MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian spy agency boss told an inquiry on Monday he had pivoted resources away from counterterrorism to espionage and foreign interference investigations a few years before two gunmen massacred 15 people at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration.
Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency known as ASIO, was testifying at a wide-ranging government
inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the attack at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14.
ASIO reduced Australia’s National Terrorism Threat Level from “probable” to “possible” — the second-safest level on a five-tier scale -- in November 2022, after the Islamic State group in the Middle East had been defeated and was no longer recruiting fighters.
ASIO then shifted to increase its focus on foreign interference and espionage investigations, but did leave the organization’s “counterterrorism mission” with not enough resources, Burgess said.
“Because terrorism has the potential to cause people to lose their lives or get harmed, it always remained a priority for us. There was just less activity that we were investigating because the nature of the environment had changed and the number of tasks we were looking at had reduced,” Burgess said.
“At the same time, every rock we lifted up we found espionage or foreign interference that needed to be inquired and investigated and so resources were moved over there,” Burgess added.
Five days after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Burgess said he took an unprecedented step for an ASIO boss by making a public statement warning that inflamed language could lead to violence.
“Before the Israeli government responded to that horrific attack, we saw the strong emotions appear in this country where we had people celebrating the Hamas terrorist attack,” Burgess said.
ASIO saw threatening and intimidating behavior directed at Jewish Australians through the end of 2023, particularly in the eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, Burgess said. That behavior escalated to target Jewish businesses and places of worship in October 2024, he said.
ASIO elevated Australia’s terrorism threat level again to “probable” in August 2024.
Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the highest form of inquiry in Australia, must report to the government before the first anniversary of what was the nation’s worst mass shooting since 1996.
The father and son gunmen, Sajid and Naveed Akram, were inspired by IS and brought handmade IS flags to Bondi, prosecutors allege.
Both were wounded in a gunfight with police, the father fatally, less than eight minutes after the shooting began. The son has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder. He has entered no pleas.
Richard Lancaster, who leads a team of lawyers in his role as the Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission, said only four police officers were at the event when the gunmen opened fire on a crowd of around 1,000 people.
Within 29 seconds of the start of the shooting, 10 people had been fatally shot and an 11th had been wounded, Lancaster said.
Within five minutes, 11 police officers were at the scene. Three of those officers were wounded, he said.
A Jewish security organization, the Community Security Group, had requested the New South Wales Police Force post officers at the beachfront park for the duration of the Hanukkah event, Lancaster said. Instead, officers were instructed to attend from time to time.
Police gave the Hanukkah celebration the lowest security priority on a three-tier scale, with police resources managed by a local commander, Lancaster said.
Jewish High Holy Days in September and October were top-tier events in which police resources were managed by the specialized Police Force Major Events Group in liaison with the paramilitary Police Force Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command.
“There is no evidence that any intelligence agency or law enforcement agency had any actual knowledge or specific information to suggest there might be an armed attack on the Hanukkah celebration,” Lancaster said.
“In that sense, it was a surprise attack,” he added.
