To maximise the protection of personnel, physical assets, official information and premises of the Department in Australia and of all overseas missions in a cost effective and efficient manner;
to safeguard the integrity and security of the Australian communications network, residences, offices and information against hostile or unauthorised attempts to gain access to classified or official information through a program for developing expertise, regular inspections, testing and advice; and
to advise management on preventive measures and new counter measures and technology to reduce security risks in a cost effective and efficient manner.
The Department is responsible for all aspects of physical, technical and personal security in the Department itself, at missions overseas and, in consultation as appropriate, for security policy affecting Australian missions.
The focus of attention continues to be on the protection of office and residential accommodation of staff serving overseas, as well as on safeguarding the integrity and security of the Government’s international communications network and classified information.
The branch’s performance is measured by its responsiveness to changing security needs both on a regular and crisis basis, and by its success in working within its budget to reduce and eliminate breaches, as far as practicable.
These responsibilities are discharged by Corporate Security Branch comprising a Security Operations Section and the Australian Technical Security Service (ATS), augmented mid-way through the year by the establishment of a discrete Security Policy Section.
Branch efforts were focused to a large degree on the security-related challenges posed by the end of the Cold War and the diffusion of the hostile intelligence threat, and by developments in technology, much of it computer driven. The demand for an effective security response to these management and technological challenges led the branch to initiate a revised security awareness campaign and a range of policy reviews. These include a review of the methods of determining the intelligence threat to missions overseas; the introduction of a sensitive material classification regime to supplement existing national security classifications; rules to allow more flexible use of locally engaged staff at overseas missions; and rules for computer security. New briefing procedures were introduced to help Australian staff and their families posted or considering a posting overseas to gain a better appreciation of the personal security environment in the country of posting, against a background where incidents that threatened or were considered likely to threaten Australian staff and their dependants increased, from 340 to 376, over the previous year.
In the light of a changed and uncertain global security environment, special attention was given to raising, by means of staff circulars and other security reminders, standards of security awareness and compliance both at overseas missions and in the Department’s offices in Australia. Considerable advances were made in security training. A management consultant, Price Waterhouse Urwick, was engaged to work with branch officers in developing and refining a training program that has been very well received by target groups in Canberra. Programs specifically for use overseas are expected to be ready early in the new financial year. The branch resumed responsibility in Canberra for the oversight of contingency planning at overseas posts.
The branch operated on a budget of $7.064 million (compared with $8.174 million the previous year), funded under the Overseas Protective Security Program, and $1.17 million under the Communications and Technical Security Program. Guarding services overseas absorbed about one third of the total overseas protective security budget. Major security planning services were directed to a new chancery nearing completion in Suva, and on new chancery premises in Budapest, Teheran, Hanoi and Port Moresby. Officers of ATS maintained a program of visits to overseas posts, either to conduct investigations in response to special concerns at the posts, or as part of the technical security input to building or other works programs. The branch was also involved in security aspects of the installation of the Department’s new secure communications network (ADCNET) and in the construction of the Foreign Affairs and Trade offices.
Despite the processing of 740 new and renewed security clearances, a backlog of clearance reviews remains.
The number of reported unauthorised disclosures of official information continued to decline. Eight separate cases relating to the Department’s work were followed up to the stage of a preliminary investigation. Only two of these cases were based on documents that had a national security classification. There was one case of an alleged unauthorised disclosure of sensitive material. The rest related to unclassified documents. None of the investigations was successful in identifying the source of the disclosures.
Achievement of the sub-program’s objectives was assessed against the following criteria:
Maintenance of efficient and effective security;
Operation within budget;
Responsiveness to crises and change;
Coordination with the ADCNET team
The Foreign Affairs and Trade office at York Park will be the permanent location of the Department. On completion of the building in 1996, major elements of the Department currently occupying other accommodation will be brought together. The Canberra office of Austrade will also be located in the building.
The project is being developed by Australian Estate Management (AEM), which has appointed Australian Construction Services (ACS) to undertake the design documentation of the building and the management, administration, and superintendence of the construction stages of the project. Project Coordination (Australia) Pty Ltd was appointed by AEM to direct the project and to coordinate input from and communications among the stakeholders in the project-AEM, ACS, DFAT, Austrade, the National Capital Planning Authority (NCPA)-and other authorities with an interest in the project.
Lester Firth Associates was appointed by AEM, on behalf of the Department, to provide architectural documentation for the tenancy fit-out works for incorporation in Stage 2 of the project. The Department engaged Daryl Jackson Alastair Swayn as a consultant to assist in the development of user briefs and technical specifications, and to evaluate the design and documentation of the building and tenancy works.
Stage 1 of the project which relates to the building structure, facade and roofing was awarded to Concrete Constructions (ACT) Pty Ltd in March 1993. As at 30 June 1994, stage 1 was 70 per cent complete with the north building scheduled for handover to the stage 2 (fit-out, services, and landscaping) contractor on 1 August 1994.
The stage 2 contract was awarded in January 1994 to John Holland Construction and Engineering Pty Ltd.
Members of a small departmental project team participate in key project committees. The Department also chairs a coordination group, which is a forum for developing integrated tenant views on matters relating to the project, and the principle mechanism for conveying up-to-date information to staff associations, divisional representatives and specialist areas of the Department. Close consultation was maintained with staff and staff associations on all aspects of the project. Close consultation continued between DFAT, AEM and ACS on structural building issues and fit-out design.
The Department participates in an ongoing review of documentation begun following the appointment of the stage 2 contractor. The focus of the review is on the design, and identification and analysis of engineering issues. As at 30 June 1994, documentation was 90 per cent complete and the review process had identified engineering savings to the value of $4.3m in the structural building component, and $3.975m in the fit-out component. Documentation was scheduled to be fully completed by 5 July 1994, with tenders for 64 different trades packages scheduled to be called in the period from 12 July 1994 to 13 December 1994.
The transition to the new building will require significant expenditure of the Department’s own resources over the next few years. For example, the Department will need to meet the cost of major service items (uninterrupted power supply, generator, waste destructor, classified waste destructor, data cabling), as well as transitional costs associated with the relocation of the Diplomatic Communications Network Centre to the new building. To make the most efficient use of the new corporate environment, it has also been decided to purchase new work-station furniture for open plan areas.
The Department’s contribution to the cost of the move, over and above the project fit-out budget of $26.8m, is likely to be of the order of $17m over the next two years. This includes, in addition to the major service items mentioned above, relocation costs, expenditure on information technology, as well as the fit-out costs for a cafeteria, a 60-place child care centre, an active recreation area, and an international conference centre which will be part of the building.