Traitors and spies : espionage and corruption in high places in Australia, 1901-50 / John Fahey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fahey, John, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intelligence service--Australia.

Intelligence service.

Australia--Politics and govenment--20th century.

Australia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 436 pages)

Place of Publication:

Sydney : Allen & Unwin, [2020]

Summary:

Dozens of Russian anarchists, socialists and communists arrived in Australia from 1905, fleeing repression in their homeland. Finding work in the Queensland cane fields, Russian activists recruited in working men's groups for their revolutionary cause, laying the foundations for infiltration by Soviet intelligence services of the unions and Communist Party of Australia decades later. This is just one of the many fascinating stories former intelligence officer John Fahey has uncovered in the archives of Australia, MI5 and the CIA. He shows that Australia was under sustained attack from external threats as early as 1908, threats the country consistently failed to address effectively. He identifies the first German spy in Australia, as well as a highly respected Jewish businessman in Melbourne who was a Soviet agent, and an Australian woman who worked for Soviet military intelligence in the US. Internal security work is dirty work, never more than when ruthless politicians and police use intelligence services for their own ends. Fahey has discovered old boys' networks at the highest levels enabled security agencies to spy on members of parliament and other bureaucrats, mislead judicial inquiries, and persecute innocent citizens in the interwar years. Traitors and Spies tells the story of Australia's intelligence operations before ASIO was established, and reveals a dark side of Australian politics in the first half of the 20th century.

Contents:

Introduction : security intelligence in Australia, 1901-50

Keeping Australia white

War, security, political subterfuge and corruption

Utopia and its agents

Unwanted and unloved

security intelligence, 1919-39

Persons of interest, 1919-39

What? Again? 1939 and war

1940

the fifth column panic

The Mawhood mystery

The battle of the reports

The Wartime Security Service

The serpent in the sacristy

R.F.B. Wake

Dagoes, wogs and pommies

Jehovah's Witnesses

the enemy within?

Sad, mad and bad

the abuse of the AFM

Russia's intelligence services and their work

The KLOD Organisation

Walter Clayton and the CP-A

The Melbourne connection

Are we in Hell? The fruits of inaction

A way back

Sunlight

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-76106-001-5