National Intelligence Coordination Committee

The National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) is a peak intergovernmental officials-level body of the Government of Australia responsible for the development and co-ordination of the Australian Intelligence Community in accordance with the National Security Committee of Cabinet. The NICC is chaired by the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence.[1]

Australian Government
National Intelligence Coordination Committee
Committee overview
Formed2008
HeadquartersDepartment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Committee executive
Parent departmentDepartment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

The United Kingdom Joint Intelligence Committee and the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence have similar but not analogous functions as the NICC.

History

The National Intelligence Coordination Committee can trace its origins back to the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) established during the Second World War in 1944 within the Department of Defence. The JIC was chaired by the Controller of Joint Intelligence and responsible for controlling and co-ordinating Defence intelligence policy, the preparation of intelligence reports, and liaison with the Joint Planning Committee of the Department of Defence. The JIC operated concurrently with the Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB), which was the predecessor to the Joint Intelligence Organisation, following the JIB's establishment in 1947.[2][3]

In 1969, the JIC was replaced by the National Intelligence Committee (NIC) which was supported by the National Assessments Staff (the predecessor to the Office of National Assessments) within the Joint Intelligence Organisation (the predecessor to the Defence Intelligence Organisation) also established in 1969.[4][5]

In 1977, the tabled recommendations of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, established on 21 August 1974 by Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and led by Justice Robert Hope, called for the creation of a national intelligence committee and formation of an independent agency to provide intelligence assessments on political, strategic and economic issues directly to the Prime Minister.[6][7] As such, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser established the Office of National Assessments through the Office of National Assessments Act 1977, ensuring the ONA had statutory independence from government. ONA began operations on 20 February 1978, assuming the Joint Intelligence Organisations's National Assessments Staff and foreign intelligence assessment role. The ONA directly supported the NIC.[8][9][10]

During the Howard Government, the peak officials-level intelligence co-ordination body was the Heads of Intelligence Agencies Meeting (HIAM) chaired by the Director General of the Office of National Assessments. HIAM developed as an informal deliberative and co-ordination body for the heads of the Australian Intelligence Community agencies.[11]

In July 2004, former senior diplomat and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Philip Flood who was head of the Inquiry into Australian Intelligence Agencies (also known as the Flood Report) tabled recommendations for the Australian Intelligence Community.[12][13] Among its findings, the Flood Report recommended that the Office of National Assessments staff be increased to provide improved foreign intelligence co-ordination and evaluation and that the Heads of Intelligence Agencies Meeting be formalised. The ONA then established the Foreign Intelligence Coordination Committee (FICC) with the responsibilities for Australian Intelligence Community co-ordination and capabilities development. The FICC was chaired by the Director General of the Office of National Assessments and was composed of the heads of ASIO, ASIS, DIO, DSD, DIGO and the AFP alongside Deputy Secretary-level representation from the Departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Defence, and Foreign Affairs and Trade.[14][15]

In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd revamped the Australian national security framework with the creation of the National Intelligence Coordination Committee which integrated the Foreign Intelligence Coordination Committee and tasked with broader Australian Intelligence Community co-ordination responsibilities.[16] Rudd also created the public service position of National Security Adviser with the rank of Associate Secretary within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The National Security Adviser was tasked with Chairing the National Intelligence Coordination Committee alongside a raft of other national security leadership and advice functions. The National Security Adviser was disbanded by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2013 and with their roles integrated into the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and International Policy Group within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Role

The National Intelligence Coordination Committee plays a central role in advising National Intelligence Priorities and supporting a coordinated approach by the Australian Intelligence Community according to directions by the National Security Committee of Cabinet and the Secretaries Committee on National Security.

Membership

Prior to the establishment of the Department of Home Affairs on the 20 December 2017, the Deputy Secretary for National Security of the Attorney-General's Department attended.

Subcommittees

The National Intelligence Coordination Committee is composed of two subcommittees to assist with setting intelligence requirements, evaluating intelligence collection efforts, and developing intelligence capabilities.

The National Intelligence Collection Management Committee (NICMC) is responsible for setting specific requirements and evaluating collection effort against each of the National Intelligence Priorities (NIPs). It is chaired by the Director General of the Office of National Assessments.

The National Intelligence Open Source Committee (NIOSC) is responsible for enhancing the co-ordination and capabilities of the national intelligence community's open source efforts. It is chaired by the Director General of the Office of National Assessments.

Secretariat

The National Security and International Policy Group of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet provides secretariat and support functions to the National Intelligence Coordination Committee and its subcommittees.[17]

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gollark: This does imply that it managed to escape the RPi start.elf thing.
gollark: Is this better or worse? Hmm.
gollark: Okay, this is weird, now I just have a blank screen?
gollark: Good job I happen to arbitrarily have aarch64 binutils!

References
  1. Office of National Assessments Oversight and Regulation Office of National Assessments
  2. How the Commonwealth has managed the defence of Australia "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) National Archives of Australia
  3. Joint Intelligence Committee National Archives of Australia
  4. How the Commonwealth has managed the defence of Australia "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) National Archives of Australia
  5. Joint Intelligence Committee National Archives of Australia
  6. National Archives of Australia Archived 5 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine Records of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security
  7. Gyngell, A. and Wesley, M. (2003) Making Australian Foreign Policy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. (page 146)
  8. History of the Office of National Assessments Archived 22 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine Office of National Assessments
  9. Royal Commission on Australia's Security and Intelligence Agencies Report and Ministerial Statement 1985 Parliament of Australia
  10. Gyngell, Allan and Michael Wesley. (2007). Making Australia Foreign Policy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  11. Gordon, Sandy. (2005) Re-shaping Australian Intelligence. Security Challenges 1(1): 27–58 Institute for Regional Security
  12. "Flood report diplomatic in its criticism". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 22 July 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  13. Flood, Philip (July 2004). "Report of the Inquiry into Australian Intelligency Agencies" (PDF). Inquiry into Australian Intelligency Agencies. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 0-646-43736-4. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  14. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Report on Australian Intelligence Community Training Parliament of Australia
  15. Ungerer, C. (2008). The intelligence reform agenda: What next? Australian Strategic Policy Institute
  16. Director-General of Security David Irvine. 2010. Limits of Sovereignty and Constraints of Multilateralism – implications for domestic security "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Address to National Security College Conference 27 May 2010
  17. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2013–2014 Annual Report National Security and International Policy Group Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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