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September 10th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda <!–
Australia’s top spy says Australia still needs to be vigilant 10 years after the September 11 attacks and in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death. ASIO director general David Irvine says ASIO’s workload is heavier than 10 years ago, justifying the expansion of the organisation’s size and powers.
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ELIZABETH JACKSON: Back home and the head of ASIO, Australia’s Security and Intelligence Organisation, says he’s investigating more potential terror threats in Australia now, than ever before.
In his first broadcast interview, the ASIO director general, David Irvine has told ABC News 24 he’s even concerned that a Norway-style shooting rampage could happen in Australia.
From Canberra, Andrew Greene reports.
ANDREW GREENE: Ten years ago David Irvine was Australia’s ambassador to China. He learnt of the devastating terror strikes while on the Yangtze River. Today he’s charged with keeping an eye on potential terror threats to Australia.
DAVID IRVINE: I don’t think we can be complacent and I don’t think now, 10 years later, following the death of Bin Laden and so on, I don’t think now is yet the time to relax our vigilance.
Currently ASIO has quite a large number of investigations going on into Australians, mostly Australians, who are toying with the ideology of extremism and could at any point tip over into extremist acts.
ANDREW GREENE: In fact the ASIO boss says his spy agency is investigating more potential threats than ever before.
DAVID IRVINE: We do have a very small number of people in our midst whose intentions are not necessarily all that benign. And it is important that for the safety of Australians and the security of the country that we continue to monitor and to conduct intelligence activities that will seek to thwart that threat.
ANDREW GREENE: And David Irvine doesn’t believe the killing of Osama bin Laden has reduced the threat level.
DAVID IRVINE: His death does symbolise a further step in the weakening of the ability of Al Qaeda from the Pakistan-Afghanistan area to control events. But the threat hasn’t diminished because what we’ve seen is that the Al Qaeda ideology and objectives have been taken up by other groups or associated groups around the world.
ANDREW GREENE: ASIO’s director general also warns the recent deadly shooting spree in Norway, demonstrates why authorities aren’t just concerned about the threat of Islamic extremists.
DAVID IRVINE: We’re working on a whole series of potential threats that we’re watching, in our business we simply call them investigations of people or groups we’re looking at.
ANDREW GREENE: Over the past decade ASIO has seen extraordinary growth. The organisation has trebled in size and now enjoys unprecedented powers.
DAVID IRVINE: I certainly believe it’s justified. And if you were to ask me what had been the most significant changes in ASIO in the last 10 years I would say that dealing with the terrorist problem has required us to take on new resources for a start, use new techniques, use new technology, our legislation has had to have been adjusted to enable us to manage this, at the time, quite different phenomenon; different to anything we faced in the past.
ANDREW GREENE: It’s not only violent threats they’re keeping an eye on, ASIO itself has been stung by the emergence of the WikiLeaks organisation.
DAVID IRVINE: It can certainly complicate the work of ASIO and other agencies. We are very keen to ensure that our sources are protected and the identity of the people who work for ASIO, given the nature of their work and the way they have to conduct their work is kept confidential. And so yes it is not a comforting thing to see this sort of information out there in that quantity in public.
There is also another issue and that is that where the names of people who might be innocent are put out there; that’s doing them a disservice as well.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: And that’s ASIO director general David Irvine speaking there to reporter Andrew Greene.
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