ASIO boss Mike Burgess has defended his organisation’s inability to prevent the worst terror attack in Australian history, saying an internal review commissioned after the Bondi massacre backed the spy agency’s 2019 view that shooter Naveed Akram did not pose a serious threat.
In his first Senate estimates hearings since the Bondi attack, Burgess said father-and-son shooters Sajid and Naveed Akram had “gone dark” to prevent detection ahead of the attack.
He welcomed the royal commission as the best way to understand how the massacre occurred and develop policies to prevent similar attacks.
Burgess said the fact the Bondi massacre occurred was a “matter of grave regret for me and my officers. It weighs heavily on us.”
“But that does not mean intelligence was ignored or my officers made mistakes,” he said in a late-night appearance on Tuesday.
“The grim reality is – as I’ve also said many times – ASIO is not all seeing and all knowing.
“ASIO and our law enforcement partners have disrupted 28 major terrorism plots since September 2014.
“Tragically, though, we did not know what the perpetrators of the Bondi attack were planning – or indeed that they were planning anything.
“It appears the alleged terrorists demonstrated a high level of security awareness to hide their plot. In simple terms, they went dark to stay off the radar.”
Burgess revealed that, immediately after the attack on December 14, he commissioned a review of ASIO’s handling of Naveed Akram, who had come onto their radar six years earlier.
“The review was conducted internally, but by a reviewer from outside ASIO who received unfettered and unfiltered access to our records,” he said.
“The review is highly classified because it contains details about individuals and sensitive capabilities however I can say that we stand by our 2019 assessment the Akrams did not adhere to or intend to engage in violent extremism at that time.
“In other words, many of the claims and criticisms being made about ASIO’s handling of the case are baseless.”
He said it would be up to royal commissioner Virginia Bell, who is being assisted by former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson, to make her own judgment.
Burgess cautioned against using the benefit of hindsight to declare that an intelligence failure led to the attack, in which 15 people were shot dead and dozens of others were injured at a Hannukah celebration on Bondi Beach.
“In the days and weeks after the Bondi attack, assumptions, assertions, hypotheticals and opinions quickly became accepted as facts by some,” he said.
“They were recycled and exaggerated in the following weeks. This resulted in calls for action that were not supported by any fact.
“This is why the royal commission is so important.”
Burgess said he had repeatedly warned about escalating antisemitism in Australia and described it as ASIO’s most pressing threat-to-life priority.
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.