A provocative exploration of the corrosive impact of secrecy on Australian intelligence organizations' effectiveness and operations
Secrecy is central to popular understandings of intelligence and how intelligence services operate. Intelligence agencies generally resist oversight and transparency, arguing that decreases in secrecy come at the cost of intelligence efficacy.
In Blind Trust, Melanie Brand challenges this view. Using archival research examining the role, functions, and public perceptions of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), she shows that operating in secrecy did not ensure intelligence efficacy in Cold War Australia. With little oversight from the government, ASIO's products became increasingly irrelevant to policymakers, and politicians lost sight of ASIO's value. With no external guidance or requirement to be accountable for its actions, secrecy allowed ASIO's staff to break the law and become involved in overtly partisan affairs. Finally, excessive secrecy asks for society's blind trust in an intelligence service, and ASIO lost the public's trust during the Cold War because it was able, for a time, to cover up its mistakes and exceed its authority.
This groundbreaking history of Australia's domestic spy agency is relevant to the security experiences of other democratic nation-states. Blind Trust will inform students, scholars, and professionals in the fields of intelligence studies, international relations, security studies, and history.
Reviews
"This fascinating study makes an impressive contribution to the literature on intelligence accountability. The rigorously researched book offers compelling insights into Australia's Cold War intelligence history, examining with great clarity the adverse impact of excessive secrecy on intelligence performance and public trust. Highly recommended for anyone interested in intelligence studies, Cold War history, or state secrecy."—Claudia Hillebrand, senior lecturer in international relations, Cardiff University
"Brand persuasively argues that excessive secrecy, a lack of accountability, and the insular nature of Australia's intelligence agency have led to inefficiencies, increased politicization, and a loss of public trust. Compelling and fluently written, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the Cold War or Western intelligence agencies."—Phillip Deery, author, Spies and Sparrows: ASIO and the Cold War
"Melanie Brand's extensively researched volume on the excessive secrecy and limited accountability of Australia's domestic security intelligence agency, ASIO, is an instructive story of the erosion of public trust in the agency during its formative Cold War years. While Australia's intelligence community now has some very robust oversight mechanisms in place, Brand's book reminds us all how intelligence agencies need to navigate the excesses of secrecy if they are to retain public trust while also playing an effective role in managing public safety and, when necessary, preserving our increasingly fragile democratic institutions."—Patrick F. Walsh, professor of intelligence and security studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia
"Dr. Brand's exciting and innovative book lifts the lid on the dark corner of Australia's Cold War experience of intelligence, shining a light on its evolution, as told through the prism of accountability. An important historical book, but also one that asks us to reconsider contemporary notions of secrecy and transparency."—Michael Goodman, director, King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence, King's College London
"How do spies lose and then successfully regain public trust? Melanie Brand's surprising study of suspicion, secrecy, and skepticism is the first comprehensive analysis of ASIO's troubled experience with oversight, accountability, and public affairs. This is a must-read book with important lessons for all governments and their intelligence services everywhere."—Richard J. Aldrich, author, GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency
About the Author
Melanie Brand is a lecturer in intelligence studies at Macquarie University. She received a PhD in history from the University of Melbourne, and her research has been published in Cold War History, Intelligence and National Security, and Australian Historical Studies. She is an associate editor of Intelligence and National Security.
