The Intelligence Services Act 2001 (ISA) is an Act of the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

, which made significant changes to the

Australian Intelligence Community The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government ...

(AIC). The bill was introduced into Parliament on 27 June 2001 by then Minister for Foreign Affairs

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United Ki ...

. The Act was passed by Parliament on 29 September 2001 and came into effect on 29 October 2001. The Act introduced three main reforms: * it provided a statutory basis for the

Australian Secret Intelligence Service The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS ) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, responsible for gathering, processing, and analysing national security information from around the world, primarily throug ...

(ASIS) and the

Australian Signals Directorate The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), formerly the Defence Signals Directorate, is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia responsible for signals intelligence, providing intelligence support to Australian military operations, con ...

(at the time called the Defence Signals Directorate, DSD), both of which had been previously established by and operated under

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

. * increased powers for the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is the Intelligence agency, domestic intelligence and national security agency of the Australian Government, responsible for protection from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign inte ...

(ASIO), ASIS and DSD. * established the Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD to replace the former Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO (which was established in 1988) and the Joint Select Committee on the Intelligence Services. The Committee was appointed in March 2002. The Committee's purview was expanded from 1 July 2004 to include DIO, DIGO and ONA, following the recommendations of the Flood Inquiry. On 2 December 2005, the name of the Committee was changed to the

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) is a Joint committee (legislative), joint committee of the Parliament of Australia which oversees Australia's primary agencies of the Australian Intelligence Community: Australia ...

(PJCIS).

References

External links

Intelligence Services Act 2001

AIC Privacy Protections
from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security 2001 in Australian law Australian intelligence agencies Acts of the Parliament of Australia {{Australia-law-stub

See also

References

External links