Australia’s domestic spy agency says it has disrupted 16 terrorist threats in the nine months since the Bondi attack, including an antisemitic attack, a plot targeting Muslims and a case involving an individual allegedly inspired by extreme right-wing ideology.
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General Mike Burgess outlined the changing terrorism threat in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
According to Burgess, ASIO has disrupted 16 terror plans since December in cases where the threat was considered serious but not necessarily imminent. He had previously put the figure at 14 in June. Since 2014, ASIO has foiled 33 major terrorism plots.
Burgess said Sunni violent extremism remained the majority of ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload, but warned against assuming there is one dominant form of terrorism. He said recent threats had included individuals allegedly influenced by extreme right-wing and extreme left-wing ideologies, as well as people with mixed or seemingly incompatible beliefs.
One case involved an individual allegedly wanting to blow up a school and allegedly drawing on ideological and extreme Christian beliefs, according to Burgess.
Burgess said the current terrorism environment is being shaped by grievance, intolerance and polarisation, which he said can increase the likelihood of politically motivated violence.
The figures were released as Australia marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Australia By Aussie previously reported on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s commemoration of the anniversary.
The latest ASIO figures highlight the range of ideological threats being monitored by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, while the organisation continues to assess the terrorism environment as evolving.
Source: The Guardian