Fed: Govt did not lean on intel services: PM

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2004
Fed: Govt did not lean on intel services: PM

CANBERRA, April 14 AAP - The federal government did not lean on its intelligence agencies
for information in line with government policy, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Mr Howard said there may be differing views within intelligence agencies on issues,
but the government did not exert pressure on agencies for reports in line with official
policy.

It follows a letter from senior Army intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Lance
Collins to Mr Howard in which he has demanded a royal commission into the nation's intelligence
services.

Lt Col Collins outlined how Australia's spy agencies had failed Australia many times
from the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to the outbreak of violence in
East Timor following independence elections.

Lt Col Collins, chosen by defence chief Peter Cosgrove to oversee intelligence in East
Timor, had been at the centre of allegations he leaked sensitive material.

But in a report clearing him of the claims, a senior defence judicial officer found
that a pro-Jakarta lobby within the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) had reported
what the government wanted to hear.

Mr Howard said he had not received the independent report, and it was unlikely Defence
Minister Robert Hill had seen it.

"It is very much an example of strongly held differing views within the intelligence
community, and that is not uncommon, it happens quite frequently, rather than strongly
held differing views between the intelligence community collectively on the one hand and
the government on the other hand," he told reporters.

"This government does not lean on the intelligence services of Australia."

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KEYWORD: INTELLIGENCE HOWARD LEAD

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