Australia’s Office of National Intelligence (ONI) was formed in late 2018 to manage and support the integration of government intelligence functions that comprise the national intelligence community, and to produce key intelligence assessments for the government that help to uphold national security.
Managing Australia’s national intelligence community
The national intelligence community works to collect, analyse and disseminate intelligence information and advice in accordance with Australia’s interests and national security priorities. This work is carried out by:
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)
- Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS)
- Australian Federal Police (AFP)
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)
- Department of Home Affairs
- Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
- Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC)
- Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO)
- Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO)
The ONI represents a key component in Australia’s national intelligence community. The ONI is responsible for enterprise level management of this community and ensures a single point of accountability to the Prime Minister and National Security Committee of Cabinet.
Intelligence assessments
In addition to managing the national intelligence community, a major function of the ONI is the production of assessments on topics important to the Australian Government.
Assessments relate to international matters that are of political, strategic or economic significance to Australia, as well as the domestic aspects of such matters. In addition to assembling and correlating information, the ONI Act also tasks the ONI with analysing the information and preparing reports in accordance with the government’s requirements.
ONI analysts typically focus on a particular geographic area or on a specific issue, providing both written assessments and oral briefings. Collaboration with other national intelligence community agencies, as well as academia and the private sector, further enhances the ONI’s assessment capabilities.
The ONI also has open source analysts who systematically collect, interpret and disseminate publicly available information.
Key takeaways
The Office of National Intelligence (ONI) plays an important role in protecting Australia’s national security by managing the national intelligence community and providing intelligence assessments to the government.
