The Australian government yesterday launched a review of security at a top-secret spy agency after claims of sexual misconduct, nepotism and abuse of privileges.
The internal investigation into the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) was ordered after the leak of a six-page dossier alleging that the agency was so beset by sexual intrigue and mismanagement that it threatened to compromise national security.
The document was obtained by Sydney's Daily Telegraph which claimed it represented the most significant leak in the history of the intelligence body.
Australia's most sensitive espionage agency uses hi-tech electronic listening devices to eavesdrop on telephone calls and radio communications in the Asia-Pacific region.
Its two intercept stations, at Geraldton in Western Australia, and near Darwin in the Northern Territory, relay information to defence headquarters in Canberra, where it is analysed and assessed.
It employs 1,400 staff and maintains close links with intelligence agencies in the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
The report, allegedly written by a group of its senior officers, said the agency was in 'considerable decline due to the improper sexual behaviour of some of its managers, managerial incompetence, nepotism, illegal management procedures and a lack of clear direction and oversight'.
