Australia's spy chief has warned that foreign intelligence agencies are increasingly targeting the country's military due to its AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with the U.S. and Britain.

Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), said national security risks are rising. He revealed that foreign governments, including some that are friendly to Australia, are trying to gather information about AUKUS. They want to understand the submarines' capabilities, how Australia plans to use them and to weaken trust between Australia and its allies. "Multiple countries are relentlessly seeking information about our military capabilities. Defence personnel are being targeted in person and online," he stated in an annual threat assessment speech at ASIO headquarters. "Some were recently given gifts by international counterparts. The presents contained concealed surveillance devices," he added, without naming the countries involved.

ASIO predicts that foreign interference will attempt to weaken support for AUKUS and could even resort to sabotage if regional tensions rise. Australia's security situation is expected to worsen over the next five years. Comparing it to the popular Hollywood movie, officials describe the multiple risks as happening "everything, everywhere, all at once." "ASIO assesses authoritarian regimes are growing more willing to disrupt or destroy critical infrastructure to impede decision-making, damage war-fighting capabilities and sow social discord," he said. “Cyber sabotage was a particular threat,” he added. "Cyber units from at least one nation state routinely try to explore and exploit Australia’s critical infrastructure networks, almost certainly mapping systems so they can lay down malware or maintain access in the future," he said.

The statement "ASIO worked closely with our American counterpart to evict the hackers and shut down their global accesses, including nodes here in Australia" appears to be a reference to Volt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking group that the United States and Australia have identified as infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure in 2024. “Over the next five years, foreign intelligence services will exploit artificial intelligence and deeper online pools of data, enabling disinformation and deepfakes - realistic, but fake, portrayals of people - and eroding trust in institutions. The national terrorism threat level was raised in 2024 to probable, with ASIO and police disrupting five plots last year,” he said. “A growing new problem is extremists self-radicalising faster, with unique "choose your own adventure" belief systems,” he added. 

Most of the terror plots investigated involved a mix of nationalist and racist beliefs, and some even included minors, he said. In Australia, anti-Semitic violent incidents have increased, and ASIO is worried that attacks on the Jewish community are still ongoing. As the national election approaches, politicians have often raised concerns about border security. However, he stated that people-smuggling is unlikely to become a major issue.