He said the best officers are "quiet achievers in life" because the successes in ASIS could only be marked and celebrated in secret.

'We keep a very close eye on venture capital'

In the interview with Mr Gyngell and Australian National University academic Darren Lim, Mr Symon also revealed that ASIS tracks venture capital flows to identify promising technology start-ups.

"It's in our DNA to think about technology and how to use it; how it's both an opportunity and a risk to us," he said.

"We keep a very close eye on venture capital because wherever venture capital money is going is where the technology is heading."

This close monitoring of technology start-ups is common among intelligence agencies. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States even has its own venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, to identify and invest in cutting-edge technology.

Mr Symon's comments are a departure from tradition as ASIS chiefs rarely speak publicly about the agency.

Nick Warner, who is now the head of the Office of National Intelligence, gave the first ever public speech by an ASIS chief in 2012 but since then appearances have been rare.


Akin to the CIA or MI6 in Britain, ASIS was set up by Robert Menzies in 1952 as Canberra looked to navigate its way through the Cold War.

For the next few decades it remained a tightly held secret, even within government circles. While it has since emerged from the shadows, details about its operations are scarce.

Mr Symon conceded this lack of profile can cause problems. One of these is to make the recruitment task difficult. The agency attracted some attention in late 2017 after launching a simulated job interview on its website, where potential applicants are tested on whether they can listen to three conversations at the same time or convince an airline attendant to give them an exit row seat.

Mr Symon said foreign espionage is the main focus of ASIS but it also provided assistance when Australians were kidnapped overseas, engaged in "intelligence diplomacy" for the more sensitive government-to-government conversations, helped partners to build up their own intelligence-gathering capabilities and worked to achieve specific government objectives such as disrupting people smuggling businesses.

Asked to nominate some of the agency's successes, Mr Symon suggested the work done by ASIS and other agencies on the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014, which killed 298 people, including 38 Australians.

He said the agency currently had a strong working relationship with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to which it reports and that was important because its activities were high-risk and if something goes wrong, there is a price to pay in the country's bilateral relationships.

"[We have to] make sure we're not stepping ahead of their comfort level."

ASIS and its operations have been under scrutiny in recent months ahead of the trial of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery and his client, a former ASIS spy known only as “Witness K”. The pair have been charged with conspiracy to communicate ASIS information after they revealed Canberra had ordered the bugging of East Timor's cabinet offices in 2004 during negotiations with the fledgling nation over an oil and gas treaty.

Mr Symon, who was previously head of the Defence Intelligence Organisation and deputy chief of the Australian Army, made his comments in the latest episode of a regular podcast for the Australian Institute of International Affairs.