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US security failures insult our intelligence

FROM: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/us-sec ... 333sp.html

Date
February 21, 2014

Raoul Heinrichs
American intelligence failures over the Edward Snowden affair have exacted a huge diplomatic cost on Australia, and it's not over yet.

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Illustration: Andrew Dyson.

With Australia-Indonesia relations at such a low ebb, one could be mistaken for thinking that things couldn't get much worse. Like disgraced husband Prince Oblonsky in Anna Karenina, Canberra is getting the silent treatment and sleeping on the couch, stewing sheepishly while Jakarta seethes. The Indonesian ambassador has not returned since he was withdrawn in November, and Indonesia's co-operation on the full range of issues - from counter-terrorism, defence and border protection, to science and education - has been dramatically downgraded, if not cancelled altogether.

Yet the situation is about to get worse. Tapping the phones of Indonesia's President and his inner circle is one thing. Not a friendly act, sure, though in the rough-and-tumble world of international politics not unexpected either. Now we've been exposed again. The latest releases from Edward Snowden reveal Australia offering up intelligence to help Washington outmanoeuvre Jakarta in trade negotiations, all the while indiscriminately amassing troves of mobile phone data on regular Indonesians.

Needless to say, this is not a good look. What makes these revelations so damaging is the way they will play into the most vulnerable aspects of the relationship. They will validate longstanding suspicions about Australian malevolent intentions towards Indonesia. Undercutting Indonesia's economic interests on behalf of the world's richest country suggests contempt for Indonesia as a state. Hacking the mobile phone data of millions of ordinary users suggests disdain for Indonesians as a people.

If the Indonesian reaction has so far been somewhat muted, that's only because the latest revelations have yet to fully enter its public consciousness. This is partly deliberate. Jakarta has been at pains to play down the controversy this week to ensure a smooth visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry. When the full implications do finally become clear, though, it could very well trigger another round of recriminations. With so little co-operation left to terminate, and with tensions over Australia's asylum seeker policy continuing to deepen, don't be surprised if Australia's ambassador gets his marching orders.

There is a historic irony to the circumstances that have produced this situation. Australia's intelligence community evolved in large part as a response to British and US concerns about our ability to keep secrets. In the early days of the Cold War, neither London nor Washington were prepared to risk their diplomatic relationships by sharing sensitive information with a country whose intelligence processes they viewed as shoddy and inept. And on numerous occasions since, lapses in Australian secrecy have been met with heavy-handed demands by Washington for reform and discipline, at pains of having our access downgraded or withdrawn.

Today, the shoe is on the other foot. For a long time, intelligence co-operation has been at the forefront of Australia's alliance with the United States. Australia's privileged access has entailed many benefits with few, if any, costs. But that has now changed. Ultimately, Edward Snowden is responsible for the damage he has caused. But at a deeper level, Snowden is a product of immense systemic failures in the US intelligence community. There's no way to sugar-coat it, Australia has been profoundly let down by the US, whose unwieldy intelligence system has now exacted a huge cost on us, namely the thorough and potentially long-term destruction of one of our most crucial diplomatic relationships.

Of course, Washington is reeling too. Revelations of indiscriminate data collection in Europe have strained its own relationships and cost it much in terms of trust and good will. Yet America is far better placed than we are to absorb diplomatic damage. It remains the key provider of security in Asia, Europe and much of the Middle East. Other countries depend on it to a great extent, so they can't afford to allow their indignation at being spied on to interfere with day-to-day co-operation.

Australia is in a much more precarious position. We have fewer key relationships, and they are not skewed in our favour by such pronounced asymmetries of power. Even though Snowden wasn't our failure, we've arguably taken the biggest hit.

If Edward Snowden had come from Australia's intelligence community, our ''eye'' in the ''Five-Eyes'' intelligence-sharing network would probably have already been gouged out. Unfortunately, the same logic doesn't work in reverse. Australia has virtually no leverage to make demands of the US. At the very least, however, Washington does owe Australia an acknowledgement of the damage done, and if it hasn't been provided already, a full account of Snowden's intelligence treasure-trove as it pertains to Australian interests.

Beyond that, we're on our own. So where to from here? First, we need to take a more cautious, selective approach to sharing intelligence with the US, at least until we can have more confidence in its ability to maintain the integrity of our most sensitive information. Second, we need to grapple with the broader political dynamics of this crisis. This latest intelligence failing is symptomatic of an established pattern in our relations with the US, in which we assume very significant burdens without being attuned to the liabilities they entail. This happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is happening with regard to China, and it has happened again here.

Finally, we need a strategy to deal with the steady secretion of Snowden's damaging revelations. Until now, Australia has been wholly reactive. The tired old line about ''not commenting on intelligence matters'' has become as good as an admission of guilt. One option may be to pre-emptively come clean on the damaging material we know Snowden possesses. That may sound a bit like committing suicide for fear of death, and it would be painful and embarrassing in the short-term. But the alternative is to cede the initiative, to stay on the back foot while Snowden's leaks are drawn out over months or even years and timed to maximise damage.

Depending on what Snowden has up his sleeve, that could mean many more diplomatic headaches to come.

Raoul Heinrichs is Sir Arthur Tange Scholar at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at Australian National University.

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