trying to steal military secrets - had lived in Australia for more than 10 years.
Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Ukraine's domestic security agency detained an air force officer on charges of having spied for Russia by leaking the location of prized F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets, officials said.
The unidentified officer, a flight instructor holding the rank of major, stands accused of helping Russia carry out air strikes by providing coordinates and suggesting strike tactics, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement.
'In particular, the enemy's priority targets were airfields where F-16s, Mirage 2000s and Su-24s were based,' it said.
F-16s are US-made and Mirages are French while the Su-24 is an older, Soviet-manufactured jet bomber.
'The agent collected the coordinates of the location of these aircraft, schedules and ... the order of their departure.'
The SBU also detained two Chinese nationals on suspicion of spying on Ukraine's Neptune anti-ship missile programme, a key part of Kyiv's growing domestic arms industry.
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