Officers from the Australian Federal Police have raided the home of an intelligence officer and career diplomat in Canberra.

At around 9am this morning AFP officers arrived at the home in suburb of Griffith.

The home is believed to belong to Australian Signals Directorate officer Cameron Gill who is also a former adviser to coalition minister Mal Brough.

The Australian Signals Directorate is the nation’s cyber spy agency and deals with foreign signals intelligence, supporting military operations and cyber warfare.

Mr Gill is married to Australia’s Ambassador to Iraq Joanne Loundes, who is also a senior career officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

An AFP spokesperson confirmed to news.com.au officers were executing a search warrant at the home in relation to a Commonwealth official.

“This activity does not relate to any current or impending threat to the Australian community,” the spokesperson said.

“As this is an ongoing matter, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

At around 2.30pm a group of AFP officers emerged from the home carrying garbage bags, cases and a backpack.

News Corp Australia executive Campbell Reid described the raids as an “intimidation” tactic.

“We have always said the AFP raids on journalists were not intended to intimidate journalists but the people who have the courage to talk to journalists,” he said in a statement.

“Today we are seeing that process of intimidation continue.”

A lawyer who arrived at the home told the ABC he was not aware the raid was taking place today and had to rush to the property when he found out.

He declined to formally comment but did reportedly say the public would be interested in the case.

South Australian Centre Alliance Senator, Rex Patrick, called on the AFP to be transparent about why they were riding the home.

“Given the recent controversy about Federal Police raids, @AusFedPolice should immediately publicly clarify the purpose of today’s AFP raid on the Canberra home of a person said to be a former senior govt media adviser,” Mr Patrick wrote on Twitter.

“Is this raid leak related?”

This comes just months after the AFP received backlash for carrying out raids on the home of a News Corp journalist and the ABC’s headquarters in Sydney.

Annika Smethurst’s Canberra home was raided in June in relation to an article based on leaked government information.

The “heavy handed” raid sparked widespread outrage and was publicly condemned by News Corp Australia.

“The Australian public’s right to know information about government laws that could impact their lives is of fundamental importance in our society,” it said in a statement.

“This raid demonstrates a dangerous act of intimidation towards those committed to telling uncomfortable truths. The raid was outrageous and heavy handed.

“News Corp Australia has expressed the most serious concerns about the willingness of governments to undermine the Australian public’s right to know about important decisions Governments are making that can and will impact ordinary Australian citizens.”

Following the raid on Ms Smethurst’s home, AFP officers went on to raid the Sydney ABC officers over a 2017 series of stories known as the Afghan Files.

The stories revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan and were based on pages of Defence documents that had been leaked to the ABC.

During a search, AFP officers took possession of about 100 documents on national security grounds. The contents were transferred to USB sticks and placed in sealed bags.

It is unclear whether today’s raid in Canberra is connected to the ones carried out in June.

The two raids carried out three months ago sparked a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom.

During the inquiry AFP deputy commissioner, Neil Gaughan, revealed there was a “concern” about the seniority of the person suspected of leaking the documents.

‘‘Particularly with the one we are talking about, there is significant concern around the person who has allegedly provided the information to the journalist,’’ he said.

‘‘There is significant concern around where that person potentially sits within the bureaucracy.’’

Home Affairs chief Mike Pezzullo has previously called for the person who leaked the documents to “go to jail”.