The Office of National Intelligence (ONI) is an Australian statutory intelligence agency responsible for advising the Prime Minister and National Security Committee, the production of

all-source intelligence All-source intelligence is a term used to describe intelligence organizations, intelligence analysts, or intelligence products that are based on all available sources of intelligence collection information. History The definition of all-source inte ...

assessments, and the strategic development and enterprise management of the National Intelligence Community. The ONI is directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia as a portfolio agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. ONI is the Australian equivalent of the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the United Kingdom Joint Intelligence Organisation.

History

The origins of ONI stem from recommendations of the

Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

(also known as the First Hope Commission) which was established on 21 August 1974 by Australia's Prime Minister

Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the ...

and led by Justice Robert Hope, for the formation of an independent agency to provide intelligence assessments on political, strategic and economic issues directly to the Prime Minister. The Commission reported in 1977 to the Australian Government led by

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

, and four of its eight reports were tabled in Parliament. The ONA was established under the ''Office of National Assessments Act 1977'', which ensured ONA's statutory independence from government. ONA began operations on 20 February 1978, assuming the Joint Intelligence Organisation's foreign intelligence assessment role. The Joint Intelligence Organisation retained its defence intelligence assessment role until it was restructured as the

Defence Intelligence Organisation The Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) is an Australian government military intelligence agency responsible for strategic intelligence and technical intelligence assessments, advising defence and government decision-making on national se ...

in 1990. The formation of the Office of National Intelligence was announced by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

on the 18 July 2017 in line with recommendations from the 2017 Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community led by

Michael L'Estrange Michael Gerard L'Estrange (born 12 October 1952 in North Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian academic and former public servant. He is the former Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, in Canberra. L ...

and Stephen Merchant. The Office of National Intelligence subsumes the Office of National Assessments with an expanded role in the strategic development and enterprise management of the National Intelligence Community. On the 1 December 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Nick Warner, then Director-General of the

Australian Secret Intelligence Service Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

and former Secretary of the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

, to serve as the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence. ONI was formally stood up on the 20 December 2018.

Role

The recommendations of the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review outline that the Office of National Intelligence would serve as the principal advisory agency to the Prime Minister on intelligence matters with new and expanded responsibilities from the

Office of National Assessments The Office of National Assessments (ONA) was an Australian statutory intelligence agency established by the ''Office of National Assessments Act 1977'' as an independent statutory body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia as ...

including:2017 Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet *convening and chairing the National Intelligence Coordination Committee and a proposed Intelligence Integration Board; *convening a proposed National Intelligence Community Science and Technology Advisory Board, National Intelligence Community Innovation Fund, National Intelligence Community Innovation Hub, and Joint Capability Fund; *producing all-source national assessments and strategic foreign intelligence assessments; *identifying national intelligence priorities in support of government policy-making; *overseeing performance evaluations of the Australian Intelligence Community; *coordinating joint capabilities and shared services across the National Intelligence Community; *developing an Intelligence Capability Investment Plan for the Forward Estimates period; *coordinating international intelligence liaison relationships; and *setting community-wide standards for security, analytic tradecraft and ICT.

References

External links

Office of National Intelligence2017 Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community
{{Australian intelligence agencies Australian intelligence agencies Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Intelligence analysis agencies 2018 establishments in Australia

History

Role

See also

References

External links