Australia’s spy boss has taken the stand in the royal commission, saying the agency had pivoted toward espionage and foreign interference before the attack on Bondi Beach.
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess AM said the agency had previously been devoted to identifying and countering violent extremism following the rise of Islamic State.
ASIO boss Mike Burgess AM at the royal commission on Monday.
“(But) when the caliphate was defeated, that shrunk considerably,” Burgess said.
Burgess said ASIO had been “pivoting” toward countering foreign powers trying to silence diasporas, spying or trying to shape political life in Australia in recent years.
“Every rock we lifted up, we found espionage or foreign interference,” Burgess said.
But, Burgess said, he believed there was no counter-terror information that went without investigation.