Former Australian politician 'sold out their country', spy boss says

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess said a former Australian politician had "sold out their country" several years ago, to a group dubbed "the A-team", in his annual threat assessment on Wednesday, February 28.

Mr Burgess declassified remarkable details about the so-called A-team - short for "the Australia team" - as he revealed that ASIO had confronted the spies directly in late 2023.

His address included a targeted message to the specialist team within a foreign intelligence service.

That message was: your "cover is blown".

In one, of several examples, Mr Burgess said a former Australian politician had been recruited by the group, and gone as far as to suggest introducing them to the family member of an Australian prime minister.

"Several years ago, the A-team successfully cultivated and recruited a former Australian politician," he said.

"This politician sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime.

"At one point, the former politician even proposed bringing a Prime Minister's family member into the spies' orbit.

"Fortunately that plot did not go ahead but other schemes did."

In another example, he revealed ASIO had to intervene when an aspiring Australian politician passed on information about his party's factions, election analysis and "the names of up-and-comers - presumably so the A-team could target them too".

The foreign group use a form of "low-cost, low-risk, low-effort" espionage, where they trawl professional networking sites, looking for targets with access to privileged information, Mr Burgess said.

This can be done at scale, and the spies also make connections via email, social media and messaging platforms.

They pose as consultants, head-hunters, local government officials, academics and think tank researchers, and they adopt anglicised personas.

"Most commonly, they offer their targets consulting opportunities, promising to pay thousands of dollars for reports on Australian trade, politics, economics, foreign policy, defence and security," Mr Burgess said.

"Additional payments can be offered for 'inside' or 'exclusive' information."

The ASIO boss detailed an instance where an Australian individual, referred to as Ian, "received an unsolicited direct message from someone claiming to be Sophy from Data 31."

Sophy offered the Australian a part-time consulting role, asking for their insights on foreign policy, trade and risk.

When asked for further details, the foreign spy raised "multiple red flags", Mr Burgess said, requesting information that was not available online, asking the Australian if he had contacts in government, and suggesting he not mention who he was working for.

But Ian was not deterred.

"So that's a real exchange - and I'm sorry to say it did not end well for Ian," Mr Burgess said, revealing ASIO had foiled the plot before any secrets were disclosed.

The spy boss also revealed that Australia had gamed the foreign unit late last year, sending a message to "stop it or there will be further consequences".

"We confronted the A-team directly," Mr Burgess said.

"Late last year, the team leader thought he was grooming another Australian online.

"Little did he know he was actually speaking with an ASIO officer - the spy was being spied on, the player was being played.

"You can imagine his horror when my officer revealed himself and declared, 'we know who you are. We know what you are doing. Stop it or there will be further consequences.'"

Now, time is up for the A-team, Mr Burgess declared, revealing why he had chosen to declassify the case.

"We decided to confront the A-team and then speak about it publicly as part of a real-world, real-time disruption," he said.

"We want the A-team to know its cover is blown. We want the A-team's bosses to know its cover is blown.

"If the team leader failed to report our conversation to his spymasters, he will now have to explain why he didn't, along with how ASIO knows so much about his team's operations and identities."

Marking the 75^th year of Australia's intelligence agency, Mr Burgess reminded Australians they all have a role to play in setting up a robust security culture.

"Terrorists and spies don't do business as usual; there are constant shifts in threat, intent, tactics, capabilities and technologies," he said.