Exclusive: accidental release of intelligence officer’s name in Annastacia Palaszczuk’s diaries blamed on ‘administrative error’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Queensland premier’s office has mistakenly published the name of a secret intelligence operative in an extraordinary national security breach potentially punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

The name of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) officer was accidentally published during the routine public release of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s diaries, a practice designed to boost government transparency.

One of Palaszczuk’s diaries included details of a meeting between intelligence officials – including the Asio director general, Duncan Lewis – and the premier, police minister, and the Queensland police commissioner.

The diary entry names a second Asio officer, who the Guardian will not identify, and lists their position within the organisation.

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The identities of Asio officers are highly sensitive and kept secret to prevent operatives being targeted or compromised, including by foreign powers.

Naming an Asio officer without authorisation is a criminal offence that can attract up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The diary appears to have been available to the public online for at least a month.

Guardian Australia detected the security breach and approached the premier’s office, Asio, and the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, for comment.

The diary was removed from public view almost immediately.

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It is now no longer visible online in any way. Links to the diary have disappeared, and the URL has been removed.

The premier’s office described the publication of the name as “an administrative error”.

“It has been removed,” a spokesman said. “We apologise and have taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Queensland opposition leader, Deb Frecklington, said the bungle was a “disgrace” and has called for a full investigation.

“It has compromised national security and compromised an intelligence officer who is serving our nation,” Frecklington said in a statement.

“A full investigation must be carried out into this farce by the Palaszczuk administration.”

The mistake is also likely to attract a scathing response from Dutton, a frequent critic of the Queensland Labor government.

The law states that names of Asio officers must not be published “except with the consent in writing of the minister or of the director general”. That includes publishing any information that could lead to the identification of an Asio officer, or disclosing that someone residing at an address is “an Asio employee or Asio affiliate, or is in any way connected with an Asio employee or Asio affiliate”.

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The Australian intelligence community explained the importance of protecting even the most benign details about its operatives in a joint submission to a 2009 review of secrecy laws.

“Even seemingly innocuous pieces of information, such as the amount of leave available to [Australian Secret Intelligence Service] or Asio staff or their salary, can yield significant counterintelligence dividends to a foreign intelligence service because such information may help to identify Asis or Asio officers,” the intelligence community said.

“Protection of the identity of Asis and Asio officers is critical to human intelligence collection as those officers are either working in foreign countries beyond the protection of the Australian government or their identification can lessen the ability of Asio and Asis to perform their national security functions.”

Australia’s security agencies have been enforcing secrecy laws with increasing zeal in recent years. The whistleblowers Witness K and Bernard Collaery have been prosecuted for disclosing protected intelligence information.

The pair helped reveal an unlawful spy operation conducted by Asis against Timor-Leste, and are now facing potential jail time.

Asio declined to comment. Dutton did not respond to a request for comment.