Security in Government 2005 conference: Enhancing security through law enforcement
Address by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty APM
Tuesday 10 May 2005
National Convention Centre, Canberra
11.40am - 12.10pm
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Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock; ASIO Director General, Denis Richardson; Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, Robert Cornall; Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Andrew Metcalfe; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure to be with you here today to give the AFP's perspective on the contemporary security environment.
The theme chosen for this conference - "Working together for Australia's security" - is one long supported and embraced by the AFP, as reflected in our motto "To fight crime together and win".
It is a philosophy that captures our best prospects for fighting crime - and maintaining security - in a complex, globalised world.
For the AFP, collaboration - at national and international levels - is now fundamental to our business success.
It has brought powerful and unprecedented capacity for fighting crime across many fronts. At the same time, it has created a host of new challenges - some of which we are still coming to terms with as a society.
Year in review
Since this security conference was last held, the role of law enforcement has continued to evolve rapidly.
In just 12 months, the AFP has expanded its counter terrorism functions by implementing a suite of new national security policy initiatives, in areas such as aviation security and counter terrorism….
…We have strengthened our commitment to the restoration of law and order and capacity building in the region, and our agency-to-agency partnerships have expanded and deepened….
…It has been a year when we maintained our commitment to traditional responsibilities of fighting illicit drug crime, people smuggling, fraud, sexual servitude and high-tech crime - all integral elements to the maintenance of national security.
…And a year when we applied our skills outside the law enforcement domain, working in Phuket as part of the humanitarian response to the devastating Asian tsunami…
Before I go on to discuss the nature of some of these developments, I'd like to say that 2004 will also be remembered by the AFP as a sobering year.
The bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last September, the murder of Protective Service officer, Adam Dunning in the Solomon Islands, and then the loss of so many - including some of our Indonesian policing colleagues - in the tsunami…all served to highlight the uncertain and volatile times in which we continue to live and the magnitude of work that still lies ahead to subvert security threats - both natural and man-made.
New counter terrorism responses
As the Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has stated on many occasions, fighting terrorism remains at the forefront of Australia's security agenda.
Although more than $4 billion has been spent on counter terrorism measures in Australia since 9/11, the complex and evolving nature of the crime requires ongoing assessment and renewal by authorities.
For the AFP's part, our counter terrorism strategy is one based on prevention and deterrence, with a range of new measures recently implemented to boost capacity in this regard.
Importantly, we have also turned our attention to finding ways of measuring our success on the counter-terrorism front, to improve accountability and help direct resources to the areas of greatest need. This is a challenging task…How do you measure the success of prevention? How do you measure the success of deterrence?
We are working with the University of Queensland to try and devise methods for doing this, which I'll discuss shortly.
Progress of key initiatives
In today's security environment, we hear a lot of rhetoric about new measures to "strengthen cooperation", to "boost security" and to "promote collaboration".
Behind all this rhetoric, much work has been taking place to achieve these goals and I'd like to take the opportunity now to update you on some specific developments involving the AFP.
(As you have heard), on the aviation security front, new laws came into effect in March.
These included more flexible regulations for the provision of Counter Terrorist First Response capability at certain airports around the country, including the transferral of responsibility for the delivery of such capability from individual airport operators to the AFP.
Before the legislation took effect, we trialled a new Counter Terrorist First Response model at Kingsford Smith airport, in Sydney - a model that relies on a more proactive, preventative and intelligence driven response.
It promotes nationally consistent counter-terrorist first response methods, as well as enhanced officer patrols, and strategic groupings of airport security experts in fields such as protection, explosives detection and bomb appraisal.
The trial was a real success and the aviation industry has agreed to implement the new model at all 11 Counter Terrorist First Response Airports around Australia - namely Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Hobart and Alice Springs.
This process is being supported by the AFP's Protective Security Liaison Officer Network, which currently has 18 officers with intelligence and investigations expertise based at major airports around the nation.
These officers are working to better coordinate aviation security intelligence and provide a conduit between government and non-government stakeholders in the industry, to help avert potential security threats.
Their efforts are being complemented by new Regional Rapid Deployment Teams. These Teams - which are mobilised to provide First Response capability to address threats at regional airports - first became operational at Tullamarine after being launched in January. By mid-April they had undertaken 15 pre-emptive deployments to regional airport locations in Victoria and Tasmania.
Work is now underway to get additional Teams operational at Brisbane, Sydney and Perth airports by July.
With the introduction of the new aviation security laws came the new criminal offence for making threats against an aircraft or airport. Despite extensive publicity surrounding the offence, some airline travellers are failing to heed the warnings.
So far, AFP protective service officers have questioned more than 40 people nationally in relation to alleged threats. This has led to follow-up action in a number of cases, with charges laid against nine people and four fined to date.
This suggests that more education might be needed about the impact of such behaviour, not just on the individual but the industry as a whole. The Department of Transport and Regional Services has advised us that they are continuing to work with the aviation industry to identify strategies that raise public awareness of the new laws.
I know some in our community have expressed concern about the severity of this new offence…but it is a reflection of the times in which we live, that all threats must be taken seriously. Even a seemingly harmless joke has the potential to wreak havoc and cost airlines and other passengers dearly.
Finally, the Air Security Officer program overseen by the AFP has been working hard to keep our skies safe, with negotiations now underway to expand the international leg of the program with a number of key countries.
In addition to aviation, the AFP has been directing significant resources - at national and international levels - to other functional areas, to improve methods for interdicting terrorist activity at the earliest possible stage.
For example, we have moved to thwart Internet and identity-based crimes - which are increasingly being used to help plan and execute terrorist activities and other serious crimes around the world.
In Australia identity crime is regarded as one of the fastest growing crime areas, with AUSTRAC estimating that in 2001-2002 it cost our country more than $1 billion.
To combat this growing threat, an Identity Crime Taskforce - which also involves the AFP, Australian Customs, NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission - has laid more than 600 charges and seized thousands of falsified documents in the past 12 months.
The taskforce is now being equipped with leading edge technologies, including facial recognition biometrics - a powerful investigative tool that catalogues and scans facial images of thousands of suspects.
On this note, the AFP welcomes the Federal Government's recent announcement to develop a national strategy for combating identity crime - another vital step in curbing its growth over the longer term.
The use of the Internet by terrorists for fund-raising and recruitment purposes is also a growing concern.
For example, US authorities [1] say the number of groups linked to terrorism, who have stolen credit card numbers over the Internet, laundered money and hijacked websites, is on the rise.
Closer to home, during the Bali bombings investigation, evidence obtained from a laptop computer owned by Imam Samudra - who was convicted of planning the bombings - revealed his attempts to use cyber fraud to fund the attack.
Although we do not believe such activity is a cause for concern at this point in time here in Australia, we have been making concerted efforts to put in place measures that will help safeguard our community - particularly through cooperative ventures.
The Australian High Tech Crime Centre - hosted by the AFP - is now working with some 17 agencies from the public and private sectors - including the major banks and software companies - to harden targets and educate the public about online crime.
And we are also strengthening measures to seize criminal assets not just in relation to terrorist activity, but across all crime types.
Consideration of the proceeds borne from crime is now a mandatory element in every AFP investigation. Our Financial Investigations Teams work closely with agencies such as the DPP, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Crime Commission, AUSTRAC and Australian Customs, to harness resources in this regard.
These efforts are paying off. About three weeks ago, we conducted an operation into the laundering of drug trafficking proceeds, which resulted in the seizure of more than $2 million in cash in just one week!
In the current financial year to date, approximately $73 million has been restrained nationally under the Proceeds of Crime Act - with forfeited funds placed into a federal Trust for use in worthwhile community projects.
AFP international
If a terrorist incident was to occur on Australian soil, there are some in our community who believe this would be the day our security strategies fail.
Thankfully, in the contemporary security environment, no such incident has occurred and I believe this is largely due to the robust and responsive security measures we have - as a whole-of-government - put in place.
But as my ASIO colleague Denis Richardson reminds us, Australia does remain a terrorist target, particularly our interests overseas in places like South East Asia, where terrorist groups have based themselves.
South East Asia is a region also heavily targeted by organised criminal groups - who can work to undermine our security by laundering money, violating our borders, and importing illicit substances for profit.
A key part of our strategy for disabling such activities has been to build strong relationships with our policing counterparts in the region, to promote cooperation and importantly, interdict such activities before they reach Australian shores.
This is an intense process that has involved developing an understanding of their values, communities and environments - which are often very different to our own.
It has been an effective strategy, we would submit, that has led to seamless investigations and significant operational outcomes across a range of crime types.
The potential of such relationships was most clearly demonstrated in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami. The AFP's reputation as an organisation and as an effective collaborator in the region, led to an invitation from the Thai Government to jointly command the international victim identification teams on the island of Phuket, which involved some 30 countries.
More recently we have seen the benefits of these relationships reflected in the interdiction of crimes such as people smuggling, child sexual exploitation and drug trafficking.
But as our relationships have developed, they have also served to highlight some of the complexities we now face policing in an international environment.
For instance, there are many different standards and protocols in relation to evidence collection, as well as disparate legal systems and penalties for crime - sometimes much more severe than our own - which can create challenges and dilemmas for our police.
While we all might have an opinion about what constitutes an appropriate criminal justice response, at the end of the day we have to respect the laws and sovereignty of other nations in fighting international crime, just as they have to respect ours.
You can't have a 'shopfront' where you say we will work together on child sex tourism because paedophilia is abhorrent to us, we will work together on terrorism because it is abhorrent to us, but we won't cooperate fully on drugs because they are not as abhorrent to us.
If we start imposing arbitrary conditions on our relationships with policing agencies overseas, hard-earned trust and confidence will start to break down, playing into the hands of those who abuse our laws and the laws of the host countries.
If this happens, we then won't have access to the information and assistance needed to help us protect Australians and their national interests from high-impact security and criminal threats.
There is no doubt that as time goes on, we will continue to confront some contentious issues arising from our transnational relationships. But it is important we don't overlook the fact that there is much more to be gained than lost, by cooperating internationally - a position that I am happy to say has so far been endorsed by both sides of government.
We see this reflected in our work with the Philippines National Police. Over recent years the AFP has been involved a number of deployments to the Philippines, to assist with terrorism investigations including the provision of forensic and technical expertise.
This has led to significant law enforcement outcomes, such as the development of a Bomb Data Centre in the Philippines, which will soon be operational.
As a result of this collaboration, the AFP has now established an ongoing counter-terrorism presence in the Philippines so our police services can continue to work closely to target regional terrorism links.
Importantly, the relationship also promises to deliver strengthened cooperation between the Philippines and Australia in curbing the spread of other transnational crimes, such as drug trafficking and fraud.
Another good example of the benefits flowing from international cooperation is the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation - a joint venture between Australia and Indonesia.
The $36.8 million Centre opened only last July and has already attracted interest and support from law enforcement agencies right around the region. It has also established formal links to other transnational crime coordination centres in places like Malaysia and Thailand.
The AFP has appointed a Director of Studies to the Centre who has received a very high level of interest in education and training programs offered to date.
For instance, the Centre's flagship training program - the International Management of Serious Crime course - was first held late last year and attracted law enforcement representatives from 19 countries - including Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Timor Leste, Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Denmark, China, The Netherlands and Vietnam.
This level of interest demonstrates the high regard in which our policing responses are now held internationally. Over the longer term, the skills and practices taught at the facility, will help promote a more streamlined and consistent approach to policing methods around the world.
Recently the Centre also attracted interest from nations as far afield as Europe, who are keen to play an active role in its ongoing development.
And just last week, I met with the Singapore Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Kan Seng Wong, and - subject to my discussions with my Singapore counterpart at ASEANAPOL next week - we hope to see Singapore join us and the other nations with a permanent position in JCLEC.
Finally, I'd also like to say a few words about the rest of the AFP's International Network. As many of you would be aware, it forms the backbone of our international crime fighting strategy, with 65 officers in 26 countries. The network is involved in investigations, training and capacity building projects and also includes a number of counter terrorism liaison officers based in key international locations.
Given the changing nature of the criminal landscape, we need to ensure our resources remain well placed to counter evolving threats.
To this end, we are currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the Network, with a first step involving feasibility studies in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Laos and India to assess the need for more permanent collaboration with these countries.
Measuring our success
I spoke earlier about the development of new measures to help the AFP monitor its performance in relation to counter terrorism.
Across all areas of operation, the AFP has committed itself not only to the highest levels of integrity and performance but also to developing reporting and monitoring systems to ensure that our performance is transparent to the community and to Government alike.
We currently have a suite of performance measures monitoring our success in relation to fraud and drug investigations, as well as protective services. These have been critical in helping us to prioritise our work and to direct precious resources to the areas where they have the greatest impact.
Introducing a performance measure for counter-terrorism activity is a challenging task, particularly given the nature of the crime and the fact that our strategies for tackling it are based on prevention and deterrence. These can't easily be measured by traditional performance indicators such as numbers of arrests and prosecutions.
Ideally, when developing performance indicators of any sort, they should provide more than an annual measure of performance. They require sufficient information to confirm that strategies are working and resources are being appropriately invested.
Indicators therefore need to be applied to the same database over successive years in order for levels of performance to be transparent and comparable. This is particularly the case in relation to terrorism, where factors such as the operational tempo of key groups can often only be assessed across a multi-year timeframe.
The AFP has been working with the University of Queensland to try and overcome some of these issues, and we have devised several key methods to assist in this regard.
In counter-terrorism, the most obvious performance measure is clearly the lack of a terrorist attack. And as I mentioned, in this contemporary security era, there has been no attack on Australian soil - although regrettably Australia has been the subject of an attack overseas.
The 'richness' of data holdings is also another important measure, including the amount of information held by authorities and the manner in which it is dealt with.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, the AFP introduced into its database a specific crime type of terrorism. This was later followed by an organisational restructure, which included reconfiguring our intelligence and data collection capabilities to help us better collate, cross-reference and analyse the data flowing into the AFP, for meaningful patterns.
As a result of such initiatives, we have been able to use our data repositories to make calculations on the number of individuals who have come to our attention for alleged direct or indirect links to terrorist activity.
So what is the information telling us?
First, that activity on counter-terrorism operations has been fairly high and constant over the past four years, which will come as no surprise.
This is a result of intelligence sharing, the AFP's own inquiries and the assistance of the general public through the National Security Hotline - from which 19,735 reports were referred to the AFP in the last financial year, and 538 followed up for investigation.
But having said that, it is important to stress that over half the individuals identified during this period in relation to counter-terrorism operations were involved in cases that have since been resolved, either through the clearing of allegations against them or Court action - often undertaken in another country where the offences were alleged to have occurred.
Significantly, one third of those in our database were found to have no known link to Australia, but were identified by Interpol and other agencies as being involved in alleged terrorist activity elsewhere.
Of the number of individuals currently under active investigation, a large majority relate to cases supporting overseas investigations into local acts of terrorism in places like Indonesia and the Philippines - demonstrating once again, our ongoing commitment to law enforcement in the local region.
Overall, the findings have shown that while there has been a significant increase in the AFP's counter-terrorism operations in recent years, the majority of these matters have been resolved satisfactorily.
Additionally, the information has provided us with even greater insights into the complexities associated with policing a crime like terrorism, including the extent of work required behind-the-scenes to follow up reports of suspicious activity, and to avert possible attacks.
Beyond counter-terrorism, we are also now exploring ways to assess the performance of the International Deployment Group - a key plank in our national strategy to promote security and stability in our region.
As many of you know, the IDG is currently operational in Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the Solomon Islands - where incidentally, the Solomon Islands Government recently appointed a new Commissioner from within the AFP, Shane Castles, to head the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
As part of our performance monitoring regime, we recently signed a $1.5 million collaborative research program with the ANU and Flinders University to analyse the IDG's presence and impact in these countries.
The research is examining the grounds for providing assistance, as well as cultural and political contexts and the achievements and shortcomings of police assistance missions.
Findings of the research will be used to guide future AFP involvement in the region, including operational issues and training practices, as well as enhanced cooperation with nations, host country agencies and other government providers, including the Department of Defence, AusAID and the United Nations.
Conclusion
Today I have provided only a 'snapshot' of some recent counter-terrorism developments involving the AFP.
This area of activity now comprises a major part of our business, and is likely to remain so, for some time to come.
But as I mentioned, terrorism is a complex crime requiring a complex response, involving not just law enforcement but the community as a whole.
I believe the cooperation we have achieved on this front to date - across agencies and jurisdictions - has been instrumental in ensuring terrorist-related activity has been tackled in its earliest stages.
We look forward to further developing those relationships with you - and your organisations - and to exploring new ways of harnessing our collective security resources, so we can maintain this good record for generations to come.
Thank you.